CHAPTER EIGHT

KEVIN

TWO WEEKS LATER

 

Women twirled around the poles like snakes within the dark Smack Back strip club. The Kennedy Kings lay back comfortably on a red velvet semi-circle couch with stacks of one hundred dollar bills piled in front of them on the table. With all the beauty to behold, Kevin had one thing on his mind, his wife.

While it was true that the Kennedys were at war outside the house, he was also at war inside himself. He had a feeling that he accidently answered the phone when Bambi called some weeks back and she overheard him but she never mentioned it. Instead, she started sleeping in one of the extra rooms in the new bunker they moved into. And instead of being angry, she treated him extra nice, even making him breakfast a few times although he refused to eat it for fear it would be poisoned.

He hated her coolness and yet there was no other woman he wanted to be with in the world, including the nurse he was squiring about town on the day Bambi called.

When a group of women who hadn’t touched the dance floor wiggled toward their section, each brother made way for them. Not being able to wait, Bradley snatched up a light-skinned girl with a big booty and yelled, “Let me see that ass wiggle.”

Kevin and the other brothers felt that ever since Bradley returned from jail, he was trying harder to appear tough. He didn’t know what was going on with him but he hoped that soon he would return to his normal self.

As the night went on, Kevin poured each of his brothers a glass of champagne. He raised his in the air. “We don’t get to do this shit a lot so I’m gonna make a toast,” Kevin said. “To blood, to money, to us.” Kevin looked over at Camp. He had his glass in the air but the solemn look of missing his son never left his face. It was a permanent part of his features. His kidnapping was always on his mind. “And to my little nephew who we will find, no matter what we gotta do and who we gotta do it to,” Kevin continued.

Each man raised his glass and took a sip. Although the beauty on his lap was doing her thing, Kevin was interested in the tall chick with green eyes on the dance floor.

“Who’s that, mama?” he asked the stripper.

She turned her slender neck, looked at the stage and rolled her eyes. “That’s Romance. Why?”

“Do me a favor.” He peeled a band off one of the stacks and handed her a one hundred dollar bill. “How ‘bout you get up and tell old girl I want to see her.”

She stuffed the money in her bra and rolled her eyes. “Whatever,” she responded stomping away.

“That was cold as shit,” Ramirez laughed. “You in this joint hurting strippers’ feelings for no reason.” He paused. “She was thick. Why you send her on her way?”

“Not everybody be in this joint wifing bitches like you and Race,” Kevin responded.

“Damn,” Bradley laughed. “You sliced that nigga’s heart,” he continued as the dark-skinned cutie hovered her tight ass over top of his crotch.

“I just go after what I want,” Kevin replied.

“So why you not going after your wife?” Camp responded as he sipped a beer and whispered something in the stripper’s ear that caused her to get up and stomp out of VIP.

“Before I answer that question, what you tell shawty?” Kevin asked looking at the stripper.

“I told her to get the fuck off my lap. She kept leaning on my shirt and shit.” He dusted something off of Master’s face. “Now answer the question. Why you not back with Bambi?”

“Because she don’t know how to respect a man,” he responded. “I think Bambi believes she a dude sometimes.” His brothers didn’t know that Bambi was responsible for their aunt’s death or that she fucked Cloud before he was killed and he decided to keep it that way. That alone was the main reason for their beef.

“Ain’t that one of the things you liked about her?”

Kevin looked across the club at the tall cutie who was getting off the pole and coming his way. “I’m done with Bambi. Sometimes you marry a person and when you see who they really are you realize you made a mistake.”

His brothers laughed, not one of them believing it was over.

“That’s how I feel about Scarlett,” Camp said. “I know she wants to be with me but I’m done with her.”

“This shit is wild,” Ramirez said. “Kevin and Bambi don’t want each other. Camp doesn’t want Scarlett. Bradley is obsessed with his wife and Race doesn’t want shit to do with me even though she lets me eat her pussy every other night.” He laughed. “What the fuck is going on with the Kennedy family?”

The brothers laughed heartedly.

Roman walked up to Kevin. The first thing that grabbed him was her sparkling green eyes. “May I sit down?”

Kevin smiled and looked over at Ramirez. “Ain’t nothing going on with the Kennedy family. We good. Besides, as long as I got my brothers, the rest of this shit is trivial.” He took Romance’s hand. “Of course you can sit down, beautiful. That’s why I called you over.”