Page 4 of Heavy Is The Crown

The second she said it, Kenyatta’s whole demeanor changed.

“Trell?” His voice dropped, laced with something darker. “Trellwho?”

Brooke exhaled dramatically. “You acting like you don’t know.”

Kenyatta stood up, pacing now. “You mean Trell, the same Trell used to run with me and my brother?”

Brooke stayed quiet.

Kenyatta laughed, but there was no humor in it. “You serious, Brooke? That’s who you got around my daughter?”

Brooke scoffed. “Oh, so now you care?”

“I always cared! You just love acting like it’s about me when it’s really about what a nigga can do for you.”

“You mad ‘cause Trell making shit happen? Mad ‘cause he not out here lost like you?”

“Nah, I’m mad ‘cause you don’t think about shit except your damn self. You don’t care who’s around Kaliyah as long as they spending on you.”

She sucked her teeth. “Boy, please. Ain’t nobody thinking about you.”

Kenyatta shook his head, running a hand down his face. “I don’t want my daughter around that nigga.”

“She’s fine.”

“She won’t be if shit goes left, and you know it.”

Trell. Of all niggas.

Patience. Control.

He wasn’t about to let her pull him into another screaming match. “I just wanna see my daughter, Brooke. That’s it.”

Silence.

Then, she exhaled dramatically. “I’ll think about it.”

Voice deadly calm, he said, “Ain’t shit to think about.”

Brooke relented halfway. “If she comes over there, your mama gotta be around.”

He exhaled hard. “Man, what?”

“You heard me.”

He sucked his teeth. “You don’t even like my mama.”

“She don’t like me either, but we do what we gotta do for Kaliyah.”

“Whatever, Brooke. Just let me see my daughter.”

He could hear the sneer in her voice. “I’ll let you know.”

The line went dead before he could say another word.

Kenyatta felt his temper bubbling, but he swallowed it down. He was tired. Tired of fighting. Tired of proving himself to people who didn’t give a damn about him.

He sat there, staring at the phone in his hand. His daughter, the only thing keeping him sane was being dangled over his head like some damn prize. And there wasn’t shit he could do about it.

---