Chapter 12 #2
I blinked as my eyes shifted between my daddy, the lady, and the boy, who was still standing there, watching my daddy.
The other children, who looked to be his siblings, had gone further into the house.
I studied him and saw that what made him different from the other children was what made me Sandro’s son.
Was he my brother?
But how?
My dad was married to my mama. Could men have children with other women when they were married? And the other boys looked like him, too, so does that mean they were my brothers as well?
“You don’t think I know who you are and what you do? Hunh? My cousin told me ’bout you. About who you’re associated with. Dat wife of yours? Did she marry you willingly, Sandro?”
My dad didn’t respond, which made me stare at him for answers too. My mama loved my daddy. Why would she not marry him willingly?
“Look—”
“No, you look! You were a fun time. Okay? An escape when I visited my cousin. I shoulda left your ass at the bar I met you at! But what’s done is done.
You’re dangerous, and my boy will not be tied up in your world.
” Her eyes dropped down to me, and her face relaxed a bit, sort of in a nurturing way.
She looked like my mama did when my cousins and me went off with the men in the middle of the night.
“I feel sorry for your son. He doesn’t know the hell he is facin’.
You’re the devil, Sandro. You’re the devil, and you will not turn my child into a demon. ”
She went to close the door, but my daddy stepped closer and said, “So, you’d rather him be poor? Share a two-bedroom home with twenty other children? Sleep on the floor? Depend on welfare? He has Cuppacio blood in him. He can handle anything he may encounter while I raise him!”
“Oh, yeah? Dat means he can use dat Cuppacio blood to survive the ghetto. Fuck you. Take dat boy home to his mama. He looks like he’s ready to go have fun, and you're hauling him across state lines to your mistress's doorstep!” She scoffed.
“Wait!” My daddy pulled on the door that was locked, and it was so raggedy that I was sure I could open it. “Let me just… come in. I need to… I need you.”
For some reason, those words knocked the wind out of me. Why did he need a woman who wasn’t my mama?
She folded her meaty arms across her large breasts and squinted her eyes. “I ain't got no pussy for you. My last baby daddy ate it all. Goodbye, Sandro. Don’t ever contact us again. As long as you are affiliated with dat mess, you can never see my son. I’d rather us starve than be a part of dat.”
Boom
The door slammed. My dad sighed and turned on his heels.
His legs were so long that I had to run to keep up with him.
Before we reached the car, another car pulled up behind it, and seeing my dad’s body tense, I knew it wasn’t anything good.
The window rolled down, and the piercing blue eyes that stared back gave me the creeps.
I knew it wasn’t godly to hate people, but I hated Niccoli.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” my dad yelled.
“I could ask you the same thing, cousin.” Niccoli’s eyes traveled from my daddy to me. “Don knows you took the nigger out of state? That’s right… Just because you waited until he was on a business trip to sneak away doesn’t mean he doesn’t have eyes everywhere.”
“Shut the fuck up, Niccoli! I don’t need permission to take my son on a trip.”
“But you do need permission to bring him to your mistress. Why isn’t the bitch and her child dead? That’s the rule, right? Kill the outside children. Why is she still breathing, Sandro? Why is he still breathing? I guess I’ll bring this info to my brother.”
“Don’t, Niccoli. I’m just trying to do the right thing. Look at their living conditions…” My dad gestured behind him to the house that looked as if my cousins and I had built it.
“Leave the bitch and her son! What are you not understanding about the way we are running things now?” Spit flew from Niccoli’s mouth, landing on the steering wheel that he was banging his fist on.
My dad waved him off and continued his trek to our car.
“You come back here!” Niccoli screamed while pointing at my daddy. “I’m going to kill her, her bastard, and this bastard if you continue to do things your way! Get your ass back on the plane and have that nigger ready for a mission. Now!”
My daddy stopped and looked at Niccoli, his eyes colder than I’d ever seen. “You scared her, didn’t you? Stay the fuck away from them, Niccoli! You want me to do things your way, fine. But stay out of Memphis. Leave them be, or this will get ugly.”
Niccoli didn’t reply. He drove off, making marks in the street as they did on the cartoons.
“Come on, Shio.” My daddy sighed, finally taking my hand.
“Wait. Daddy… Is that my brother? What’s his name?”
My daddy slowed, knelt in front of me on the dusty ground that dirtied his suit, and grabbed my shoulders. “No matter what, come back for your brother. Okay?”
I nodded.
“I’m serious, Shio. I know it's wrong to father a child outside of your marriage, but I can't change the past. You’re going to be a great man one day—both of you are. You’re special, though.
I know you’ll do the right thing when given the opportunity.
Wherever your brother is then, go get him.
Go get him and help him, okay? Always do right by your brother. ”
“Okay, Dad. But how am I supposed to get him if I don’t know his name?”
My dad rubbed my head, stood, and grabbed my hand again. “His name is Tunan. Tunan Payne Cuappacio. Come. We must leave.”
As my daddy dragged me to the car he had rented at the airport, I looked back at the house and saw Tunan standing in the window, watching us. We held eye contact until I was buckled into the car, and before we pulled away, I promised Tunan under my breath that I’d be back for him.
“I ain't tryna change your perspective of Sandro because, most days, I’m conflicted ’bout him myself.
It's like… I want to hate the nigga, but I can’t.
At least, not fully. It’s a constant struggle.
I know you went through it as a youngin’, but the best thing that happened to you was growing up exactly where you were.
We suffered. We were abused. We were exposed to way too much shit for our age.
That’s why even though I’m still years away from thirty, it feels like I’m double it.
I had so much anger and hate in my heart that it was destroying me.
That’s why I had to turn to God and invest in my health. ”
“Yeah. I feel you.” He signaled for another drink, and the big-haired bartender bounced over, her eyes on me. “I still feel flawed as fuck. I backdoored you, and somehow, somehow, I’m gonna make it up to you. No homo.”
“You don’t owe me shit, Tune.”
“I do. You blessed my pockets fresh out. Shid, I ain’t even paid a fuckin’ phone bill since I been out.
I ain't used to another man doin’ shit for me outside of my brothers, and I know you my brother, too, but…
You ain't have to do none of the shit you did and still doin’ for a nigga.
Real shit, I appreciate the fuck out of you for bringin’ me in.
I ain’t no pocket-counting-ass nigga, but I see how y’all livin’.
I see the respect y’all get—the way the city bows to y’all.
I was in dat cell not knowing what my next move would be.
If worst came to worst, I was gonna ask my bro-in-law to have Goal put me on.
But seeing how y’all livin’, I wouldn’t want to do nuttin’ else but this, and I haven't even started doin’ what the fuck I’m supposed to be doin’. ”
“Man, I keep my word. I told you I was coming back for you, you just ain’t hear me.
And when it comes to Glow… She’s a diamond.
I knew she was something special, but at the same time, I knew she wasn’t for me.
I never had any dealings with your wife outside of casual conversations.
She’s a good one. You did good. We good, Tune. ”
Tune was my brother, but I knew how men could get behind pussy.
Plus, Glow was a beautiful woman. I was being truthful, though.
We’d had a few conversations, but there was never a spark.
I never even got close enough to smell her.
I wanted to ensure Tunan understood that because I didn’t need to become a cloud in their marriage.
No matter how much they screamed that their shit was just on paper, an emotionless motherfucker could feel the connection, and a blind motherfucker could see it.
Tunan didn’t know it yet, but he loved Glow, and sooner than later, they would be okay with the reality of falling in love.
As for me, I was in the wildest fucking predicament. I was so in my head about the two women Don said I had to choose from that I’d been avoiding them both.
Tune bit into a wing, and from the look on his face, I could tell he wasn’t enjoying it. Turning to me, he asked, “What’s been goin’ on with you, doe? Y’all ain’t dial me up for dat impromptu trip to Mexico.”
“You got a passport?” I asked the question I already knew the answer to.
“I do. But ain’t no tellin’ what dat thieving-ass hoe did with it.” He snarled, throwing the bone on the plate.
I had never encountered a woman like Stella and prayed I never would.
She took my brother for everything he had, literally.
From my understanding, Tunan was doing really well before he met Stella, and when he got with her, things started going downhill.
That was the price for fucking with any and everybody.
I learned quickly that women enjoyed a good trick, especially if he could be tricked.
“Mexico was indeed impromptu. I didn’t even want them niggas to come.” I lowered my voice because there were too many ears around. “That was Don’s doin’.”
“So… You got a baby and a long-lost baby mama.” Tunan smirked.