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  F.D.B

  A Karizma Keys Novel

  This is a King Benjamin Presents publication

  All rights reserved © 2018 by King Benjamin

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without prior consent of the publisher except brief quotes used in reviews. This is a work of fiction. Any reference or similarities to actual events, real people, living or dead, or real locales are intended to give the novel a sense of reality. Any similarity in other names, characters, places and incidents is entirely coincidental.

  Chapter 1

  April 2014

  Tanjanisha

  I woke at 6:00 am with my mind scattered all over the place so I didn’t even need the alarm that went off minutes later. I hadn’t had much sleep over the past few days anticipating my boyfriend’s release from jail after doing a two-year stretch. Today was the day Floyd was coming home to me. After so many lonely nights, I’d dreamed about this day for what seemed like forever. It should’ve been a happy time for me but instead what I felt most was anxiety.

  After I went to the bathroom and got myself together I woke up our four-year-old daughter Kayla to get her ready for school. Floyd and I had only been together since Kayla was born. When I got pregnant with her, he was still trying to work things out with his first baby mama, Saleena, but when she found out I was pregnant, it was a wrap. I didn’t feel sorry for her because when I started messing with Floyd they weren’t together, or at least that’s what he told me.

  I met Floyd and Saleena my second year at Northern High in Detroit in 2004. The two of them were a couple way back then and I thought Floyd was fine, but I never liked Saleena. People always said Floyd looked just like the rapper Young Dro: tall, dark, and fly as fuck. He always flirted with me in passing but after we graduated high school he started to really seriously pursue me. One thing led to another and around ‘08 I just realized I had an opportunity to be with someone I really wanted, so I took it.

  After getting Kayla and my son ready, I left the house so I could drop them off before I headed to work. When I made it to my sister’s house I could see the front door wide open and I knew she was up and moving around. I pulled my 2013 Chevy Cruze in the driveway and parked. I grabbed my four-month-old son Joshua from the back seat and left Kayla in the car while I went to drop him off. My sister Abriel met me at the door with a condescending look in her eyes.

  “Hey,” I spoke as she opened the door still looking sleepy.

  “Hey,” she replied as she reached out to get the baby.

  She sat his car seat down to grab the rest of his things.

  “Just call me if you need anything,” I said, trying to turn and leave before she could say something that would shame me or dampen my day.

  “When you coming back to check on him?” Abriel asked.

  “I’ma come back tomorrow. You know by the time I get off work Floyd will be home.”

  “Tan, you need to just go ahead and tell him now before you make things worse,” she reasoned.

  “Don’t start that shit, Abriel, we already discussed this. I’ll tell him soon but not right now. I can’t hit him with no shit like this the first day he gets home. He’ll be right back in jail for murdering me,” I explained.

  I really loved Floyd and it was never my intention to get pregnant and have a whole baby during the time he was gone, but that’s the situation I found myself in. I knew my man well enough to know what was acceptable and what was not. This was definitely not acceptable, and the only thing I could think to do as his release date approached was to buy myself some time.

  “So when you gon’ tell him? You still haven’t given us a time frame,” Abriel pressured me.

  Since I knew I couldn’t have a new baby just chilling waiting for Floyd when he got home, I got my sisters Abriel and Cristy to agree to keep him until I figured out a way to tell Floyd.

  “Just give me a couple weeks sis; that’s all I need. Look, I’m running late. I really gotta go,” I said.

  Abriel rolled her eyes and closed the door in my face before I turned and rushed off the porch.

  Floyd

  Walking out of that prison, it seemed like the air was so much fresher on the other side. I was pissed off the whole time I was locked up, swear to God. Two years just for carrying a gun, but to be honest, I knew it could’ve been worse. I was already a convicted felon, so technically, I could’ve been gone for five years flat, but my lawyer managed to work a plea deal. My lil’ brother Lucci was there to pick me up from prison in his brand new, black on black Charger with black rims. I was happy for him too ‘cause he’d just turned twenty-three and he was getting money. I knew his summer was about to be lit.

  “Oh boy, you got the pussy magnet. You got the pussy magnet?” I said as we pulled out of the visitor parking lot headed to the D.

  “Man I done fucked like five bitches and I only had it for two weeks,” Lucci bragged.

  Since I been gone, Lucci had taken over all of my business. We hustled credit cards and identity fraud to get that paper. I used to sell dope when I was younger but when I had Floyd Jr., I decided that game was too risky. I gave up the dope game for something I thought would keep me out of prison long term. But I was still that same flashy nigga and I knew haters wanted to lay me down and take everything I worked for. Street niggas always felt like swipers was soft niggas. That’s why I always kept a pistol on me everywhere I went but since I had a couple of petty dope cases when I was younger, I couldn’t get a gun permit. It was the third day of spring so the Michigan weather was still unpredictable as hell. Today was pretty decent, about fifty-five degrees, but the sun was out, making it feel a little warmer.

  The first place we went when we got to the city was my mom’s house because I knew I had people there waiting for me. When I walked in, I could see the welcome home balloons floating at the top of the ceiling and all my jobless cousins and homeys were there with big smiles on they faces. All I could think about was the fact that I hadn’t heard from most of these muthafuckas since I left the streets, but I didn’t trip. I was too happy to be free.

  “What up doooeee?” I shouted as I walked in to cheers and hugs.

  Lucci’s baby mama CeCe was there with my nephew Brian who I hadn’t seen since his third birthday. I went straight over and picked his little ass up and tossed him in the air. “What up B? You remember your uncle Floyd?” I said, holding him in my arms.

  “Can I have twenty dollars?” he came back with.

  “Boy, if you don’t get your lil’ ass the fuck on. What you need twenty dollars for? I just got out. I need some money from you!” I shouted, and he started laughing.

  “He always asking people for money. Your mama got him doing that,” CeCe said.

  Just then, my mama came out of the kitchen and embraced me tightly.

  “Don’t be lying on me girl. That’s your gold digging ass got him asking niggas for money.”

  CeCe’s mouth flew open.

  “Don’t say that Ma. I am not a gold digger,” she replied.

  It was hard to believe CeCe though. She’d been messing with my brother Lucci for five or six years now. She knew he was slanging dick from here to Tallahassee, but she never complained. I wish I could say the same for my first baby mama. She left me ‘cause she found out about Ashley, who was my side chick for years. Then just when I thought we were getting past that, she found out about Tanjanisha. After that, I was just about dead to her. I was looking forward to seeing Ashley sooner or later but right now, I just wanted to spend some time with my kids and my girl Tan.

  I ain’t gon’ lie, as much as I loved Tan I hadn’t been doing right by her either. I still was fucking with Ashley even after my first baby mama Saleena broke up with me. When I got with Tan
I backed up from Ashley for a while, but Tan was a piece a work. She’d drive a nigga to cheat with her funky ass attitude, but I think our good outweighed the bad. My daughter Kayla brought us closer together and when I went away, Tan really held me down. I didn’t want her and my daughter visiting me in prison, but she kept shit tight as far as the mortgage on the house and my other bills. I wanna do my best to make her happy this time, but being locked up got me feeling like an animal out of his cage.

  “CeCe, I ain’t thinking about you. Floyd, you better stay yo’ ass out of jail, you and Lucci. Ain’t nobody playing with y’all,” my mama warned me.

  My mama talk shit, but she can’t give me too much lip about my hustling ways ‘cause I got it from her. Check writing, boosting, credit cards you name it, my mama did it. She’s slowed down now but she still had connections that me and Lucci used to this day.

  “I’m done with that jail shit Mama. I got kids to take care of,” I said.

  “You better be!” she said pointing her finger in my face as she finally released me.

  “Aye where M Easy and Kari punk ass at?” I said moving through the house.

  Those were my closest friends. M Easy was supposed to be working as a bartender now so I knew he wasn’t going to get up in the morning and take that long ride with Lucci, but I was kinda expecting Kari to be there when I walked out.

  “Kari just called. He said he on his way,” I heard my mama say from the other room.

  I was feigning for some weed, but I didn’t want my baby mama Saleena to see me high the first time I visited my son. That bitch was so judgmental it seemed like I couldn’t do nothing right in her eyes. Seemed like I was always trying to prove to her that I was a good father to my son if nothing else. Since I didn’t wanna get high just yet, I lit a cigarette as the front door came open. My boy Kari came through the door smiling.

  “Dro…I’m clean in this bitch,” he sung the intro to Young Dro’s first hit “Shoulder Lean.”

  Kari was the light skin pretty boy that got all the bitches. We did a great job sliding on girls together because they usually liked one of us depending on the girl’s type.

  “What up nigga?” I said as I gave Kari a pound then a hug.

  “What’s up baby? You out here; it’s time to get that bread,” Kari said.

  Kari was on the same hustle I was. We started out together but I took off before he did ‘cause I had more clientele and he was more focused on pussy than money. It was gonna be interesting to see how much had changed since I been gone.

  “Oh we gon’ get the money ain’t no question,” I said.

  “See…that’s the shit I’m talking about,” I heard my mama say.

  I turned and opened my hands up, confused.

  “I still gotta eat Mama, damn!”

  Lucci came and draped his arm around my neck.

  “We’ll talk about all that money shit tomorrow man. Today it’s about celebrating yo’ fucking freedom bro. We hitting the club tonight nigga,” Lucci said.

  “You right, you right,” I agreed, pushing the hustle to the back of my mind momentarily.

  But I was supposed to be spending the evening with my girl. I don’t know what Lucci was talking about. I knew they would want me to hang out tonight but later for that club shit. My only plans for the evening was to be deep in Tan’s pussy all night long.

  Saleena

  I got off work at 3:30 and picked my son Floyd Jr. up from latchkey shortly after. I was tired from working a ten-hour shift at Chrysler but seeing my son always made me smile. As we rode home I asked about his day and all the regular stuff we usually talked about. I could tell before he even said anything that he was excited about today. My son loved his father and missed him dearly. I, on the other hand, was left with a forever lingering bad taste in my mouth at the mention of his name.

  Floyd and I got together as kids in high school. We were both only fifteen years old at the time. After high school, he got so caught up in the streets he started feeling like his happiness was the only thing that mattered. While I was pregnant with Floyd Jr. he was running the streets having the time of his life. I was so in love I was blinded by it, and it took me a while to finally admit I was making a fool of myself. The things he put me through still bothered me to this day, but I vowed never again.

  “My daddy home?” my son asked me.

  “I guess so. I haven’t heard from him.”

  I usually stayed in contact with his mother and did most of my communication with her. “Let me call your grandma,” I said reaching for my cell phone.

  “Hello?” his mother Sharon answered.

  “Hey…is he home?” I asked getting straight to the point.

  “Yeah, he here. Hold on,” Sharon said.

  “Here,” I said handing my son the phone.

  Moments later his face lit up as he began to converse with his dad. It made me happy that he was happy, but I wasn’t looking forward to seeing Floyd. There was a time when my baby daddy was my everything. He was the sweetest thing I’d ever known up until the point when he started to get money and I had to face the reality of who he was becoming. I didn’t believe Floyd could do right by any woman, so all I could hope for was that he found a job and learned to stay out of trouble for the sake of his kids.

  “Ask him what time is he coming by my house if he’s coming?” I told my son.

  “He said he coming now,” my son replied.

  “I’m not even home yet. Tell him to come in an hour.”

  “He said okay.”

  As soon as I got in I made sure Floyd Jr. had something to eat and I jumped in the shower. Before I could even finish my shower his dad was at the door ringing my doorbell. My son knocked on the bathroom door to let me know it was him.

  “It’s my daddy. Can I let him in?”

  I rolled my eyes.

  “Is he by hisself?” I shouted.

  “Yeah.”

  “Okay, you can let him in,” I said.

  I grew irritated knowing it hadn’t been an hour since I called Floyd’s mother, but I guess he was really in a rush to see his son after two years. I never took Floyd Jr. to see him in jail. We both agreed that it just wasn’t something we wanted to be logged in his young mind as an image of his father, and I had to respect him for that if nothing else. I always made sure they talked every week and I even let him send his dad cards and stuff. When I was out of the shower I threw on some sweats and T-shirt then came out of my bedroom to see exactly where my son was.

  I found him and his father sitting on the sofa. They burst out laughing as I walked into the room. I didn’t know what the joke was, but the look on my face as I locked eyes with Floyd made him quickly wipe the smirk off of his.

  Floyd

  Saleena was standing in the middle of the floor looking mean as shit like she was just waiting for me to leave. She was still fine as hell though even when she was frowned up like she was now. Everybody wanted my Saleena in high school and niggas still chasing her to this day. That peanut butter skin, sandy brown hair, and emerald green eyes made me fall hard as soon as we met. She stands about 5’3 with a body like a stripper, big booty, thick thighs, and small breast.

  “Hey baby mama,” I spoke with a smile.

  “Don’t call me that shit ‘cause you know I don’t like it,” she snapped.

  “Damn man, that’s how you greet a nigga? I’m just saying what’s up.”

  “Well, call me by my name. Don’t call me no baby mama.”

  I sighed and dropped my head and lifted it back up.

  “Hello Saleena,” I tried again.

  “Hello,” she returned, but it was dry as hell.

  I turned back to my son.

  “Anyway, like I was saying. We ‘bout to be hanging like wet clothes boy whatever you wanna do. We gotta lot of catching up to do so you gotta think of some fun stuff you wanna do.”

  I glanced out of the corner of my eye and saw Saleena walking away. I watched that fat booty jiggle in tho
se sweatpants until it was out of my sight. Damn, I needed some sex, I thought as I tried to focus on my son. I was hoping Saleena came back in the room before I left. I wanted her to see that I was casket fresh from head to toe but she couldn’t see my whole outfit sitting down, plus the coffee table was hiding my Balenciaga sneakers.

  Saleena didn’t really care about that kind of stuff but I did. I knew she probably only came in the room to see was I high so she could start judging me and shit. Before I left I had my son get her to come back out to the living room.

  By then I was standing in the middle of the floor showcasing black Balmain jeans and matching shirt with the white sneaker. It was my coming home fit that Lucci got me. Everybody that knew me knew I stayed fly and they expected that of me so I tried to come through. I caught her eyes scanning me from head to toe as I straightened the platinum Cartier frames on my eyes I was rocking with it.

  “What?” she said rudely.

  “You need anything before I go?” I asked.

  “You mean, do your son need anything?” she replied.

  “Just answer the fucking question, Saleena.”

  “No, we good. He’ll call if he need something,” she said as she turned and walked away.

  I watched her booty jiggle away again as I thought to myself how after all this time she still couldn’t stand to be in my presence. I told my son I loved him and I left.

  Tanjanisha

  Floyd had a cell phone about an hour after he reached the city and he was texting me the entire time I was at work. By the time me and Kayla made it back home, it was after six o’clock and he was pulling up in his brother’s Charger right behind us. Butterflies swam through my stomach for several reasons. I was overjoyed to see him, relieved that I now had help with my daughter and these bills, but fearful of the future because of my secrets. I told myself that I wasn’t going to let anything ruin this day so I pushed all my fears to the back of my mind and smiled as I threw myself into the present moment.

  “Babbyyyy!” I cooed as we walked across the lawn towards each other.