The sky was bright and sunny, but in my car shit felt real dark. I had so many things on my mind that last night I couldn’t even sleep.
In my mind I replayed my conversation with Kisha, my life, and all the fucked up decisions that I seemed to make.
I stayed up all night trying to figure out what to do about Kisha, and only one thing made sense. I wanted her in my life, and I could tell by how scared she looked that Moe was putting his hands on her. Rena told me he was a bitch ass nigga like that, but Rena said some stupid shit sometimes that made you wanna slap the shit out of her. I just tossed it up to some bullshit they had going on. But never would I have thought he would do that shit to Kisha.
Saturday afternoon couldn’t have come quick enough, and here I was outside this nigga house about to ask him about what I saw. If he wanted to fight then it was whatever, but I was going to make sure he never put his motherfucking hands on Kisha again. At the least I was going to drop off the gift for my nephew and get my money.
Walking into the backyard there were kids everywhere with MJ jumping around in a bounce house and the rest of the kids scattered around the yard. Music was blasting and the kids looked like there were having fun, but for some reason I didn’t feel right.
“Hey Un... I mean Titus.” Looking down I saw Mikel.
“Wassup, man.” I held out my hand for a five. “What you call me?”
“Titus.”
“What happened to Uncle Titus?”
“Daddy said you aren’t family. You are just an associate.” That was the crazy shit about kids. They always tell the truth.
“Aww, yeah, is that right?” He nodded.
“Where is your Dad?”
“In the house.”
“Okay, man. Go play.” Putting MJ’s present with the rest of the gifts I saw Kisha laughing and trying to fix some decorations. I watched her for a minute; seeing her laugh was way better than seeing her cry yesterday.
She had on glasses, and for a split second she bent down and I saw the glasses fall off and what was underneath them made my fists clench. Her eye wasn’t bruised yesterday. I was the only one that saw it, quickly she put the glasses back on and smiled, but I saw it and I didn’t give a fuck what she said. Today I was going to do something about it.
Kisha
“Can I talk to you for a second?” Titus came out of nowhere. I didn’t think he would even come today, and by the way Moe was talking this morning I didn’t think they were on good terms.
“Yeah... Sure.” Smiling I tried to not make this look suspicious. Walking over to the fence to get out of earshot of everybody I let Titus talk.
“I’m sorry about yesterday.” He tried. “I didn’t mean for you…” I stopped him before he could get started.
“What you do is your personal business. You fucking Rena has nothing to do with me.”
“I know that, and I want you to know that. Me and her... That was before me and you.” I looked around quick making sure no one heard.
“Don’t say that.”
“Don’t say what? Me and you. I love…” I smiled looking around, but no one was paying us any attention.
“Answer my question from yesterday.” I looked around trying to spot Moe, but he was nowhere to be found. Just a bunch of kids and our family around. “He’s hitting you, isn’t he?” I adjusted my glasses feeling self-conscious now. “We had an argument this morning. No big deal.”
“It’s a big deal if that nigga is hitting you.”
“He said someone saw a car out here the other night. Said they saw us.” His face dropped.
“Somebody like who?”
“I don’t know; he wouldn’t tell me. I just denied and... He doesn’t believe me. So…” I could still feel his hands on my face. The scarf around my neck was blocking the marks of his hands around my neck.
“I’m going to say something to his ass.”
“No... Please.”
“Fuck that. He’s going to kill you, girl. I can’t let that shit happen. Fuck that.”
“But he’s already mad at you.” Titus looked at me sideways.
“About what?”
“I don’t know. He just said he wasn’t fucking with you anymore.” I tried to keep our conversation to a minimum, but somehow whatever he was mad at Titus about spilled over to me.
Titus started cracking his neck and rolling his shoulders.
“What are you doing... Please not here.”
“I don’t know what the fuck is going on, but I love you too much.” I hadn’t heard anyone say that in a long time. “Fuck what we have going on. Whether you wanna be with me or not.” He swallowed looking deep into my eyes. “But he isn’t going to put another hand on you after today. I mean that.” I believed every word he said. The only problem was words were a hell of a lot easier than actions.
Morris
“Whaddup, P.” I answered the door for my boy Paul. I needed to get a better understanding of the shit he told me the other day. Once and for all I needed to know if this bitch was fucking somebody. If she was I was going to do way more than slap her ass.
“Wassup, my dude.” I stepped outside on the front porch so we could have some privacy.
“Man, I got my son’s party going on, but I needed to look you in ya face, man.” I need to hear this shit for real.
“Wassup, man... Anything.” I’d done so much for Paul that I knew this nigga wasn’t going to lie to me.
“So you said you saw my wife kissing somebody.” He nodded and ran it all down to me again.
“Look, man. I was at the club, and I saw her leave in a car.”
“So you said the car was like my brother’s car, right?”
“Yeah. Then I swung past ya crib to see if you was cool, and I saw the same car outside and her in the doorway. I thought it was you, tho.” I didn’t say a word, thinking of every person I knew with a Monte Carlo.
“So he had a Monte like my brother?”
“Naw, man. Your other brother.” Now that’s where the nigga lost me.
“Paul, dude. My only brother died, you know that.”
“Man, quit talking to me like I just met you. I know that.”
“So what brother are you talking about then, man? My brother had a Monte Carlo.” Paul shook his head at me, putting his hand on my shoulder.
“Naw, man. Your other brother. The nigga that cuts hair.” My head started pounding.
“You talking about Titus?”
“Yeah, man… I couldn’t remember his name. I was gonna say Midas or some shit.” Paul laughed, but wasn’t shit funny to me.
“What color was it?”
“Black… Shit, just like that car.” He pointed down my driveway, and there it was. “Shit, as a matter of fact that looks just like it. I think that is it because that motherfucka had them same rims.” I felt my stomach start to boil.
“You aight, dude?”
“Naw man... I’m nothing close to being alright.” Going in the house I went straight towards the kitchen. Looking out I saw that nigga by the fence talking to my wife having a close ass conversation.
Keep your friends and your enemies close… I heard that repeating in my head, but what the fuck was Titus supposed to be.
“MORRIS!” I heard my momma yell my name.
“YEAH!” I yelled back.
“Bring out a knife. We about to cut the cake.” Looking on the table I looked at the shiny steel knife, and all I could see was red. I was about to bring out the knife alright.
Titus
“HAPPY BIRTHDAY MJ…. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!” The kids screamed and clapped, but my eyes were on Morris walking out the door.
Everybody was singing but me. I was watching that nigga, and he was watching me as he got closer to the table.
“Morris, baby, hand me that knife.” I looked down seeing the steel in his hand, but his eyes never left me.
I couldn’t hold back. I wasn’t going to wait until later or a better time. I needed to know right now.
“You hit her, nigga?” I screamed at him in front of everybody.
“You fuck her?”
“Whoa, boys….” Moe’s momma tried to interject, but we were way past that. I stepped towards him.
“Get back, Momma.”
“What, you wanna fight, nigga?”
“I’m not fighting. I’m gonna kill yo ass.” Moe lunged at me like we were doing fencing in the Olympics, but I jumped out the way.
“This ain’t no Catholic school yard, fight boy.” I jumped around him, slapping him with my fist just like I knew he had done Kisha. The kids were crying, and the women were yelling for us to stop, but I was gonna show his ass what it was like to fight a real man.
“So, you hitting women now?”
“So, you fucking my wife now?” He charged at me out of breath punching me in the stomach, but I got him good in the jaw. I pushed him back squaring up, and as he came to me I hit his ass with a mean uppercut that made him fold back and hit the ground.
“Oh my God…” I heard them screaming. I knocked his ass out.
“TITUS... TITUS, YOU’RE BLEEDING.” I heard someone say, but I wasn’t sure where. He barely touched, but that’s when I felt the burning. Looking down the knife handle was sticking out of my shirt.
I heard someone screaming “Somebody call an ambulance.” As I pulled out the knife I saw blood everywhere, and my body went weak, but it was all worth it.
Lord, if this is it I just couldn’t let her go through it. Have mercy on me, Lord.