be best to hide it as long as I could. The hardest part was hiding it from Aunt Marva, since she was always around the house. Kyra was so caught up in her little world, I could be ready to deliver, and she would never know the difference. When I would go visit Trae, I would throw on a pair of Spanks and tight jeans.
The last visit, I had brought a cell phone for Trae. I left it exactly where this guard they called Dirty Harry told me to.
Now I was sitting in the waiting room ready to go in, when Benny came and sat down beside me. He startled me. “Benny? What are you doing here?”
“I’ve been here since seven this morning. Come walk with me. I need some fresh air.”
“They are getting ready to call my name, Benny!”
“No, I don’t think so. Come on, and take a walk with me.”
Oookay. Something wasn’t right. I stood and began walking to catch up with Benny. “Is something going on that I should know about?”
He waited until we got outside away from everybody before he spoke. “They are getting ready to transfer Trae out of this country club and send him to the county lockup.”
“Why? What did he do?”
“He allegedly killed a guy.”
“He did what? Why? Is he okay?”
“The guard Dirty Harry, who everybody uses for their contraband, got busted. So this guy was talking shit to Trae, telling him it was his fault and that his woman was the cause, yadda yadda yadda. They exchanged words, he threatened Trae, they got into it, and Trae allegedly strangled him with his bare hands.”
This was a little bit too much for me to handle. “Benny. So what does this mean?”
“It means that he has a brand-new murder charge, but of course, he argues self-defense.”
“I gotta go talk to Trae.” I turned around to leave.
“I doubt they will let you in,” he called out.
I kept walking. I needed to see my husband. Another murder charge? He had me fucked up! Here I was, pregnant with three kids at home. I needed his ass out here. We both fucked up, yes. But he didn’t need to go and fuck up some more.
KAYLIN
What a night! Red and I didn’t leave the police station until about seven thirty that next morning. Once we left there, we had to get Angel’s head looked at. Thank god it was just bruised. After the doctor cleaned and wrapped it, we were on our way home.
While driving, I couldn’t help but reflect on how if E, our artist, hadn’t seen them put us in that car, we would have been fucked. Hell, as far as we were concerned, we were gone. As I lay in that fuckin’ box, pitch-black, with Red on top of me, there was no doubt in my mind that it was over. I couldn’t see her face but could feel the tears rolling down her cheeks. The sound of her voice cracking as she said, “I love you.” The way she said it was as if it was the last time those words would ever leave those sweet lips. I couldn’t even give her a comforting hug, because my hands were tied. That was the moment when, as a man, my pride kicked in. Hell, my ego was totally crushed as I lay helpless, not able to do shit to rescue my wife. I had failed. I had failed as a husband and a father, and I got mad as fuck. All I could do at that point was pray. “Lord, if you get me out of this situation . . . I don’t know how you can do it, but if you get me out, I’m gonna kill that nigga, and that’s my word on my seed.” That was a hell of a prayer to pray, but that’s what was in my heart.
Jahara spent the night at my moms’, and we decided it would be best to let her stay over there for now. Plus, I didn’t want to be around Mama Santos. Once she started asking questions, it would be hard to sit there and be in her face. It was very hard to lie to Mama Santos. I couldn’t tell her that her own son, our flesh and blood, had tried to bury me alive.
As soon as we got into the house, we both rushed to hit the water. I scrubbed from head to toe. I had dirt in my eyes, ears, nose,