Forty #2
I didn’t realize how hungry I was with the way I bit into the muffin soon as we left the house. Quasim closed the door, said a prayer and then marked the cross across the door.
“You always do that?”
“Yeah, want them covered always,” he replied, taking a bite out of his muffin, as we walked towards the beach.
In the distance, I saw Cappadonna running with Capella and Rory. They were running slower because he couldn’t keep up, and then he threw a tantrum once they got ahead of him.
Me and Sim laughed as we watched him yell at his grandfather and father to stay there, while he ran ahead of them. Each time they tried to move, he would stop and yell.
“This kid, man,” Capp chuckled the closer that we got to them.
Capella shook his head. “He so damn independent now… knows what he wants. Didn’t even let Promise bully him.”
“All good things. It means the therapies that you have him in are doing their job. The fact that he let Alaia put paint on his hands and didn’t flip out told me everything,” Capp replied.
“Being a father is the hardest shit I have ever had to do. I thank God for giving me another chance to do it,” Sim said.
Capp looked at him. “Now you got a possessed son and an angel baby.”
“Nigga, stop,” Quasim laughed.
“Oh shit… damn baby done ran too far,” Capella cursed, as he took off running towards Rory, who had made it a good distance.
We continued to walk along the beach. “How you feeling though?”
“Shit, not good. I don’t know how this shit could go. My picture all over the news and I had to block Devon.”
Capp stopped walking. “He’s probably losing his shit right now, Forty.”
I shrugged. “Can’t drag him down into this shit. They look for every reason to nail his ass to the cross and this won’t be one of them. Robinson knows what he’s fucking doing.”
“Amaria’s pops?”
“Fuck that, the FBI director?” Quasim added.
Robinson knew that I knew something and he was determined to take me down. It wasn’t because me and Amaria were in love. I had always been careful to keep our shit separate from him. I didn’t even attend family functions she invited me to, because I never wanted him to get the wrong impression.
Comfortability caused problems, and I knew the kind of man Robinson was. Once he was comfortable with you, he asked for favors. I wasn’t on the straight and narrow by all means, but I did that shit for my people.
“Me and Amaria have been investigating the RHK case. She’s as invested as I have been and been helping me piece this shit together.”
Ever since Zoya told me about her ex-boyfriend storing the evidence at her house, I knew this shit went deeper than I thought. With the killer resurfacing and leaving bodies everywhere, I felt like I needed to figure this shit out.
What made me more invested was when Amaria said she saw that same box of evidence in her parents’ garage when she was visiting them. She was getting a box of pictures from college and stumbled upon the box.
I had never seen her so shaken up. It was like she wanted to tell me more, but didn’t know how to say it, so she made it her business to help me investigate the case. I was investigating so I could have whoever dealt with, not to turn over to the police.
She had a bad feeling about her father being involved.
Amaria and her father had a strained relationship the older she became.
It was some family shit that she couldn’t forgive and refused to speak on.
I questioned it a few times, but it always made her uncomfortable, so I left it alone until she was ready to talk about it.
We made it to the villa that Goon was staying in. Capp knocked a few times before Sharon told us to come in. When she saw me, she smiled so wide because it had been a while.
“Hi, Ms. Sharon.”
“Fuquan, dear… you know how to stay missing, eh?”
“Always the plan,” I hugged her, as she kissed my cheek and checked me over like only a mother could.
“You be safe, eh?”
“Always.”
G came down the stairs stretching with a cup of water in his hands. “Tell Gams I’m not messing with her shit no more.”
“Gerald.”
“Stuff,” he corrected himself. “I got a headache and a pregnant wife that says she feels like she has to throw up, but won’t throw up, then gets mad because I want her to throw up to feel better.”
Quasim and Cappadonna both laughed. “Nigga, this is just the tip of the iceberg… wait until you doze off when she has that pregnancy insomnia… anjo beat the sh… stuff out of me,” he quickly corrected himself.
Goon filled the glass with ice and water before taking it back upstairs. “I’ll be back.”
Khaos came downstairs and dapped us up before kissing his mother. “Zoya ain’t make the eggs, right?”
“Her eggs aren’t that bad, Kenneth.”
He looked at his mom and laughed. “Then why didn’t you eat them?”
She swatted him, then rolled to the back. We went and sat in the backyard while we waited for Zoya. Capri ran up from the beach with Aimee behind her. Both Meer and Skyler were holding onto each other while trying to catch their breath.
“Sug, you could have fucking gone easy on us… and you. I get you FBI and shit now, but chill out, Paul Blart.” He pointed at Aimee.
Capri laughed, as she went to her brother and he kissed her on the head. She set on the arm of his chair, while Aimee went to get a kiss, too. “What happened to you out there, Pops?”
“I had your son demanding me to stand in one place.”
Aimee laughed. “That is why I had to sneak out the house. He did the same thing to me and Capri yesterday.”
“Hey Forty… I never been in the company of a fugitive,” she came and hugged me, as I mushed her.
“Get the fuck on, Ms. Gates.”
She laughed. “My phone has been going crazy all morning with your shit. Between that and the damage Menace has caused; everyone is up in arms confused.”
Capri held her phone up. “Making all this damn work for me,” she joked.
Goon came outside with a shirt on this time and sat down. He looked at all of us but said nothing.
“Is my girl good?”
“Stubborn as shit, but good. Made me leave because she has to use the bathroom.” He sucked his teeth annoyed.
“You wanna be in there when she shit? The fuck kind of shit is that?” Meer laughed, as he winked at his wife.
“The same shit you are on… weirdo.”
“Congratulations, Nigga… you were geeked last night so I couldn’t even congratulate you.” I reached over and dapped him.
“It takes a strong nigga to put up with Zoya’s ass,” Meer laughed.
“You would know,” Capri looked at her husband.
Ol’ lovesick asses.
G laughed as he rubbed his beard. “Nah, it takes a secure nigga to put up with a woman that’s used to carrying everything herself.
She doesn’t know how to accept help because there’s never been a nigga there to offer it to her.
Boobie’s independence is a trauma response.
A less than nigga would be insecure with a woman like her and have been insecure when with her.
As confused as I am with her at times, I was made for her. ”
Like she knew he was talking about her, she came out the house with juice in her hand. “Ginger… yum.”
She took a seat right next to him, as he sipped her freshly pressed juice. “You alright?”
“Not really… I feel so queasy, but don’t have to throw up.”
“Mouth moist?” Aimee asked.
“Yes… I keep having to spit and I hate it.” She sighed, as she looked at everyone happily sipping her juice.
Goon was going to make her a brat, and Zoya deserved all of that. With the way he and his family would spoil her, she needed that.
“Y’all plotting on killing me is wild,” Menace walked up with his hands pushed into his pocket.
“Carl, don’t start your shit,” Meer laughed.
“Moschino, your grandmother drugged me.”
Skyler busted out laughing. “Gams is known for using us as her test subjects.”
“I like Gambino.”
“Gams… her fucking name is Gams,” Goon laughed.
I looked around at all of them and knew I had to trust each of them with my life. No matter how much they played, when it came down to handling business, they handled that shit without a doubt.
“You on,” Menace said to his phone.
He turned his phone around, and Kora was in the screen with a dramatic beach hat and dark sunglasses on. The beach was in her background, as she looked into the camera.
“You will turn yourself in. We can help you disappear, but that would mean living your life in the shadows. I also know you want to keep your career as well,” Kora started. “Zoya.”
“Kora, I’m pregnant…thought you should know,” she started.
Kora held her hand over her mouth. “She let Gusto knock her up.”
“Fuck you, Menace.”
“I’m going to be an auntie again… Bean, you little whore.”
All of our eyes got wide. “The biggest.”
“Sleepover at my place once we’re back home... okay? I’m holding you to it, Zoya,” she scolded her.
“Uh huh. Can I speak now?”
“Congratulations, Gerald. I’m so happy for the both of you. Does that mean you’ll be becoming a Caselli?”
He turned in his seat. “Fuck no… why the fuck y’all keep asking that? She coming up off that damn last name and becoming a Wraithe.”
“Interesting.”
Menace turned the phone to face him. “I said the same thing. Lil’ fella is very independent.”
“What the fuck?”
“Any fucking way. Forty, you want to keep your career and clear your name, so you have to turn yourself in. The advantage we have is that allows me to get my ducks in a row before you ever turn yourself in.”
“They’re saying you tried to kill Robinson,” Aimee spoke.
“Bullshit. I went to his house because he asked to see me. I put the conversation off for a while, but when somebody broke into my apartment, I knew we needed to talk.”
“And you stabbed him?” Capp asked.
“He lunged at me when he heard something drop from the back. It was like he had to make a move, and that’s when Inez came out from the back. I had the knife in my hand and she was high. I could tell by how slow she was moving.”
G hung his head. “She said you were trying to kill her.”