Pieces of Me

by Aubry J.

Kevin

HERE WE GO AGAIN WITH THE EDITING ISSUES. SHE’D ABOUT TO KILL WALLY, NINE KILLED KEVIN 🙄

“Mommy, you’re too fast!” He laughed as he tried to get his footing. “I was going fast.” He dropped down in the sand and threw his hands over his head. “I was gonna win.” His little chest rose and fell as he tried to catch his breath. “But you didn’t.” I bent down and tickled him. “I told you mommy is the fastest person in the world.” “You cheated!” He squealed and tried to push my hands away. “Mommy, you cheated!” “How did I cheat?” I pulled back and rested my hands on my hips. Deuce looked up at me and smiled. Gray eyes, identical to his father's, sparkled against the sun. He was the best surprise that came from my worst days. Finding out I was pregnant after Mecca broke up with me put me in a tailspin. I cried, laughed, and then cried some more. It took me losing my parents and Mecca for me to gain the love of my life. I’d attempted to reach out to him once I found out, but Mecca never returned my calls, and a few weeks later, Exodus started mentioning a friend named Nine. That sent me into a tailspin of emotion. I was pissed and hurt that he’d pushed his way into my family’s lives yet wouldn’t return my call. He wanted to be a part of their lives so badly, I would raise our son without him or them knowing.

😳😳😳👀👀👀 OH, THIS IS GONNA BE ONE HELL OF A REUNION

Mecca Strong,”

DON’T YOU MEAN DEUCE STRONG 🤔🤔🤔🙄🙄🙄

“Stop trying to hide everything in your life from the people that love you.”

I’M GLAD SOMEBODY TOLD HER CAUSE I’M OVER HER SNEAKY ALWAYS WANNA KNOW WHAT’S GOING ON IN EVERYBODY ELSE LIFE BUT HER SHIT AZZ🙄🙄🙄

The only people in my family who knew that I had hearing issues and wore hearing aids were my grandparents. I never told my cousins because I didn’t want them to see me as defective.

THEN SHE’S FOREVER DEFLECTING HER FEELINGS FOR HERSELF IN EVERYBODY ELSE WITHOUT GIVING THEM A CHANCE TO FORM THEIR OWN OPINION 🙄🙄🙄

“You owe me five minutes.” “I don’t owe you shit,” I said, shaking my head. “You killed my parents; nothing else needs to be said.” “He didn’t mean to kill them, Cross,” Granddaddy sighed. I turned to look at him so fast I damn near gave myself whiplash. “You knew?” I damn near yelled. “How?” “It doesn’t matter how we knew; just know we did,” Granddaddy said, waving me off. “Listen to what he has to say, and if you’re mad afterward, then so be it.”

I GET HER BEING MAD BECAUSE HE WITHHELD THAT INFO FROM HER, BUT BIH LET’S NOT ACT LIKE YOU AIN’T HIS THIS MAN SON FROM HIM FOR SIX FU**ING YEARS 🙄🙄🙄🤬🤬🤬👀👀👀

“Marus ain’t crazy enough to step to Cross, especially on some shit like that.” “You killed his brother not too long ago, right?” “Yeah.” I chuckled. “If it were me and I wanted to get my hands dirty without touching shit, then that would be the way to go. She’s a killer, raised by killers, surrounded by killers, but she’s also the love of your life. Why not tell your biggest secret to the person you’ve already hurt?” He shrugged, and I couldn’t stop my mind from racing. “Marus has been keeping tabs on you just like you were on him. That unofficial truce you all had went out the window the second you killed his brother. You’re at war now, and he showed you how he can touch you without touching you.”

THAT PART

“I don’t want any more problems,” I said, shaking my head. “I appreciate y’all having my back, but I have to handle this alone.” “No, you don’t,” Psalms said, taking my hand. “That’s your problem. You think it’s you against the world when you have us standing right here.”

WHAT PSALMS SAID WITH YO SECRETIVE AZZ

“Genesis, what the hell is around your waist?” Madea asked as she reached for the fanny pack. “It’s my fanny pack,” he said as he twisted his body so she couldn’t touch it. “Why are you wearing a fanny pack?” Ex asked as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “What the fuck is in it?” “I wear it because it’s convenient,” he said as if it was apparent, and we were slow. “And I got my essentials in it.” We continued to stare at him, and he huffed. “My phone, wallet, keys, gun, and a pack of Skittles, just in case I get hungry.” “You put your gun in your fanny pack?” Ex asked, and Krude nodded. He turned to Madea, who was staring at Krude as if he’d grown three heads. “He gets a check, doesn’t he? It’s okay to tell us now that we’re grown.” “No, but at this point, I think he should,” she said, shaking her head. “I’m going in the house.”

💀🤣🤣🤣

“So you forgave him?” Remi asked. “Like really forgave him or just pretending?” “I forgave him, but I’m still mad, Remi,” I laughed. “We talked everything out last night and this morning. He knows where he fucked up.” After having sex last night, Mecca and I sat up talking about everything. His involvement with Marus ran deeper than I realized, but one thing I knew for sure was that Mecca never put his hands in the drug game. When Marus mentioned it at the airport, it sounded believable because I was heartbroken, but after talking to Mecca, I knew that wasn’t the case. I hadn’t brought it to his attention yet, but I wondered if he was even responsible for my parents’ deaths because why were they there? Yes, he set the house on fire; there was no denying that part because he’d admitted it, but I needed to get my hands on Marus to find out the whole story. “So he knows about Deuce?” she asked, and I sighed.

IT’S YOUR BEING NASA FOR HIM WITHHOLDING SHIT FROM YOUR BUT BIH YOU’VE BEEN KEEPING A HUGE SECRET TOO. HE’S STILL BEARING HIS SOUL DONE PUT ALL HIS SHIT IT THERE BUT YOU’RE STILL NOT BEING HONEST, TF🙄🙄🙄

The other group pulled Kevin’s casket from the back of the other truck bed. “How the hell did you think of this?” “Ask my wife,” Mecca answered with a shrug. The sound of the casket being pried open pulled my attention from the cousins to watch them. They pulled Kevin’s body from the casket without a care in the world, stripped him, and then one of the men dragged him by his matted afro towards the cross. It took three of them holding his body against the cross as two of them wrapped barbed wire around his wrist, legs, and body to keep him in place. I had to remember to have Mecca pay them extra for their work because it would take days, if not weeks, to get that smell out of their nose. “This is her idea.”

WTF 😳😳😳

“It’s a reason I call you Murderer.” Krude grunted, and I nodded.

THIS FOOL 🤦🏽‍♀️

walking out of the house with a woman over his shoulder. She wasn’t crying, nor did she make a noise when he dropped her on the ground next to the man Judge was talking about. Krude looked at him and shook his head. “He ain’t lying either; that man isn’t known for his patience. I test it damn near daily.” “How the hell did you get her to stop crying?” Judge asked him as he pointed to the woman lying on the ground. Instead of answering him, he pulled a small zip-lock bag from his back pocket, held it up, and smiled. “You used your chloroform on her?” “Duh,” he said as he stuffed it in his pocket. “I only got to use it on Paxton once and wanted to make sure I got my money's worth.” “I still need to beat your ass for that,” Ex said, coming out of the house.

WHY LORD 🤦🏽‍♀️🤣🤣🤣

“After all this shit is over with, we are running fades.” “Get in line,” Mecca said, walking out behind him. He led a woman by the back of her shirt towards us. She was older but looked like she wanted to catch rounds with everyone outside. Mecca pushed her to her knees next to the woman Krude had knocked out. “If you run, I’ma shoot you in them old ass kneecaps.”

🤣🤣🤣

The door opened, and we all looked up to see Mecca walk in with his family, December and Citrine behind him. Immediately, I knew there was something wrong from the look on his face. His eyes bounced around the room like he was sizing everyone up before they landed on me. “What the fuck is the problem now?” Krude asked as he stood. His body language was tense, which made everyone else stand. “You found him?” “Nah,” Mecca said. His eyes held so much hate for me in them that my body felt cold. He looked at Granddaddy. “I’m sorry; you and your wife willingly accepted me and mine.” “We’ve been through this already, Nine,” Granddaddy said, waving him off. “You’re family. You’re my granddaughter's husband.” “And her baby daddy, too,” he replied coldly. His gray eyes were damn near black when he turned to look at me. He closed the space between us, leaned down, resting his hands on the arms of the chair I dropped into, and glared at me. “Ain’t that right, Cross? I got a little boy out there?” “How do you know about Deuce?” My heart slammed against my chest, and my mouth went dry. Mecca grilled me hard, and an evil smile spread across his face. “Marus has him,” he answered. He grabbed me by my shirt collar and pulled me from my seat. His lips brushed against mine, and for the first time in my life, I was staring at Nine and not Mecca. There was no love in his eyes, only hatred. “If something happens to my son, nobody in this room can save you.”

WHEW CHIL, I KNEW THIS SECRET WAS GONNA COME BACK TO BITE HER IN THE AZZ. LIKE HOW DID YOU LEAVE THE SON UNPROTECTED KNOWING THAT BIG 🥷 MARUS HASN’T BEEN FOUND 🤔🤔🤔🤬🤬🤬 I KEPT SAYING WHEN THEY 🥷 CALLED MECCA PHONE THAT THIS 🥷 HAD THEY SON, BUT DAYYYUUUMMM🤦🏽‍♀️

“He knows who you are, Mecca!” “Yet I can't say the same.” I pushed her against the wall and then let her shirt go. “I’m sorry,” she cried. “I don’t give a fuck, Cross!” I yelled as I got back in her face. I punched the wall next to her head. She didn’t break eye contact with me; the killer in her wouldn’t, even though she was crying. “He’s my fuckin’ son, and Marus has him because I didn’t know he existed. He was living unprotected because you never told me about him, even though we were going after Marus! You left him unprotected like his family isn’t filled with killers.” I looked up to see her family standing there watching us. I took a step back and shook my head. “Mecca.” She reached for me but stopped short when our eyes connected. “He cried for me to come get him. He said he was scared.” I let out a humorless laugh. “He was worried that you would know he had an accident and didn’t want you to know.” Tears filled my eyes, but there was no reason to stop them. “He said he fought Marus, but he wasn’t big enough. He fuckin’ apologized for not being big enough! I watched my son, my fuckin’ firstborn, my namesake, fight that muthafucka to protect Rue and get hit in the damn head. My son, Cross.” I slammed my chest with my open hand. “My heart outside my body.” “I’m sorry!” She yelled. “Understand something, after I get my baby back, don’t say shit to me. You and I are done. The next time I see you, I’ll kill you.” I stormed out of the hospital with one thought on my mind...

DAYYYUUUMMM, GOT ME READY TO 😢!!! I DON’T HAVE AN OUNCE OF SYMPATHY FOR HER CAUSE EVERYTHING HE SAID WAS TRUE. HOW TF DO YOU LEAVE BESTIE AND TALK SOON UNPROTECTED 🤔🤔🤔

“Yeah, gonna roast his ass like a pig,” Krude said with a shrug. “It’s been modified to turn him too.” He shook his head as if the thought was almost too much to bear. “You might want to be nice to your wife.” “Why?” I asked with a laugh. I eyed Marus, and he turned slowly. “Because she’s the one who modified it,” Gabriel answered with a laugh. “About five years ago, now that I think about it.” He patted me on the shoulder as he walked past me. “Even had it extended in length, too.” He looked at Krude and smirked. “It was originally a little under six feet in length, and she had about six inches added to it.” He looked at me up and down. “You’re about six-three, right?” “Six-five,” I answered, and he nodded. “Yeah, be nice to her,” Gabriel said with a laugh. “Come on, we can go. He’ll be here for hours, slowly suffering.”

THE WHOLE FAMILY PSYCHO🤣🤣🤣. GRANDPA TOLD NINE TO BE NICE TO CROSS CAUSE SHE MODIFIED THE BITE CHAMBER 😳💀🤣🤣🤣

“They packin’, so we can roll,” Krude said, patting me on the shoulder. I took my eyes off Deuce to look at him. “I slide them they shit when the teacher wasn’t looking.” “You did what?” I asked with a laugh as we started to walk out of the room. “Little ghetto ninja got his knife, and the silver tooth gang member got his tooly.” Krude shrugged like it was no big deal, and I stopped walking. “Say that shit again.” “Man,” he sucked his teeth, then turned around and whistled. Both boys turned and looked at us. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Krude lift his shirt to flash his gun, and then both boys stood up and lifted the back of their shirts. I could see the handle of Judah’s Nerf gun sticking out of his pants and the handle of Deuce’s fake knives sticking out of his. They sat down and picked up their pencils as if the shit was no big deal. “See, they go it on lock.” He patted my shoulder and walked away.

DO M THIS FOOL KRUDE 🤦🏽‍♀️🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣