Capone

18. Naheim Browne

18

naheim browne

“You always got some kind of beef with me. I’m minding my fucking business… chill the fuck out.” I heard Timmy’s voice while inside the corner store.

It had been a little while since I had been over this way. “I’m not going to keep telling you to stay the hell away from my brother. Jaiden doesn’t need you hanging around with your bad vibes.” I heard Erin’s voice.

I could tell Erin’s voice from anywhere. As a New Yorker, we could never hear our accents, however, after being locked up around different accents and languages, I could hear her shit loud and clear.

“Fuck you.”

WHAP!

I heard the slap from inside the damn store. “Bitch, I keep telling you that you gonna pay for the shit you be doing.” When I came out the store, Timmy had his fist extended and was about to punch Erin when I snatched his ass up.

“The fuck is wrong with you? You don’t put your hand on no fucking woman… ever. I believe I fucking told you before.”

Timmy slowly lowered his fist and stepped back, fixing his bunched-up shirt. “She always talking slic—”

“I don’t give a fuck if she was breathing fucking fire. You put your hand on a woman and… nigga, I will fucking end you.” I was pissed at today’s youth.

I put my arm around Erin, and she shook me off her. “You and I need to have a fucking conversation.”

I backed up as she glared at me. “The fuck I do to you?”

She walked around her red Mini Cooper and shook her head. “Hit me up whenever you’re free.”

“I got you.”

I knew why Capone was going to crazy to find this fucking Mini Cooper. He was getting it for Erin. When Capone sets his eyes on someone, he marks his scent, and you would have to taste blood before he took his claws out of it. Erin had been marked by Capone, and even if she wanted to get the fuck away, he wasn’t letting her leave that easy.

Not that she probably wanted to. She seemed as caught up into him as he was into her. I jumped at Timmy’s disrespectful ass, and he nearly toppled over the ice chest from flinching so hard. I didn’t play that disrespectful shit when it came to women, but seeing that the woman on the receiving end of his disrespect was Erin had me seeing red. He was lucky I didn’t knock his head off his shoulders with the way he bucked up like he was about to put hands on her.

Even if we weren’t together, I would forever be protective of Erin. There was a time when I failed at being her protection and I would be damned if that happened again.

“Let her tell me that you came out the side of your neck to her again… I’m mopping this whole block with your fucking face,” I snarled, and walked back into the store.

“You got it… my fault. I ain’t know she was your shor…shorty,” Timmy stammered.

“It doesn’t matter if she was or she’s not. Don’t raise your fucking hand to a woman… ever. Oh, and wait until I tell Capone about you raising your hand to his woman,” I threatened and headed back inside.

All the color drained from Timmy’s face as he stood there, too scared to move or plead his case with me.

I leaned on the freezer while waiting for my sandwich to be made. Erin’s sweet face brought back so many memories I had spent years burying. Erin had always been my good girl. The one that would get out there and do some good in the world.

“Yo, who the fuck is that?”

“Timmy’s stupid ass… little nigga that wants to be put on so bad.”

Kincaid leaned on the opposite freezer and stared at me. “Fuck Timmy’s young ass… I’m talking about shorty you were just chatting with. Don’t tell me you found another one.”

I chuckled. “Man, that’s E.”

I felt like I was experiencing Déjà vu having this conversation with Kincaid. Not too long ago I was having the same exact conversation with Capone about Erin.

He licked his lips. “Yeah… her. Who that?”

As much as I wanted to withhold information about Erin from Kincaid, I knew it would look shady if I did. He had been around, and he knew about all the women that I fucked around with in the past. Withholding information on Erin would only make me look like I had feelings for her.

“Chill the fuck out. Me, and Erin are good people. We grew up together.” I could see the suspicion in Kincaid’s eyes as he stared at me.

“And she drives the bus?”

“You saw all that from right here?”

“Peeped her uniform,” Kincaid replied, looking past me.

Although he was talking to me, I could see the wheels turning in his head. Kincaid always kept a chick around, never for long though. When he set his eyes on someone, you already knew he wouldn’t stop until they became his.

What me and Erin had happened years ago, and I was now happily married and hadn’t really thought about her since she reappeared into my life. I worked so hard to get to this place where I didn’t have to think about her. It hurt to think about Erin out in the world all alone.

Kincaid pushed off the freezer and held his hand out. “I’m ‘bout to bounce… hit me if you need anything.”

I dapped him, and watched as he swaggered out the door. “Aye, Kincaid.”

“What up?”

“She’s off limits.”

“Yeah, whatever. She’s fair game.”

I laughed. “Capone already stamped her. Go toe to toe with him if you want. Your moms gonna be burying you.”

Kincaid paused and then smirked. “Fuck… how the fuck he swing that? I thought he was still with Ella’s fine ass.”

“Gotta be quicker than that, my boy.”

Kincaid laughed. “You live to see another day. Ain’t no pussy worth my life.” I watched as he left out the door, stopping to look at Timmy, laughing and then proceeding around the block where his whip was parked.

“Your sandwich is done, Boss,” the owner called me from behind the deli counter.

I grabbed my sandwich, an orange drink - if you know, you know. And, headed out the store. Timmy was still standing there, waiting for me to give him any kind of word that would let him know that he was in.

Tasha, his mama, already worked with me and she desperately wanted to put her son on. I didn’t understand why any mother would want this life for their son.

She should have been encouraging his ass to go to school, and then head to college, not standing on the corner selling drugs. I was also smart enough to know that if I sent his ass away, he would just find somebody else’s corner to stand on, and they wouldn’t protect him like I knew I could.

“Walk with me,” I nodded, as I headed in the opposite direction where my whip was parked.

I hit the locks to my brand-new Mercedes coupe. “This all you? Damn, I can’t wait until I'm making money with you… man!” Timmy all but hollered as we neared my car.

I slapped him in the back of his head and hopped in the car. “You talking too damn much… that’s your problem.”

“My bad, my bad,” he stammered, putting his seatbelt on while I sped off the block.

The only reason I found myself on this side of the hood was because I needed to pick up something from the store. While I was there, Kincaid pulled up on me to shoot the breeze while I grabbed my food.

It was funny because I wasn’t even going to come out this way. I had planned on sending my other little niggas to handle shit and decided to just do it myself. Had I not come out this way, I probably wouldn’t have run into Erin and Timmy about to fight – again.

“What’s your beef with, E?”

“Man, she always on me and Jaiden’s neck. Everybody smokes weed, it’s not the end of the world. She should be thanking me for putting him on and getting him money. Maybe then they could move out that small ass basement apartment.”

“The fuck you mean by helping him get money? If she asks you to stop smoking with him, why the fuck are you still doing it?” Tasha’s ass needed to stop worrying about fucking everybody and raise her damn son.

He sucked his teeth. “Yeah. She all worried about him playing basketball and getting into a good college. Jaiden don’t even want to do none of that shit.” I could tell Erin’s problem with Timmy’s ass hanging around her brother.He was a bad influence, and he didn’t need to be around her brother. “We do little errands and shit… nothing major.” I could tell he wasn’t telling me the entire truth. He wasn’t my damn son, so I wasn’t about to beat it out of him.

“Respect her wishes and make sure you apologize. I don’t play that disrespectful shit to women… especially her.”

“How you know her? Erin’s boring and you lit.”

I chuckled. “We grew up together.”

Erin had always been the boring girl that everyone overlooked. When she would come visit her aunt, I would watch her sit on the porch with a book in her hand or textbooks. She always seemed to be lost in a damn book. She and her cousin, Ryai, were opposites.

Ryai was the loud cousin, and Erin was the quiet one. It was hard to notice Erin because of how loud and big her cousin’s personality was.

I did though.

My moms lived a few houses down from Josephine’s house, so I knew every weekend that Erin would be coming over to spend the weekend with her cousin. I used to purposely ride by the house slow on my bike or make small conversations with Ryai just to get her to notice me.

She never did.

Erin was never thirsty like those other chicks. She didn’t pay attention or care about any nigga trying to get her attention. I realized that I couldn’t approach her like I would do any other chick.

I had to be different around her.

Truthfully, it wasn’t like I was being so different. I had always been the quiet and shy boy growing up. It wasn’t until I came into my own that girls started to notice and pay attention to me.

I remember the first time I caught her sitting on the porch and approached her. Her smile brightened up that gloomy day, and her eyes… she could convince me of anything while just looking into her eyes.

When I saw her at the police station that night, my heart melted. I was on my way to her crib to pick her up, and I had gotten pulled over. When I saw her come into the station, I thought she was there for me.

I had no clue why Erin and her little brother would be there. It wasn’t until I made it up top that I found out what happened to her parents. The letter I had planned to write, I never wrote. I didn’t want to add more pain and grief to what she was already going through. So, I sat back and told myself if it was meant for us to cross paths then we would.

I pulled in front of Timmy’s house and looked over at him. “Tell your moms to come out here.”

“Thanks for the ride.” He nodded and quickly got out the car.

“Remember what the fuck I said, Tim.”

“I got you.” He smiled and jogged up the steps to his house.

I leaned my head back on the headrest while waiting for Tasha’s ass to come out the house. When I heard the door open, I watched as she plopped in the front seat with the smallest pair of shorts that existed.

She could have walked out here with nothing on and that still would have been more material than these shorts that she was wearing. “I hope he didn’t get on your nerves too bad.”

I watched as she crossed those chocolate legs of hers and smirked. “I’m not doing it, Tash.”

“What you mean? He needs to be out here securing the bag like me… he has to learn someday.”

I couldn’t help but to laugh. “He needs to be in a fucking school getting an education. Why the fuck you had him drop out of school in the first place?”

Tasha crossed her arms and bit down on her bottom lip. “It wasn’t like he was paying attention anyway. Timmy was made for this shit; you spoke to Capone about it?”

I don’t think I would ever understand Tasha’s logic when it came to her son. Why would any mother want their son out here hustling when she could give him better?

“I don’t need to check in with Capone about shit. I’m telling you that I'm not doing it. Send his ass back to school,” I demanded.

This life wasn’t something that I would have picked for myself. I used to have plans to finish school, attend college and get the fuck away from my old block. Things turned out differently when your mother’s medical bills were stacked up, rent wasn’t being paid, and you had to rise to the occasion of being the man of the house.

Tasha didn’t have bills to worry about because she got money. She had a roof over her head, car to get around with and money in her pockets. The Cartier bracelet was a dead giveaway that she wasn’t struggling for anything. Instead of being grateful, she wanted more and was willing to put her son in the mix to make sure that she could have it.

“Sorry, baby,” she reached over the console and kissed me on the side of my lips. “Am I going to see you tonight?”

When her hand made it down to my dick, she knew I couldn’t deny her. “Take care of me real quick.” I reclined the seat and watched as she freed my dick from my pants.

Like an anaconda taking down its prey, I watched as she gobbled me whole, as I slapped her ass in the process.

Between the sound of the air, lowered music, and the gagging, I was about to nut. “Soo…goo…good…um… baby,” she said in between slurps.

“Take it down,” I replied and emptied myself into her mouth.

Like I knew she would, she gulped me down without a second thought. She leaned back into the seat and fixed her hair while wiping her mouth.

“Am I going to see you this week? Or are you going to ignore me again,” she sulked.

“I'll let you know. Enroll his ass back into school, Tash. I'm not playing with you.”

If I could prevent another boy from getting into this life, then I would. I could tell she wasn’t happy about my decision, but that was her problem. She climbed out the car and walked back into the house.

I quickly sped off the block and headed toward my crib.

When I entered my condo, I could hear my wife’s singing the moment my foot crossed the threshold. I smelled the faint smell of garlic among other herbs. Capri loved to cook, and I loved to eat.

That was what told me that I needed to wife her up and settle down when I came home. It was clear I had a type, and that was the quiet out the way kind of woman.

“What you in here making?” I wrapped my arms around her and kissed her on the neck.

She let out a soft giggle and kissed my arm. “Well, since I haven’t seen you in a few days, I figured I would make us dinner and we can have dinner on the terrace.”

I kissed her on the neck. “You’ve been with your head in those textbooks for the past few days and the first thing you think about is me. I should be cooking for you, not the other way around.” I pulled her away from the stove and wrapped my arms around her.

Capri meant the world to me. There was no me without my wife standing beside me. Every time I laid eyes on her, my heart always skipped a fucking beat. I had never loved another woman the way I loved Capri.

“My eyes are crossed from highlighting the same passages. Plus, I’ve missed you.” She had this sly grin on her face.

“You were handling business.”

“Yeah, well, I can always make time for my husband.” She stared up at me with those light-brown, doe-shaped eyes.

When I stared down into her eyes, I could see the love and trust that she had for me. Capri trusted me with her entire heart and knew I would never do anything to hurt her. I remember making that promise to her when she sat across from me when I was in prison.

Here I was doing the exact opposite of what I promised her.

I swooped down and stole a kiss from her lips. “Dinner on the terrace and a movie in the bed?”

She reached up and rubbed my chest. “Or we can make our own?”

I licked my lips, taking in every inch of her body.

It wasn’t like I had set out to cheat on my wife. That was never the plan, it just happened with Tasha and now I was in the vicious cycle that I couldn’t get out. There were so many times that I tried to end shit with Tasha, and then she started acting crazy and threatening to let Capri know. The shit was stressful trying to keep her ass quiet and satisfied at the same time. I knew if Capri found out she would be devastated because she and Tasha used to be best friends. That was a hurt I would never be able to fix.

“You talking all that shit now and be ready to tap out soon as I get deep in them guts.” I dropped a kiss on her forehead and walked around the counter. “How was dinner with the girls the other night?”

I could always tell when my wife was overwhelmed and needed a break. When I saw how overwhelmed she was, I suggested she get out with her girls for dinner and some shopping. I didn’t expect for her to do it on our date night. My baby had just graduated law school a few months ago and had been stressed the past few months before she walked across that stage. Between finals and cramming every assignment in, some time with her girls was well needed.

The stress didn’t stop because she graduated, either. She had to take the bar and that brought on a whole new level of stress. When I walked in, I already saw her books and highlighters sitting on the kitchen table. I wouldn’t be surprised if she had made time to study while at the dinner with her girls.

“You know it’s always a good time whenever we get together.” She smiled.

I could tell girl talk had her refreshed. It would only last a few minutes before she was back to cramming for the bar and breaking out because she was stressing too much. “Can you promise me something?”

Capri looked up from the chopping board. “What’s that?”

“Take it easy this time, baby. You be stressing yourself out until you’re sick… I don’t like seeing that shit.”

She took a deep breath and offered a smile. “I’m going to try. I just get so excited because I am right there, Heim.”

“I know, baby. I just don’t need you to give yourself ulcers in the process… ight?”

“Okay.”

“I’m about to shower and get ready for dinner.”

I sent Erin a quick text letting her know that we would get up to discuss whatever the fuck was so urgent. My wife came before anyone else, and I wanted to chill and spend the night with her. Capri was my favorite person, and I was always going to pick her over going out.