Forbidden Fruit (5 page)

I looked up and stared into his eyes focusing on the two tear drops that he had tattooed under his left eye. It was a reminder of his street days. He kissed me on the cheek. The guard patted him on the back and daddy stood up. We locked eyes a second longer and then he turned away. “I need a few minutes before your sister come in,” he told me.

I couldn’t help but wonder if what my father said would come to pass. Was I going to end up in prison or on drugs? Or worst, would I end up dead? Hell nol. I was too good. I’d learned the game, and I was good at it. Diablo was my security and provider. He was my daddy now, and it wasn’t easy to let him go. I couldn’t let him go, and I wouldn’t.

* * *

Later that evening me and Diablo hit the road to pick Mont up. Mont was Diablo’s best friend and his right hand man. His uncle Ronald was shot and killed on his way home from a bar. Ronald gambled a lot and had a lot of enemies. There were no suspects in his murder.

“Cut the bullshit Blo. I’ll be there when Hector gets there. Don’t play that sensitive shit wit me nigga. You know me, don’t front.”

“Ai’ight, but I ain’t doin’ it ‘cause you told me to. I’m doin’ it cause of my shorty,” he said smashing the cigarette in the ash tray.

“Oh, okay. You smellin’ yourself now. I’m gonna leave before I say some foul shit.” He got up, lit another cigarette and headed toward the door.

“It’s okay baby. Mommie’s right here,” she said soothingly. “You hungry baby? Is that it?” She rocked Lexus and searched in the diaper bag for a bottle. She was starting to really hate Jamels’ ass. He was only good for sex lately, but he was a good father. She wished she could confess the truth. He would flip if he knew that Lexus wasn’t his. She’d cheated early in the relationship with Ju. She’d been with Ju for almost three years and it was hard to give up her comfort zone. After she had found out that she was pregnant she’d already fallen for Jamel. He’d won her heart, but he wasn’t the father. She had told Mel that Lexus was three weeks early. Mel was in Chicago for a few weeks when she’d slept with Ju Ju. He was also away when she had the baby, so he was easily convinced. The only way she got away with it was because Lexus looked just like her. She had feet like Ju, but how would Mel know that.

“It’s okay. Here’s your bottle,” she said giving Lexus what she wanted. Lexus stopped crying and started sucking immediately.

Maya had a feeling that Ju knew, but hadn’t said anything. He and Mel always had it out for each other, but that was to be expected. Maya just couldn’t conjure up the nerve to come clean, especially after the cold shoulder treatment from Mel. He just wasn’t the same lately. He was bringing his street mentality into the relationship and she hated that. He wasn’t sweet and thoughtful like Diablo, and she was starting to resent him.

There was a soft knock at the door. Maya held the bottle under her chin to open it. She knew that it was Mel coming back to apologize.

What, you don’t want Mel to pop up and over hear some shit? Huh Maya? How long you goin’ keep it a secret? You been keepin’ it a secret long enough, shit. I wanna know my fuckin’ child,” he said.

“She ain’t yours Ju. She’s Mel’s. She was premature,” Maya said quickly.

“You would rather lie to keep a man? You’ll keep a man away from his own fuckin’ seed. You really that selfish Maya? What’s so damn good ‘bout that mufucka that you gotta lie about the father of your child? How you goin’ live wit’ yourself Maya? I wish I had known your ass was triflin’ before I fell for them tears you was cryin’ that night. I know I bust inside you Maya. I know I did. You was on top and you wouldn’t get up. I did the fuckin’ math Maya. She is mine and I’m gonna tell Mel. You hear that? I’m goin’ tell that nigga, ‘cause you ain’t!” He was angry as hell and Maya could tell.

“Don’t do that Julian, please,” she begged shamelessly.

Ju rested his head in the palm of his hand and paced the floor. He sounded like he wanted to cry. “She my daughter Maya. She is beautiful and I wanna be there for her. You can’t do this shit to me man! That shit ain’t fair!”

“Maya, why you denying Lexus her real daddy? I don’t give a fuck how you feel about Mel, and you can beg till you blue in the face. I’m goin let that nigga know I smashed. He goin’ know that I was up in that pussy raw and I nutted all up in it. She my seed Maya, and your mufuckin' so called baby daddy need to know that shit.”

“Don’t you dare Ju. You need to leave now.” The tears that fell down her cheeks didn’t sway Ju one bit.

“I don’t know how long I can hold this shit in. The older she get the more time I lose, and you don’t even give a fuck.” With that said Ju turned and left.

Maya exhaled and the tears started to flow uncontrollably. She knew that Ju was right, but she loved Jamel now. She didn’t want to lose him, despite the way he acted at times.

Lexus’s crying spell kept her up until four in the morning. When she did finally fall asleep she woke up thirty minutes later. Lexus didn’t have a fever and she didn’t appear to be sick. At five after six Lexus finally fell asleep. When Maya’s head finally hit the pillow she drifted into a restless sleep. She tossed and turned and had nightmares about Mel killing her for lying to him. She couldn’t tell, and she had to do something so that Ju Ju didn’t either.

Chapter 3

Officer Michael Hanson of the Fulton County Police knew that Diablo Perez and the notorious Cue Boys were polluting Atlanta’s streets with crime. Diablo was so slick and smart that no charges ever stuck on him. Mike was hoping for a fuck up because Diablo, along with his “gang” sold everything from marijuana to X. Their main and bestselling product was crack cocaine. Among their long list of criminal activities were grand theft auto, trafficking of drugs and stolen merchandise, possession of crack, powder cocaine, marijuana, and X, murder, conspiracy to commit murder, conspiracy to manufacture and sell crack/cocaine and X, burglary, armed robbery, public intoxication, and even traffic violations. The list went on and on. There were many police reports of the perpetrator having the notorious black cobra tattoo. He knew that it had to be Diablo, but a tattoo was not enough to get a conviction. No one could ever describe his face. Any black man on the streets of Georgia could have a tattoo of a cobra on his forearm.

“It’s time to put our feet in the asses of these little punk motherfuckers! I don’t want my streets infected with these walking, talking viruses anymore! Get something on Perez and his boys so I can lock their asses up and throw away the fuckin’ key!” Lt. John Culright, a dark-skinned, heavyset man, yelled, and hit the desk with his huge fist.

“We’ll get them Hanson,” Officer Rita Conner, his partner of three years, patted his back. She was a tall, beautiful, dark-skinned sister with a banging ass body. Mike thought she should’ve been a model instead of a cop. Although he thought of himself as handsome, he knew that he had to keep his love life separate from work. It was time to put some street thugs where they belonged, and he had to concentrate on that.

* * *

There was a knock on the door. Three swift knocks followed by two slow knocks. I knew that it was Hector. He was a Mexican dude that supplied Ablo with his smoke stash of weed. Ablo did sell bud occasionally, but Hector had some straight up killer shit straight from Mexico. Ablo’s trees were good, but he was more into coke because it brought in bigger money. Crack was his main product and it was very potent and popular on the streets. Ablo and his boys had the fiends crazy for that shit.

I looked through the peep hole although I knew it was Hex from his knock. Niggas called him Hex because the weed was just that good. It made you so high you’ll feel like somebody put a spell on you.

“What up Hex,” I said letting him in. Hector was Mexican, but he talked like a black guy. He was eighteen, and he never made eye contact with me. None of Ablo’s associates looked me in the eye. They didn’t want to disrespect Ablo. Juan, Ace and Mont were the only exception because they were Ablo’s closest boys.

“I’m straight Yanna, how you?” He asked giving me two pounds of cannabis high in THC.

“I’m good,” I said handing him eight thousand dollars. He just took the bundle and put it in his pants pocket. He didn’t need to count it. He knew that it was all there. His pants were so big that you couldn’t even see the bulge of the money.

“A’ight,” he said still not looking at me. His eyes mostly stayed on the floor.

Maybe that was the reason that Ablo had been the only man that I had been with. If the men that knew him were too afraid to look at me they wouldn’t dare touch me. Of course there were men in other places that didn’t know Ablo, but I hardly traveled without him. Ablo was always over protective of me.