The King Of The South Read Free

kiss.
    “Night, Ma.” King said as she walked back up the stairs.

Chapter 3
    King blinked and looked at the time on the cable box. It seemed that he had just laid down, and now it was time to get up and get moving. He had literally done nothing but lay there. Sleep had not come to him at all. He had spent most of the night staring at the ceiling and thinking about the night before. R&B flowed from the speakers when he hit play on his Dre beats IPod player.
    King sat there for a moment, feeling the depression creeping back in. He shook his head. “Nah nigga, buck up!” King said aloud. He changed the channel to a hip-hop station to get himself going. As he settled on Power 97.9, YG’s “My Nigga”was just coming on.
    I said that I’ma ride for my motherfucking niggas,
Most likely I’ma die with my finger on the trigger
I been grinding outside, all day with my niggas
And I ain’t going in, unless I’m with my niggas
First things first, I love all of my niggas
This rap shit crack, then I involve my niggas.
    The lines seemed more than appropriate for this morning. He turned the volume up and danced to the bathroom. After he turned on the water in the shower, he checked himself in the mirror. He scanned his toned tattooed body, and flexed before opening the door to the shower. The steam from the shower was inviting and the warm water soothed him as he stepped in. For a minute, he just stood there with his head down, thinking of his fallen comrades. The shower was set to pulsate, and he allowed it to massage his shoulders and temporarily wash away the events of the previous night. He grabbed the AXE shower gel and the scent calmed him as he lathered his body.
    As his mind cleared, he remembered that he needed to pick up his best friend, Kareem. He had just come home after serving three of a five-year bid for a pound of OG kush, and gun possession.
    Kareem and King had been friends since the monkey bars in elementary school. At school, King was known to knock panties off on a regular, and he surely believed in kissing and telling. At lunch, he would keep the boys entertained with his exploits. Kareem would sit right there beside him, nodding his head and laughing while his friend entertained the masses.
    Kareem would chuckle it up, but he didn’t need to tell any stories of bedroom bullying. His girlfriend, Tiana, had gotten pregnant by him in the eighth grade, and her pregnancy told the story to the boys of who Kareem had been headboard slamming. That was over eleven years and three kids ago for Kareem.
    Kareem’s incarceration had taken a toll on Tiana and the kids, but King and the crew had tried to make sure they were taken care of financially. He would personally check on her and the kids while Kareem was away. But during the last year of Kareem’s bid, Tiana stopped accepting the help. She had made it clear to King that when Kareem came home, she wanted him out the game.
    King could understand Tiana’s fear, but leaving the game would have to be Kareem’s decision. King knew that like him, Kareem had been raised in the dope game, and did not intend to leave it. However, if his boy had changed, and was ready to leave, King would wish him the best. Secretly, he hoped he would still be his co-pilot in the streets, especially now with this bullshit with Red.
    King hoped that after pulling this bid, Kareem now understood how serious things were in the streets. He had always stayed on Kareem about being too lax about business. The day Kareem got busted, he was high, on the phone talking to Tiana with a pound of Kush and gun in the car. The police pulled him over and could smell it on him.
    Kareem was careless and liked to play and joke; he was always either being the clown or the killer. He was never even keeled. Everyone in the crew was convinced that he was bi-polar. The killer side was the reason King and Carlton kept him around; neither would admit that sometimes the clown side kept everyone in light spirits.