Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
Kross shifted his eyes from the road and set them on the rearview mirror to catch sight of Aniyis in the back seat.
After a few weeks of observation, his medical staff gave him clearance to go home.
He still had physical therapy sessions to attend, and his mobility was still a work in progress, but other than that, Aniyis was doing well, and Kross was grateful.
His nurses threw him a small celebration in the hallway as Kross wheeled him out of the hospital, and it brightened up his spirits a little.
But now, only a few minutes away from the hospital and headed in the direction of the cemetery, Kross could see the light he once had in his eyes diminish.
Since he revealed to Aniyis that Cassie didn’t make it, the only thing baby boy requested of his father was to go visit her.
His mom meant the world to him, and although she wouldn’t physically be there, he wanted to feel as close to her as possible.
Kross contemplated for a while whether allowing him to go visit Cassie while he was recovering was good idea.
He didn’t want to send his child through a whirlwind of emotional distress while he was working hard to get back to the child he once was.
After some prayers and asking Cassie for guidance, Kross agreed on the visit.
When the roles were reversed, she made sure that Aniyis came to visit him no matter how hard it was for her, so he had to do the same.
“You good back there, Niyis?” Kross turned the music down so he could hear his son’s response.
“Yeah. This car fly.”
A chuckle sounded out of Kross as he nodded his head, agreeing with him. “It is. You remember what car I told you I was gonna cop when I got out?”
“Hm, you said a Maybach. Daddy, this a Maybach?” Aniyis leaned up in his seat as he took another look around the car in awe.
An ear-to-ear smile spread across Kross’ handsome face. “Hell yeah, son. Everything I told you I was gonna do when I was locked up, I’m gone make sure I do it.”
“I wish Mommy was here to see this car,” Aniyis let out, instantly causing the smile on Kross’ face to fall. Averting his eyes from the road briefly to glance at the mirror, he could see Aniyis holding his head low as he toyed with his Fortnite action figure.
“Me too, ‘Niyis. Me too,” he sighed deeply.
A silence fell over the father and son duo, which prompted Kross to turn the music back up. Together, they rode to the smooth tracks of Rod Wave all the way to the cemetery.
“This where Mommy is?” Aniyis asked as he peered out of the dark tinted window.
He wasn’t familiar with death, so he had never been to a cemetery. Kross hated that his first introduction to one was for his mother, but those were the cards they were dealt.
“Yeah. Ain’t nothing to be scared of. I’m right here. I used to come here to visit my daddy when I was your age.”
“How did your daddy die?”
Kross pursed his lips, knowing that he had to remain truthful with his inquisitive son. “He got shot.”
“Just like me and Mommy?” Aniyis questioned.
“Yeah,” Kross sighed with a light nod of his head.
After killing the engine, Kross stepped out of the car and maneuvered to the trunk to pull out the wheelchair Aniyis was restricted to until he made more progress in physical therapy.
Aniyis, who was typically a big ball of energy and liked to run around, hated the wheelchair.
He spent the first week crying hysterically about having to use it.
Now, there were a lot less tears. However, his attitude about the chair never changed.
As soon as Kross made his way around with the chair and opened the door, he heard Aniyis smack his lips loudly.
“You knew what it was when we got here. Hop in the chair, little man,” he chuckled as he unfastened Aniyis’ seatbelt.
He decided not to give his father a hard time and got into the chair without all the theatrics.
In hand, Aniyis carried a few of his action figures and a few cards he made for his mother.
Kross managed to balance holding a large arrangement of roses in one hand while the other hand was used to steer Aniyis’ chair.
As they made it to the entrance of the cemetery, Kross smacked his lips low enough that he wouldn’t catch Aniyis’ attention when he noticed Remedy make her way to her car.
Every run-in he had with her was always wild as fuck, and he was praying that her ass just went about her business in the presence of his son.
As they bypassed each other, Remedy had the urge to stop and confront him about the chaos that had been going on at the barbershop since she didn’t fall in line and pay him what he demanded, but she bit her tongue once she noticed little Aniyis in the wheelchair.
“Daddy, you think I can leave Mommy one of my toys?” Aniyis asked as Kross continued to push him along the cement path.
A light chuckle spilled out of him as he nodded his head. “Fa’sho, little man. I think she would like that.”
Hearing him interact with his son was the only thing sparing him from the lethal tongue-lashing Remedy was ready to give him.
She would just have to catch him some other time.
Kross was grateful that she had at least a little bit of sense.
He didn’t want his son witnessing the cutthroat side of him. He was too young for that.
The boys navigated through the cemetery before Kross engaged the brakes on Aniyis’ chair.
Aniyis shifted his eyes from the marble headstone that had his mother’s photo on it to his father.
He had an unsure look on his face, almost as if he needed confirmation on whether it was his mother’s grave.
Kross gave him an encouraging nod, indicating that he was free to say whatever he wanted to Cassie.
Averting his gaze back onto Cassie’s grave, his shoulders dropped as he let out a deep breath.
“Mommy, I’m okay,” was the first thing he said to his mother.
The statement was heavy enough to cause Kross’ eyes to scorch.
Aniyis knew his mother’s main concern would be his well-being.
She devoted her life to being his mother, and in every instance, she put him first. “I’m with daddy now. It’s like y’all take turns.”
Ruffling Aniyis’ dreads, Kross let out a laugh. “Yeah, you be getting over on me now that it’s my turn. Keep telling me bedtime is at eleven when you know Mommy had you in bed by nine-thirty,” he added, hoping to lighten the mood to prevent the tears that clogged his eyes from falling.
An infectious laugh eased out of Aniyis as he leaned his head back in full amusement since he knew he’d been pulling a fast one on his father for a few days now.
“Nine-thirty on school nights, but I can’t go to school right now.
” He motioned his hand over himself, alluding to the current state of his health.
It was nice to have a laugh together in the presence of Cassie’s spirit.
It had been a while since they felt the amount of peace they had within them in that moment.
After sitting the new arrangement of roses on her grave, Kross decided to give Aniyis a moment alone with his mother, so he took a few steps back.
This was something Raquel did for him as a child whenever they went to go visit his father, Christian.
It allowed him the space to speak to his father freely without the fear of someone judging.
He was praying that he was providing the same safe space for his baby boy.
The visit went well, and Aniyis proved to his father that he was emotionally intelligent enough to understand what was going on and process it the way he should. A few tears were shed, but that was a given for a child who had never been away from his mother.
“We’ll come back next Saturday. I promise,” Kross assured Aniyis while using his thumb to wipe away some tears that stained his face.
Once they were loaded back into the car, Kross headed in the direction of his mother’s house.
Temporarily, Aniyis would be set up there just so Kross could have some help from his village with taking care of Aniyis during the early stages of his recovery.
Raquel and Andres opened up their home to them without any hesitation.
This was Kross’ first time being a full-time father, so he could use all the help he could get.
The two boys were enveloped in a comfortable silence as smooth rap music circulated the car.
They were both processing the visit to Cassie’s grave, so silence was expected.
Once he pulled into the driveway, a chuckle rolled out of him at the sight of Noonie and Los anxiously jolting out of their seats for Aniyis’ arrival.
Raquel wanted to have her whole church congregation and contact list out to welcome her grandson back home, but Kross talked her into scaling it back to just his homeboys, and he even allowed Zeke to slide through.
Kross got out and aided Aniyis with climbing into his chair before wheeling him to the house. “The most solid little nigga I know!” Los jeered as he ruffled Aniyis’ dreads. “Uncle Los glad you straight, little homie.”
“You a hardbody for real, Niyis. Once you shake back, we getting you back on that field,” Noonie added as he dapped Aniyis up.
Kross chuckled with a shake of his head. “Y’all niggas hell, man.”
They all headed inside and were met with Raquel and Andres who welcomed Aniyis home with open arms. As they entered the front room of the home so Aniyis could be transferred to the couch, they were met with Ezekiel, who was in the process of hooking the game system up to the television.
“Aye, ‘Niyis! I got you the PS5 so you can play some Fortnite while you getting better.” Zeke smiled, hoping the gesture would bring some happiness to his nephew.
Aniyis reflected the smile on his uncle’s face as he nodded. “Thank you, Uncle Zeke.”
“It ain’t nothing, little man. I’m just glad you’re good.”
The two brothers exchanged glances at each other, waiting to see if the other would extend the olive branch to speak.
Everyone in the room could feel the tension between them.
It was thick enough to cut it with a knife.
Kross didn’t have anything to say to his little brother, which was why he didn’t speak.
“Let me holla at you in private.” Ezekiel was the one to cut through the tension between them and speak first. That was always the case when it came to their disputes. Kross just had way too much pride.
Kross’ cold eyes peered into Ezekiel, searching for any signs of why he needed to have a conversation.
Their parents, Los and Noonie looked between them anxiously, waiting to see whether Kross would agree to speak to him.
He decided not to shut his brother out and agreed to talk with a curt head nod.
Once he wrapped up setting up the game system, he handed the controller off to Aniyis so he could go off and speak to Kross.
The two men found privacy on the back porch of their mother’s home.
Kross stared at Zeke blankly, awaiting to hear what he had to say.
“Yo, why the fuck would you light up these niggas’ hood without back up? You looking to die or something?” Ezekiel screwed his face up at Kross.
With a smack of his lips, Kross shook his head. “Man, I’m tired of y’all niggas questioning me ‘bout how the fuck I wanna move.”
“‘Cause you moving like you ain’t got no fucking sense. That shit could’ve went bad, and them niggas could’ve left you on the concrete.”
“I’m still standing, nigga. Trust, them niggas going out before I do.”
Ezekiel ran his hands down his face frustratedly. Talking to Kross was like talking to a brick wall. Nothing you said could ever get through to him. Reaching into his pocket, Ezekiel pulled out his burner cell and handed it over to him.
“They put money on your fucking head, K. Look for yourself.”
Taking the phone from Ezekiel, Kross could see the hit of 15k on his head. The hit was amusing to him, prompting a bitter chuckle to dispel out of him. “Them niggas not touching no real paper if they think they can get the job done for 15 racks. How you get this, though?”
“I’m plugged in, K. You can’t go to war with these niggas without me. I’m your fucking brother. If anybody rocking behind you, it’s me, so let’s kill this beef between us and put these niggas down.”
Ezekiel knew he dropped the ball when it came to giving his brother all the details about Cassie’s murder.
In his defense, he wanted to handle it and allow Kross time to solely focus on Aniyis.
Knowing what he knew now, he would have never doubted his brother’s ability to handle business and be in the right headspace to be a father to Aniyis.
It was his mistake, and he was man enough to apologize.
“I’m sorry, K.”
Kross eyed his brother up and down. There wasn’t anyone he trusted more than him, and having him at his side would bring him a lot of ease.
“Don’t cross me, Zeke. We brothers, but if I find out you holding out on intel again, you might as well join them Chi-raq niggas ‘cause I’mma come for you too. Understood?”
The two met for their signature handshake, sealing their mended brotherhood. “We got each other. From the cradle to the grave.”
“From the cradle to the grave,” Kross agreed.