36. Beast
Chapter Thirty-Six
BEAST
“Like Usher said, you got it bad, my nigga!” Stone chuckled as he passed me the blunt.
“Yea, whatever, nigga! Talking about me when your girl is coming out here today. You on a tight-ass leash. I’m a free man, ain’t no chains attached to me, nigga.”
Stone was right, though. I had it bad as fuck.
I had been going to see Kayori every day to help her out with cleaning and getting things ready for the baby.
The more I was around her, the harder it was for me to keep my facade up about being mad at her for shooting me and leaving me.
I wanted her ass to learn a valuable lesson.
The main lesson was that you couldn’t always run and hide from your problems.
Bitches loved having a security blanket.
The only one I wanted was to know for sure that if I took that step on being with Kayori, she wouldn’t leave me.
She shot me, didn’t hear a nigga out, and left pregnant as fuck with my baby.
I struggled for months not only with my mental but the pain from this knee replacement bullshit.
Learning how to adjust, walk, and get used to being a fucking cripple.
I didn’t deserve that shit at all because a nigga was already crazy.
I had my shit with me, but I never put a gun up to her head and forced her to be with me nor fuck me.
She knew what it was with me and Kayori knew for a fact that I would never look her in the eyes and tell a lie.
I always kept it real with her from the jump, even if it hurt her.
In my eyes, I should’ve been running from her.
Every time I told the truth or ended up doing some shit that she ain’t like, she ended up putting hands on a nigga. Now, who’s the crazy one? Me or her?
I had females begging me, wishing upon a star to be with me, and here I was still stuck on Kayori’s ass. Stone was absolutely right; we were currently on the way to pick up a dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts just for her. I had it really bad for Juicy, and she just didn’t know that shit.
“Nigga, you damn right. Wifey ain’t got me on no leash! I sent for her. I can’t be away from my family for too long. You're the one changing shit up. I thought we were setting our legal shit up in Vegas. Now we on some back-and-forth shit, you need to make ya mind up.”
Pulling at my beard, I nodded my head in agreement. Stone was all about his almighty dollar. I didn’t take into consideration that he was also my right-hand man in the streets and business partner when it came to our legal endeavors. No matter what, he always backed me up and never left me hanging.
“Blame this shit on Juicy’s ass,” I mumbled as I pulled my phone out to text her and tell her we would be there with her doughnuts in fifteen minutes.
“I see you back calling her Juicy. You tryna get that old thang back like wifey be saying.” He chuckled as I shook my head.
“I’m saying, though, this is her fault, nigga.
I wouldn’t be out here doing all this if my son wasn’t coming any day now.
I’m gon’ have to be back and forth. If push comes to shove and shit doesn’t work smoothly with Yori and me, I’ll push back to Vegas and just get joint custody over Matthew.
In the meantime, when we are done closing this deal in a few weeks, you and wifey can head back to Vegas, and you just run that shit out there.
That way, y’all ain’t got to be coming back and forth every couple of days. ”
“No doubt.” He nodded his head as my phone started to ring.
Rubbing my forehead, I was wondering what the hell Leandra could want at this time of day, so I braced myself.
If she wasn’t calling demanding that I pick some shit up or bring her and Mattea something, she was back pleading for that bitch ass nigga Michael.
Telling me to get my brother some help when she should be searching for a rehab just like she searched for a damn therapist and doctor to help me.
“Yea, Leandra.” I mentally scolded myself.
I was trying to work my hardest on respecting her ass more.
I was so used to calling her ‘Leandra’ and Praise calling her ‘Ma’ that it slipped without me really knowing.
My therapist told me it would help with merging myself and Praise as one if I gained the same respect Praise had for her.
“Hi, how are you doing today? Am I speaking to Praise Brownston?” the chipper white voice came through my phone as I looked at it crazy, checking to make sure the caller I.D showed that it was Leandra calling from her phone.
“Why the fuck you got my momma’s phone? Who the fuck are you?” My stomach tightened, something wasn’t right, and before I could speak, the lady confirmed it.
“This is Dr. Linley calling from Torrance Memorial. Your mom has you on her contact information. She was brought in last night from a burglary where she was assaulted.”
“Assaulted? Is she okay? Let me holler at her.”
I had a million thoughts running through my head at a fast pace.
The voices in my head were all talking at once.
My head started to pound, and I could feel my blood pressure rising at a fast pace.
I knew I should have kept full security detail on my mom’s crib, but with Laquanna and Nia being dead, Leandra felt like she only wanted one or two guards there during the day.
I also had about ten guards quit the job over the years.
Leandra was hard to work with, and she talked and treated them like maids.
And if they didn’t do what was not in the job description, she would be sure to curse them out or threaten them with me.
I kept wondering who the hell else would be bold enough to fuck with my momma and think they were going to be able to live to tell the fucking tale about it.
“We had to sedate her. She was very irate and tried to leave from under our care. We need to run more tests on her, and once we can confirm that she is stable, we will be letting her go home. With the medication she will be under, she will need someone to pick her up.”
I asked Dr. Linley a couple more questions before informing her that I would be up there in less than an hour. Now I was gon’ have to ask Kayori to keep Mattea a little longer so I could see about my mom’s.
“What was that about?” Stone asked with curious eyes.
“A doctor, my nigga. Somebody broke into Leandra’s house and put hands on her.” I barely was holding onto my anger.
“You think it was that nigga Tef?”
I damn near turned in the seat to look directly at him.
“Hell naw! Momma’s boy Michael wouldn’t lay a finger on the only person that’s been trying to keep his ass alive all this time.”
Michael wasn’t even a suspect in my mind.
It could’ve been one of the niggas I offed when I was on a rampage trying to get to Teflon.
He had so many niggas in his corner, ready to take over what he thought belonged to him.
Other than that, Michael was a momma’s boy from day one, and I wouldn’t think twice about him coming for our mom.
“I’m saying, though… That nigga is a crackhead, niggas will do whatever it takes for that shit. We both know that.”
“That’s true, my nigga, but nah, not Michael… He ain’t no broke ass crackhead. He still got money and…” A thought crossed my mind, and then what I didn’t want to happen happened. Praise and I were starting to separate as he shouted aloud in my head.
“Momma told you that he stole from her, nigga! That nigga ain’t got no fucking money if he’s stealing from her.”
"But he wouldn’t steal and beat her, though,” I responded without thinking.
Fuck! “I am Praise, and Praise is Beast. We are one!” I chanted that to myself a couple of times and appreciated Stone remaining quiet.
He never showed emotions when it came to my mental, and I appreciated that the last thing a real nigga wanted was for his best friend to feel sorry or even pity me.
He knew when to give me my space and when I was battling hard with myself.
“You right, my nigga. She did say that nigga stole out her purse. I just don’t think he got the balls enough to lay hands on our momma, though,” I mumbled the last part, but I pulled my phone out nonetheless to call this nigga. When he didn’t answer, my suspicions started to get the best of me.
“Take me to Torrance Memorial, then call our boy up and get a lead on that pussy ass nigga. I told you we were gone need them piranhas a little longer.”
He chuckled and did a U-turn in the middle of the street. I shot Kayori a text and sparked up another blunt to ease my mind.