Justify My Thug (22 page)

We ended up at Dallas BBQ's in the Bronx. I ordered a double crispy onion cheeseburger and a spinach steak salad. I was going all out. Kyron ordered like he was pregnant too. He ordered Bar-b-que beef ribs, crispy shrimp and a chicken Caesar salad. We had virgin pinã coladas in three different flavors. All we could do was look and laugh when our waitress sat all of our dishes down before us. We both ate and drank until we could eat and drink no more.

I excused myself to go to the restroom. My bladder felt as if it was about to burst. I zoomed into the first stall I saw open
and went for it. Only to see after it was too late that I had no tissue.

“Shit!” I mumbled. “Can someone pass me some tissue please?” I heard bitches out there talking and laughing but no one passed me any tissue. “Helllooo, can someone please pass me some tissue?”

“Girl, bitches can be so petty,” I heard somebody say. “Here you go.” She passed me some tissue under the stall.

“Thank you. I appreciate it. I can't believe them bitches wouldn't pass me any fuckin' tissue. Like they had to put a quarter in the machine and fuckin' pay for it.”

“I know. Bitches are a trip and there's still one out here that act like she got a stick up her ass.”

“The ho better be gone when I come out of this stall,” I threatened and I meant that shit.

“You want me to hold her?” I heard my new friend say. She didn't sound like a New Yorker. That explained why I got some help from her. Them New York bitches are just plain rude.

Then I heard another voice say, loud and clear. “I know y'all bitches ain't talkin' about me. I don't work in this restroom,” the woman stated in true New Yorker form, and I heard her leave out of the bathroom.

“Only in New York,” my new friend laughed.

Then I took one step out of the stall and stopped. That fuckin' meat I just ate had me. “Oh shit.” I had to turn around and hurl into the toilet bowl. “Oh God. Oh my God,” I groaned.

My new friend came over to the stall. “Here's a couple of wet paper towels.” I turned around and grabbed them and patted my face. I was actually sweating.

“Thank you. Thank you so much.” I appreciated that shit.

“No problem. But I was all caught up in your shit, I didn't do what I came in here to do and that's use the bathroom.” She rushed into one of the stalls.

“You got tissue in there?” I teased her.

“Yeah, I got some.”

When she came out the stall I was brushing my teeth. I saw ole girl out the corner of my eye checking me out from head to toe.

“Are you okay? Was it something you ate out there?” She asked me.

“I wish that's all it was. I'm five weeks pregnant.”

“Oh!” She squealed. She was acting like she was the one pregnant. “Congratulations! Is this your first one? Are you excited?”

Excited? If she only knew the half of it.
“Girl, this is baby number four.”

“Four?” She gasped. “Oh shit.”

“My sentiments exactly. I have three boys, that includes a set of twins.”

“Twins?”

“Yes, twins. What about you?”

“I have three also. Two girls and a boy.”

“Let me see your little ones and I'll let you see mine.” I pulled out my diamond studded Goldvish cell phone. Kyron hated when I carried it. He said it was way too flashy. But hell, it was mine. The chick's eyes almost popped out of her head. She was so intrigued by the diamonds she was barely looking at the pictures.

“These are my twins, Shaheem and Kareem. And this is my baby, Caliph.” I cooed. I couldn't help myself. These were my babies.

“I can tell that's your baby. He looks just like you. And the twins must look just like their father. All you did was carry them.”

She hit everything right on the head. “I know.” I beamed with pride. “The twins
belong
to their father. They look just like him and act just like him.”

“Are you serious? Let me show you my little ones.” My new friend slowly pulled out her BlackBerry and showed me her pictures.

“Awww, they are adorable. Now they all look like you. I wish I had a girl.”

She pointed to my stomach. “That could be your daughter right there.”

“Girl please, I don't even know if I'ma keep this one.”

She gasped. “For real?”

“Girl, it's a long story.”

“Well, it's your body. It's your choice and I damn sure ain't the one to judge.”

“Girl, you cool as hell. What is your name?”

She started laughing, “I'm Nina. And yours?”

“I'm Tasha. And if you are ever in California, look me up. Better yet, give me your phone. She handed over her BlackBerry. “I'ma put my number in it for you. Promise you'll look me up.”

“Hell yeah. As a matter of fact, I'm looking forward to it. California here I come!” We both started laughing.

Shorty was taking forever. I got up to go take a leak and to see if she was alright. When I came out of the bathroom there was
another cat coming my way. He looked like he was on the same mission as myself. I banged on the door. “Shorty, you alright in there?” I yelled out.

“Be right out.” I heard her say.
What the fuck? They having a party in there.
I stepped to the side.

Then dude cracked the door. “Nina, what's up?”

“Here I come.”

He looked at me and said, “Man, they in there socializing.”

“I see. They been in there for almost a half hour,” I said to dude.

He was checking me out. And finally the bathroom door came open and both ladies stepped out.

“Shorty, you aiight?”

“I threw up,” she whined.

I figured that something was wrong because she was taking so long. Then she looked over at the girl she was hanging in the bathroom with and said, “Nina here was making sure I was alright. Nina, this is Kyron. Kyron, this is Nina.” She then looked at the cat that was standing next to me. She squinted. When they locked gazes she gasped as if she had just seen a ghost. Her hand flew over her mouth as she slowly backed up into the bathroom.

Dude followed her.

On instinct I was right behind him.

“Shorty, what's the matter?” I eased my hand over my burner.

Shorty wouldn't say anything which was getting me spooked. I went around this nigga and stood between him and Tasha. I placed my hand up to his chest and pushed him back. “Man step out for a minute. Let me talk to my Shorty,” I told him.

This nigga had the audacity to slap my arm away. “Hold up my man. What the fuck is you doin' with this nigga?” He asked
my Shorty. He tried to step around me but I was keeping Tasha blocked.
What the fuck? Is this an old flame?

“I'm not going to ask you again. Step out of the bathroom, yo!” I gritted. I turned to Tasha. “Shorty, who is this nigga?”

“I'm just a friend of the family,” he said, obviously trying to put me to sleep. But I wasn't falling for the bullshit. “Tasha, tell him.”

Tasha remained behind me. I shoved his ass back again. His girl grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the bathroom.

I turned around and faced Tasha, who was visibly shaken. “Who is that nigga, Shorty? You used to fuck with him or something?”

“He's dead. A dead cop,” she mumbled.

“A dead cop? What the fuck are you talking about?” I grabbed her by the shoulders but she was still mumbling some shit I didn't understand. “Let me get you the fuck outta here so you can tell me what the fuck is going on.” I grabbed her hand and took her out of the bathroom.

I practically knocked this mystery nigga over who was pacing back and forth. “Tasha let me explain.” He was following behind us, pissing me off.

“You need to back the fuck up, son. Can't you see she don't want to be bothered?” I raised my shirt to show this nigga that I was holding heat.

“Don't show that if you don't plan on using it.”

I stopped dead in my tracks. “Oh, I'll use it, muthafucka.” I stepped towards him and Tasha grabbed my arm and pulled me away.

He must have thought about it because he raised his two hands in the form of surrender. “I don't want no trouble, man.
It's all good. I come in peace. I told you, I'm just a friend of the family.
Trae
was like a brother to me and I was just wondering what the fuck are you doing with his wife?”

So that's what this is all about.
“Don't worry about what the fuck I'm doing and who I'm doing it with. You don't know me muthafucka.” I wanted to handle this nigga but I felt Tasha tighten her grip. I turned and looked at her and she was apparently fucked up over this shit. I saw that I needed to get Shorty away from this nigga. She was actually looking sick.

I am freaking the fuck out. Niggas keep telling me to calm down. How the fuck can I calm down when my baby is gone? Two muthafuckas coming up in your house in the middle of the night and snatching your child is not shit to be calm about. After I was able to pull myself up off the floor once the kidnappers left, my first call was to my three brothers. My next call took me about 15 minutes to build up the nerve to make. But I got it together and called Faheem. It was his son as well as mine and I didn't have the right to leave him in the blind about his son's abduction.

Big Mike, my oldest brother, who is Ronnie's daddy, Damon and Wali, they all got to my house back-to-back. They were all visibly disturbed and ready to do major damage to somebody. My nephew, Ronnie the cop, arrived last with some nurse broad that he was fucking. He got her to check out my head and face. Once that was done, Ronnie sent her on her way. I brought everybody up to speed on what happened.

“Slow down, Nene, and start from the beginning,” Damon ordered.

“We were upstairs asleep. The banging on the door woke me up. I heard banging and the bell ringing. My first thought was, it was one of y'all and something was wrong, but I remembered that you all have keys. My next thought was there was that bitch Jaz coming to start some—”

“Jaz? Who the fuck is Jaz?” Wali interrupted.

“That's little Faheem's stepmother,” Damon volunteered. He was the only one who knew about the whole situation with me and Faheem. “But that's a story for another time. Let's stick to the situation at hand. Go ahead Ne.”

“I went to the door and cracked it. The next thing I knew, I flew backwards. When I woke up, I heard my baby yelling. I saw them—”

“Them?”

“Yeah, there was two of them.”

“Can you describe them?” My nephew Ronnie asked.

I shook my head. “It all happened so fast. I was on the floor, dizzy and crawling around. I grabbed one dude's leg. He was the one holding Faheem over his shoulder.” Just thinking about that moment caused me to break down. But I quickly regained my composure. “I begged them not to take my son. I asked them why. ‘Bitch, you know why', the one with Faheem said. He then said, ‘don't you own a hotel?' Then he said, ‘We want what's ours. We work for Steele.'

“Then what?” Wali inquired.

“Then nothing. They left with Faheem and I called y'all … and Faheem.”

“Why did you call him?” Ronnie asked with his face twisted up. “He ain't a part of—”

“Faheem is his son. No matter how any of us feel about that, it's a reality. Besides, he'll find out eventually, don't you think?” As soon as I got those words out my mouth, we heard another car skid into the driveway.

My nephew got up and went to the window. “Well, this must be him now.”

“You shouldn't have called him, Ne. This is family business and you know the rules, sis. What goes on in the family stays in the family,” my oldest brother added.

“Mike, Faheem is now a part of this family because of his son, whether we like it or not. And I'd rather he find out about it from me instead of the police or newspapers if this gets out. God forbid it does.”

“I'm ready to rock and roll. Y'all know what we gotta do,” Damon snapped.

“Everybody just chill for a minute,” Wali stated calmly. “But Mike is right, Nene. Your baby daddy don't need to know what we into. Hell, my own wife don't even know.”

Everybody's head turned at the same time and stared at Wali.

“What?”

“Stupid ass nigga. Your nosy ass wife knows everything about everything and then some,” Big Mike said. “Somebody get the door and let that man in.”

I pulled into Oni's driveway, not knowing what to expect or find out. The driveway was full. I got out, went to the other side, swooped up Lil' Jaz in a blanket and headed for the door. Some big ass nigga was standing there holding it open for me. When
I stepped inside I recognized two of the cats as her brothers. We met back in Jersey. I had never seen the older dude before. I went straight to business. Fuck all the formalities.

“Oni, what's going on? What do you mean they got my son?”

She began crying uncontrollably. “I'm so sorry Faheem. Please … don't let this come between us.”

“Oni, the only thing between us is my son. You crying ain't telling me shit. Are you going to tell me what's going on or not?”

“They took him. They have our son. I'm so sorry Faheem.”

My knees buckled. “Hold the fuck up. What do you mean
they
took our son? Who is they? And where is he?” I wanted to blow her fucking head off. “Somebody better start bumpin' their fuckin' gums.” I looked around at all of the sullen faces and knew this was bad.

Her brother Damon stood up. “Why don't you take the baby upstairs, Oni. I'll fill Faheem in.”

“Tell him everything, Damon. I want him to know it all. That's the least we can do.”