“Fuck you, Kannon. I’m not going anywhere. I want everybody in this motherfucking park to know that your daughter, Kendall, has never seen her father in real life! These bitches you be fucking off with know you a deadbeat? They know you ain’t gon’ do shit for them or their kids if you get them pregnant?”
Jason took a step in her direction but Kannon’s arm in the center of his chest stopped him. If it was one thing they didn’t tolerate, it was disrespect. They didn’t give a fuck about how people perceived them because they were true to who they were, but you weren’t going to talk shit in their faces and not deal with the consequences.
Even though Carmen was lying, Kannon couldn’t go back and forth with her. “I don’t have a daughter by you or anyone else, Carmen, but if I did, your ass don’t be on this rah-rah shit when I hand you that money on the first of the month.”
Her brows wrinkled and arms dropped from her chest. Kannon gave her five thousand dollars faithfully on the first of the month to take care of Kendall. Though he’d never taken a DNA test, Kendall looked just like him. In Kannon’s heart, he knew Kendall was his, but he’d never tell the world that. Kannon had never wanted children while in the streets, and Carmen telling him she was on birth control was the only reason he didn’t faithfully use a condom. Even when he dipped in raw, Kannon pulled out, but all it took was one slip up.
That slip-up didn’t negate the fact that Kannon’s lifestyle wasn’t set up for children, or a woman he loved for that matter. If his enemies knew about his weaknesses and soft spots, they would capitalize on them, and it didn’t matter what Carmen said or how she felt… he’d never let anyone besides his crew know he had a child out here. His plan had always been to reach out to Kendall when she was eighteen to let her know the real about why he’d chosen to protect her by staying out of her life, but Carmen was making it hard as hell for him to keep his plans and promises to himself.
“I’m not going to repeat myself,” was all Kannon offered.
“So you’re not going to acknowledge my baby? Again?”
Stepping close enough for their bodies to touch, Kannon whispered into her ear, “I told your stupid ass this is for her own good. I will not let anyone bring her harm trying to get to me because you want to be known as my baby mama. Try some shit like this again and see if I send that payment, let you feel like the single mama you swear you is.”
Carmen stepped back, rearing her arm to slap him, but before she could, Makayla’s hand was wrapping around her neck and slamming her body down onto the grass.
“See what you did to yourself?” Jason taunted through his smirk as he looked down at Makayla landing blow after blow. “Now she ’bout to beat yo’ ass.”
“Arr—ah!” Carmen yelled as she tried to shield herself from Makayla’s blows. “Arron… ge—get her off me!”
As soon as one of the men that had come with her tried to grab Makayla, all hell broke loose. In less than three seconds, Jason had pulled his gun from his waist and sent two into his head. Before his body could drop, Kannon’s gun was drawn and blasting, too. The last thing he wanted was for them to be catching bodies in broad daylight, especially with MPD on the premises already, but this was the kind of shit that happened whenever Jason was around.
Jason grabbed Makayla, leaving Carmen knocked out with her body stretched out flat. Not to Kannon’s surprise, Rico had dipped as soon as the shots began to ring out. He’d swear it was because he’d just gotten out and wasn’t trying to go back, but jail was a part of their lifestyle, so that was no excuse. As they all ran in different directions, Jason yelled out which safehouse he’d be at while Makayla shot him a wink with a smile.
All Kannon could do was chuckle at her crazy ass. Jason was his best friend, but Makayla… Makayla was something else. She was his angel and protector in a different kind of way. Jason may have gone to bat for him physically, hell, they both did for one another, but Makayla had a habit of protecting his heart from no-good-ass women in a way that made him feel like, under his mother, she would be the only woman he’d ever be safe with…
2
Jason
MPD had caught Makayla slipping. It didn’t matter what went down over the weekend, she was dedicated to her Early Head Start school. She loved her babies and refused to let them living in low-income parts of the city keep them from being prepared for Kindergarten. Bright and early Monday morning, she made her way to work, and by lunchtime, she was being arrested for assault. Honestly, Jason didn’t expect Makayla to have a warrant, otherwise, he would have made her sit her ass down somewhere.
It wasn’t the first time she’d beat a bitch’s ass, and he was sure it wouldn’t be the last. Carmen was scandalous, though, and she’d pressed charges against Makayla as soon as she was awake and alert. To her credit, she hadn’t told the police who shot those fatal shots, but that wasn’t enough for Jason to not want to have her handled.
What Jason couldn’t understand was why she didn’t have a bond. The assault charge was petty compared to the charges he and Kannon were charged with. It didn’t surprise him to see two counts of murder and three counts of attempted murder attached to his name because of what happened at the park, but Makayla’s charge and lack of a bond wasn’t sitting well with him. When he found out about his warrants, he’d already planned to leave the city and lay low for a while until shit blew over, but he couldn’t do that while Makayla was still locked up.
When his lawyer arrived at the safehouse, Jason made sure no one had followed him before locking up and leading him to the living room.
“Explain this shit to me,” Jason ordered, plopping down on the couch.
The wooden cabin wasn’t just a hideout from the law, but it was one of his favorite places of peace. He’d come here whenever he had a lot of shit on his mind. Winter or summer, he’d let the fireplace crackle while he sipped some brown liquor and smoked a blunt… and stayed until shit made sense in his mind.
“You and Kannon have warrants. The list is growing as time progresses. They are trying to hem you up with everything they possibly can to make sure something sticks.”
Last time Jason checked, he just had the attempted murder and murder charges, but as he refreshed the page, he noticed they were adding more counts because the shooting was done in a crowded space with bystanders. The bullshit weapons and public nuisance charges he wasn’t even worried about.
“I’on give a fuck about this. I wanna know why Mak doesn’t have a fucking bond,” Jason clarified. Though his face was stone and his voice was calm, he was raging on the inside. He needed to get Makayla out – now. Yeah, she could handle herself, but she didn’t belong in jail, especially for protecting one of them.
“Honestly…” Davis shrugged. “I believe the prosecutor intends to use her to lure you and Kannon out of hiding. They know if they can’t find you, with her, they can get you to come to them. They probably will push her court date out six months to a year, no bond, in an attempt to get her to snitch and fold or get you to come forth and surrender yourself.”
“Mak ain’t no snitch. She’ll sit for a year before she goes against either of us.”