19. Juelz
I decided to let Zel handle the Posh situation because he complained about me not allowing him to take over fully.
This was a problem under his leadership, and he wanted to deal with it.
He felt like every time there is an issue, I came running to his defense.
So, I decided to give him free reign on how he got Posh, and how he killed her.
“Daddddddy!” Kari squealed, coming into my room.
“Hey, baby. What’s up?”
“Daddy, I need you to help me get dressed, Uncle Zel is coming to pick me up.”
“Kari, how do you know your uncle is coming to pick you up? You haven’t talked to him today,” I said, looking at my daughter.
She always assumed something would happen just because she felt it should. Most of the time, she got her way, but there were times when she didn’t.
“Mmmhmmm, yes, I did. He called me on my phone.”
“What phone, Kari? You don’t have a phone.” I looked at her even more confused, and she looked at me as if I was crazy.
She put her hands on her little hips as if she had a problem with me. “I do have a phone, daddy. Uncle Zel got it for me. Seeeeee,” she said, holding the phone up for me to see.
This nigga.
I couldn’t do anything but shake my head at my brother. He had Kari’s ass spoiled as hell. I mean, I know I spoil her, but Zel was over the top with shit. Kari was only five, what does she need with an iPhone 8 plus?
“Well, come on, daddy. My time is money!” she demanded, sounding extra bossy. I scrunched my face up because I know she got that shit from Zel!
“Lil’ girl watch your mouth talking to me,” I told her as I got up to help Little Miss Kari get dressed for her date with her uncle.
An hour and a half later, I had gotten Kari and myself dressed because I had an important meeting at First Providian today.
I knew I was fucked up for not reaching out to Ciera, but this chick had me wanting to see her.
I thought of her every damn day and that shit was not going to fly with me.
The way she felt in my arms was some crazy shit, and I vowed that I was going to stay clear of her.
I knew one day I would have to let go of Kenya, but if you looked around the room, I still had things that belonged to her just like she had it when she was here.
One day, I would get the courage to get rid of it; not today though.
“Come on, Kari,” I said, stepping in her room. Kari stood from her chair, and walked up to me, grabbing my hand. We walked downstairs and Zel was already in my kitchen raiding the fridge.
“Why you didn’t call me and tell me you were taking Kari out, nigga?” I asked him.
“Why I got to call you, when I called her?” He shrugged his shoulders.
“Nigga, she five, and why the hell you bought her a damn phone?”
“She needs a phone, that’s why!” he said with a look of confusion on his face. This nigga was slow as hell. Like he really couldn’t see the problem in this whole situation. Nevertheless, that was Zel for you.
“Come on, Kari. Let’s get away from this Scrooge,” Zel stated as he grabbed Kari’s hand.
“Bye, daddy. Love you!” she sang as she turned to hug me, then ran back to her uncle, happy as can be.
Those two were something else together. I swear Kari thought Zel was the best thing since Oreo cookies, and her ass loved Oreo cookies. I decided to drive myself today, which I had been doing a lot more of lately.
Since Kari was with my brother for the day, I had a little bit of free time, so I decided to take a ride to clear my head. As soon as I got into my car, my phone started to ring. It was Stephanie from Human Resources of the bank.
“Hello.” I answered, placing the call through my Bluetooth of the car.
“Mr. Kassom, this is Stephanie. I think we ‘ve a mistake on the list of employees that we’re laying off. I have Ciera Voss on this list, and we just gave her a promotion. The request came over not long ago, and I just wanted to make sure this is correct,” she said.
“Yes, she’s been added to the list. Her severance package will be a little different being as though we gave her a promotion. I’ll send those numbers personally.”
“Oh, ok. I hate that Ciera is such a nice girl. I’ll be waiting for the amount. Thank you, Mr. Kassom.” She ended the call and I smiled to myself. Ms. Voss, was going to be just fine, fired and all. I thought to myself.
Ever since our encounter at the bank, and me delivering the news that she would be laid off, Ciera had been on my mind like crazy.
I tried like hell to steer clear of her, but baby girl had a weird ass hold on me that I couldn’t shake.
It was one of the main reasons she got the boot.
I couldn’t be licking on her damn pussy and keep shit professional knowing I would break a niggas neck if he looked at wrong in that damn place.
On some real shit, I hated that I had to implement a layoff to any of my employees.
But after my legal team did its due diligence, it was necessary.
It was one of the hardest things I had to do, but I was going to make sure that they would be straight for a while.
When we delivered the news, the room was in chaos, so I had to step in and reassure them that we would make sure that they would be good.
Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been a good turnout. Luckily for me, it was.
I’m happy when the meeting was over, that I had a chance to catch up with Ciera and my God, baby girl had my dick doing dickups inside my pants.
I laughed because shorty tried to act all nonchalant and shit, but I saw right through it and could tell that she really was salty about me not calling her.
If only she knew how hard it was for a nigga to not stay on her line day in and out.
Of course, seeing her caused me to fold—majorly.
I ended up eating pretty mama up like she was an “All You Can Eat” buffet.
Had her ass damn near in tears too. When I finished “cleaning my plate” I let her know that she was the reason behind her layoff then I asked to take her to dinner.
Low key, I was stoked as fuck when she agreed but now, I couldn’t help but to feel a little guilty.
Truth be told, Ciera was the first woman since Kenya that I liked beyond a sexual attraction.
Knowing that I still had some unresolved trauma, I wasn’t trying to rush into anything too heavy but at the same time, I was so damn intrigued by her.
Needing to clear my head, I made a quick little detour to one of my comfort spots.
With the afternoon traffic I made it there in thirty minutes as opposed to the usual fifteen.
Pulling into the cemetery, I drove down the long curvy road until I reached my destination.
Once I put my car into park, I hopped out then walked through the grass bypassing all the marked graves until I reached the headstone with Kenya’s picture engraved on it.
For a minute, I just stood there staring at it and it felt like I could feel her presence right there with me.
It was crazy because we never did recover her body so realistically, I knew there was nothing inside of her casket.
That didn’t stop me from going all out and spending lavishly on the perfect headstone to bury her in style.
Oddly enough, just being here provided me a source of comfort.
“Hey beautiful, it’s been a minute,” I spoke, standing face to face with the headstone.
“Sorry for not coming by sooner, life has been kicking a nigga in the ass. Between the business and your crazy ass daughter, I feel like there’s never enough hours in the day to do everything.
I’ll do better though…” Feeling my chest tighten, I felt myself becoming emotional.
I’d never be able to understand why someone would choose to harm Kenya. Out of everyone in this world, I still couldn’t grasp why it had to be her. She didn’t do anything to anybody or deserve to be targeted by some fuck niggas. It just didn’t make any sense to me.
“I miss you girl,” my voice cracked. “I hope one day I can make it right by avenging you, but until then keep watching over us, okay?” I kissed my band then placed it on the top of her headstone. I was just about to head back to the car when I heard a familiar voice talking.
“Ever wish that heaven had a phone? I know I do. I’d be running it up,” Ciera laughed lightly and I nodded my head before stepping over to her.
Her eyes were bloodshot red like she’d been crying and for some reason I hated the thought of her being sad. I reached out and pulled her in for a hug that I low key needed as well. We stayed like that for a good while until she finally pulled back and sniffled.
“Who are you here visiting?” She questioned curiously and I tipped my head towards Kenya’s headstone a few feet away but said nothing.
“This your pops?” I asked, eyeing the memorial plaque that we were standing over.
“The best one in the whole world.” She smiled.
“That’s what’s up.” I nodded. “I know he’s proud of you.”
“You think?”
“Hell yeah.” I nodded again.
“Thank you for saying that; I really appreciate it.” She wrapped her arms around herself like she was cold, so I removed my jacket and draped it over her shoulders to warm her up.
We ended up sitting down and kicking it with each other in the cemetery for over a good hour.
I sat and listened to her reminisce and tell funny stories that she remembered about her pops then when it was my turn, she did the same for me.
What were the odds of us randomly bumping into each other at the cemetery of all the places.
What was usually a depressing experience for the first time ended up being one that actually healed me.
And what’s so crazy about it was that shorty probably felt like I healed her too.