1. Lawton #2
Anytime he referred to me by my government name, I knew he was annoyed.
Shit, the fact that he even brought her up had me aggravated.
Valerie Harvey was a sore subject for me and had been since the day I learned of Supreme’s existence.
Preme was proof of our father’s infidelity and to satisfy Val, our pops didn’t have a relationship with him.
Financially, Preme was taken care of and had been their well-kept secret until the day the local hospital called informing them of his biological mothers sudden passing.
For a woman that didn’t want her husband involved in his outside child’s life, she quickly got herself together and went to the hospital to pick him up. Sincere was ten when my parents brought him home.
By that time, I was already out of the house and in college. After a frantic phone call from my mother, I took the first flight out of D.C. to meet my brother. He and I hit it off immediately while my relationship with my parents took a nosedive.
As far back as I could remember, my relationship with my dad had always been stronger. My mom was too busy flossing around town to really be a mother.
However, the minute Preme moved in, she found time to mother him. That caused the biggest strain in our relationship.
For years I had heard Val never wanted me. When my pops, Elias, learned of her pregnancy, he begged her not to terminate it. On paper, my parents had the perfect marriage. Inside the walls of their house, it was anything but.
Elias couldn’t be faithful if you paid him which was the reason Val didn’t want me per say. My entire life I had heard how much I reminded her of Elias, I mean after all, I shared his chocolate skin complexion, the same hooded eyes, and our statures were similar.
Val despised me because, again, I was the child she didn’t want. Having me kept her in a marriage that she so desperately desired to get out of. My pops hated the way she treated me which is why our bond was so strong.
As a huge “fuck you” to him, she forbade him from having anything to do with Sincere. One look at him ten years later, she somehow fell in love and was the mother to him that she had never been to me.
On the outside looking in, you would think I was jealous of the relationship Sincere shared with my mother, but that was the furthest from the truth. Whereas he needed a mom, I no longer desired that connection with her.
So naturally once my father passed, out of sheer obligation, I made sure Val didn’t want for anything but that was as far as our relationship extended.
“She made it this way.”
“Don’t mean you gotta keep it up. Somebody gotta be the bigger person.”
“Somebody does,” I acknowledged. “But that somebody won’t be me.”
Holding his palms in the air he said, “You got it Dutch. Be careful and hit me up if you need me.”
“Don’t I always,” I confirmed after a beat.
Following Preme to the door, I hit the lights on the warehouse, pulled the door closed, and secured the locks. After hugging my baby brother, I slid in the back of the SUV and headed back into town to handle the rest of my business.
* * *
When the truck rolled to a halt in front of the youth center, I peered out the window in confusion.
A woman clothed in a black pencil skirt, white blouse, and black flats on her feet stood on the side of a beat-up Honda Civic, frantically pounding her fist on the passenger window.
In all the years that we’ve been in this location, I had never witnessed such a commotion.
Before Baker could round the truck, I had opened the back door and hopped out. Noticing Dahlia’s former assistant standing at the door, I called out to him.
“What the hell is going on?” I asked as soon as he was standing near me. The car had finally pulled away from the curb, leaving the frantic woman with a face full of tears while Marsha tried her hardest to console her.
Tossing his hands on the top of his head he muttered, “What isn’t going on? That’s Tali the one you hired to replace Dahlia.”
“That’s not explaining why she’s standing on the curb crying, Rossi.”
“Let me make sure she’s okay and I’ll meet you inside.”
When I went to oppose, Rossi begged me with his eyes to drop it until he could handle whatever he needed to handle. There really wasn’t much I could do so instead of protesting, I grabbed my shit off the back seat and let Baker know I would call him when I was ready for him to pull the car around.
Bypassing the melee in front of the building, I headed inside and up to my office. The youth center was the final stop on my agenda today. I wasn’t planning on spending much time here seeing as though I only popped in to show my face to the staff and see if there was anything I could do for them.
After I had replaced Dahlia, I slowed up on my visits. I was secure with the staffs competency and knew without a doubt that Rossi and Marsha would see to it that the new hire got the proper training that she needed.
As I’ve said before, this was Dahlia’s love child; I simply funded it and oversaw the renovations. My only obligation to the center was to make sure they had whatever resources they needed.
Swift raps on the door jarred my attention away from the proposal I was reading. “Come in.”
“Mr. Harvey,” Rossi sighed. “I apologize about that. Tali—”
Squinting my eyes, I queried. “Who?”
“Talitha. Ms. Howard, the one you hired.”
“Right right right.” I nodded in understanding.
“Like I was saying Tali is a far stretch from Dahlia,” he chuckled ambiguously. “Poor thing wears her heart on her sleeves. Don’t get me wrong, she is doing a phenomenal job here. The staff loves her and most importantly, the kids love her.”
Placing my elbows on the desk I rubbed my temples. “What was that unfolding outside?”
“One of our newest members lost his brother last night to some gang mess. He’s one of the ones Tali has taken a personal interest in, given his jaded past. Well, let’s just say he showed up today full of fury and all but told her today would be the last day either of us saw him.”
“I’m guessing he’s planning on getting even?” I asked, knowing full well that was the case. When it came to the streets, we lived by the code “an eye for an eye”.
I knew firsthand how I would react if someone had killed Preme, and while I respected lil’ man for wanting to get his revenge, that was the reason Dahlia fought so hard for this center.
She wanted to not only impact the community but have an even bigger impact on the youth. Basically, get them out of the streets and that was a notion I respected to the fullest. Dahlia, unlike a lot of others, only knew the legal side of me. Lawton and Dutch where two completely different people.
Part of the reason I credited Adele for me being the man I am is because it was her connections that got me roped up in the dope game.
Adele’s father was a Columbian drug lord coining her the princess of his empire.
When he was killed, everything was passed down to her.
Her husband was too stiff to run drugs, so she offered it to me.
Of course, with my astute background, I knew absolutely nothing about cocaine but as the Bible says “If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. If you teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.”
After learning everything there was to know about running a drug ring, I pulled Preme onboard with me and the two of us had been in business for years.
I finished my degree and made sure Sincere got one as well.
I needed us to be as legit as possible on paper.
Not only on paper but also where our financial portfolio was concerned.
“Unfortunately, he is,” Rossi confirmed. “Tali was begging him not to do it and things kind of went from there.”
“Clearly I selected the wrong person,” I noted rather frankly.
“I would have to disagree. I think she is the perfect person. Our resources are limited Mr. Harvey. There is so much Tali wants to do around here. The state hardly wants to get involved with anything. It’s like beating a dead horse trying to get them to fund anything around here.”
“Where is she?”
“Who, Tali?”
I nodded my head.
“In her office,” Rossi grumbled.
“Send her in here for me please.”
“But Mr. Harvey.” Rossi mewled his disapproval. “Please don’t let this one isolated event be the reason for her losing her job.”
Holding my hand up to halt him, I shook my head. “Send her in.”
Rossi stared at me a few seconds before slouching his shoulders and getting up to honor my request. I didn’t know what I planned to do; I knew firing her wasn’t in the cards.
It was hard deciding between the three qualified applicants.
I vaguely remember selecting her because of the years of experience she had. So no, I wouldn’t be firing her today.