-Monica-
"Why are the two of you standing there grinning like this is a happy occasion?" I snapped at Keturah and Shante who stood by the bar, before I leaned over and asked the bartender for a bottle of water. I was finally able to break away from Kaleb's mom who had dragged Eve and I around to introduce us to all of their friends and relatives.
The whole time Kaleb was angry with her because it was suppose to have been a small dinner reception with a few family members and friends but Mama Rita said she never did anything small. She had managed to get most of their family and friends to attend tonight's event although it was on such short notice.
Kaleb had to rescue Eve from her because even after I had managed to break away to talk to Stormy and Shelomoh, she still carried Eve around so that folks could pinch on her cheeks and gush over her. Kaleb had taken the poor child out of his mother's arms and Eve had almost instantly gone to sleep on his shoulder. He now stood by the window holding our slumbering child as he talked with Shelomoh. I couldn't believe they knew each other. How in the world had that happened?
"We thought you was happy, hell, you were doing all that smiling with his mama. Coming up in here blinging with so much ice, made me cold." Shante said gesturing towards my bracelets.
"What!" I looked at her as if she had gone dumb on me. "Maybe I'm mistaking, but didn't ya'll just get kidnapped?" Keturah waved her hand.
"Yea, but the fella's was real cool. After they put us in the car they let us know that we weren't their prisoners and was free to go. They said they would drop us off wherever we liked." She chuckled. "They even asked if we would prefer to have dinner at Mama Rita's with you guys to celebrate your nuptials." Shante interrupted her.
"And I was like brother you ain't even got to ask! I'll take a free Mama Rita's Steak any day!" She did a little dance on her stool as she sipped on her fruity cocktail. I stared at the both of them with my mouth open.
"Wait a minute, let me get this straight. You heffa's lives wasn't in danger?" They shook their heads. Keturah wore a sympathetic look but that damn Shante wore a smirk that made me want to slap her.
"Son of a—"I turned to look at Kaleb so mad and frustrated I could have cried. The bastard had the nerve to wink at me from where he still stood talking to Shelomoh.
"You've got to admit though, he is fine." Shante whispered leaning in close to me. Hmmm! She spoke the truth. No one wore black like this man or a suit for that matter. He had taken off his tie when we got in the truck after leaving the court house. So now he stood there with a couple buttons undone on his shirt; Exposing his strong neck and Adams Apple that moved up and down as he talked. "I don't give a damn how fine he is! The bastard tricked me!"
"Gurl, you tripping... He could trick me any day if he gone deck me out with them kind of jewels." Shante laughed. Keturah sucked on her teeth and rolled her eyes at her.
"What's wrong with you? Monica ain't no gold digger, like your trifling self."
"Why I got to be a gold digger just cause I can apricate a man that can take care of me. I keep telling you, everybody dream ain't to marry some African tree climber and live happily ever after in the bush eating bush berries."
"That's a shame you talk about your own people like that." Keturah snapped putting her hand on her hip.
"And I keep telling you them damn African's ain't my people! Just cause they black don't make us kin."
Keturah rolled her eyes again at Shante and then turned away from her to fully face me.
"You know if you don't want to be married to him you can always get your marriage annulled." I frowned at her.
"How can I do that if I already have a child by him?"
"I don't think it matters. You just have to make sure you don't consummate your marriage."
"What the hell consummate your marriage mean?" Shante asked Keturah who exhaled in a long drawn out breath.
"It means to have sex."
"Wait!" Shante held up her hand. "So you think she can live with that fine a$$ brotha over there and not consummate her marriage?" she held up air quotes.
"Yes I do. She's a strong independent black woman and don't need a man to make her happy." Shante and I stared at her blinking. Ummmm....
"What am I, a lesbian?" I couldn't help but ask. Shante held her head back and laughed as loud as ever.
"Gurl please..." she said to Keturah. "You can go somewhere with that feminist I think I'd rather be with a woman mess. I got a hundred dolla's say she consummate her marriage if not tonight, definitely within the next two weeks." Now it was Keturah and I that stood blinking at Shante. Ummm...
"What am I, a hochie?" Both of them were tripping. I ain't no feminist. I would love to be able to depend on my man but I ain't no hochie either. Kaleb said we only had to stay married for two years. I had enough control over myself to remain untouched till then.
"Naw baby," Shante's voice cut into my thoughts as if she heard them.
"Being a hochie ain't got nothing to do with it. However, what you are is married to a six foot plus, strongly muscled, dripping fine, Alpha Male that has been looking at you all night like you are one of Mama Rita's steaks and he a hungry man that ain't eat in months." She looked at me out the side of her eyes. Pursing her lips in a way that told me she was getting ready to say something scandalous.
"Or shall I say, two years...If you know what I mean!" She did a little roll with her body that was so Shante like, but she had a good point.
Oh, my goodness!
My gaze went back to Kaleb and sure enough he was watching me. The look in his eyes was that of a hungry wolf; there was no doubt about it. His gaze slowly went from my mouth, to my neck and lower. Then he licked his lips. I had been so caught up in everything that was going on that I didn't even pay attention to how he had been watching me, all night. Even when we were in the court house, vowing to live as man and wife, he had that predatory look in his eyes.
"And darling, when he gets a hold of what has put that..." She paused for just a moment. "Look, in his eyes. He ain't gone let it go until it has been good and thoroughly loved." She spoke those words softly as if she was the voice in my head, narrating my thoughts.
"And ummm, yea, my girl strong, but even Mother Theresa ain't got the kind of strength to resist a man like that. Especially, if it's been two long years since he tasted the honey. So like I said, I give it two weeks, tops."
"You think you know Monica so well but you don't, I'll take that bet. When my girl put her mind to do something, she follows through. If she says she want out of that marriage that has been so ruthlessly forced on her, then that's what she's going to make happen. A hundred dolla's says she stay firm and not give into her oppressor." With a frown on her face Shante shook her head at Keturah.
"Oppressor? He ain't her oppressor! He her man. And you got...if after two weeks, Miss Monica here, that you claim you know, have not let the boss man over there, dip his hand in the cookie jar, then I'll give you a hundred dolla's. But if she does, you pay me and shut the hell up about Africa." And as they shook hands making a bet on my life, my eyes as if they had a will of their own, strayed back across the room to Kaleb. He nodded at something Shelomoh said before he turned to look at me. And it was as if he could read my mind because the grin that came across his face said loud and clear that he wasn't going to play fair and that he most definitely had a taste for honey.
"Ladies can I steal Monica away for a few minutes." Stormy's voice came from over my shoulder. For a brief moment, I closed my eyes. Dang it! I don't need this right now but I knew there was no way I was getting out of here without having a one on one with Storm. She was like a big sister. For as long as I could remember she's been there for me, had even helped raise me. But I had no idea what I was supposed to say to her. I was tired of lying. Lying had gotten me in so much trouble.
And yet, I still had to answer to Nana in the morning. I turned on the ball of my left foot.
"Damn! She must be nervous, she dancing." I heard Shante whisper to Keturah behind me.
"Hey Storm!" I said with a big bright smile on my face that I did not feel. She returned my smile and hers was just as forced.
"Hey Mon, can I talk to you for a minute." I nodded. "I'll be back ya'll." I spoke over my shoulder as I followed Stormy to her table across the room. I eased down in the chair next to hers. Oh Man! Oh Man! Here we go. I inhaled.
"Look at you," she began, and for a moment I thought that maybe she won't chew me out too bad.
"You're a married woman." I exhaled and forced another smile on my face.
"Yep, I am." I picked up a fork and began to lightly tap it on the table.
"To Eve's dad."
"Yep, to Eve's dad." The tapping got faster.
"So..." She took the fork out of my hand and placed it on the table. Drawing my gaze back to her.
"How did that happen? I thought you told me he was gone and was never coming back. What are you doing Mon?"
What am I doing?
What am I doing?
I don't know what I'm doing! I have gotten myself into trouble and I don't know how to get myself out!
I felt the tears coming to my eyes and I had no power to stop them.
"Storm, I messed up so bad!" I whispered to her, my voice quivered with my tears.
"No, not here...This is your wedding day and everyone's watching you. Here," she said putting a napkin in my hand. "Dry your eyes, put a smile on your face and follow me."
It took everything I had in me but I managed to put a smile on my face as I wiped away my tears. I prayed that for all those that were watching I looked like a happy bride overcome with joy. I continue to smile as I crossed the floor following Storm out the banquet hall. I smiled at the wait staff that was very curious about me as I made my way through the dining room. And then finally, I smiled at Jeff the Valet parker as he held the front door open for us. We sat on a bench that was on the other side of the fountain in front of the building.
"Okay," she took my hands in hers. "What did you do?"
I stared down at our joined hands and told her everything. Not leaving out one detail. When I was done she was looking at me with a very disapproving look on her face.
"I don't have to tell you, you could have gotten yourself killed." I nodded.
"Monica, I just don't understand the way your mind works. You have got to learn how to stop and think things through. You can't just go off your first thought." All these things she was telling me she had told me before many times.
I held my head down. "I don't know what's wrong with me." I mumbled. She gently lifted my head with her hand.
"You're fearless and that scares the heck out of me." I grinned.
"But I'm afraid right now." I whispered. And I was. I was married to a mob boss.
"What am I going to do know?" I asked Stormy. She exhaled giving my hands a little squeeze.
"What do you want to do?"
"I want to be free. I don't want to be married. I lost so much of my young adult days already by taking care of Eve and Nana and know I'm married. I'm beginning to feel like I'm suffocating." She tilted her head to the side and lifted her mouth in a grin that didn't reach her eyes.
"Oh, little sista, believe it or not, I know exactly how you feel. Shelomoh pushed his way into my life when I was very young. And I was afraid. I didn't trust him. More than anything I wanted to be free of him. But look at us know. He's my best friend. I don't know what my life would be like without him. I can't even imagine." She reached up and pushed one of my locs that had fallen in my face behind my ear.
"Sometimes the thing we least expect to be a blessing; Turns out to be a gift from Yah." I shook my head.
"Kaleb ain't Shelomoh! He a drug dealer Stormy! He don't work for his money! He kills his people for money! He killed my brother! He ain't no blessing!" And then the tears that I had been holding back erupted.
"Shh, sweetheart." Stormy said before she wrapped her arms around me and hugged me close. I cried in her arms like I had done so many times when I was a little girl and gently she rubbed my hair. She didn't rush me. She just let me cry until I was all cried out.
"How do you feel?" she asked, taking the napkin out of my hand and drying my eyes with it.
"Better." I told her, and it was slightly true. Really, I felt exhausted. But that cry had been stuck in my throat ever since my friends got pulled out the car earlier.
"So, what are you going to do now?" she asked quietly, a slight smile on her face.
"He says after two years I'm free. I guess he's going to make arrangement for Eve. You know? Help me out with her." Stormy nodded.
"Mon, my husband is a pretty good judge of character and he likes Kaleb." I looked up at her.
"Yea, what's up with that? How did that happen? Why did that happen?" Stormy chuckled.
"Yah guides him to people and he says Yah guided him to Kaleb." I shook my head.
"I don't know why! He's not a good person!"
"Well, it's like what a very wise man told me once. Our ways are not like Yah's. Our mind is not like his. He see's things that we can't, we're only human. I don't know why the father led my husband to Kaleb, but if he did, it's for a reason. So let that be of comfort to you." I know Stormy was just trying to help. But her ear wasn't to the streets. She didn't know the things I knew about Kaleb.
I smiled at her. "You right, I'll try to look at it that way." She patted my hand.
"Good," she said seeming more cheerful. "Shelomoh said Kaleb was coming by the house for the Shabbat. Are you coming with him?" I started to shake my head but then her face began to fall and a frown started to take the place of the warm smile she just wore. I exhaled. Stormy was such a nice and warm hearted person, I hated to let her down. I nodded.
"Yea, Eve and I will be there."
"Yay!" She said clapping her hands coming to her feet.
"Let's go back in."
"You go ahead, I'm going to sit here for just a couple more minutes then I'll be in." She looked around.
"Are you sure?" I smiled. Stormy the mama hen.
"Yea, I'm sure. Go ahead I'll be there shortly, just want to enjoy this breeze a little while longer." She nodded. But i could see she didn't want to leave without me.
"Go on," I told her and reluctantly she walked inside. When she was gone I let my shoulders drop and rested my back against the fountain. It's amazing how everyone thought I was so fearless. I wasn't, I was scared senseless most of the time. I was scared for my Nana's health. Scared that I wasn't giving Eve all the things she needed to be a well-rounded human being. I was scared that I won't be able to keep up the boarding house.
"Hey sister In-law," Rasheed said before sprawling out on the bench next to me.
"Ahh!" I screeched because he wasn't gentle about it.
"Oh, my fault did I bump into you?" I could tell by the humor I heard in his voice that he knew damn well he bumped into me and wasn't the lease bit sorry.
"Yea, you did!" I snapped. "What do you want?" It was no need for us to pretend we liked each other.
"Damn, can't I talk to my sister in-law that just showed up out of nowhere with my brother's baby, without having a motive?" I rolled my eyes as I slid as far away from him as I could. I didn't like touching him at all.
"Everyone has a motive." I told him. Wishing he would just get up and leave.
"Yea everybody do. So..." he turned to face me on the bench. "What's yours?" I frowned.
"Excuse me?" A grin appeared on his face. I would've said his handsome face but every time he looked at me it was always filled with hate, so to me his face was ugly.
"Come on sis. You just show up with my brother's bastard child. Forcing him to marry you." What the world was with these people and bastard children. Hell, half the people in the ghetto was bastards. I was a bastard. I never even met my father.
"I don't know what you're talking about. I didn't force him to marry me. It was quite the opposite." He reached for one of my locs but I slapped his hand away from me.
"I heard a little rumor." He spoke slowly as if he was telling me a secret. "I heard you was responsible for my brother getting locked up. Is that true?" Something in his tone told me that at this moment, my life was in danger.
"Again, I don't know what you're talking about." He smiled.
"If I find out that it was you, who was responsible for putting my brother in a f*^*ing cage!" He growled. "He gone be a single daddy."
"Yea, I'll be right back, I'm just going to check on Monica." Kaleb's voice came from somewhere on the other side of the fountain.
"Shh!" Rasheed said putting his finger to his lips.
"We over here bro!" he called out to Kaleb.
-Kaleb-
My irritation level grew when I rounded the corner and saw my wife sitting with my knuckle- headed brother. I clenched my fist together trying to calm my anger. It was bad enough my mother pretended she didn't understand that I just wanted a small dinner to celebrate my marriage. No, in true fashion, she had to go overboard as usual. She invited family and friends I haven't even seen since I was a kid. And now something that should've taken only a couple of hours has dragged on for the better part of the night.
The only thing I wanted to do was take my wife home, lay her out on the bed and taste what I was now starved for. For two and a half years I have thought of nothing more than that sweetness I sampled the morning I went to jail. What is the Irony of hungering for someone that I should've put to rest?
"What's going on?" I asked, as I took in the distressed look on Monica's beautiful face. Her shoulders were tense and she was cluctching the bench so hard her knuckles had turned white.
"Come here baby." I held out my hand for her. There was something in me that was extremely possessive of her. I had never felt this way about a woman. She hopped up off the bench, or more like pointed her right foot forward and did a little leap off the bench. That was something else I dug about her. She danced when she moved. Sometimes when someone called her name and she turned around, she went up on her toes and did a little pirouette. When she stands most of the time, she would have one foot planted and the other toe facing down. My little ballerina.
When she came to me, she took my hand with both of her hands and squeezed it tight. I frowned, that kind of affection from her wasn't normal, something was wrong with her. My eyes flew to my brother, as I pulled her closer wrapping my arm around her. She didn't fight this action, in fact she tucked herself up under my arm.
What the hell! She was shaking.
"What's the matter baby? Did Rasheed say something to you?" I asked. My irritation was building swiftly into anger. If he said something or did something to upset her, I was going to hurt him! Bad!
"What you say to her?" I said from between clenched teeth. The stupid look on his face made me want to lay hands on him. She put her little hand on my chest trying to calm me. Another thing she did that I loved because it did in fact calm me.
"Nothing! Man! How you gone get married with a anger problem?" Rasheed asked. I bit down on my teeth. I had nagged him into going to going back and finishing high school. He stayed in one semester that included a phycology class. Ever since then, he has diagnosed me with an anger problem.
"Rasheed don't play with me, I ain't in the mood. I will scrape the concrete with your a$$, what you say to her!" I spat.
"Kaleb, I'm just tired. I want to go home." She spoke softly looking up at me.
"Yea Kaleb, she just tired. She wants to go home."
"Shut up!" I pointed at him. Then I looked down at her, trying to see what she was hiding from me. My brother said something to upset her. There was no doubt about it. But what?
"Tell me what he said sweetheart." I touched her soft cheek because I needed to touch her. I needed to touch more of her so bad that I feared that when I did, my hunger will cause the savage to come out of me.
"He didn't say anything, it's just been a long night." She even tried smiling to reassure me but I wasn't buying it. I smiled back at her.
"Okay, go ahead in and start getting Eve ready. We'll leave in a minute." She nodded her head and practically ran back into the building. I waited till she was through the doors before I snatched Rasheed a$$ up off the bench.
"Hey Man!" He yelled as his feet came off the ground.
"What you say to her?" I growled in his face. He grabbed at my hands.
"Nothing, I just welcomed her to the family!" I shook him.
"Stop lying!"
"I ain't lying!" I threw him back on the bench. I was too tired to deal with him right know.
"Let me find out!" I pointed at him.
He straightened out his shirt. "Man, forget her, what about the Cubans? Dominic ain't trying to do no business with me until he hear from you. But you know that already! You've been acting funny as hell since you got out! I've been trying to get up with you but you act like you ain't got time for a nigga." I exhaled, I didn't have time to deal with his whining right now.
"I had a little hottie set up for you after you got out and you faked me. I've been trying to get up with you to hang out for a bit but all of sudden you too busy to even holla at your boy." He began to pace in front of me. Damn now he made me feel like crap because I had been avoiding him.
Things have changed with me. Truthfully, I didn't even understand fully what was happening but I always felt change when it came in my life. Like when my real father died and King who at the time was my dad's lieutenant, had reached in to hug my grieving mother telling her that he would always be there for her. Or, that night Monica danced on my patio. However, when I first saw Shelomoh sitting on the otherside of the glass partition waiting to speak with me, I had felt my world shift. I knew that after that day, I would never be the same.
"I mean, what's up? I ain't yo mans no mo? You ain't got my back no mo?" I rubbed the back of my neck, I was so tired. I haven't slept more than a couple of hours a night for the last three years.
I loved my brother. Raised him like he was my own but he had become a burden to me. He was determined to continue in his father's legacy. At first it didn't bother me. He did his thing, I did mine but he was getting reckless. Sloppy in his dealings. The Cubans wanted to kill him. I had to go and talk to Dominic myself to assure him that I would keep Rasheed in line.
But even that was wearing me down. I told him that if he was determined to move weight like his punk daddy then he better keep it away from any of my establishments. But he hadn't and it was because of him that I ended up with two years in prison. I used my fingers to try and rub away some of the tension behind my eyes.
I reminded myself for the thousandth time that if something happened to him it would kill our mother. She depended on me to keep Rasheed alive. To keep him from ending up like his daddy. So whether I liked it or not, I was my brother's keeper.
"Look," I exhaled. "You know I always got your back. Never doubt that."
"You ain't acting like it though. Brah, I'm so sorry about the stash, had I known the feds was getting ready to raid your Warehouse you already know it wouldn't have been there. And you got my word as soon as I find out who snitched, they dead! I promise you that!"
"I've already taken care of that. You don't need to worry about it." The last thing I needed was for him to find out that it was Monica who got the ball rolling in that direction. He frowned at me.
"What you mean don't worry about that? You my brother, and I may not be your main mans no mo, but you still mine. You got my loyalty forever. Somebody set you up! Got you thrown into a cage like an animal and that person gone pay. That person gone pay for what they did to you!" See this is what pissed me off. Just like his punk a$$ daddy he always placed the blame for his mess ups on somebody else.
"What they did?" I asked taking a step towards him as I felt my anger rising. Wisely he backed up a few. "Nigga it was you who put dope in my parts Warehouse!" I pointed my finger at his head but what I really wanted to do was knock him in it.
"I told you to keep that sh*t away from my place! You put it in there anyway! You did that! Nobody else! You the reason I got locked up!" I drew myself up straight. No, that wasn't true. Here I was doing what I had just accused him of doing. I shook my head.
"You know what, I take that back. I'm the reason I got locked up. I should have shut down your operation a long time ago!" The muscle ticked in his jaw. He was speechless cause how could he deny facts. He looked off to the side and spit on the ground before taking his ball cap off and running his hand down his immaculately waved hair. Before putting the hat back on and cocking it to the left. Something he did when guilty ever since he was a small boy.
When his gaze came back to mine, his guilt had passed no doubt, he had already placed the blame for his action on someone else.
"I went by your apartment yesterday and waited for you to come home. Mama made you some food. I called Tiny and he told me you was staying in a damn boarding house. What's up with you? What happened while you was locked up? You ain't the same!"
He spat on the ground again and shoved his hands in his pocket.
"And now all of sudden you got a wife and a kid? Come on man! How you even know that's yo baby?" The look in my eye, caused him to take a step back. He threw up his hands.
"I'm just saying, you know how these tricks—"He didn't get the chance to finish. I snatched him up off his feet again throwing him against the wall. With one hand I held him there by the collar, with the other I pointed in his face. I was only going to tell him this once and he and I will never have this conversation again.
"Monica ain't no trick! She ain't no b*^ch! She ain't no hoe! She the mother of my child! And you gone respect her!" He snatched away from me with a frown on his face that reminded me of when he was little and use to throw tantrums.
"When the hell was you gone fill me in on all these changes!" He yelled. "The Cubans waiting to hear from you! You ain't even reached out to them for me!"
He was good and into his fit but that was my little brother for you. When the world got tough he ran to his big brother to smooth things over for him, but I have changed. I had a family now. I found out who I am. And most importantly, I may have found what has been calling me for years.
"Look, I ain't supporting you with the Cubans no more. It's time for you to let that go." He looked at me as if I had just spoke a curse on him.
"Let that go! What you mean, let that go?"
"Just what I said. We need to lay that part of the family business to rest."
"Then what am I suppose to do?" I knew what was coming next. This has been an ongoing argument between the two of us ever since my step-father died.
"Dad—"He began, but I cut him off.
"He ain't my father!" I corrected. My brother chose to turn a blind eye to the way his father treated me but it wasn't a day that went by that old Jerome King didn't remind me that I was a bastard and not entitled to his empire. That legacy, he left to Rasheed.
"Dad," He continued anyway. "Left you the legit side of the business. He left me the dope side. Now you want to take that from me!"
"First of all, Dad didn't leave me nothing. I worked that side of the business. I built it to what it is today. Without his help, he ain't do sh*t but take credit for it! "
"And I built the other side of the business to what it is today!" he said hitting his chest with his fist. I bit down on my teeth. He was pissing me off.
"Then what you need me for?" My voice was rising cause I was getting real close to hurting my little brother. "If you built that side of the business why you always running back to me." Instantly I regretted my words. Although it was true King treated me like crap. Rasheed and I were always very close. He was mine, I raised him. Yah knows his father was never there.
"Oh! So we finally got to the root of the matter. You tired of me, I'm a burden to you! And now that you got a new wife and baby, you don't mess with me no more. Right?" I rubbed my hand over my head.
"You know that ain't what I mean. It's just time for you to do something different. Get out of the dope game. I ain't calling Dominic and telling him I got your back if anything happens cause I don't. I shouldn't have supported that sh*t in the first place. I just did it cause you felt like that was your legacy. But that's a sh*t legacy! It ain't nothing to be proud of! And your daddy was a piece of sh*t for passing that on to you."
"My daddy was a piece of sh*t for the way he treated you. If he was alive I would kill him because of it! But he wasn't wrong for teaching me how to survive on these streets."
I opened my arms. "Rasheed I'm surviving just fine, why not follow after me. Why you got to follow after that nigga?"
"Cause it's all I know. Everybody didn't go to the fancy schools like you. Remember that? My piece of sh*t daddy sent you to the best schools."
"Cause he wanted to get rid of me, get me out his house. So yeah, he shipped me away to school."
"And while you was there brother, I was out here on these streets. And now you say, you gone take away the only thing I know." I reached out to him and grabbed him by the neck, bringing him in, wrapping one of my arms around him in a hug.
It broke my heart what his father did to him. Every day I worked to undo the damage.
"We gone get through this together. I'm gone always make sure you eat brah and I'm gone make sure you get paid." He looked up at me.
"What about the girl?" I frowned at him.
"What girl? My wife?" He nodded.
"How you gone look after me and ma with her in your life?"
"Just like always. Having a wife won't change nothing. I'm gone always take care of you and Ma."
He took my arm from around his shoulder. "Yeah, I bet." He said softly under his breath before turning to go back inside the restaurant. I stood for a minute and watched him go. I was all Rasheed ever really knew as a father figure. I looked out for him every since our mother came home from the hospital with him when I was nine. Even when his father had shipped me off to school, Rasheed and I spoke on the phone several times a day. And when I came home on the weekends, we were inseparable.
Naturally, he feared now that I had a family of my own that he and I would lose what we have. But I would just have to show him and Ma that I can still take care of them and their needs and take care of my wife and kid at the same time.