Page 38 of Down With the King of the South 2

She sighed and removed her arm from covering her face, but she still didn’t face me. She was looking out of the window.

“I went to the church by the cemetery because I just wanted to pray. I was almost out the door when one of Vonte’s classmates stopped me. Her name is Olivia. We talked, she told me how she knew Vonte, and then the conversation switched to her talking about Taylor and the car crash. She told me that a month after Vonte died, she heard Taylor come into the church, praying and screaming about how she was sorry for taking Vonte’s bag. Crazy because I didn’t know shit about that girl, but I took her word. That girl could have been lying to me, but I still took my ass down to Taylor’s mother’s house. She didn’t want to let me in, so instantly, I felt like she was trying to protect her daughter.

“Miami, I was too fuckin’ angry and riled up to just turn around, so I barged inside. The moment I stepped foot in that door, I knew I was going to jail, but I didn’t care. My main focus was on finding that bag. I searched everywhere for it. So, now I’m getting even angrier because I’m starting to feel like maybe Olivia was just lying to me and was saying that shit to get a reaction out of me. That’s until I saw the trunk that was under her bed. I was able to drop it to the floor, and the handle broke, so everything went flying out, along with Vonte’s bag. And this,” she said, and her voice cracked.

She went into the clear bag that she had and pulled out the two inhalers. I hadn’t even realized that she had that all this time.

“It all comes down to this. I can’t hold, kiss, and love on my baby anymore, all because of the simple fact that he didn’t have this. I lost my fuckin’ son because of her sick ass child, yet they lock me up! They should have locked that bitch up!” she cried and shoved the dashboard.

I ain’t ever in my life seen Shae this pissed. I let her have it, though, because I knew that she needed it. “I was ready to be a fuckin’ grandmother to a baby that wasn’t even my son’s. That bitch came into Vonte’s hospital room that night, and she cried over my baby, knowing good and damn well that she put her there. Miami, she better be lucky that she died in that car accident or else I would have killed her and that baby with my bare fuckin’ hands. I swear to God I would have,” she cried and broke down.

At the same time, I pulled the car into the driveway. When I say she broke down, I mean she broke down. Shit fucked me up too, and I ended up wiping a tear that had fallen from my eyes too. It felt like we were back at square one with this. I shut the car off and then came around and helped her out. Like she was incapable of walking,

I held her in my arms, carried her up the driveway, and I used my free hand to unlock the door, letting the both of us inside.

I shut off the alarm seconds into us walking inside, and I didn’t make any other stops; I just carried her up the stairs and into the master bathroom. I stood her on her feet, only so I could start the bath water for her. I was pretty sure she felt dirty after sitting up in jail all night. I put in her favorite bubble bath, as the water filled up, I went over and helped her out of her clothes.

Once all her clothes were removed, and the water had filled up, I lifted her again and set her down in the water. She drew her knees to her chest as she stared off into space. For about five minutes, we didn’t say shit to each other. The only sound in the room was me grabbing her sponge, putting her body wash on it, and washing her body for her.

“You think I’m crazy? Be honest with me,” she finally asked.

She was looking at me with eyes that pleaded for me to say that she wasn’t.

“I don’t think you’re crazy for missing your son, shorty. Personally, I think any mother who loves her kid would wild the fuck out and often times have to question their sanity. On the other hand, there are times when I feel like you’re missing a few screws, yo,” I joked, getting her to laugh.

“You love me, though,” she reminded me.

“Sure do. You, my daughter, and my son,” I said with my hand on her stomach.

“Please! That’s happy weight. You make me happy,” she said with a small smile on her face.

“I ain’t saying you got a gut, shorty. You know exactly what I’m saying,” I let her know.

She rolled her eyes and ignored me.

Giovonni “Trip” Young

Over the years, I done had some strange ass visits, but nothing topped this one. I wouldn’t even call it strange; just different, you know? More like shocking, since I feel like that’s more fitting for the situation. I was nervous because I knew who was out there waiting for me. I was dreading this day, but at the same time, I was kind of looking forward to it too. I barely slept last night because all I could think about was how this morning’s visit was going to unfold.

I was walked out by one of the correctional officers, which wasn’t Raynell because this was her off weekend. I spotted my ole girl in the back, and Maya was sitting next to her. I took my time walking over to them both because I was nervous. I ain’t never in my life have to face no shit like this because Vonte was always the only child that I knew. It was only so much slow walking that I could do before I finally reached the table.

I kissed my mama on her forehead and waved at Maya, who gave a small wave back. First thing that I noticed about her was that she was really tiny. Granted, Krystal was small when she was younger, but damn, the little girl looked kind of malnourished. She was adorable, though. The picture that her bitch ass mama had shown me didn’t do any justice because she was a doll in person. I then took notice of the old ass braids in her hair. Crazy how her hair looked this way, but the last time Krystal was here, she’d literally looked as if she’d just left the hair salon.

I couldn’t tell how her clothes fit her because she was sitting, but I knew that the shirt that she had on hadn’t been washed because there were stains on it. It was only ten in the morning, and those stains were old. I was almost embarrassed that this was my supposed child, and she was out here looking like this.

My eyes left Maya, and they landed on my mama, who looked pissed off about something. Not only did she look pissed, but she looked sleep deprived as well. There were dark circles under her eyes, and I didn’t know if her eyes were red because she was tired or if she’d been previously crying. She gave me a look that screamed that she didn’t want to be here.

“The results came back for the test. She’s indeed yours,” my mama let me know.

It wasn’t shit to have a DNA test done. I didn’t speak to Krystal not one time about any of this. The day she left here, I let my ole girl know what was going on. Although she didn’t want to get involved, she jumped right on it. The judge was able to order the paternity test, and today, my ole girl hit me with the results. Now that I knew she was mine, I didn’t even know how to feel. I wasn’t happy, sad, angry, or any of that.

I wasn’t shocked that Maya belonged to me because although she looked more like Krystal, I could see bits of me in her, like her nose, her eyes, even her ears. She looked a little bit like Vonte when he was her age, just the girl version. I could sense hostility and annoyance coming from my ole girl, so I spoke up on that shit.

“What’s your problem, man? I haven’t seen you in months. I would think that you would be happy to see me,” I said, and she sucked her teeth.

“Giovonni, ask me where this little girl’s mother has been since we all had to meet up for the paternity test. She came up with some bullshit ass excuse about needing to go and pay her light bill and how she doesn’t like to take Maya because it’s always crowded down there. That was damn near three weeks ago, Trip. I done called just about every fuckin’ hospital, jail, and her ass is nowhere to be found. I don’t even know where the bitch lives, so it’s not like I can go to an address. I’m calling her phone, but it’s going straight to voicemail. Maya is badly speech delayed, so she really isn’t much help.”

The whole time my ole girl spoke, Maya’s head was down, resting on her arms. It was as if she didn’t even know where the fuck she was. That was another thing that I had picked up on from the moment I saw her. Something was definitely off; I just couldn’t put my finger on it yet. I shot out the address to my ole girl since I knew where Krystal stayed. Well, that’s the address where all her letters came from.

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