Chapter 3
Malik “Bleek” Browne
Ibounced the ball against the hardwood flooring.
The coating on the gym court was so shiny that I could damn near see my reflection.
This was the life that I had always wanted.
The family, the house, and the peace of it all.
Shit, with all the amenities I put on this land, my kids didn’t have to leave our property if they didn’t want to.
Although I had built this space in our liking to try and keep my kids here, my baby girl was still trying to find her way to the same territory that I had clawed myself out of.
“Check up, nigga,” I smirked as I passed the ball to my right hand, Sha.
He caught it before bouncing it back to me. I quickly side swiped before drilling to the hoop and ending with a left-hand layup that landed the orange ball straight into the net.
“Man, it’s early, and ya ass just showing off,” he huffed while throwing his hands up.
It was obvious that MJ had gotten his basketball talents from me.
I smiled just thinking of his skill. I took pride in my boy.
He had a full ride to UCLA on a basketball scholarship.
Tiresome nights in this very gym are what contributed to that.
Having a natural knack for the sport was something that I was grateful for.
Not only did it give us something in common, but it was one of the things that we bonded over.
I tucked the rock under my arm before walking over to the bleacher for my water bottle.
“This is like our third game, bro. I need to get my ass back home before your sister-in-law starts tripping that I left out this early. You know how she can get.”
Sha was married to Eternity’s little sister, Tori, but that isn’t how we got close.
When I was out in these streets and relocated my coke operation from New York to Florida before taking over the Ruiz Cartel, he was right by my side for it all.
With time comes change, and having a family slowed me up tremendously.
Nowadays, I let Sha take the front seat while I sit in the back and collect payments.
He had a family just as I did, but he lived for the thrill.
With me, all that shit died the day Maylee was born.
I stepped outside for big deals regarding expansion, or if there was a situation with our work.
Everyone prayed that I never had to come outside for the latter.
That dog was still very much in me. I just felt it was unnecessary at my age to constantly show my teeth.
But trust, I had no problem with flashing these muthafuckas if needed.
Just thinking back on all the wild things we used to do, I smiled.
That smile quickly faded when I thought of my baby girl being in love with some hood ass nigga named Trigga.
I rolled my eyes just thinking of the fucking name.
I kept my princesses sheltered for this exact reason.
My children went to the best schools to receive the best education, and they wanted for nothing because I made sure of it.
From a young age, they went to private school.
MJ insisted that he attend a public high school for better basketball opportunities and exposure, so I let him.
Maliah followed right behind him, and against my better judgment, I let her because Eternity had talked me into it.
Mali has her big brother to protect her.
You need to loosen the leash some, or you will lose her, she repeated.
I never wanted to create a hostile or uncomfortable living environment for any of my children.
Still, I did want to keep them shielded and under my care always.
I didn’t have the best upbringing, and neither did Eternity.
My efforts to protect my girls obviously meant nothing because here we were with this dating shit.
I mean, a piece of me knew that this moment would come one day.
I just prayed that it was with some Steve Urkel ass little nigga. Not someone named damn Trigga.
“Maliah got herself a little boyfriend,” I quietly said after finally taking a sip of water.
“A fucking what?” Sha quickly responded.
Like me, he was just as protective of her.
My friends and I were all like that when it came to our daughters.
Shit, my closest friend, who I consider my brother, Ty, lived out in the Dominican Republic.
His home is not only built up like a fortress, but his oldest daughter doesn’t go anywhere without an armed security detail.
You see, his children knew exactly who he was.
They just knew not to speak about it, especially with my children.
Before I took over, he was the head of the Ruiz Cartel.
When his children got to a certain age, he was big on letting them know his past so that they wouldn’t gravitate toward the shit in the future.
I never agreed with him until now. Now that I had met with the fate that he had been avoiding since becoming a dad, I feared how my girls would view me, the real me.
My daughters know me to be a legit businessman of multiple auto shops.
I had a chain of shops up and down Interstate 95.
Smart businesses that were placed strategically right off the expressway in different states to make it easier for my coke shipments.
My girls couldn’t know that. How would they take it knowing that their father was as big as El Chapo?
Who they knew was Malik Browne, owner of MB’s Auto.
I even had commercials with some cheesy ass jingle.
MJ’s mother, Paris, had helped me with public promotion years ago when we were a thing before she died.
The only child who knows of my street endeavors is MJ.
I felt like it was necessary because he was the only boy.
Of course, I didn’t want him to follow in my footsteps.
I always wanted better for my children. But I felt it was important for him to know the family history.
If I could turn back the hands of time, I would have shed light on my past for Maliah. Maybe we wouldn’t be here.
“Yeah, a fucking boyfriend,” I huffed out before taking a seat on the bleachers.
He sat beside me and breathed out a breath that was filled with stress. I thought when I looked in the mirror and saw a couple of grays in my beard that age was sneaking up on me, but with this news, I woke up with six new ones. My daughter was about to age the fuck out of me. I could feel it.
“She… she told you this shit?”
My boy was so perplexed that he was stuttering.
“Nope, she ain’t said shit to me yet. Eternity told me.”
He pulled his phone out.
“What’s this little nigga’s name?”
“Eternity says Trigga.”
I said the name with air quotations because this little nigga had no idea that I was the real shooter. Shit, coming up, Sha’s nickname was Shootah Sha. We were the real deal. Sha sucked his teeth.
“When are we meeting him? I’ve been waiting for my Bad Boys 2 moment.”
He quickly stood from the bleachers and then mimicked Will Smith from the movie.
“Who that is at the door?”
“It’s Reggie,” I quickly jumped in.
We both laughed and then shared the same sigh at the end.
“We are getting old, nigga,” he said before taking his seat back beside me.
I took another sip from my water bottle before twisting my lips up.
I didn’t want to hold my boy any longer.
I just needed to play some ball to get my mind off this bullshit, and venting and hooping with my homie helped some.
I knew that MJ was probably up, but this wasn’t a conversation I felt was suitable to have with my son.
Although I was his dad, I knew that he would side with his sister.
He was loyal like that, and honestly, I was proud of it.
“Get ya ass back home before the boss wakes up,” I said with a light stretch.
He was my dog, but we all knew that Tori ran the show.
She was the total opposite of Eternity in every way.
Where Eternity knew how to be soft, feminine, and dainty, Tori’s ass was ready to tie up the Timberland boots and toss some camo on.
She was little ghetto, ghetto for sure. Still, I took her under my wing and treated her as a real sister many years ago when Eternity and I weren’t even seeing eye to eye.
I dapped up with him and then sat back on the bench and watched him gather his stuff to leave.
“Let me know when you meet him, bro. I can clean out my trunk, and we can ride around with his ass for a bit. It’s a couple of blocks on Las Olas Boulevard that has some potholes. Have that muthafucka bouncing all around in the back like I have hydraulics on my whip.”
I tossed my head back and then let out a laugh. It felt good knowing that my homie was on the same time I was on.
As I drove across the property toward the house in a golf cart, the scent in the air hit me first. The aroma was filled with the smell of eggs, bacon, and something sweet I couldn’t quite place.
I smiled, thinking it was Eternity up to her usual magic in the kitchen.
Although we had a cook on call, that woman would be the first up and in the kitchen.
I rolled up the driveway and pushed open the door to the house as I was still wiping sweat from my brow with the hand towel in my hand.
“Morning,” I called out.
The scent grew stronger, and my smile faded a little. Something smelled… off. Not wrong, just… different. I sniffed hard as hell, and then I was able to place the smell. Somebody was burning some shit.