KEHLANI'S POV
I finally came home after a few days.
When we pulled up in the driveway of my house, I noticed a white Ford Mustang parked behind my mom's car. Who the hell is this? I thought as I furrowed my eyebrows.
"Whose car is 'dat?" Michael asked and I shrugged.
"I don't know."
I got out of the car and exchanged goodbyes with Michael and walked to the front door.
After grabbing my house keys from my purse, I unlocked the door and walked in the house. I heard talking in the kitchen, so I walked to the kitchen to see my mom talking with her arms crossed. I saw a tall man in front her with his back facing me. She quickly stopped talking as soon as she saw me.
"Hey, Kehlani." My mom said and the man turned around.
It was my dad.
I was shocked because I haven't seen or talked to my dad in a few months. Him and I never really talked much when I lived in Texas and when we moved, my dad and I didn't talk at all. I would be lying if I said I wasn't upset at him for not picking up calls and not responding to texts, but I also would be lying if I said I didn't miss him. But I always felt like he needed to try a little harder to communicate with me.
"Hey, Nini." He smiled and I couldn't help but smile at the nickname he's had for me since I was younger. He walked up to me with his arms spread, waiting for me to hug him. I was a little hesitant for a second, but I gave in and hugged him.
"Hey." I said with a small smile on my face. "What are you doin' here." I said as we both pulled back from the hug.
"I wanted to see you." He said and I heard my mom sigh as she went over to the wine cabinet and grabbed a bottle of Stella Rosa. She opened it and got a clean glass from the cabinet and poured a good amount of the wine inside it.
I sensed there was something wrong, because my momma usually doesn't drink wine unless there's something going on. I ignored it and just shrugged it off for now.
"I'm also here because I'm thinking about moving here."
I heard my mom cough as if she choked on what she was drinking. "You said what?" She almost yelled.
"Actually, lemme rephrase that. I am moving here." He said and my mom and I looked at him like he was crazy.
To be honest, it wasn't a bad thing to me, but him moving to New York? What for? What does New York have for him to want to move from Texas?
I had no idea what to say. I was still tryna process what he just said.
"Well, this is good news and all, but I'mma go upstairs now." I finally said after a few moments of awkward silence between the three of us.
I walked out of the kitchen and quickly made my way up to my room. As soon as I got to my room, I sat on my bed and texted the girls group chat and told them about my dad.
****
NARRATOR
Rose sighed and crossed her arms as soon as she heard Kehlani's bedroom door close.
"You know Ro, if you keep makin' that face, it's gonna stay like that forever." Bradley broke the silence between them.
"What are you doin' here?" Rose ignored his statement.
"Like I said, I'm here to see Nini."
"I know that's not the only reason you're here." She rolled her eyes.
"What else do you want me to say, Ro?" He huffed.
"I just wanna know why you randomly showed up in New York without a phone call or a text message. And then, all of a sudden you're moving here? What does New York have for you?" She asked then she thought and quickly put two and two together. "Unless, you're joining the gang again."
Bradley sighed and didn't day anything.
"Bradley, you said you weren't gettin' involved with stuff like that again!" Rose yelled, but not loud enough for Kehlani to hear from her room.
"I'm not!"
"Then what besides Kehlani and the gang are you here for, huh?" She asked.
"I'm not talkin' to you about this right now."
"No. We're gonna talk about this right-" Bradley interrupted Rose.
"We're not. This conversation is officially over." He dismissed the conversation.
"This is the exact reason why I didn't want Kehlani around that boy. Now that you're here, ain't no tellin' what's gonna happen. She's practically in the middle of it all." Rose shook her head and Bradley looked at her with his eyebrows raised.
"What are you talkin' about? What boy?" He asked.
"It's this boy I told her to stay away from, but knowing her, she probably didn't listen. He's apart of another gang." She sighed.
"I gotta go." Bradley grabbed his keys from his pocket as he started to walk to the front door.
"Where are you goin'?" Rose asked him and he stopped and turned around to face her.
"I have some business to take care of, Ro." Bradley said in a way that had Rose suspicious of what he was about to do. He walked out of the house before she could say anything else.
****
Michael was on his way to Kevin's house. Jason had called a gang meeting and said that it was "important".
Michael didn't know what to expect from this meeting. Jason once called one to discuss his missing shoes that were under his bed the whole time.
He really didn't wanna go. He really wanted to sleep in since he didn't get much sleep due to his and Kehlani's activities from last night.
That didn't sound right- anyways.
Michael arrived at Kevin's house and noticed the garage door was up, meaning he could just walk in the house. He got out of the car and walked through the garage and into the house. He could hear everyone talking in the living room, so that's where he went.
"Finally, damn." Jason said when he saw Michael. "Anyways, now 'dat alla y'all are here, we got some shit to discuss."
"'Dis better be good." Michael said to himself as he stood against the wall next to the couch. He knew if he sat down, he'd go straight to sleep.
"Ight so, a lil birdie told me Bradley was back in town."
"What?" Terrence said. "When the hell did he come back?"
Michael was confused. He had no idea who Bradley was, but it seemed like everyone else did. Michael had been apart of the gang for a while now, so he found it kind of weird how he never heard of Bradley.
"Apparently today." Jason shrugged. "I heard 'dat he's also movin' here as well. One way or another, we needa get rida' him as soon as possible.
"Who the fuck is Bradley?" Michael finally asked after a few minutes of confusion. Everyone looked at him like he was stupid.
"Nigga, are you dumb or stupid?" Amari asked making Michael smack his teeth.
"I know you not talkin'." Michael said and the two of them started arguing before Jason cut them off.
"Enough," He yelled over the two boys. "Bradley is the ex gang leader of the Alphas. He ended up disappearing outta New York back in 1998. I know, we weren't even born then, but 'dis shit is a big deal and a threat. You know how our gang goes way back with the other." Jason explained.
"Why did he move?" Michael asked and Jason shrugged.
"I'on know, no one ever really thought he'd come back, but here we are now."
"Okay. Why did he come back?" Michael crossed his arms as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other.
"That's what we've been tryna figure out." Kevin shrugged.
"So what we gon' do?" Marlon asked.
"I'm glad you asked." Jason said. "We either gotta get him outta New York, or we kill him. I really prefer the second option, 'cause we know he ain't jus' gon up an' leave when we tell him." He then looked over at Michael. "Michael, since you're one of the only one's who knows how not to leave too many clues, it's your job to get rid of him."
"Cool." Michael nodded.
"Ight that's it, now get out." He dismissed and Michael and the other boys started to leave.
"You act like you own the place." Kevin smacked his teeth.
"Shut up 'fore I shoot you." Was the last thing Michael heard before walking into the garage.
****
Michael had found out what car Bradley was driving not too long after the meeting. He noticed that it was the same car that was in Kehlani's driveway when he went to drop her off, but he just thought it was a coincidence.
He had been following him around for almost fifteen minutes, trying to see where he was going to stop next. He was trying not to make it obvious, so he stayed a few cars behind.
He saw Bradley's car turn and he waited for the other cars in front of him to pass so he could turn where he saw Bradley turn. He turned into an alleyway and saw Bradley's car sitting there. Michael sighed thinking Bradley must've been onto him.
Michael got out of his car once he saw Bradley's car door open. Michael had his gun in the waistband of his jeans just in case Bradley tried something.
"No need for the gun." Bradley spoke as he walked towards Michael. He had no idea how he knew his gun was on him, but he knew. "Don't be shy. I'm not gonna do anything, I promise." Bradley said genuinely and Michael noticed that.
Michael stayed quiet making Bradley sigh. "I know you've been following me. I also know that you're tryna kill me, but you might not wanna do that."
"And why not?" Michael asked with his eyebrow raised.
"Well Bambi- is it okay if I call you Bambi? Okay," Bradley continued before Michael even say anything about the nickname Bradley just gave him. "I know you, but you don't know me. So let's fix that." Bradley came up to Michael and put his arm over his shoulder in a friendly manner. "We have a mutual friend, you know? Well, she isn't exactly my friend, but we're close."
Michael had no idea who he was talking about, but he was about to find out.
"I know how you're very close with my daughter Nini." Bradley looked at Michael's face which held obvious confusion. Bradley jokingly and dramatically rolled his eyes and huffed, "Think, Bambi. Use that smart brain of your's."
"Maybe you got me confused wit' someone else. I'on know anybody named Nini." Michael shook his head and pushed Bradley away from him.
"Does the name Kehlani ring a bell?" Michael's faced dropped as soon as Bradley said Kehlani's name. "So you do know!" Bradley smiled.
"Nah, ain't no way." Michael shook his head in disbelief. Kehlani has told Michael about her father before, but she never mentioned that he was an ex gang leader. Or maybe she was hiding it from him. That's all Michael could think about at the moment.
"But it's the truth." Bradley shrugged as he walked back over to his car. "Anyways, it was nice to finally meet you, Bambi. You seem like a nice guy despite you bein' in the rival gang. Goodbye." Bradley said before getting back into his car and driving out of the alleyway.
Michael stood there for a minute and thought about what just happened. He got back into his car and drove home.
He needed to talk to Kehlani.
****
Bradley Kennedy (lani's father) 39 y/o
Rose Sinclair (lani's mother) 37 y/o
howdy potna 🤠
all i'mma do is *sips tea*
anyways i hope y'all enjoyed this chapter 🍃
vote and comment or else 🔪😠