TYCE II (23 page)

After what seemed like an hour, we finally broke contact. My son stood up before me looking strong and healthy. If I must say so myself…he was fine too!”

“Have a seat next to me and let me look at you.” I scooted over a bit to give him some room. “You’re so handsome.”

“Thank you, I think you had a lot to do with that.” He winked at me.

Pamela took a seat in a chair a few feet away from us,
she
was grinning from ear to ear.

“There’s so much I want to tell you, so much I want to say…I just don’
t know where to start. I uhhh, I
prayed for this day and I….” The word
s
were smothered by sobs of joy.

After several long
seconds,
I continued with what I wanted to say.

“How much did Pamela tell you?”
I wiped my eyes with a tissue.

“She told me everything except how you ended up meeting Armando in the first place. That part is still a little sketchy.”

I sighed heavily, “Ok, well, I basically convinced her to let me meet him; I wanted to stand in her place. I figured I could get close enough to kill his ass, pay him back for taking my baby away from me. Pamela tracked me down and told me that my son was alive and well…that was the absolute best news in the world. All my dreams had come t
rue when I heard you survived. Pamela
also
told me how
and
where she found you and my joy turned to anger. Fire surged through my veins when I heard Diego put my little baby boy in a dumpster! All I could think about was me smiling over his dead body!”

Tyce looked over at Pamela, “Damn, now I see where I get my temper from.” He laughed a little. “How come you didn’t reach out to me through Pamela when she told you I was alive, why did you wait so long.”

I rubbed his back gently, “Honestly, I was a little nervous. I didn’t know how you viewed me or if you were mad at me or what. I figured if I could tell you that the man I let harm you years ago was dead,
it
would somehow redeem me in your eyes. I wanted to protect you like I didn’t 26 years ago.”

Tyce squinted his eyes a little as he spoke, “If you thought Diego killed me, then why didn’t you try and get him back then?”

“As you know Diego is a powerful man…I couldn’t take him on by myself, even though I wanted to,
and
believe me I
wanted
to!”

I could see his eyes beginning to mist over as he asked me the next question I knew was coming sooner or later.

“Why didn’t he want me?”

The tears began to flow again from my eyes. The image of Pamela was a little blurry but I could see she was crying also.

“Tyce, he said he didn’t want a little monkey for a son. He told me to abort you. He said he didn’t want to taint his blood line. He was fine fucking a black woman but he didn’t want a baby by one! I tried to hide from him, but he found me…he kept me hostage until I had y
ou…then he stole you from me. Diego thought you were dead, I guess in some way that was best because it protected you, if he would have known you were alive he would have tried to finish you off. He put all the pieces to
gether when he saw me sitting there in his living room
after all these years.
”

My son looked at me sincerely, “It wasn’t your fault, I don’t blame you for what Diego did,
and
you best believe he’s
real
sorry now.”

That last comment made me proud and lifted an enormous weight off my shoulders.

I smiled widely
at him
, “That’s my boy.”

             
The morning brought with it a fresh start loaded with hope. I met my biological mother last night, my pops was locked in my trunk, Dallas was pregnant, and I was a millionaire. Life was good…life was very good.
Gloria was very
pretty;
I could see myself in her. She had thick eyebrows just like me, her nose was round, and her lips seemed as if they were always on the verge of a smile. Most of her hair was black except for a few gray strands.
Her mouth was full of glossy white teeth and although her hair was slightly messed up when I seen her, I could tell it was styled nicely. I smiled as I pictured her image in my mind.

             
The smell of turkey bacon, eggs, and raisin toast wafted up the stairs and into my room. I had only been a sleep for three hours but it felt like eight. I needed the rest after a really long night full of murder, drama,
exploding scrotums,
and shocking revelations.

             
I didn’t bother getting dressed, choosing to wear
shorts
and a tank top to the breakfast table. My fingers tapped the glass of my 500-gallon fish tank on my way out the bedroom door. I had a little spring in my step as I trotted down the stairs. The first order of business was to check on my punk ass daddy. I grabbed the remote to my Benz off the coffee table and walked to the garage. Everything looked normal in the huge space. Angelique’s Jag, the Benz, Dallas’s Beamer, and my busted ass Jeep were all parked in their designated spaces. Standing at the back of my bumper, I smiled down at my reflection in the high gloss paint. My thumb pressed a button on the remote and the trunk slowly opened up. Diego’s body was curled up like a little fetus. His expensive clothes looked like the outfit of a homeless man, the extravagant material all wrinkled from over wear.

“Rise and shine old man!”
I jingled the keys in my palm.

Diego’s face twisted up from the sudden rush of light.
“
Yu dun’t know whu yu
r
fucking with yu little fuck
!
Yur going tu wish I
….”

I put an abrupt stop to his threats with a quick punch to the jaw. It was too early for all that shit. The blow knocked him out again and I closed the trunk on his ass.

             
Walking back into the house now, I could hear someone moving around the kitchen. My stomach growled as the smell of breakfast grew stronger in the air. Hunger and curiosity lead me to the kitchen where I saw Angelique busy doing her
Betty
Crocker
thing.

“Hey babe.”

I came up behind her while she was tending to the crispy bacon. She turned her head over her shoulder to meet my lips.

“
Good mornin’
, how are you feeling?”

“I feel good.”

“How’s Gloria?” She turned the bacon over.

“She’s fine, I think they’re gonna release her tomorrow evenin’ if her pain is manageable.” I sat down at the table.

“That’s good news, I’m happy to hear it. I can’t believe what happened last night; everything’s been so crazy the last 24 hours.” Angelique turned around and faced me.

I shook my head, “Shit, tell me about it, all this shit is crazy retarded.”

“Is Dallas still sleep?” I leaned back in my chair.

Angelique cracked some eggs in a bowl, “No, she’ll be here in a sec, I told her the food would be ready in like ten minutes.”

A confused look came over my face and Angelique took notice. She played with the diamond necklace I bought her trying to look normal.

“What?” She asked
raising
her arched eyebrows.

“You know what.” I stared at her. “You attacked the woman like a bear last night and now you’re cookin’ her breakfast. I know I said squash it and all but I didn’t expect you to feed her.” I smiled.

“Whatever Tyce…it wasn’t that bad.” She cocked her head to the side.

“Yeah ok, tell yourself whatever you need to, jus’ don’t burn the turkey bacon.”

“Boy, you know I know how to cook don’t even go there. But on a serious note, I feel I owe you an explanation about what Dallas said
last night
.”
I waved my hand in protest, “Don’t even sweat it baby girl, I know you would take a bullet for me if it ever came down to it so some he say she say shit don’t even matter.”
My eyes got a little bigger, “Yo, can you believe Dallas is pregnant?”

Angelique snatched two sheets of paper towel off the role with a little too much force.

             
“That was a shock and a half.”
She replied.

“I know right, I couldn’t believe it.” I shook my head.

Five minutes later breakfast was on the table and Dallas made her morning appearance looking bright eyed and bushy tailed. She had her hair up in a ponytail, a pink half shirt, and a fresh pair of white booty shorts. I swear this woman had a
never-ending
supply of those sexy shorts.

“Good morning all.” She pulled out a chair and happily sat down.

“Wasup babe, how’d you sleep?” I grabbed her hand.

“I slept like a baby, for a short time anyway.”

Angelique grabbed the orange juice from
the fridge before placing two
glass
es on the table. She filled my regular sized glass
and hers about half way full
, but she placed the near
ly
full container
right
in front of Dallas.

“Where is my glass?” She looked up at Angelique curiously.

“Oh, you’re gonna wanna drink all that juice.” Angelique pointed at the carton.

“I’m not that thirsty or that greedy.” Dallas shot me a confused expression.

Angelique sat down in front of her plate, bowed her head, and started praying
aloud
.

“Dear lord, please give me the strength not to slap this woman, stab this woman with my fork, or slit her throat with this butter knife, thank you…Amen.”

Dallas and I looked at each other with raised eyebrows. We didn’t know if Angelique had lost her mind or what. I thought the whole incident was over but I guess I was wrong.

“What the hell is your problem Angelique?” Dallas rolled her eyes
.

Angelique sighed heavily, took a bite of her raisin toast, and smiled as she chewed. I watched her eat, not bothering to touch my food at all. I wanted to hear her response just as much as Dallas did.
She made us wait
choosing to swallow her food before she spoke. Without uttering a single word, she pointed to a sterling silver cake dish in the middle of the table.

“Take off the top
Dallas;
I have something special jus’ for you.”

“I don’t want any cake.” Dallas objected.

“Oh it’s not cake sweetie, but it is a treat.”

I watched as Dallas irritatingly removed the silver lid from its base uncovering what was underneath.
A scowl came over Dallas’s face, I leaned back in my chair, and Angelique shoved a forkful of eggs in her mouth as we all gazed at the so-called treat. It was two pregnancy tests.

“What the fuck are those for?” Dallas flicked her
petite brown
hand in disgust.

“Oh, those are little contraptions that you pee on…they tell you if you’re pregnant or not.” Angelique replied sarcastically.

“I know what they are bitch!” Dallas snapped.

“Good for you.”
Angelique downed
the rest of her orange juice,
and then
refilled her gl
ass like a waiter.

This whole scene was really starting to get interesting to me. So I stayed quiet and just watched it unfold at the breakfast table.

“
What
, you want me to take a test?” Dallas pointed at the silver cake dish.

“Yeeeep.” Angelique bit half of her turkey bacon.

“FUCK THAT, AND FUCK YOU…I DON’T HAVE TO PROVE ANYTHING TO YOU!!!” Dallas stood up from the table.

Angelique kept chewing; she kept her eyes locked on me the whole time. Then she winked at me
slyly
.

             
“
I was really hoping
it didn’t come to this.” Her right hand
suddenly
disappeared under the table and reappeared with a gun
in it. This time
she
sprang up from the chair. In one fast smooth motion, she pointed her pink pearl handle nine millimeter directly at Dallas’s astonished face.
I started to get up also but I changed my mind deciding just to let this intense standoff play out.

“BITCH WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOIN’!? ARE YOU FUCKIN’ CRAZY?” Dallas shouted raising her hands in the air.

Angelique grabbed the other half of her bacon and popped it in her mouth.

“Well, I might have a
teaspoon
of crazy in me, but that’s not why I’m pointing a gun at you.
” She paused briefly to swallow her food. “Now, I’m goin’ to ask you
one
time
and
one
time
only…and if you lie…you die!”