Chapter 14 #2
I didn’t feel a single thing about that.
Didn’t feel bad, didn’t feel like I should defend her or slow him down.
Hell, I wanted somebody to get to the bottom of this shit too.
To know my mother, that was to know how ruthless and fearless she was.
This was outside of her character. If anything, part of me was relieved somebody else besides me had picked up on the fact that something wasn’t sitting right with her.
“Do what you gotta do,” I said.
He studied me for a second like he was surprised I didn’t push back harder on that, then let it go and moved on.
“As far as Brick Boyz,” he said, “I’m giving you the green light. Handle that situation however you see fit. You the head now, that’s your call to make. But I need you to promise me one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“Make it clean,” he said, his voice going hard and serious in a way that told me this wasn’t a request. “Untraceable. No loose ends, no bodies that come back to knock on our door six months from now. You do it right, or you don’t do it at all. You understand me?”
“I understand and I wouldn’t have it no other way,” I said.
We sat there for a second in silence, both of us finishing what was left in our glasses, and I could feel the weight of everything he’d just handed me settling into my chest. Permission to move.
Permission to finish what needed finishing.
My brother had just been released from prison last night, and his freedom was the only thing that made me put a pause to putting these niggas in the grave.
He was home now, and I had just gotten the green-light.
I just didn’t know yet how close that permission was about to bring me to something none of us saw coming.
—
I left my father’s office with my mind still heavy from everything he’d just laid on me, heading toward my car when my phone started ringing.
It was Tyree.
I almost let it go to voicemail, but something told me to pick up.
“What’s up, Tyree,” I said, not bothering to warm my voice up much for him.
“Kaseem,” he said. “I heard Zaire made it home. I ain’t even gonna ask how y’all pulled that off, cause I already know better than to ask questions like that.
But I wanted to call and personally tell you congratulations.
That’s a real thing you did for your family, and I respect your commitment, consistency and how hard you went to maintain your brother’s innocence and get him home. ”
“Appreciate that,” I said, keeping it short.
“Listen, I got an event coming up in a couple weeks,” he continued.
“Charity gala downtown, a bunch of city council members gonna be there, couple state reps too, some real money in that room. I want you there with me. It’s good for business, good for your face to start being seen in them kind of rooms if you serious about expanding this thing.
This is what I’ve promised and I’m going to make good on it.
They respect a man they see standing next to legitimate power, not just a man they hear about in the streets. ”
“I appreciate it,” I said. “I’ll be looking forward to it.”
This was what I had been waiting on, and I appreciated Tyree for extending the offer without making me have to wait longer than needed for him to put me in a room.
I was about to end the call when he stopped me.
“Kaseem, hold on. Before you go.” His voice shifted, got quieter, heavier.
“I know you probably think I’m some fucked up individual.
And I ain’t gonna sit here and tell you I’m not, cause I done made mistakes I gotta live with.
But my daughter, that’s my world, man. This is the longest me and her ever went without speaking in her entire life.
As a man, I can admit I hurt her. I know I’m wrong for what I did.
But I just want a chance to sit down and explain myself to her.
Try to make some of this right, however much of it can be made right at this point.
” He paused. “I need my baby girl, Kaseem. I appreciate you for stepping up and being her protector through all this. I do. But that’s still partially my job too.
It was never supposed to fall all the way on you.
” Tyree spoke and I could hear the pain in his voice.
Here he was, begging me to set something up so he could speak with his daughter, that showed how much he loved her and how much her absence was hurting him.
“Man, I can’t promise you it’s gonna go how you want it to go,” I said finally.
“But I’ll let you come try and explain yourself to her.
If she tell you that you gotta go after that, then that’s it.
Conversation over, and I’m shutting the whole thing down myself.
I may play about a few things, but I’ll never play about my wife and I’ll go against anybody and burn any bridge when it comes to her, understand me? ”
“I understand,” Tyree said.
“Be at my crib tomorrow morning. Ten o’clock.” I hung up before he could say anything else back.
A few seconds later my phone buzzed with a text from him.
Tyree: Kaseem, thank you. I’ll be there.
I sat in my car for a minute after that, staring out the windshield, wondering if I’d just done something good for my wife, or if I’d just made a decision on her behalf that I ain’t have no business making without her knowing first. I knew how my wife was when she’d made her mind up about something, and she’d made her mind up already that she didn’t fuck with her father.
I just hoped she didn’t get on my ass for doing this.