Hakeem & Tasia : A Brick City Love Story Read online

  “I’m a grown ass man, Liyah. I’m not crushing on anybody, that’s some high school shit–and mind your damn business.”

  I picked up the remote, turned the TV on, and began flipping through the channels.

  “Go back,” Liyah yelled when I passed Love and Hip Hop.

  “Come on Liyah, I don’t want to watch that shit.” She grabbed the remote out of my hand and turned back before she stuck the remote under her leg to keep it from me.

  “So grown ass man, why won’t you just get with Tay then since you too old to be crushing on her,” my sister glanced at me with a smirk, and then rolled her eyes.

  “Because I don’t have time. I go to school, play ball, hit the block, and then make sure you’re good, so when am I supposed to find time to add somebody else to that mix?”

  “You find time for things that are important,” Liyah said, and then looked at me.

  I didn’t bother responding. I just shook my head and picked up my plate. My sister was right, but I just couldn’t see where Tay could fit into my life right now. I had too much going on, and I refused to bring Tay into my life only to lose her because I couldn’t be there for her.

  An hour later, I was full and tired as hell; all I wanted to do was take a shower and go to sleep. I picked up our plates and carried them into the kitchen since Liyah was glued to the TV, and likely not going to move anytime soon. Just after I cleared the plates and set them in the sink, I heard someone knock on the door, and Liyah yelled from the living room.

  “Mel’s coming over.”

  I walked back into the living room just before Liyah opened the door and I narrowed my eyes at her.

  “Coming, looks like she’s here. What I tell you ‘bout that Liyah. I’ve got a game tomorrow so don’t be up all night with that loud music, laughing, giggling and shit.”

  “I won’t dang, chill Keem.” Liyah didn’t even bother looking at me; she just unlocked the door and Mel walked in.

  “Hey Keem,” Mel said, grinning at me.

  “What’s up Mel.” I could feel her eyes on me as I left the living room heading towards my bedroom, and just before I reached my door, I heard her failed attempt at whispering.

  “Girl you know your brother can get it, anytime anywhere.”

  My sister evidently hit her, because Mel squealed and then yelled like she was in pain before Liyah put her in check.

  “I told you about that. You’re not going to be up in my house lusting over my brother, Mel. He’s too old for you and I’m not trying to have my brother go to jail for messing with a minor.”

  “I’m not a minor girl, I’m eighteen and legal.”

  “And he’s twenty three, so let it go.”

  I just shook my head, stepped in my room, and shut my door. I could tell that my sister had been all up in my shit because there was a pile of neatly folded clothes on the edge of my bed. The clothes that I left on my floor before I left this morning were gone, and everything on my dresser was neatly arranged.

  I emptied my pockets and placed a lighter and a roll of money on my dresser before I plugged my phone in and sat it on my nightstand. After I started coming out of my clothes, I locked my bedroom door just to make sure Mel didn't walk in, and then headed straight for my bathroom. Right after I turned on the water, I heard my phone going off so I walked back in my room to see who was calling, and realized it was Simuel.

  “What’s up Keem? What’s the block looking like?”

  “Shit, I just left. We’re good. Making money like always,” I said confidently.

  Ever since Simuel brought us on, Jodie and I had been his best soldiers. We had only been corner boys and runners for a few months before Simuel handed us Clinton Ave, and we had been killing it ever since. Jodie handled things while I was in school or had games, but I was about to graduate so things were about to change. The money we were making was too good, and I couldn’t see working a regular nine to five.

  Don’t get me wrong; I didn’t plan on being on the block forever either, but until I had my money like I wanted so that I could buy some legit businesses, then the block was going to have to be how I survived. My goal was to one day have my own club. After watching Simuel handle his club, I knew I could see that in my future.

  “Yeah I know. You and Jodie are always on your shit,” Simuel chuckled. “You have a game tomorrow, but after that I want to holla at you and Jodie for a minute, so hit me up when you can talk. Just drop by Rivals and we can chill for a minute.”

  “Aight I can do that, but what’s up? Is everything good?” Simuel never really requested meetings since Jodie and I were always on point with our shit, so something major had to be going on if he wanted to have sit down.

  “Everything's Gucci, young blood. I just want to lay out a few opportunities for you, so just fall through and we’ll talk.”

  “No doubt. Did you hit Jodie already or do I need to?”

  “I’m about to hit him now. Aight Keem, I’ll see you tomorrow. Stay true.”

  “Always, you already know.”

  I ended my call with Simuel and hopped in the shower. My water was good and hot, so the bathroom was filled with steam just like I liked it. As I stood there letting the water run over my body, my mind was all over the place trying to figure out what opportunities Simuel wanted to talk about.

  Word on the street was that he would soon be stepping down, but Simuel had an army of people that had been with him for years waiting in line to take over, so there was no way he wanted me and Jodie to step up. In fact, it just seemed natural for Rock and Juice to be next in line to run things. They were Simuel’s right hands. Wherever he was, they were and when you didn’t see Simuel handling business, you best believe that Rock and Juice were representing for him.

  Rodney, or Rock, was Simuel’s cousin. His parents left him when he was a baby, so Simuel took him in and basically raised him, which meant that Rock was more like a son to Simuel. Julius, or Juice, and Simuel had been friends since high school. Simuel had come up under Lonny Love, who ran all of Jersey back in the day and when he wanted out, he passed everything down to Simuel. Simuel brought in Rock and Juice, and now the three of them controlled basically all of New Jersey.

  After I finished my shower, I dressed in basketball shorts and a t-shirt since Mel was there; otherwise, I would have just kept it to my boxers, but I didn’t want her entertaining the idea that anything was going down, so I played it safe. I unlocked my door, shut my light out, and climbed in bed.

  I was scheduled to graduate in the spring, so my classes were generally done but I still had a few which coach basically took care of for me, so I never really went. I just showed up for the test and my professors gave me credit. I was smart as hell anyway, so the work wasn’t an issue; I just had too much shit going on to spend hours in class learning shit that I could read in one day and figure out.

  In fact, the only reason why I was in school in the first place was because I wanted to play ball, and I knew it was what my parents would have wanted. They would be turning over in their graves right now if they knew I was supporting me and Liyah by being in the streets, but fuck it. I had to do whatever necessary to make sure we were straight.

  The day was finally catching up with me, so it only took a minute after my eyes were closed for me to start drifting and before I knew it, I was out.

  Tasia

  “Brit, would you hurry up? I need to get home so that I can study for this test tomorrow.”

  I swear, I hated taking my fast ass sister anywhere with me because you best believe she was going to be up in some nigga’s face. I swear, she was always doing the most. I glanced at my watch once more and realized it was almost 9:30. The game had been over for at least forty-five minutes and I was ready to leave, but Brit was damn near wrapped around some dude’s body.

  “I’m coming Tay, chill out boo!” Brit yelled over her shoulder as she pulled out her phone, and handed it to the dude she had her body wrapped around.

  I let
out a long sigh and leaned against the building, waiting for my sister to finish kicking it to what was probably the fifth guy she encountered tonight. I mean, I get it; Brit and I both were cute as hell and don’t get it twisted, guys were constantly in my face trying to get my attention too, but I just didn’t have time for that right now. I was trying to graduate and get the hell out of my neighborhood.

  My eyes were on New York, and I was getting there if it died trying. All my life I wanted to be a stylist, and trust me when I say I was making that happen.

  “You talk about me never smiling, look at you.” I didn’t even have to turn around to know that it was Hakeem’s fine self standing behind me.

  “I smile all the time, so I’m allowed to not smile if I want.”

  He chuckled as he moved beside me and leaned against the wall, close enough so that my shoulder was touching his arm because of our height difference.

  “What are you doing out here alone? You know that’s not safe, right?”

  “I’m not alone.” I nodded towards Brit. “And trust me, I know. All kinds of crazy people just randomly walk up to you invading your personal space.” I looked up at Hakeem and rolled my eyes.

  “My bad Tay, let me get up out your personal space then.” Hakeem playfully threw his hands up, moving so that there was about a foot’s distance between the two of us.

  “Is that better?” he said, looking down at me with a smirk.”

  “Hmp, I guess so.”

  “Keem, you coming through tonight?” I looked up at the same time that Hakeem did to see three girls dressed in cheer sweats smiling at him.

  I shook my head, pulled my purse up over my shoulder, and began moving towards Brit so that I could end her make out session. I was ready to go home.

  “Tay hold up a minute,” Hakeem yelled before he addressed his fan club, so I stopped and shoved my hands in my pockets as I waited.

  “Nah, I've got shit to do but I’ll see you around,” Keem said as he moved away from his fan club to catch up with me.

  “Come on Keem, you know we’ll be there late, so just come when you’re done,” one of them said, sounding extremely disappointed.

  “I’m good on that,” was all he said before he made it to where I was standing.

  They stood there for a minute watching us, as if keeping eyes on him was somehow going to magically make him change his mind.

  “You can go. I’m heading home anyway as soon as I pry Brit’s body off whoever this guy is,” I said, frowning at my sister.

  “What kind of man would I be if I didn’t make sure you made it safely to your car, Tay?” Keem looked at me with a smirk, which was the closest I had really ever seen him come to a smile, but I’ll be damned if his ass wasn’t super sexy doing it. He was so hot it took every ounce of self-control I owned not to jump all over him. His tall, solid muscular frame, jet black low-cut hair with waves for days, and his hazel eyes that seemed to glow against his Hershey skin made me want to do things that would make most women blush.

  “My car is right there, so I’m good.”

  Hakeem laughed arrogantly. “You’re so damn stubborn, I swear on everything. You're gonna make me break you out of that, Tay.”

  I just rolled my eyes and focused on my sister. “Brit let’s go, now,” I yelled as I moved towards my car, with Hakeem right on my heels. This time, Brit listened and she let dude kiss her on the neck before he smiled, watching her ass as she walked over to me and Hakeem.

  “What’s up Keem?” Brit asked just before she pulled the passenger door and got in.

  “Well I’m at my car and I’m safe, so you can go now,” I said, waiting for Hakeem to leave but his cocky ass walked to the door, opened it, and stood there waiting.

  “Get in,” he said, looking serious as hell.

  “Why do you always have to act like someone’s damn daddy?”

  He didn’t say a word; he just stood there waiting, so I shook my head and got in. Hakeem leaned down so that he could see me and Brit both before he said, “good night ladies.”

  Brit just looked at me with a smirk before she glanced at Hakeem. “Night Keem,” Brit said.

  “You wanna shut my door so that I can go?” I snapped.

  He just chuckled. “Good night Tay,” and with that he shut my door and stood there, waiting until I pulled off. Arrogant ass.

  Brit had her eyes on me the entire time until I couldn’t stand it anymore. “What Brit?”

  “You know what,” she said with a big ass smile.

  “No I don’t,” I said without looking at her.

  “Why are you always giving Keem your ass to kiss when you know you want that man?”

  “I don’t want him, Brit.”

  “Yeah, and I don't want to be a millionaire. You need to stop your shit, Tay. You want Keem’s fine ass and you know it.”

  “What I want is for you to find some business of your own and stay out of mine.” I glanced at my sister, who was still looking at me with that goofy ass grin.

  “Fine, I’ll stay out of it but trust me, it will not change the fact that you need to change your damn thong, because Keem just made a river flow between your legs boo. You want that man so you can lie to yourself all day long, but you’re not hiding anything. I know you.”

  Brit was right; she knew me, so there was no point in trying to convince her otherwise. I wanted Hakeem, but it didn't matter because I wasn’t about to get caught up with him and all his women. Hakeem hadn’t been in a real relationship since he broke up with Janelle two years ago, and ever since then he was known for having enough women to build a small army with. I didn’t need that type of drama in my life, so wanting him was one thing, but being with him was a whole other story.

  As soon as we made it home, I went straight to my room and pulled my books out. I was scheduled to graduate in the spring, so I was basically down to my last few classes, but I was trying my best to graduate with honors so while most of my friends were relaxing and taking it easy, I was staying focused and on track.

  I unbuttoned my jeans and stepped out of them before I pulled on a pair of fleece joggers, after which I came out of the sweater I was wearing, leaving me in just a tank top. I tossed my clothes on top of my hamper and then got comfortable on my bed, prepared to study for the rest of the night.

  Unfortunately, my mind had other plans because no matter how hard I tried to focus, I kept getting sidetracked by thoughts of Hakeem. His face and that damn sexy body kept popping up in my head, causing me to lose focus, so I finally gave up and laid back, letting thoughts of him consume me until I heard my phone vibrating. I reached for it and frowned when I saw that it was Tyrell.

  “Yeah?” I answered as dryly as possible

  “Damn, what’s your problem?” he said, sounding pissed.

  “I don’t have a problem, Ty.”

  “Then why the fuck you answer the phone like you got your ass on your shoulders?”

  “I’m studying Ty, what do you need?”

  “Excuse the fuck out of me for wanting to talk to my girl. Shit, I just called to see what you were up to.”

  “Well now you know. I’m studying.” I knew him. The only reason why he was calling me this late was because he wanted sex. That was the only thing consistent about Ty, one of the few things that I could count on with him.

  “So you feel like company?” Ty asked, softening his tone a little.

  “Nah, I’m good. I need to study for this test so I’ll be in the books for the rest of the night.”

  “I just want to fall through for a minute, Tay. I miss you, baby girl.”

  I rolled my eyes and looked around my sky blue room. It hadn’t changed since I was in middle school and had begged my mother for a remodel.

  “Not tonight Ty, but I’ll catch up with you tomorrow,” I said, hoping that he wasn’t going to push the issue. Hell, I knew for a fact that he had plenty of bitches that he could lay up under tonight. They were constantly fronting me about his trifling ass, so I
knew that he would find a plan B.

  “Damn Tay, you being shady as fuck lately, but then be acting a damn fool when I find alternative options.

  “Do what you need to do, Ty. I don’t really care but I’m studying right now, so I’ll get up with you whenever.” I hung up and dropped my phone on the bed.

  After three years of dealing with his trifling ass, I knew it was time to just let that go. I was tired of him not respecting me and for what just–to get a quick nut by some thirsty hoe who was performing for a stack. Yeah, it was time to move on.

  When my phone started vibrating again, I thought for sure it was Ty calling me since I hung up on him, so I answered without even looking.

  “What Ty, Damn?”

  I heard a deep voice laugh and then speak, “I told you that fuck nigga was no good years ago, Tay.”

  I couldn't help but smile when I realized it was Keem and not Ty. “Really, and when was that?” I said before I laid back, propping my feet up on the bed so that my legs were extended to the ceiling.

  “Junior year when I snatched that damn note he wrote you and tore that shit up.”

  I busted out laughing remembering how Ty had written me a note asking me out, and Hakeem stood over my shoulder reading it. Once he found out what it was about, he snatched it out my hands, tore it up, and put the pieces in his pocket.

  “Why you laughing, Tay? I was serious as hell back then, and I’m serious now. He’s a bitch made nigga.”

  “I’m laughing because it was funny. You were forever cock blocking me, but you never would step to me.”

  “I wasn’t cock blocking. I was just looking out for a friend.”

  “Yeah I bet.”

  We both got quiet for a minute until I spoke again.

  “What’s up Hakeem, what did you need?”

  “Just making sure you got home you know, since you claim there are all these random crazy people out there trying to invade your personal space.”