Thug Matrimony (26 page)

“Yo, Kendra, I got a message for you from Kay.” Kajuan, Kendrick, and Kendra had stepped out to take in the cool night air.

“What’s up?” Kendra wanted to know. She knew that Kay never came with no bullshit.

“Yo, big cuz need you to work Papi. He needs you to squeeze out everything he got on his dude Mickey Reyes. You know who Mick is, right?”

“Mr. Big Time himself, of course. I’ve heard of him, but never met him.”

“Well, he got control over all five boroughs. Why this nigga throwing his name around is baffling the fuck out of everybody. So we need you to find out. You got that? Kay said to suck his dick if you have to, yo. We need an address, like, yesterday.”

Kendra rolled her eyes and looked from her twin back to Kajuan.

“You straight?” Kajuan needed to confirm.

“Don’t press me, nigga. I ain’t no ho. Shit, I gotta get my mind right.”

“Well, get it together, the clock is ticking,” Kajuan warned and Kendrick snickered.

“What’s so fuckin’ funny, fool?” she snapped at her brother. He blew her a kiss and held the door open for her. “Tell Kay he owes me big time for this one.”

“You ain’t do nothing,” Kendrick teased, causing her to mush him in the face.

“Well, watch a bitch work. Y’all better be lucky y’all family.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just handle the family business,” Kendrick told her. They all knew and expected nothing less from her as they all headed back inside the club to join the party.

Kelis’s joint “Bossy” was blaring through the speakers. A waitress walked by carrying some drinks. Kendra snatched one off the tray, not caring what was in it. She stood there nursing the drink as she scanned the room for Papi. She smiled at Daddy Yankee and tried to see what Kelis had on.

“Everybody, let’s do another toast.” Tito, Papi’s manager, was doing his best to gather everybody around, especially Papi, who was dancing all around the club. Tito had snatched him by his shirt.

Kajuan nodded to Kendra. She rolled her eyes at him and then sashayed her way over to the round table. She purposely stood directly in front of Papi and began looking bored, sticking out like a sore thumb. She caught Papi’s attention immediately. Especially since she only had on a Biggie T-Shirt dress that barely covered her ass and a pair of Christian Cacroix crystal wedges.

Two waitresses carried out a huge sheet cake and set it on the table. It had a picture of Papi and the words
Papi Chulo, King of Reggaeton, the album.
Everyone clapped, hooted, and hollered.

“Who’s gonna cut the cake?” Tito looked around. “Papi, can you handle it?”

Papi looked around. “Yo, Mami, come do this for me.” He pointed the knife at Kendra. “She don’t look like she’s enjoying herself.” Everybody laughed. “Come on, Mami, Papi won’t bite you.”

Oh brother,
Kendra said to herself. But smiled as she headed toward Papi. She was eyeing him seductively and he was looking at her as if he wanted to sop her up.

“Yo, Ma, you lookin’ good.”

“Congratulations, Papi, you’ve come a long way.” She eased the knife from between his fingers.

“Damn, you mo’ sexy than a muthafucka.” He eased up behind her and placed his hands over hers. “Let me help you cut this.”

She giggled. “Oh, so you think I’m not capable?”

“Nah, I’m not saying that. It just gives me a reason to be close to you. Plus, I wouldn’t want you to hurt yourself.”

“Oh, so the King of Reaggaeton got jokes!” She took the first piece of cake and held it to his lips. He took a bite and everyone clapped and snapped pictures. This was indeed Papi’s night.

“Now you take a bite,” he told her. As he put the cake to her lips, she licked the icing from his fingers. “Woooooooo,” everyone snickered.

“Now, yo, everybody take a seat! Let’s get this toast off.” Tito was still trying to control the crowd and was waving for everyone to sit down. Papi held out a chair for Kendra. The waitresses came over and began cutting the cake and placing the slices on saucers.

Tito continued. “On behalf of the new King of Reaggaeton, we thank all of you for coming out. Daddy Yankee, Kelis, Nas, Rhiana, Scott Storch, XXL, Hot 97, Scratch Mag, BLS, Don Diva, Feds, Felon. Damn Papi, you got the world at your fingertips! This is just about everybody!”

Papi stood up. “Thank you. Thank you, Tito my manager, who does his best to keep me in line. I appreciate you, man. You know that. To Kaylin and his wife, Angel Santos.” He held his glass high up in the air. “They are the Bonnie and Clyde of the record industry. Watch what I tell y’all. They took me in, believed in me, when no one else did. I owe them, big time. I’m gonna show them that Papi Chulo appreciates them. Thank you for all your support and your love.” He bowed his head.

“This toast is to you, Papi.” Tito hugged him as everyone held up their glasses in the air. “Drink up and let’s really get this party started!” Tito screamed. Balloons and confetti rained from the ceiling as Papi’s first single, “I’m Not Trippin’”, blasted from the speakers. The crowd went wild.

Papi threw back another shot of Hennessey, grabbed Kendra by the hand, and pulled her onto the dance floor. Kendra fell into her dangerous slow wind. “Oh yeah,” Papi said in her ear. He was all up on her ass. She was trying to hold her breath. He smelled like a distillery. “Damn, girl, you got a body like Jessica Rabbit, but you look like Janet. That’s a deadly combination.”

“You got a body like Fifty, but you look like Sean Paul and got an ass like Tyrese. That’s a deadly combination.”

“Oh, shit, you got jokes.”

Kendra rolled her eyes.
This drunk-ass lame,
she said to herself as she backed that ass up. “Damn, this my jam, you did dat.”

He looked around and cheesed, as if the entire club heard what she said. “You’re Kendra, right? I know you belong to the Santos clan. Boss man ain’t gonna cut off a leg or my contract, is he?”

“Boy, stop playin’, you family now,” she assured him.

“Shit, I don’t know. There’s a lot of y’all. I know growing up, y’all were some hell-raisers.” He turned her around and grabbed her ass.

“How did you know my name?” Kendra smirked as she continued to mesmerize him with her slow wind.

“Don’t worry about that.”

“Oh, I see nothing gets past you, huh?” She stroked his ego.

“Sho’ you right.”

“So you know that you’re platinum material, right? Well, then you already know you’re going to go platinum real fast.”

“That I am.”

“The world is yours, playboy.”

“Yup, the world is mine! The … world … is … mine!” he yelled. “Damn, I wish my homeboys could see me now. Especially Micky.”

“Where are they? Shit, they should have been here. This is a big night for you.”

“Baby girl, my fam runs shit. They’re big time.”

“Well, you’re big time too.”

“I know, but I’m talking big, big mafioso-type niggas.”

“Uh-oh. I hear you. You mean some Michael Corleone-type niggas?” She chuckled.

“Hell yeah. Maybe I’ll hook you up. We’ll see how you do tonight.”

“Tonight, huh?”

“Tonight.” He wanted to get into them panties right then and there, and was telling her whatever she wanted to hear.

“Well, what do you have planned?”

“Leave those details to me.”

“Aiight, then. Just remember I’m the boss’s family so you gotta treat me real special.”

“I got you, Ma.”

Kaylin hung up the phone. Sitting there he buried his face into his hands. Angel was standing in front of him, holding the baby and crying softly.

“Is it that bad? No, baby. Please say it’s not that bad.”

“It’s bad.”

“Dear, God.”

He sighed. “She was beaten and shot three times in the stom-
ach. The baby didn’t survive and she is in critical condition and at this point she’s not stable.”

“Oh God!” Angel sobbed. “Her grandmother! Who’s going to tell her grandmother?” She placed the baby in the crib.

“I guess that I’m going to have to be the bearer of the bad news. Fuck!” He hurled the phone across the room.

“I’m going with you.”

“No, you’re not.”

“Kaylin, I need to see her.”

“Why? You’re staying right here.”

“Baby, please. I’m coming with you. Let me go with you.”

“Red, you are staying your ass in this house with our newborn baby. You are not even healed yet. What are you thinking? The baby ain’t even a week old yet, and you’re talking about going somewhere. Plus, it’s four in the morning.” He grabbed her and hugged her tight, trying to calm her down. “I know you care about E but you are going to have to sit tight.”

“She’s a baby, Kaylin. I told her to take somebody with her. Why would they do that to her? She’s pregnant. I should have made sure somebody was with her.” She sobbed.

“Baby, calm down. At least she’s alive. And look at it this way. She’s young, she can always have another baby. She’s living, at least we got that.” He gently caressed her back, trying to get her to calm down and stop crying.

By the time the baby and Angel fell asleep it was almost six in the morning. Kaylin slipped out of the house and headed to Lil’E's grandmother’s.

Kendra was in Papi’s bathroom running bathwater. Papi was knocked out cold. She looked at her face in the mirror and sighed. “I need some sleep.” Glancing at the iced-up Chopard still on her wrist, she saw that it was 6:24 a.m. She had been up all night long and her skin showed it and her pounding headache confirmed it. The night wouldn’t have been all that bad if Papi was a
better fuck. She dialed Kaylin’s cell and made a mental note to try Papi again when he was sober.

“Yeah.”

“Why do you sound like your mama just died, nigga?” She joked. “I’m the one who should be sounding all down. I can’t believe what the fuck you had me do. You owe me big time, nigga. I’ve been up all night pumping a drunk-ass, can’t-stay-hard-dick nigga, for information. I got bags under my eyes and my skin looks a hot mess! We popped a few E tabs, and that caused the nigga to flap his gums all night long. If his dick would have been going all night I wouldn’t be mad. He ate my pussy until—”

“Whoa, whoa!” Kaylin yelled into the phone, cutting short Kendra’s tirade. “Chill out, Ma! You giving out a little too much info! You family, girl.” He had to grin and was grateful that she did get him to smile. “I got you, cuz. What you did was very important to this family. That’s why I love yo’ gangsta ass!”

“Well, act like it, nigga! You know for the fam, I will step up to the plate. But you know I ain’t fucking any Tom, Dick, and Harry, so at least act like you glad to hear from me and not like you on your way to a funeral.”

“Kendra, check it out, yo. Lil’E was shot three times in the stomach. The baby is dead and we don’t know if Lil’E is going to make it or not. I’m on my way to tell her grandmother now. I’m trying to beat the police over there.”

“Oh … no. Kay, I am so sorry. I didn’t know. I’m sorry, cuz.”

“You know other than that, I would be jumping up and down, clapping and shit. And showering you with all the praise, props, and attention that yo’ ass thrives off of. So tell me, what you got?”

“Your man lives all the way down in Maine. He flies in on a private jet up to the city twice a week, Sundays and Thursdays. Papi sees him on both days. I don’t know if Papi is coppin’ from him, working for him, or what, but he keeps saying that’s his fam. I’m stuck like chuck on that one. But you keep an eye on Papi and you’ll get your man. I gotta go.”

Kendra saw the daylight sun creep into the bathroom when the door opened. She hung up the phone and sauntered over to the Jacuzzi and turned off the water.

“Good morning, you were snoring a few minutes ago,” she said to Papi.

“I snore, but I’m a very light sleeper. But yo, why you all in my bathroom on the phone like you tryna hide somethin’?”

“Whatever.” She snapped her neck back. “That was my cousin. Lil’E … they killed her baby. She’s in the hospital. He’s on his way to tell her grandmother.”

“What? Oh, nah, mami. Lil’E? Not Lil’E, that’s my little nigga. What the fuck happened? Who the fuck would do some shit like that?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think Kay knows either, not yet anyway.”

“That’s fucked up, yo. She family, man! What hospital?”

“I don’t know. I only talked to my cousin for a few minutes. Give him time to talk to her grandmother and then try and call him back.”

“Somebody gotta pay for this!” He stormed out of the bathroom.

Kendra recited a prayer as she stepped into the Jacuzzi.

Angel sat in the waiting room of the pediatrician’s office. Jahara’s navel cord wasn’t healing as fast as she thought it should be so she brought her in to get it checked out. Everyone was telling her that she was overreacting but she didn’t think so.

When she went to grab her phone to call Kaylin it started ringing. “I was just getting ready to call you.” She smiled.

“Well, that’s good to hear,” Snake answered. “We’ve obviously been thinking about each other.”

“What do you want?” She gritted her teeth. “How did you get this number?”

“That’s not important.”

“Why are you calling me, Keenan? Do I need to report you to the police?”

“Look, Angel. I’m done playing these silly-ass games with you. I want you to come down here and see me. We need to talk. And I’m not taking no for an answer.”

“Keenan, listen. I am not coming to talk to you, not now, next week, not ever. Let it go. Leave me the hell alone. It is over between us.” She wished that she could break his neck.

“How important is she to you?”

“What?”

“You heard me. How important is your sister to you?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“What you want me to do? Put the bitch out on the track?” He paused for effect. “Or I’ll just get the slut strung out? Fuck it! I can do both. Tell me right here, fuckin’ right now. Or was your sister right? You only think about your damn self. So I’m leaving her fate in your hands.”

“Fuck you, Keenan, let me talk to her.”

“You can talk all you want when you bring your ass down here. I need to see you.”

There was silence and Snake knew he had her right where he wanted her.