Jackie D. - Life After A Balla

“Look, this is getting out of hand. I just wanna find my baby, that’s all.”

When they reached the lobby, Asia saw the front desk clerk talking to two Spanish looking police officers. At that moment, she pulled away from the guard and ran over to them.

“Thank God, you finally got here. Somebody kidnapped my son. I only left him for a few minutes to get something out my truck and when I came back to my room the door was open and he was gone. I tried to tell that stupid ass security guard the same thing, but all he wants to do is fucking harass me. We need to lock down the hotel and go door to door!” Asia ranted.

One of police officers reached for his handcuffs and grabbed Asia pulling her hands behind her back.

“You have the right to remain silent. If you choose to give up your right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law…”

Asia’s eyes widened. “What the hell are you talking about? Get the hell off me! Why are arresting me? You should be out there looking for the person who kidnapped my son!”

“Your son wasn’t kidnapped, Ms. Jones. He’s been placed in the custody of Child Protective Services, and you’re being arrested for child abandonment.”

“What? I only left him for a second to go to my truck!” Asia fired back.

“We saw you leave on the hotel surveillance camera hours ago, Ms. Jones. Meanwhile, a guest called the front desk after hearing your son crying at the top of his little lungs for hours. When the desk clerk sent security to your room, the baby was all alone.”

“That’s a lie!” Asia wailed.

The officer shook his head. “I seriously doubt that. From what I can smell, it seems like you might’ve been out drinking.”

“We’ve been waiting for you to return,” the other officer chimed in.

Asia looked at the clerk realizing that she knew all along. The police even knew her name which meant, the clerk had already given them her information. “Why didn’t you tell me you knew where my baby was, bitch! You set me up!”

“Come on, Ms. Jones,” one officer said.

“Get off me! I have a son by a famous football player. You’re going to be sorry for this shit once his lawyer finishes with you. I’m going to sue you and this hotel!” Asia blasted. As the officers proceeded to escort her out of the lobby, Asia’s dress was now pulled up around her waist exposing her panties. “Can you at least pull my fucking dress down?”

The woman who’d called security after hearing the baby crying was standing outside smoking a cigarette when Asia and the police walked past her. She started shaking her head.

“That poor little baby, he didn’t ask to be brought in this world. You should be ashamed at yourself!” the lady preached.

Asia looked over at her with an evil stare. “Shut the hell up old lady,” she responded as they placed her into the waiting police car.

After a nap, Kareem awoke to find the afternoon sun filtering through the wood blinds in Felicia’s family room. He stretched and sat on the couch irritated that he hadn’t heard from his mother in days. He knew she was probably still upset about his decision not to move back to Miami with them, but living with his father again was out of the question. His father was dead. Regardless of the fact that he’d survived a gunshot wound, in Kareem’s mind Sandino no longer existed and he had every intention on keeping it that way.

I guess me and my mother don’t understand each other, he thought. I don’t understand how she could go back and live with the nigga who beat her ass every day and she doesn’t understand why I want to be with Le Le .

Skye had made it absolutely clear that she would never accept his girl as part of their family so now Kareem considered Georgia to be his home. Besides, Le Le got me so open I’m even thinking about asking her to marry me after I find a job. Kareem smiled. Le Le’s ass so high maintenance though the ring would probably set a nigga back big time .

At that moment, Kareem wondered where she was. Just before he’d fallen asleep he remembered her telling him she was going to clean up, but since he didn’t hear the Frankie Beverly and Maze greatest hits CD she normally played while cleaning, Kareem didn’t know what was going on.

“Le Le!” he called out. “Le Le!”

When she didn’t answer, Kareem jumped up and ran over to the window. After seeing her car in the driveway, he figured she could only be one or two places. He’d only lived with her for a little over a month and already knew her routine. When Felicia was at home, all she wanted Kareem to do was keep the house clean and fuck her on a regular basis which she was pretty boisterous about. When she was quiet, Le Le was normally in her spa-like bathroom or her precious walk-in closet, and Kareem wasn’t allowed to disturb her.

Walking back to the couch, Kareem reached for the remote so he could change the channel. When it wasn’t on the table he searched between the cushions, but still couldn’t find it. Getting down on his knees, he reached underneath the couch hoping the remote would turn up there. However when he felt something and pulled the object out, Kareem was shocked to find a man’s basketball shoe.

“What the fuck? Whose shoe is this?” he asked looking inside. “And it’s a size thirteen. This shit don’t belong to me.” Instantly, all kinds of crazy thoughts started going through his mind. “This shoe probably belongs to the nigga I saw leaving that day. Now that I think about it, Le Le has been acting different every since I moved in with her. I guess I’m in the way… fucking up her groove.”

Beyond pissed, Kareem stood up and threw the shoe across the room. But instead of confronting her he decided to look around the house to see if he could find anything else that belonged to the mystery man. His first stop was going to be the bedroom located at the end of the hall that Felicia always kept locked. She’d told him on numerous occasions that she kept the room locked because there was tons of junk inside from her old business and she wasn’t ready to clean it. Up until now, Kareem didn’t care to question her outlandish reason, but now he realized the explanation didn’t make sense.

Kareem went into the kitchen and grabbed a knife out of the drawer, then headed upstairs to the suspicious bedroom. With just a little bit of tampering with the doorknob, he managed to break the lock and was inside within seconds. Looking around he quickly realized that she’d lied to him. Just like the rest of the house, the room was completely spotless.

“Why the hell did Le Le tell me this room was packed with junk? What is this bitch hiding?” Kareem walked over and opened the closet door. When he saw several pairs of men’s shoes on the floor along with clothing neatly hanging in the closet, he went ballistic. “What the fuck is going on around here?”

Puzzled and angry, Kareem left but continued to search, marching straight to Felicia’s bedroom. Hearing the water coming from the bathroom confirmed her location which gave him ample time to snoop. After searching under the bed for a few minutes and coming up empty, he suddenly thought about Felicia’s sacred closet. Knowing that door was locked as well, Kareem performed the same bootleg locksmith job and made his way inside. He didn’t see anything suspicious at first until he slid a long white coat to the side and noticed a large cardboard box. Curious to see what was inside, Kareem didn’t waste anytime opening it up. Again, he didn’t think much of it after seeing a lot of paperwork, several books and a few photos. However, when he came across a piece of paper with Breaking the Cycle Women’s Shelter letterhead on it, his questioning kicked into high gear.