Save Room for Us (Crenshaw Kings Book 7)

by Shvonne Latrice

Typically, I kept my personal business to myself, my baby sister Analicia, and my mother. However, the truly bad, vile things within my relationship, no one knew about until Jacinta.

The first time he hit me was because I paid the internet and cable bill instead of waiting on him, despite it having been cut off. I was mortified, but he apologized, told me he was going through a lot, and he didn’t mean it. I was young, sheltered, and in love with him, so I forgave him. Like a lot of women, I made excuses so I could stay with him. He was good-looking, ambitious, and for the most part, treated me well. This was just one small hiccup, I thought. Sadly, he only got worse, and my life with him became reminiscent of an eggshell. I was afraid to do or say anything when we were alone, in fear of him beating me up or slapping me.

So, I left Cedric and was never going back. However, he found my new place, cuffed my hands behind my back, and then proceeded to force my head into a bathtub filled with water until I was mentally speaking to God, knowing I would see him soon. As I gasped in a lungful of air, we made eye contact, and it was then I knew Cedric was a different type of evil.

So to protect them, I kept my house of horrors a secret.

the law wouldn’t care or do anything until I was being zipped up in a bag.

After downing my champagne, I couldn’t remember much else but waking up in bed with him, ass naked. I didn’t like that, not remembering the night, but I brushed it off because, at the end of the day, he was my man, and I’d had sex with him before.

I loved Sophie, but I hated the way she was created. That wasn’t the last time Cedric had sex with me while I was unconscious or asleep. On several occasions, I would wake up with him already fucking me, or he would drug me in creative ways, causing me to wake up hours later, with a sore pussy and a banging headache. It was to the point that I only ate out currently to avoid him slipping me something.

“I’m gonna go stay with my mom,” I said, hating that my voice was trembling, but I was frightened. I could smell his cologne as he neared me, and the mere thought of one of his hits caused my eyes to mist. “No the fuck you not.” He yanked the shirt from my hands, making me jump slightly. “You must wanna die tonight if you think you leaving.” “You can go ahead and try, but I’m done fucking with you.” I sniffled some.

Discreetly, I reached under the bed, feeling for the Glock I’d placed there, and slowly gripped it.

“You’re a very smart woman, Anastazia.” “I am?” “You are.” He stared deeply into my eyes, and it was then I grasped what he was saying. He knew what I did and that I’d set this up. “Do you have photographs or any evidence of previous abuse, shit like that?”

“I don’t have anybody but me to protect me. I don’t have a dad anymore, no brothers, not even a male cousin. So it was either I let him kill me or I kill him.” He nodded before saying, “Am I not yo’ brother?”

Despite me possibly going to jail for life, I was happy about what I had done. I was tired of living in fear every single day of my life. I was tired of hiding broken ribs and large bruises. I was tired of being drugged and raped in my sleep. I was tired of pretending Cedric was a good man and everyone needed to give him a break. I was tired of being afraid to go home and, on the nights I wasn’t drugged, worrying about Sophie in the next room.

“from now on, I need yo’ ass to know you got me, same way Analicia and ya mama do. I doubt some shit like this will ever happen again, but if a nigga ever got you in fear, all you gotta do is say word, love. You understand?”

After the incident where he and Bashar fought, Cedric took his loss out on me, and I had to play it like I was upset with Analicia and didn’t want to see or talk to her, until I was healed enough to where I wouldn’t be limping or wincing in front of them.

knowing I would never have to be raped, hold my pee, or beaten for the smallest thing was enough freedom for me.

“I didn’t want to have to tell you in this way, but me and Cedric have been messing around for a while now. In fact, this is his baby.”

“No, I’m not. The whole time you were telling me about him beating you and terrorizing you, I knew it was lies, but I felt bad for you. He told me all about how crazy you were and how you pretended he was abusing you to get sympathy from people. He told me how he tried to leave you so many times, but you threatened to kill yourself or tell the world he was beating you. “So see, you don’t want me to get on that stand, Anastazia, because it will blow your little case wide open.

“You know, I thought you had more sense than to be blinded by a nigga like Cedric, but I see you’re a typical dumb bitch that will take a piece of a man just to say you have one. Even if he is a bum,” I spat. “Bitch, please! I ain’t got a piece; I got the whole fucking thing! He didn’t want you, but you couldn’t let the shit go, and now my man is in a coma while I’m pregnant!” She barked back.

“She ain’t gon’ fuck with you, especially knowing you’ll shoot a muthafucka.” He was joking with me, but it immediately

“Right.” “It was a joke, baby. I apologize. It was too soon, huh?” He stared at my side profile for a minute, and finally, I got the courage to turn slightly and look him in the eyes. “No, no, it’s okay.” I shook my head, lying. I didn’t want him feeling bad when he had no reason to. I had, in fact, shot a muthafucka. “Next time you need to take a muthafucka out though, holla at me.” He stood,

“What are you, my personal hitta now?” I smiled up at him, becoming more comfortable with looking this Greek god of a man in the eyes. “I can be.” His eyes cascaded from my face down my body and back up. “I’m dead ass though. Next time you need a nigga handled, I don’t care if it’s for him looking at you disrespectfully, hit me. Or, shit, just hit me.”

“Where is baby girl?” “Sophie?” I inquired, somewhat confused. Asif had only seen Sophie maybe twice, since usually when I came around he and his brothers, it wasn’t for a kid friendly event. So the fact that he remembered her and was asking about her caught me off guard.

“You got a hickey on the back of your thigh and lower back?” Bambi, who’d arrived while Yolani and Cemone had gone inside to do their business, asked. “Girl, what sexual position did you get those during? I need it!”

As I made my way over to the women, I felt eyes on me, and though I didn’t want to look, I couldn’t help myself. Asif and I caught one another’s eyes, giving closed mouth smiles at Milan being all over him. I shook my head with my brows raised, and he shrugged slightly. How did we already have an inside joke?

“I’m proud of you, nigga.” “Are you? Or you just happy you can lay up under Ma even more?” I asked, causing him to laugh while stroking his beard. “Both. I’m happy I ain’t gotta check in around this muthafucka no more, but also, I’m glad you became the man you are right now. You just might be a better man than me, but that’s what the fuck I been gunning for since I got that DNA test back.”

That situation was crazy as fuck to me, and even after it all, Cemone couldn’t stay true to his word and remove himself from Callen and Blakely’s lives. And though everyone had expressed he leave that shit be, Cemone, per usual, didn’t give a fuck what the next muthafucka thought if they weren’t named Yolani Compton.

“So this is gon’ help you maneuver, son. With as much money as you making, the first thing muthafuckas gon’ do is a simple Google search, and if shit don’t come up or some shit does come up that don’t match, it’s gon’ be some bad shit on the horizon.” “I know.” I nodded. Nigga had told me this about one hundred times at this point.

I’d made more money than he had expected me to, shit had to be done earlier to protect my freedom.

I don’t shit where I eat.” I was speaking facts too. I would never fuck with a bitch that had access to my business in any way, shape, or form.

Rich as fuck and discreet was my motto.

Niggas just might have saw me as a tyrant, but I begged to differ. It was a reason I was where I was and why I had niggas on my mob eating like they never had before. No disrespect to my pops and brother, niggas before me, but it was real shit. No nigga who worked for me could say they weren’t eating good. I took my freedom and money making very fucking serious.

“Shouldn’t Low’s young ass be doing that?” “Nah, I ain’t delegate that task to Low. That shit is for you. Me and Low gotta figure out how to save this nigga without taking him to the fucking hospital and opening an investigation.” Sighing, Grady nodded, gave Low a look, and walked out of the warehouse.

Money Fiends Mob

I thought about Anastazia. She was pretty as fuck, but I’d met a lot of beautiful ass women; however, she was different to a nigga. She was smart, sexy, and my favorite thing about her was her chill demeanor. She and Analicia were a lot alike, but whereas Analicia was more extroverted, the type to make everybody get up and dance if music was playing, Anastazia was the more laid-back, observant type. I didn’t meet too many women like that, especially with my line of work. Bitches always wanted to be seen and in the middle of some shit, and because I was a low-key nigga, I wanted a woman to match my vibe.

I found her actions against that fuck nigga Cedric gangsta and sexy as hell. Not too many women would load up and pop a nigga all on their own.

“Sif,” she whined, “why don’t you ever give me anything or tell me much of anything?” “It don’t fucking matter how my day was, Milan. That’s ain’t what a nigga is here for. That’s not what you around me for. I came here to get a nut off, not go to fucking therapy.”

my brothers, liked to call me paranoid, but Asif St. Thomas would never spend the night with a bitch I was only fucking. Niggas made it too easy to get caught slipping, and I would never be caught up.

“Told you I don’t like that begging shit, unless it’s for some dick, and even then, I ain’t too fond of it.” I sat up. “But if you’re my man, you should be willing to suck it up, just for one night. I promise we won’t be too crazy, and I swear my cousin Nick won’t ask to be put on this time.”

I’m not ya man, Milan. We cool and that’s it.” These past couple

My jealous ass mind immediately went to wondering if she was hiding a nigga in there, and I knew right then me continuing to pretend I didn’t wanna be Anastazia’s second baby daddy wasn’t gon’ fucking last.

You tripping, nigga… I thought to myself as I ran my hand down my face.

“You sound jealous, Mr. St. Thomas.” She looked over the Lexus LS and nodded. “What if I was?”

“I’d tell you no need to because getting a nigga, especially a bum one, is not on my to-do list.”

“You weren’t joking. You do know this baby shit. Lisara wasn’t playing with you, huh?” She smiled. “Nah, she wasn’t.” I reversed. “But I fucked with it though. It felt good having a real mother and shit,” I said, hoping she didn’t pry any further because a nigga had definitely said too much. “Oh right,” she replied, letting me know she knew the gist of my situation.

“Don’t trip on that nigga waking up. Now you got protection,” I let her know.

“I get you, but I wasn’t asking for permission or approval. I was letting you know. If that nigga wakes up and come knocking, it’s gon’ be the last time he knock on any fucking thing.”

“Let me guess, Asif. You take her out, sleep with her, probably raw⁠—” “You a muthafuckin’ lie.” I interjected, making her snicker. “If you think I’m going naked head in a bitch I won’t even kiss in the mouth, you crazy.” I switched lanes as she doubled over in laughter.

“I’m a gentleman, what you expect?” I chuckled as she sucked her teeth. “If a woman is kind enough to let a nigga hit, I can at least buy her a meal.” I glanced her way to see her shaking her head as she watched the road. “Whether it’s a jump off or a good girl, I try to treat women with a certain level of respect. Same time, I’m honest, and I tell Milan, as well as other women, what the deal is, explicitly, so if they choose to run around acting like my fucking missus, then that’s on them. “I’m a simple nigga. What I say is what I mean; ain’t no underlying shit to it. By saying that, when I pop out with my wife, she can’t say shit.”

“I don’t give a fuck what Milan hates, same way I don’t give a fuck about getting permission to body yo’ funny looking ass baby daddy.” Anastazia erupted in laughter, making me snicker a bit as I pulled up to my whip. “See, you do like her because you’re defending me calling her funny looking.” She beamed… beautiful as hell. “Nah, only woman I’m worried about defending, outside of family, is you.”

Anastazia might not have been in the mood for a new nigga, but she was about to get one.