Save The Best For Last
62
After takin’ care of Larissa’s ass we had to chill for a minute so Angelo could cover up the sloppy work Lania did on Curtis. She was gonna get herself fucked up in the game if she ain’t stop takin’ all that shit an’ then runnin’ around makin’ stupid decisions. Keyshawn was supposed to be keeping his eye on Michelle, but something told me by the way he rarely checked in with Angelo, and how Lania seemed to stay upset with him, he was fallin’ off. One of us needed to make a move before that nigga’s puppy-lovin’ ass slipped up and decided to either tell Michelle wassup or get her out the area.
It was one of those random days in August when Angelo hit me, letting me know they’d found the bodies in Emporia. That meant Michelle’s little security team would probably be giving her the news that Rah was dead. Which meant it was time for me to make my move, end this shit for good, and get my child. All I could think about was holding and kissing her little chubby face. I walked up to the side of the house, pissed that it just so happened to be raining buckets from the damn sky. I was soaked, but I wasn’t gonna let a little rain keep me from doing this shit. Lightning split the sky open as I thought this through one last time.
The back door was unlocked, just as planned. I was glad Keyshawn didn’t back out on his word. Angelo was already on the verge of havin’ that nigga killed just for GP. I let myself in as quietly as possible, the thunder coverin’ up any little noises I might have accidentally made. I’d only been standing there for a few seconds when she came floatin’ up into the kitchen, tall and regal. I’d always envied her. She was wearin’ a man’s red and blue checkered pajama shirt without the bottoms and her hair was tied up in a little scarf.
I looked at this other woman, who had captured the heart of my man and then thrown it away like it wasn’t more than an empty soda can. Watching Michelle was like watching Snow White fuck around in the forest with all those damn animals. She floated over and looked at this, then floated over to look at her phone, before fluttering to pick up something else. It was like the bitch moved around in a dream bubble. I’d had enough of watching her flutter around the kitchen and stepped forward out of the shadows and into her line of vision.
“You look so shocked to see me. I was maybe hoping for—happiness.”
She just stood there as her phone broke, glass scattering into a million pieces all over the floor. I could see her ass debating: run or fight; scream for Keyshawn or grab a kitchen knife. I shifted the gun from my right hand to my left, reminding her it was in my hand just in case she’d forgotten.
“You don’t know how to speak to your house guests—offer ’em a glass of water or a dry towel, Michelle?”
“Legally she’s my daughter. I’ve done everything for her—all the things you never could have done, even loving her like she was my own child. I’ve been doing it all, Honey.”
What she was saying shocked me, and especially the way she said it, nothing like Larissa’s dumb-ass begging and bartering. Michelle actually cared about Paris, that much was obvious.
“I’m tired of y’all bitches tryin’a tell me what the fuck I can and couldn’t or will and won’t do. You don’t know what I can do now, Michelle.”
“Honey, all I’m tryin’ to say is that I took care of your daughter the best I knew how. I’ve raised Lataya right along wit’ Trey like she was my own, at no point did I do for one and not do for the other.”
“Who the fuck is Lataya? My daughter’s name is Paris. Here yo’ ass done renamed my child an’ everything, what gave you the got-damn right, Michelle? And where were you when Larissa was out there talkin’ to her like she wasn’t nothin’ but a damn dog? Where was you when she was puttin’ her hands on my daughter, Michelle?”
She was starin’ at me, tryin’ to put the meaning to my words. “She’d never . . . Larissa wouldn’t do anything like that.”
“It’s a shame you got cameras all up in here and still don’t even know what’s going on in your own damn house.” I waved the gun, directing her to carry her ass through the door toward the car waiting outside.
“Wait, what about Trey? What’s gonna happen to my child with me gone?”
Honestly I didn’t feel like she deserved any kind of an answer; my ass didn’t get one when they took my child away from me. “Rasheed’s momma back in Virginia gonna keep him. Y’all took a lot from a whole lot of people on some straight-up selfish bullshit. His momma been depressed, not eatin’, and everybody been worried about her. Having Trey and a little extra money might actually pull her out of the slump she in. Help balance shit back out.”
“Can I tell him good-bye?” She had tears all up in her eyes and I almost felt sorry for her. Almost.
“You already know the answer to that. It’s no. Now get ya ass outside. You ain’ ’bout to get us off schedule.”