Honor Thy Thug

9




TASHA

“Benny, how long does it take to bond someone out? I’m coming down there!” I screamed at Benny. I had the day from hell. Kyra out preaching hellfire to strangers. Trae getting locked up and still not home. I was losing it.

“Mrs. Macklin, coming down to do what?” Benny called himself calming me down. “You can’t rush the courts, and it’s not like it’s a simple traffic ticket. We’re talking murder and attempted murder.”

“Benny, I am freaking out. I can’t lie to you.”

“Mrs. Macklin, please. Don’t freak out. I’ll have him home in a few hours. I promise you. Let me do my job, all right?”

“I need my husband home. We have a family here.”

“I know, Mrs. Macklin. Trust me. I will bring your husband home.”

I hung up, not feeling any better. Was I the cause of all of this bad shit happening to our family? Or were we both the cause? I was mad at him, but I didn’t want to lose him. Here it was going on 11:00 P.M. and he still wasn’t here where he belonged. Earlier, around 8:00, that’s when I was beginning to get that uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. Shortly after, I got a call from Benny talking some nonsense about them running his prints and them being found at the scene of a murder. It took a few minutes for his words to sink in, but when they did, I panicked. All I envisioned was him on death row somewhere and me never being held in those strong arms again. I had to go and pour myself a drink. I downed it and poured me another one. I didn’t even care what I was drinking.

Aunt Marva came into the living room. “Why are you sitting here in the dark?” She turned on the light. “Look at you. You look a mess! Go upstairs and get you some rest. You ain’t doing yourself any good, sitting in the dark drowning your sorrows in this bottle. And it’s my bottle!” She snatched the bottle up.

I couldn’t stop thinking, attempted murder? If Trae couldn’t wiggle out of this one, he could be taken away from me and this family for a long time. He promised me that would never happen. And at the time I believed him. “I know. I’m just anxious to find out what’s going on.” I was feeling light-headed.

“And you will. He’ll tell you everything as soon as he walks through that front door.”

“Where’s Kyra?” Since we’d come back from the store and the park, she was staying out of the way.

“Everyone is in bed, where you should be.”

“What about you, Aunt Marva? You aren’t in bed.”

“Don’t worry about me, missy.”

“Did I tell you about Kyra? I’m sure I didn’t, because I don’t even want to repeat it. I actually want to forget what I saw.”

“What about her? What did you see?” she asked with her brow raised.

“I’m worried about her. Earlier, we went to Vons, and when we pulled up, she was standing in front of the store, holding a Bible and preaching hellfire to all who would listen.”

“What?” Aunt Marva had a puzzled look on her face.

“I kid you not. She was yelling and following behind total strangers. I don’t even know how she got there. All of the cars were still in the driveway. It was crazy. I should have videotaped it, because you would have to see it to believe it.”

“So what did you do?”

“I got out of the car, made her ass get in, dragged her to the park with us, and then brought her ass home.”

“What did she say?”

“In the car, nothing about that. She talked to the kids the whole time, and when we got to the park, she acted as if nothing happened. I didn’t even know what to say to her.”

“You didn’t know, or you were scared to say something?”

“Both. I ain’t gonna lie. It was awkward.”

“We’re gonna have to keep a close eye on her. Now, come on.” Marva clapped her hands together. “Go upstairs and get some rest. He’ll wake you up when he comes in. Go ahead, now. I’ll clean up this mess.”

“Okay, okay. I’m going.” I got up and went upstairs. I stopped and checked on the children, who were knocked out. I went into my bedroom, and the last thing I remember was lying across my bed.


TRAE

Benny dropped me off around two thirty. I didn’t have my key, so I had to go around the back where Marva kept a spare to the back door under the base of the patio table. After I got into the house, I cut the alarm off and looked around the living room, expecting to hear some sort of movement. But the house was dead silent. I hit the stairs to look in on the kids, who were sprawled out and snoring. When I stepped out of their bedroom, I bumped into Kyra.

“I thought I heard you come in. Are you all right? Did I hear correctly? You got locked up?” she asked me.

“I had some old shit that they pulled up. Nothing that a little money can’t make go away. Go back to bed, and we’ll talk in the morning.”

“I need to ask you something.”

Oh, shit, here it comes. I was not in the right state of mind to have the what-happened-to-Marvin speech. “What’s up?”

“Rick, have you spoken to him, at all? What is he saying?”

I breathed a sigh of relief. I thought for sure Marvin’s name was going to slip out of her mouth. It seemed as if she had blocked him out of her mind. Hell, he was her baby’s father and her husband, and she wasn’t even asking about him. Didn’t she want to see him? Know where he was? That had me baffled.

“No, he hasn’t called me. Why? You haven’t heard from him?”

She shook her head no and then lowered her voice. “What do you think is going through his mind? And don’t bullshit me, Trae. You are a man. You have been in this situation. What is he thinking?”

I thought about it for a minute. “Kyra, I don’t think it’s the same things that are going through yours. Here this man was in love with you, and then thought he lost you forever. So he moves on. He gets a new love and has a family. But when his love shows back up and figures that she can start right back where things left off, I’m sure that has the man in turmoil. Shit, if that happened to me, I know my head would be f*cked up. Think about Romeo and Juliet. What if Romeo didn’t drink the poison and left town and moved on? Only to find out years later that Juliet was not dead, she had only drunk a drug to put her in a coma for two days? And she finds him, but he is now married with children, the whole nine. You feel me?”

Kyra laughed. “Romeo and Juliet, huh? Now that you put it like that, yes. But I’ve been calling him, and he doesn’t even bother to answer.”

“Give him some time. He’ll come around,” I assured her.

“I hope so. But at the same time, I’m a little worried. I’m worried that he won’t choose me, and it’s driving me crazy!”

“Kyra, you know he’ll come around. Let him work it out.”

“God, I hope you’re right. And thanks for listening.”

“No doubt.” I left Kyra standing there. I needed to get my ass into a hot, steamy shower and scrub the day off of me. Then I needed to ease some tension. The whole time I was in custody, I wondered if my luck was finally running out. Everything seemed to be closing in on me all at once. I was ready for anything. But doing time? I didn’t forsee that. I had to figure out how to get out of this one.

When I went into my bedroom, Tasha was lying across the bed in all of her clothes. Obviously, she’d tried to wait up for me but couldn’t.

“Baby.” I shook her. Her eyes popped open, looking all wild and shit. “It’s me. Are you all right?” I couldn’t help but smile. She was even beautiful when I scared her out of her sleep.

“I’m sorry, baby, I tried to wait up for you,” she said, sitting up.

“Come get in the shower with me.” I grabbed her hand.

“How long have you been home? What happened? What did they say?” She got off the bed and gave me a hug. “I was freakin’ out, Trae. Murder? Are you going to beat this? A murder charge?”

“Murder and attempted murder.”

“Who did you murder?” she asked, rubbing her eyes.

“Nobody, baby. My prints were at a scene, but I didn’t do shit, and they can’t prove it. Benny said it won’t even get to court.”

“Who did you attempt to murder? Kyron? Or is this something old? Is it two different murder charges? The other murder, who is it?”

“Ma, stop with the questions.” She obviously had been wracking her brain trying to figure this all out. “Come on, let’s get in the shower. Aren’t you ready to wash your husband up? I’m hot, sticky, and smelly. We will talk about this madness later.” I kissed her forehead and let her go.

We went into the bathroom, and I turned on the water. A calm came over me. The shower was one of our favorite spots. My wife undressed me, and then I took my time and undressed her. She began to plant light kisses on my lips, my neck, and my chest. “I love you so much.” She told me. “Baby, I was so scared that you wasn’t coming back home to me.”

I caressed her nipples and her ass. “Oh, I was coming back.”

“I’m so glad. I needed you too. I missed you.”

“I missed you even more. Tasha, you will always be mines. And there ain’t much that can keep me away from you.”

“I know, baby.”

I walked her backward to the shower. As we stepped into the hot and steamy water, we continued to hug and kiss. I loved the sight of the water glistening off of her smooth, chocolate skin. The sound of her moans mixed with the sound of the water turned me all the way up. When we finally came up for air, Tasha grabbed the sponge, lathered it up, and began to sensually soap up my body. By the time she finished, my dick was standing way past attention.

“I love him when he gets rocked up like this. Lets me know that I’m doing my job and that my husband can’t get enough of me.”

“Oh yeah? I can’t get enough of you?” I was nibbling on her neck and playing with her nipples.

“Ummmmm. No you can’t.” she purred.

Taking the sponge from her, I took my time and gently massaged and lathered up her silky-smooth skin. Tasha took my dick into her hand and began to stroke him. The warm, soapy water caused her hand to slide effortlessly as she stared into my eyes. She wouldn’t let go of my pipe, so he remained ready and at attention. After I rinsed her off, I bent her over, making sure we were in front of the full mirror so I could watch myself as I f*cked her.

“That feels sooo good.” She cooed as I entered her.

I took my time, getting thrills each time I pulled my dick out of her and chills each time it disappeared inside her. This was our time, and we loved taking advantage of it. I held back and made sure she came hard. “Traaeeee, ba . . .beeee!” she squealed. I was saving mine for the bed. I wanted to bang her head up against the headboard a few times and then turn over, lie back, and watch my baby ride. The king was home, and the queen was giving him some royal p-ssy.

By the time we finished trying to outf*ck each other, she was no longer asking who I had murdered and when it had happened.


Two days later

“Hello.” I answered the phone in the den.

“Hello, Mr. Macklin.”

Aww, shit, here we go. Could my luck get any worse? I should have known she’d be crawling out from under her rock sooner or later. “Why are you calling my house? Why are you calling me, period?” I asked her.

“This is business, Mr. Macklin. You’re still a businessman, aren’t you?”

“What do you want, Charli?”

“I have something that will be of interest to you.”

“You know I ain’t f*cking with you like that. So stop calling my house. Don’t contact me, period.” I was tired of telling this woman the same thing over and over. F*cking with her was like hustling in the streets. At the same time you are throwing bricks at the penitentiary. It was lucrative and fun while it was happening. But when the smoke cleared, you were sitting in the cell, asking, was it all worth it? I hung up, and she called right back. This time, I didn’t answer; I let it ring. When she called the third time, I said, “Charli, don’t—”

“My father wants to see you as soon as possible.” She cut me off.

“Good-bye, Charli.” I hung up again. That f*ckin’ bitch! She was a scheming and calculating ho and never ceased to amaze me! Her father? I thought about it, and it caused me to frown. What could her father, the infamous Mr. Charlie Li, want with me? Leave it to this thirsty bitch to pull out all the stops. She knew that mentioning her father would get my attention.


TASHA

I got suspicious and nervous when the phone rang back-to-back three times. I was thinking it was Kyron. And him calling with Trae back in the house had me panicking, so the next time the phone rang, I picked it up.

“Oh, so you decided to talk to me?”

“Who is this?” I knew the answer but didn’t think she had the audacity to call my house.

“This is Ms. Li. With whom am I speaking?” Her voice dripped with sarcasm.

“Bitch, whose house did you call? You know damn well with whom you are speaking! You must want me to f*ck you up again! Call here one more time and I’ll come find you and bust you in your ass! Leave my husband the f*ck alone.” That’s all I needed to hear was her voice to make me crazy. I hung up the phone and went to find Trae. He had me f*cked up. With each step I took, the madder I got. By the time I reached the family room, it was on. I lunged for Trae, and he grabbed my arm, twisting it, pulling me down onto his lap.

“What is your problem?” He was frowned up.

“Get off me! Why the f*ck is that bitch back to calling my house?” I was squirming, trying to get up. My heart or my pride could not take Trae f*cking with that bitch again. “She’s calling you at home now? Are you still f*cking with her?” I got all choked up, not really wanting to know the answer to my question.

“What do you think? Are you still f*cking with Kyron?” he yelled at me.

“No, and you know it. Why would you even ask me something like that?”

“The same damn reasons you are asking me!”

I was in tears now. “Because she’s calling you.” I grabbed his face between my hands. “Why is she calling you?”

“Kyron is calling you, so what? Yeah, when were you gonna tell me that?” When I didn’t answer, he shouted, “When, Tasha? When? I’ve been waiting patiently. No more secrets, remember? No more lies.”

“I was scared, Trae.” I dropped most of the attitude that I had in my voice. I was busted.

“Scared of what? Scared that I would react the same way you reacted when that bitch called me?”

I thought about what he said and nodded.

“Tasha, baby, I need you to stay focused. You can’t be getting all emotional like this. We are a team, and we know that we have these outside forces threatening our union. You not telling me that the nigga is calling you lets me know that I can’t trust you. Do you feel me?”

“Why are they doing this to us?”

“F*ck them! We can’t let them tear down what we’ve built. Do you hear me, Tasha?”

I nodded again. “What are we going to do?” What am I going to do? If that bitch thought it was going to be business as usual, she had another thing coming.

“No secrets. No lies. It’s me and you. I will handle Kyron and Charli . . . she ain’t even an issue.”

Yeah, right. I wished I could believe some bullshit like that. I laid my head on Trae’s chest as he held me tight. I wanted to believe that everything was going to be okay, but my gut was telling me a totally different story. We had f*cked up. F*cked up bad, and the universe is not that forgiving. Hell, I wasn’t that forgiving.

• • •

“Tasha, Tasha! Wake up!” I opened my eyes to find Aunt Marva and Kyra standing over my bed. I threw the blanket over my head. Have they lost their minds?

“Tasha, somebody is poking around the house outside,” Kyra said as she snatched the cover from over my head.

I sat up. “What? Who is it? Outside our house? Trae is supposed to be in Atlanta.”

“Well, it ain’t Trae,” Kyra said.

I jumped out of bed and headed for the stash spot where Trae hid his burners. I reached for my favorite, a Hi Point 9-milli. I was dying to use it. I grabbed my robe and tied it around me, slipping the milli into my robe pocket.

“I called the police already,” Marva whispered. Actually, we all were whispering as they followed me down the stairs.

“Where is he now?” I asked.

“He was on the side of the house. He’s a bold little something, too. The security lights came on, and he kept doing whatever it was that he was doing,” Marva whispered.

We went through the house, peeking through all of the windows. It was a full moon, and the moonlight was the only light we had. I then decided to turn on every light that we had outside. When I peeked out again, our eyes met. We were face-to-face, and even though he had on a hoodie, I was able to make out his features. He was a man of Asian descent.

“Call the police again.” The sound of me putting one in the chamber echoed through the room. “I’m getting ready to shoot to kill.” Shit, anything of Asian persuasion reminded me of Charli. Hell, for all I knew, she was the one who sent him.

“Nooo!” they both said at the same time.

“Watch me.” Then, just in that instant, WHOOSH! We heard a fizzle, and then flames rose up. We all screamed at the top of our lungs. “Fire!” I screeched.

“The kids! The kids!” I heard someone say, but I was already headed up the stairs. My babies. Kyra was on my heels, and Marva was right behind her. We rushed into the bedroom, waking up the kids and snatching them up.

“We gotta hurry! We gotta hurry!” Kyra kept saying. Then she started praying out loud.

“C’mon! C’mon! C’mon, Caliph!” I was yelling. He was moving the slowest. We were frantically trying to gather the children.

“Fire drill!” Marva yelled out. Those two words perked the kids right up, and they began to move faster. She had been practicing with them on many different occasions. We all filed out of the bedroom as the smoke detectors began to screech. Caliph covered his ears and began to cry.

“My eyes,” Shaheem kept saying. The smoke was getting thick.

By the time we got downstairs, the sprinkler system had activated. We rushed through the smoke-filled living room right out the front door. My eyes were burning. Everyone was choking and coughing. We were wet but happy to have made it onto the front yard. We turned around and looked at the house. I was numb. And then Caliph collapsed. Everyone gathered around him. I held my breath as I felt his pulse.

“Caliph, baby, can you hear mommy? Are you—“ He started choking.

“Mommy . . . I can’t breathe.”

“I’m here, baby.” I picked him up and he hugged me around my neck as if he was planning on never letting go.

The police were rushing down the street, and I heard the fire engine in the distance. It was weird, but only the left side of the house was burning and smelling like burnt wood.

Our neighbors across the street came onto their porch. When they saw us, they came rushing to where we were.

“Madge, call the fire department!” Mr. Sinclair yelled out.

“I already did!” I heard his wife’s piercing voice.

“You all are wet. Is everyone out? Where’s your husband?” Mr. Sinclair took off his sweater and put it around the twins and huddled them together. Mrs. Sinclair used hers to cover Aisha.

“He’s out of town. Our house is burning.” I was mesmerized by the blaze.

“Please, come inside my home. You are all welcome.” Mr. Sinclair tried to pull me away.

“Thank you, Mr. Sinclair. You can take the kids and Kyra. My aunt and I will talk to the police and the fire department.” I had to yell over the sirens that were now blaring behind me as the truck pulled up in front of the house. “Y’all go with Mr. Sinclair. Mommy has to talk to the policemen and the firemen.” I tried to reassure the children as they looked up at me with fear in their eyes. Caliph was still holding onto me.

“You calling Daddy?” Kareem asked.

“Yes, I’m calling your daddy.” I rubbed his little head as he shivered.

“My nose is burning,” Kareem whined.

I looked around at the fire engines, police cars, and firemen as they hustled to put out the blaze. It was as if we were in a movie; time moved slowly around me. My eyes settled on Kyra, Marva, and the children, who were all dripping wet, coughing, rubbing their eyes and noses. It seemed as if some sort of chemical was in the smoke. “Have the paramedics check everyone out. I think some gases or fumes were released.” Mr. Sinclair started leading everyone to the ambulance.

The crisp California air brushed over my skin, but the rage that rose in my gut had me on fire. All I could think about was Charli and how I was going to make that bitch pay with her ass for this one.


TRAE

Benny was able to get me out on bond with no restrictions. I had to fly down to Atlanta to check on Faheem. I needed to find out exactly what happened and wanted to see how he was holding up and if he needed my help in any way. I knew that he would do the same for me. I couldn’t imagine losing one of my sons. Then, to add injury to insult, his son’s mother had the funeral while he was laid up in the hospital. That was crazy as hell. The other thing he was concerned with was that Jaz kept talking about taking Oni out. He told me that she was serious, but when talking to her he would nix her off. I tried to tell him that she was just talking out of emotion, but he didn’t think so.

Jaz gave me a key to the house when I was at the hospital and told me to chill out at their spot. I left the hospital, and before turning in, I decided to ride out to Lithonia to check out Gladys Knight’s Chicken and Waffles. I picked up my food and headed in for the rest of the evening. I had the house all to myself. I ate, showered, and decided to get some much needed rest.

Around dawn, my cell vibrated, sliding across the nightstand. I grabbed it and saw that it was Tasha. Why was she calling at five in the morning? I figured that one of the kids must be sick.

“Babe, what’s up?”

“I need you to come home.” She was frantic.

I sat up. “What’s going on?”

“We had a fire. The—”

“A fire?” My heart sank to my stomach. “Is everybody all right?”

“We’re all fine. There were fumes, and everyone’s eyes and noses are burning. The paramedics are checking everybody out now. We all are a little shook up, but we’re okay. The fire didn’t have the chance to spread through the whole house. The sprinklers kicked in on the first floor. I’m not sure if they went off on the second floor. If so, then everything is waterlogged. If they hadn’t activated, I might not be out here talking to you, because the heat and fire blew the windows out on the first floor, and then the water hoses did the rest of the damage. So I’m sure the first floor is soaked.” She exhalted.

“Slow down, baby, you are talking too fast. Breathe, please. We can replace all of that shit, but I can’t replace all of you.” I was already getting dressed. “I’m on my way back now.”

“I have to give the police my statement, and then we are going to find a hotel. It’s chilly out here. Mr. Sinclair came over, and the kids are at his house.”

“Okay, when I get back I will thank him. But for now you need to go to our other house.”

“I’m not going there. That’s exactly where the bitch wants me to go.”

“What? What bitch?” My wife was sounding crazy.

“Charli. Who else? Plus, I am not going to the same house and sleep in the same bed where you f*cked another bitch!”

“Tasha, don’t start that bullshit. I told you I did not f*ck her in that house.”

“We are checking into a hotel, Trae.”

“Don’t take my kids to no damn hotel. Now is not the time to be talking crazy, Tasha.”

“Crazy? How come the guy we saw looking around the house looked Chinese? Who else do you know would want to burn us down to the ground? Our kids were in that house, Trae.”

“Not Charli. Somebody else, for some other shit I did, but not her.”

“Oh, that’s right. She loves you too much. She wouldn’t dare try to burn your ass down to the ground. Trae, you need to open your eyes. That bitch was behind this.”

“You’re trippin’, Tasha. I don’t think she would do that.”

“I know you can’t be that stupid. Who do you think you are talking to? You know what? I am not about to argue with you. We going to a hotel and I will call you when we get checked in.”

“Tasha, I—Tasha!” She hung up on me. And shit was going from worst to extreme. I had to get the f*ck home and deal with not only these pending charges, but now a fire. Who the f*ck would be crazy enough to come for my family?


CHARLI

“I don’t believe this! You idiotic imbecile! My instructions to you were to blow up the car with her and the children. Not the house!” Yao, who worked for our family, stood in my foyer, expecting to get some sympathy from me.

“No, Ms. Li. You didn’t specify. House. Car. Boat. Your instructions were to handle it as I saw fit,” Yao said.

“But did you handle it? Of course not! The house is still standing. The car is still there. The wife and kids are still breathing!”

“I don’t know what happened. The C4 had to be defective.”

“C4? C4? Yao, you used C4 to blow up a house? Why would you do that? You fool! No wonder everyone is still alive. Yao, please don’t tell me you left the explosives? Defective explosives! What about your prints? Serial numbers? C4 can be traced.”

“I wore gloves. No prints, Ms. Li.”

I was beside myself. If some harm would have come to Mr. Macklin, I don’t know what I would have done. What Yao had done over and over again, with precision, this time was a fiasco. He killed people for a living and rarely made mistakes. Why he would use C4 to blow up a house was beyond me. He was beginning to lose his touch. “Yao, you’d better hope that this does not come back to haunt us.”

“Ms. Li, you know better than myself that things don’t always go as planned. I can carry out and complete the assignment tomorrow.”

“No. Please. Let me rethink this.” I grabbed my head with both hands. “Excuse yourself, and see your way out.”