Chapter 10
Zion ‘Steel’ Perkins
CERTIFIED HANDS
“Steel, it’s this crazy ass white man at the door asking for you.
Big Rod at the door, ready to put that nigga on his head because he’s been telling him to leave the premises for the past five minutes, but he won’t let up.
You want to go see what the dude wants before Rod handle it?
” Anthony, one of the trainers here at my gym asked me.
I was in the back, in my office, just going over a few things.
Life has been so busy for me that I haven’t had the time to pop in at my gym in a while, but today, I had a few moments to breathe, so I pulled up about an hour ago, talked with some of the kids that were here training, and then I made my way to the back.
I was about to head out anyways, so I didn’t mind going to the front, and seeing who was here to see me.
“Do you know who it is? You saw him before?’ I asked Anthony, as I stood up from my chair, and I shut the computer off.
“Nah man. I ain’t ever seen that man a day in my life. He looks like a fuckin drunk too,” Anthony told me, as I neared him.
We walked out of the office together, and I locked it behind me, knowing that I wouldn’t be going back inside.
My office was up top, so I had to jog down the stairs, where I made it onto the main level, and I walked outside of the building where I could see the commotion going on.
“I just want to talk to him man. I don’t see what’s the big deal in me talking to him,” I heard the dude slurring. I could hear him before I saw him.
Upon hearing his voice, I didn’t know who he was.
Even when I saw him, I didn’t make out who he was right away.
It took me a while to remember him, and after a few seconds of thinking, I remembered that this was Bryson’s father.
Bryson was the crazy ass student that Toni had last year that was stalking her.
The nigga that I ended up killing, when I found his ass hiding out in my backyard.
I was confused as to why his father was at my gym though.
When I walked out, my security Big Rod tried to push me back, telling me not to go over to him.
“It’s cool. I got him. What’s up man? You been drinking tonight? Why you coming down here, starting problems?” my voice was calm as I approached him.
I wasn’t scared of him because I had two weapons on me. One was my hands, and the other was the gun that I had on my waist.
“I didn’t come down here to cause any problems, man. You… you took my boy away from me. I don’t… don’t think you understand what that did to me,” his words were slurred because he was drunk out of his mind.
I saw where he was getting ready to reach for something at his waist, but before he could do it, I went right for his legs, tackling this nigga, slamming him down on his head.
I moved swiftly, going for his waist, retrieving the small .
380 that was there, that he tried reaching for.
I tossed it to the side and proceeded to beating the shit out of him.
“Fuck you got going on, man? You came down here, acting like I killed an innocent man. Your crazy ass son was stalking my fiancé, and I caught his bitch ass in my backyard, so I killed his ass. You’re a fuckin drunk.
A drunk that was abusive to him, and his mom.
Why the fuck you coming down here now, trying to solve it?
” I was angry, sending blow after blow to his body.
My security was a big dude, but he struggled with getting me off this man. When he eventually got me off, he pushed me back.
“Steel, I got it. Chill out. Chill the fuck out!” big Rod threatened.
I was hot. Voices in my head were telling me to kill this man, but instead, I just stood back, with my hands on top of my head, panting, watching him as he laid there, face leaking in blood from the damage that I’d done.
“You better leave, man. I don’t know how the fuck you got here, but you better get in your car and get the fuck out of here while you still have the chance,” Rod told him.
It took him awhile to get up because he was battered and bruised.
Each time that he tried to stand, he would fall.
Eventually, on the third try, he was able to successfully stand up, but when he did, it was as if he was standing on drunken legs.
There wasn’t a car that he walked to in the parking lot.
He staggered over to the road, where cars were speeding up and down the road, and he sloppily crossed the street.
Eventually, he disappeared into the dark air, and I could no longer see him.
“Who the fuck was that man?” Rod asked me.
“That crazy ass nigga that was stalking Toni last year. That’s his dad,” I let Rod know, and he nodded his head up and down.
“Ay, if he come back down here, I’m killing his ass. Just letting you know that in advance,” Rod told me.
“I can assure you that he’s not going to bring his drunk ass back over here. Shit crazy man,” I said, more so to myself, as I thought about what just finished happening.
I stood outside of the gym with Rod, and Anthony for a few more minutes, and then I dipped out, letting them know that I would swing back tomorrow. I slapped it up with them, and then I jumped in my car, pulling out of the parking lot.
Instead of blasting my music like I typically would do, I chose to drive in silence.
I really haven’t had any major bullshit happen in my life these days.
The most drama that I had was the shit that Toni was dealing with from haters on social media.
I haven’t had to personally put my hands on someone in a long time.
I was still shocked about what just happened.
Days before my wedding, when everything in my life had been going good, this crazy ass man pulls up on me, trying to start some bullshit.
I thought about that shit the entire way home.
When I pulled up to the house, I saw that there were a few extra cars parked in our driveway, so I knew that production was here filming.
I sighed, running my hand down my face, and then I shut the car off, grabbed my things, and I stepped out of the car.
I walked up the circular driveway, went over to the front door, where I keyed in the code, which quickly granted me entry.
The second that I walked inside the house, cameras were in my face, recording me.
I tried to play it off and acted like everything was fine.
I could hear noise coming from the kitchen, so that’s the direction that I walked in.
Both Brooklyn and Zayne were sitting at the island, and they were doing homework.
Lani was in her highchair, and she had snacks laid out in front of her, that she was smacking on.
She had been chilling, but the second she saw me, she started whining, moving around in the chair, lifting her arms, so that I could come get her.
Toni was standing at the stove, looking inside one of the pots.
Brooklyn was closest to me, so I went over to her, and I hugged her.
I went over to my son next, hugging him, kissing his forehead, and I stuck my hand out for him to pound my fist. He did it, and then his eyes got big, seeing the blood that was on my knuckles, that I forgot was there.
“Dad, what happened to your hand?” he asked, and his question immediately had Toni turning her head around from the stove, and her eyes drifted over to my hands.
I was swift, putting my hands down at my side, not allowing her to get a look at it. I was going to tell her, but I just didn’t want to speak on it in front of the kids.
“I was at the gym. I got a few rounds in inside the ring. I just gotta clean it up,” I told him, and my son didn’t think that I had any reason to lie to him, so he nodded his head, and went back to doing his homework, as if it was no big deal.
Toni, however, her ass was burning a hole through me with her eyes. I could tell that watered down lie to my son, and get away with it, but I couldn’t pull that shit with her.
Lani was still fussing for me to pick her up out of her highchair, so I walked over to her, and I pulled her out of it.
“Let me talk to you upstairs, Zion. Brooklyn, and Zayne, just stay down here and finish with your homework. The food is almost ready,” Toni said, turning the eye’s down on the stove, and without giving me an option to agree, she went ahead, and headed up the stairs, making it clear that a talk wasn’t up for debate.
The crew that was in here filming, I told them to stay downstairs, and I went up the stairs, following Toni.
By the time I made it to our bedroom, I could hear her moving around in the bathroom. She came out, and she was holding a first aid kit in her hands. I took a seat on the ottoman, keeping Lani in my lap, who was quiet because she was just happy to be in my arms.
“What happened to your hands?” she immediately asked me, coming over, and she stood in the middle of my legs, looking up at me, waiting for the real answer from me.
The first aid kit was in the bed, and she was able to reach over, and open it, while she waited for me to speak.
“Bryson’s daddy pulled up to the gym. Drunk, causing problems out front, looking for me.
Anthony came up to my office to get me, so that I could see what the nigga wanted.
He was questioning me, wanting to know why I killed his son.
Nigga pulled up toting a .380, as if the plan was to come down, and kill me.
Slammed him on his head, and I beat his ass,” I told her. I could tell that she was shocked.
We haven’t had to bring up Bryson’s name in a long time.
I knew that those were hard times for us in our relationship, and that Toni was damn near depressed when all that shit was going on.
That crazy ass student of hers managed to sneak into her condo, get into the back of her car, where he strangled her, had video access of her while she was at home, and just a bunch of other crazy shit.
Knowing the trauma that he caused, and hearing his name all over again, it caused her to become quiet, as she cleaned off the blood that was on my knuckles, and she used one of the cotton clothes to apply just a little bit of pressure to it.
“Don’t start overthinking this shit, please.
His bitch ass daddy not going to do anything.
Not after the way he got his ass beat. He’s a drunk, Toni.
I wouldn’t be surprised if his drunk ass just found out today that his son is no longer here, and that’s why he came to the gym looking for me,” I voiced, knowing her, and knowing that she would allow this shit to take over her happiness, and come up with a bunch of scenarios that she thought would come out of this.
“I just hate that he had to come and do this now. Our wedding will literally be here in just a few days,” she whined to me.
“And our wedding will continue to be here in a few days. This don’t change shit, Toni. I just had to beat a nigga ass. We going to be okay. What you cooked for dinner?” I asked, changing the subject, not wanting to talk about this anymore.
Her ass pretended that she didn’t hear me, as she pulled out bandages from the kit, and she applied them to my knuckles. Her pettiness and stubbornness had me laughing, and I pulled her closer to me once my left hand was cleaned and bandaged up.
In the gray tank top that she was wearing, I kissed her exposed cleavage, neck, and I started planting kisses on her face, which had my daughter reaching her hand up, and she pushed my head out of the way.
“Lani, you gotta learn how to share. I gotta give mommy some love too,” I said, and she started fussing, gurgling a bunch of shit that neither one of us could understand.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Your butt needs to learn to share me,” I told her, trying to shut down all the fuss that she was giving me.
“So, what’s up? You going to be in your feelings about this all night?
I was thinking after dinner, and we get the kids squared away, that we could take a bubble bath together.
Don’t that sound better than walking around, being pissed about some shit that happened at the gym?
” I asked, now that she was finished with cleaning both hands.
“We can,” she told me, and that made me smile because at least we were getting some kind of progress.
“Aight then. That’s what I’m talking about.
T, nothing is going to get in the way of you becoming Mrs. Perkins.
Shit can continue popping up out of the woodworks, and trying to throw us off our square, but I’m still going to marry you.
Can’t nothing stop that, aight?” I asked her, and with a smile on her face, she eventually dropped that shit, and she leaned her head in, quickly placing kisses on my face, having to do that shit swiftly before Lani and her strict ass started fussing again.
Like nothing ever happened, we were able to head back downstairs with the kids, and finish filming. Brooklyn and Zayne finished with homework, dinner was ready, and we ate at the table like a family.
The production team eventually left for the night, and Toni and I were able to get Zayne, and Lani in bed at a decent time.
That bubble bath that I suggested to her back in the bedroom, we were able to make that happen, and we accomplished some good fuckin in there too.
All this nasty ass sex that we’ve been having lately, I was confused on the tricks that I was supposed to bring out on our wedding night.
Shit, I was giving her ass all the tricks already.