For The Love Of A Goon 2: A Miami Hood Love Tale (5 page)

Meek stood there with his arms folded across his chest as he thought about which suit his brother would pick for himself if he was still alive. He flipped through the same four suits on the rack over and over before he decided on the black one with thin red pinstripes.

“Yeah, my lil nigga gon’ look real nice in this one.” He held the suit up from the rack in front of him to take a closer look. He hung the suit over his forearm then grabbed the pair of black Stacy Adams from the floor underneath the clothing rack. His mother had already given Mr. Fred Nino’s sizes so everything was the perfect fit. Meek picked up a white shirt, a red tie, and matching handkerchief. He carried the things back to the front of the store and placed them on the front counter.

He took the check he had folded up in his pocket out and handed it to Mr. Fred. “Will this be enough?”

“This will be fine, son.” Mr. Fred took the check from Meek’s hand then bagged up the clothes and shoes. He handed Meek the bags and looked him dead in the eyes. “Son, tell your mother that I’m so sorry for what happened to your brother. I could hear in her voice earlier this morning when she called, that it was tearing her apart. You got to make sure you take care of her, she’s going to need you.” He let go of the bag and shook Meek’s hand firmly. “You be safe out there now,” he finished before letting go of Meek’s hand. “And don’t you be no stranger now, stop by and see ole Fred every now and then.”

“I will, Mr. Fred,” Meek replied before heading for the doors.

In route to the funeral home, he stopped by Carmen’s apartment to pick up something special just for his brother. He thought about the diamond pinky ring he had bought back when he first started getting real money in the dope game. He had let his little brother tag along with him and Trent that day to the mall. Nino had begged and begged his big brother for a ring just like his that day. Meek remembered telling him that once he put in enough time in the streets, he’d too be able to afford a ring like his by himself. He gave his little brother everything he wanted, but he still wanted him to work hard for the bigger things his heart desired.

Nino would constantly beg him for the twenty-four kart diamond ring, and Meek never gave in. He knew how much his little brother wanted it, and now that he was gone, he wouldn’t dare wear it again. Meek cursed himself repeatedly, thinking of all the stupid shit he had taught Nino growing up. At the time, he thought he was teaching him right and showing him how to be a man, but looking back on it, he had written out his brother’s fate. He didn’t teach him how to be a stand up man. Instead, he taught him how to be a cold hearted gangsta.

Meek reached into the back seat and gathered up the things he had gotten from the suit shop. When he reached the door of the funeral home, he stopped, and took a deep breath before he pushed opened the double doors. The lingering sent in the air was something he wouldn’t forget, all he could do was cover his nose and try not to breath it in. He didn’t know if it was the dead bodies or what.

“Hello!” Meek yelled as he slowly inched his way through the place.

He peeped around at all of the beautiful floral arrangements and different colored caskets. He quickly turned away when he thought about viewing Nino inside one of them. This is the very last place he wanted to be. He wished that it would have been him instead; at least he wouldn’t have to bear the pain of seeing his mother in the state she was in.

“Hello there. How may I help you?”

Meek spun around and faced the soft sweet voice of the woman behind him. The woman smiled gracefully as she stood with her hands together out in front of her. She had a head full of gray hair, stood about five feet tall, and looked to be in her late sixties.

“Umm, hello ma’am.” Meek politely greeted the elderly woman. “I brought this suit for my brother,” he said as his nerves kicked in and his hand holding the bag began to tremble.

“Chile, everything is going to be okay. You just keep calm.” The older woman placed her hand on top of his to stop his hand from shaking, but it didn’t stop Meek’s heart from threatening to escape his chest. Her soft touch instantly calmed his spirt and her voice reminded him of his late grandmother. “Would you like you see him once we have him in his clothes?” the woman asked.

“Yes, ma’am,” Meek answered while handing her the bag.

The older women called for the mortician to come in from the back and retrieve the clothing in the bag. She then turned back to Meek and took him by the hand.

“Follow me, young man,” she said and guided him to an area where he could sit and wait. She held her hand out and offered him a seat.

Meek sat down and the woman sat in the chair next to him. She stared at him for a while, trying to read him. She finally opened her mouth and started to speak again. “Young man, how old was your brother? she asked.

“He was twenty-five,” Meek answered, wondering why she didn’t just leave him sitting there alone. “Would’ve been twenty-six in two more months.”

“I’ve been taking good care of him since he came in. I think we kind of bonded.” The old lady giggled and so did Meek. “You mind if I ask what happened to him?”

“He was shot,” Meek replied dryly, not really wanting to get into the conversation she was trying to hold with him.

“No, dear, before that. What happened in his life time that led him to that point of making an enemy so angry that he wanted your brother dead?” The lady clarified her question. She wanted to know about Nino’s lifestyle.

“I don’t understand.” Meek didn’t want to tell the woman that his brother was a straight up thug.

“Boy, you ain’t talking to no old fool. I’m seventy-three years old. I’ve been around for a long time now, and running this place, I’ve seen so many of you young men and women come through these doors. I had to look so many heartbroken parents in their face and conduct business as if I didn’t even notice the tears pouring from their eyes. In this business, I’ve seen and heard it all. Just two weeks ago a young man was brought in, he had been shot twice in the head. His family had to have a closed casket service. The young man was only nineteen years old. Practically still a baby.” She paused and shook her head. “Are you one of those street thugs too?” she asked.

“Umm, no ma’am.” Meek didn’t know how to respond.

“Let’s get on back here and see your brother.” She slowly rose from her chair and held out her hand for Meek to take. She led him into the back, and right before she opened the door, she turned to him and said, “Now, I don’t usually allow the family back here, but this is something personal to me.” She opened the door and stepped aside. “Come on in.”

Meek entered slowly as if he was afraid of what was waiting on the other side. Nino was lying in a gold casket. The suit he’d picked out was on him, and so were the shoes. His skin color had already started to fade, and he could still see the scratches they tried to apply make-up over on the back of his hands. Meek froze with fear; he wasn’t ready to face him again.

The older woman stepped up beside him and gently placed her hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay, baby, go on,” she said, letting him know that it was okay for him to get closer to his brother’s body.

Meek walked up and looked down on Nino. He could barely recognize the young man lying in the casket before him. His heart instantly sank as he burst into tears.

“My son was the same age as your brother when he was shot down out there in them streets. As much as I tried to raise him right, the streets won, but I never gave up on him. One day I was sitting here at my desk and I received the most devastating call. I remember it so clearly. He was up to no good as usual. As much as I tried to provide him with everything, he picked up a nasty habit of taking things that didn’t belong to him. That time it cost him his life. Imagine having to do this to your child.” The woman finished then disappeared from the room, leaving Meek alone with his brother’s body.

Meek slid the diamond pinky ring out of his pocket and placed it on Nino’s pinky finger. “Looking good, lil bro.” He bent over and placed a kiss on his forehead. “I’m gon’ really miss you, boy.”

“C
armen, will you smile?” Moe said while holding her cell phone in the air. She was trying to take a picture of herself, Carmen, and Roshel.

Carmen flashed a fake smile then returned her attention to her phone. She’d been arguing back and forth with Trent all day via text messages and had begun to get extremely frustrated with his selfish demands. He didn’t want to accept the fact the she didn’t want to have his child. She stormed across the room and sat down on the chair in the corner.

Moe slid into the small hospital bed with Ro and began to surf through the pictures Carmen had taken of her and Meek during their ceremony. She talked to Ro as she showed her picture after picture. She wished so badly that she could hear her and would open her eyes and respond. However, Moe and Carmen would keep visiting Roshel and talking to her just as they have always done. One thing they would never do was turn their backs on one another.

“And this one is me and C at the restaurant we stopped at to eat right before Meek dropped us off here,” Moe said holding up her cell phone as if Ro was looking at the pictures with her. When she felt Ro’s right hand jump, she sat up quickly and rolled off the bed. “C, she moved her hand. Did you see it?”

Moe became excited and started to cheer Roshel on. “Do it again, baby girl. Come on, Ro, I know you can hear me,” she said with fingers crossed and praying to herself that Roshel was about to make a recovery.

She prayed daily for her return, and knew that sooner or later God would answer her prayers. She couldn’t take seeing her friend lying around unable to speak. She longed to hear her voice again and to see her beautiful eyes. “One more time Ro, just let me know you hear me.” Moe placed her hand on top on Roshel’s. Roshel moved her hand once more.

Carmen then jumped from her seat on the other side of the room and ran to Roshel’s bedside. “Ro! Ro, I’m here too. It’s me, Carmen.”

“Carmen stop yelling.” Moe gave Carmen the side eye. “We are in a hospital.”

“I’m sorry, Moe, I just got excited when she moved her hand. You think she can hear us?” Carmen leaned in closer to Roshel. “Ro, we miss you so much. Please wake up,” she said in her ear.

“Yeah, she hears us, C. She’ll come around sooner or later, and when she does, we’ll be the first people she sees.” Moe glanced down at the time on her cell phone then sent Meek a short text informing him that they were ready to leave.

When he arrived, both girls kissed Ro softly on the cheek and left the hospital. Back at Carmen’s place, Moenisha and Meek went into Kira’s bedroom and Carmen went straight to her room.

**********

The next morning, Moe awoke in the bed alone. She sat up, stretched, then reached for her phone.
Where the hell could he be this early in the morning?
She thought. It was just ten minutes after eight a.m. and Meek was nowhere to be found. Moe got up and searched the apartment.

“Carmen, you seen Meek this morning?” She stopped and asked when she saw Carmen bending over the toilet.

Carmen shook her head no.

Moe tried calling his cell, but got no answer. She told herself she wouldn’t panic, but she soon started to feel like she needed to know exactly where her husband was. “You sure you didn’t see him leave this morning?” She ran back to the bathroom and asked again.

“No, Moe, I just got my ass out of the bed.”

The girls’ eyes popped wide open and they looked at each other strangely when they heard Carmen’s front door open and someone making their way inside.

“Who dat?” Carmen whispered, taking a few steps back into the bathroom. She looked around for something they could protect themselves with, then grabbed the plunger.

“What the hell you gon’ do with that?” Moe whispered.

Carmen shrugged then turned the plunger upside down and gripped the handle as if it was a baseball bat. Moe didn’t have anything to use, so she jumped behind Carmen.

“What the hell?” Trent appeared in the doorway. “The hell is this?” he asked as he began to laugh at the girls huddled up in the small space.

“Got damnit, Trent. You can’t just be busting up in here like that. You scared the hell out of us.” Carmen tossed the plunger to the floor and grabbed her chest. Her heart was still pounding.

“Oh, don’t tell me big bad ass behind you was scared?” He joked then slapped his knee and laughed loudly.

“Fuck you, Trent. Hell, with all this crazy ass bullshit that’s been going down, you damn right I’m scared. And I ain’t got my strap on me. You better be glad, cause yo ass would’ve been shot fucking with me.” Moe rolled her eyes, pushed past him, and marched back to Kira’s bedroom.

“Yeah, I bet,” he said. “Let me holla at you, shorty.” He pulled Carmen out of the bathroom by her arm.

“Slow down, dang,” she whined as he slung her in the bedroom and slammed the door shut. “The hell is your problem, Trent?” she yelled.

“You are if you think you gon’ kill my fucking seed. What’s all that stupid shit you was texting me yesterday, huh? You thought I wasn’t go come check your smart mouth ass about that, C?” He got all up in her face. “Talk that shit now, I dare you to.”

Carmen screwed her face up and cocked her head to the side. She remained silent for a short while, placed her hands on her hip, then looked in his eye and said, “What you gon’ do? Whatever it is, you might as well go ahead and do it because my mind is all made up.” She turned her back on him and stormed over to her bed. “You know what, it amazes me how you can have the nerve to just come up in here demanding shit of me. You haven’t been the man I’ve needed in all these years, why should I even allow myself to think that you’ll change?” She paused and waited for an answer, but Trent just stood and listened with his head down. Then, when she was all done talking, he began to speak.

“Carmen, are you done?” he asked calmly. She nodded her head. “I know I ain’t the best man to you, but baby, please don’t take it out on my unborn child,” he begged, hoping to get through to her damaged heart.

“What about the other bitch and the other baby?” she spat with attitude as she rolled her neck and poked her thick lips out. “I bet you told her the same thing.”

“Man, I took that bitch from another nigga. She was already pregnant when I met her. I chill at her spot because it’s close to the trap. Of course I let that thot suck me up, but I ain’t fucked. Well, I did,” he corrected himself, “but it was only once or twice. That ain’t my baby either, C.” He looked her dead in her eyes and threw his arms around her waist, pulling her in closer to him.

As much as she tried to resist his lips meeting hers, she couldn’t. His smooth yellow skin and colorful tattoos all the way up to his neck, were what she first noticed when they met, and still it drove her wild. He had the hard body of a pro ball player because he liked to shoot hoops for fun. He kissed her softly as she held on to his body like she never wanted to let go.

Then, she began to think about what was going on and quickly pushed him away. Carmen backed up and stared at Trent strangely.

“Come on, baby, don’t do this to yo mans like that. I was just fucking off, Carmen, you know that. I don’t want them bitches.” He walked forward and took both of her hands into his. “I want you, Kira, and my baby.” He started to kiss her again, this time she didn’t try to stop him, she just let it happen. She felt no need to stop him because she wanted it just as much as he did. She missed his touch, the way he smelled, and the way he made her feel. “I want y’all to move in with me,” he broke his kiss and said.

The smile that crept up on Carmen’s face was priceless. She’d waited so long for Trent to get his act together, and finally it seemed as if he was coming around. Even if he wasn’t about to make a full turn around, at least this was a good starting place.

“How do I know you ain’t going to do this shit again, Trent?” Carmen locked eyes with his, searching for an answer. “You’ve lied to me too many times in the past already.”

Carmen shook her head from side to side. She could feel the tears trying to return to her eyes upon the thought of the rough past five years they’ve been playing this back and forth game. All she really wanted was to be happy with the man she’d loved since she met him that night in the club. She’d never been so damn crazy over a man, but Trent wasn’t just any ole nigga, he a was goon, and she’d do anything for his love.

“Because, I give you my word, baby.” He put on a cheesy smile, and just like that, Carmen let him slither his way back into her heart and her bedroom.

It was evident that he held the power in their relationship. He could easily talk her into anything.

*****

“Meek, answer your damn phone. You know I will blow this mother fucker up until you do!”

Meek listened to Moenisha’s fifth voicemail of the morning before he turned off his cell phone and put it away. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to talk to her, he just knew she’d try to talk him out of being in the projects on the block if she knew. He was sitting in the middle of the hood with a little over half a brick of soft. He had fronted the work from Trent in order to make some money for his wife. He wasn’t at all worried about himself, for he knew that if he made sure she was well taken care of before he went away, she would be able to take care of him in the long run.

He tucked his phone underneath his seat, grabbed his pistol, and got out of his car. It was bright and early and he was the only hustler out on the block, and you know what they say; the early bird gets the worms. For the next three hours straight he stood on the same corner swapping out his illegal goods for cash. Meek wasn’t worried about the police or the other hustlers who claimed they ran the block. Only one thing was on his mind, and that was money.

He knew the game well, so he always played to win. Ducking and dodging his haters in the hood and serving the fiends at the same time was a skill he’d picked up during his younger days in the game. He could move just about anything. Put it in his hands, and he’ll make it disappear.

Meek hopped back into his truck. It was twelve in the afternoon and he hadn’t eaten a thing. His stomach was aching, and all he wanted to do was eat and get back to the money, but the moment he reached underneath his seat and turned on his cell phone, all that changed. No sooner than the two minutes it took for his phone to load, Moe was calling. He sighed heavily, knowing she was about to blow on him. At first thought, he wasn’t going to answer, but he figured she was probably good and worried by now.

“Hey baby,” he answered then took the phone away from his ear to prevent her screaming in his ear. “Moe, stop all that damn screaming and hollering. I can’t understand a thing you’re saying.” He cracked a smile then set the phone down in his lap as he quickly counted up the cash he had made so far. “Look, baby, I ain’t doing nothing. I’ll be there in just a minute, calm down, girl,” he said as she continued to rant on and on.

Meek threw the car in drive and smashed out of the projects. He stopped by the twenty-four-hour chicken wing spot and grabbed his favorite lemon pepper chicken and grabbed an extra plate for Moe and Carmen. He didn’t want to upset Moe, but she wouldn’t understand that he had to stand up and be a man. She would’ve stood on the block and got the money herself, but as a man, he couldn’t allow her to do that. He wasn’t the type of guy who would sit back and let her put in all the work.

“Where the hell have you been at all day?” Moe rolled her neck and smacked her lips.

Moe had a stern stare as she sat on Carmen’s sofa with her feet propped up when Meek strolled in. She took her feet down from the coffee table and sat up straight on the sofa. Meek placed the bag of food on the table then bent over to kiss her forehead. Moenisha jerked her head away, not giving him the chance. He set the food in the middle of the table, then sat down next to her.

“You hungry?” he asked.

“Hell no, I ain’t hungry. Don’t bring your ass in here trying to butter me up. Where in the hell have you been, Meek?” Moe spat, not giving a damn about the food on the table. She wanted to know one thing, and that was where her husband had been all morning.

“Nowhere, Moe. Just needed a little time to clear my mind, that’s all. Had to get away for a minute,” he replied.

Meek sat up, grabbed the bag of food from the table, and began to separate the plates. He handed one to Moe, placed one in his lap, then sat Carmen’s plate back on the table.

“Let me get you something to drink.” He hopped up and headed for the kitchen. When he returned to the living room, Moe was shoving food into her mouth like it was her last meal. “Thought you wasn’t hungry.” He laughed and took his seat.

“Shut up,” she huffed with a mouthful of food. “I still want to know where you’ve been.”

“I know y’all ain’t in here eating and didn’t tell me,” Carmen floated into the room with Trent right behind her. They both seemed happy as hell for a couple who was just at each other’s throats the day before. “Where mine at?” she asked and Meek pointed to the bag on the table.

“Well, well, well. Look who’s all in love again,” Moe teased.

“Whatever, hand me the hot sauce.” Carmen waved her off and reached for the hot sauce bottle.

“Fam, how long you stay on the block? I know yo ass was booming ’cause you was the only nigga out there. I know them fiends was coming back to back. I told you that shit hitting hard, my nigga. I got another brick of that same shit at the crib.”