The Owner of My Soul Vol 2: Chapter 2 and Chapter 3

CHAPTER 2

SYDNEY’S SECRET

I came into work at 0700 Monday morning. A note was left on my desk letting me know that Denise wasn’t going to be in today. Of course she’s not, I made sure of that. I checked my “To Do List” and counted how many jobs I could finish before lunch. In the process, my secretary called me.

“Mr. Johnson, your father is here.” She informed me.

“Thank you let him in. Hold my calls.”

“Yes, sir.” Moments later Dad came in.

“Working hard?” He asked me.

“Not yet. What do I owe to this visit?” I replied.

“I’m throwing a big job on your hands.”

“What job?”

“President.”

“What?” I looked at him in confusion. “You’re not retiring yet, aren’t you?”

“Negative. Your uncle and I are heading on a worldwide tour to meet with all government leaders to set up agreements to open businesses in their areas. I need you to hold down the fort here while we’re doin that.”

“What about Ma and Aunt Keasha?”

“They have an emergency to take care of. They’re training a lot of doctors in Moscow. As you know, there’s a war goin on ova dare so they have a lot injured, but short on doctors. She’ll be ova there for the next 3 months.”

“When did she leave?” I asked.

“She left about 3 this morning. She had about 4 hours to get ready. That’s how sudden it was. As far as our trip goes, we just got confirmation this morning when we came in, so that’s why I’m just now letting you know.”

“When do you leave?”

“Tomorrow. We’ll be gone for about 3 months too. You do understand the purpose and potential of this deal?”

“No doubt. If it happens, we’re lookin at a huge increase in demographics, further ideas across the board for products, broadening our horizons and reaching out to those that haven’t necessarily had a chance to see just what we have to offer. Don’t get me wrong, this is a great opportunity and I’ll be more then happy to step up, but I just wasn’t expectin it.”

“I know you weren’t, but you’ll handle it. So while Tevin and I are gone, you and Will are acting Presidents for the next 3 months. I’ll be checking on all progress. I’m not goin to really be apart of meetings, I think y’all can handle that. You’ll run everything from here. When you log into the system put in PJC instead of your original. Your password will still work.”

“Iight.”

“Any questions for me?”

“Nah, I’m good.”

“Iight I’mma go finish some thangs. I’ll be out of here by noon. You assume position as soon as I leave. You’ll see first hand what my job is like and what you’ll be getting into when you assume the position permanently.”

“Hopefully years from now.”

“Don’t worry, it will be.”

“Now the fact that I’m acting President means no limits, right?”

“Everything is in your control. You can do whateva you want. I don’t care unless it starts to deplete our company.”

“You’ll have nothin to worry about.”

“I know. Anyway, let me get up outta hea. I’ll send those files to you so you know what’s on your table. I’ll holla at ya lata.”

“Have fun and bring back souvenirs.” I told him.

“Iight.” I gave him dap and watched him leave. I sat at my desk and logged into the system. My secretary called me again.

“Mr. Johnson, sorry to disturb you, but you have anotha visitor.”

“Who would that be, baby girl?”

“I was told not to tell you. It’s a female though.”

“Ok, send her in.”

“Yes sir.”

I didn’t know who would try to surprise me, but I sat in my chair and waited for the female to open the doors. When she did, a big smile appeared on my face. I stood up and walked to her.

“Hey, Daddy.” Tierra said to me as she saw me approach her.

“Hey, Princess, I missed you.” I picked her up and gave her a big hug.

“I missed you too.” She replied.

“You have fun at Grandpa’s?”

“Yep. I didn’t want to leave, but I had to.”

“I know sweetie, I’m sorry. Don’t worry, we’ll have fun too. Are you ready to get to work?”

“Yep.”

“Iight this is what I want you to do. You see all that ova there?” She looked at the desk next to mine. She nodded. “That’s all yours.” She had a huge smile on her face.

“I get my own desk?”

“Yep and it’s proportional to your size. Not too big, not too small.” She ran to the desk and sat in the chair. She turned on her computer. “I want you to sit here, play games, do a lil educational stuff……basically whateva you want to do.” She nodded.

“What are you doin?” She asked.

“I have to run ova to Will’s office and talk to him real quick. I’ll be back shortly, iight?”

“Ok. Is it ok if I eat in here?”

“Of course. What you got to eat?”

“I have a sandwich, cookies, yogurt, grapes, an apple, and a Clementine. Grandma also gave me a sandwich for you.”

“Thank you. Put it on my desk. Go ahead and enjoy your food baby girl. Don’t eat too many though cuz you’ll spoil your lunch.” She nodded. I gave her a kiss. “Be back.”

I opened my door to the bridge and walked ova to Will’s office. I knocked and waited. He opened the door.

“President Johnson, what can I do for you?”

“President Smith, you can start off by letting me in.” We laughed.. I gave him dap as I walked in.

“Man, dawg, is it me or does things keep getting better and better for us?”

“Better and better. I don’t even know where to start as far as being President.”

“I feel the same way. Well, we can start off by tacklin this Airline project. We need to decide what cities will be running with it.” Will said.

“Now you know that’s already done. We have all major cities across the world, but not all of them have equal flights comin out of em.”

“Obviously the most flights come out of here, averaging 400 a day. What are the otha busy airports?” He asked.

“Atlanta, Miami, NYC, DC, LA, DFW, Chicago, Paris, Sydney, Tokyo, Hong Kong London, Moscow, and Berlin are prolly the busiest. What were the prices we decided on?”

“I made out a list.” He handed me the list. I looked at it and nodded. “Chances are we can go as low as possible. Later on down the line, we can start a smaller chain that’ll have flights goin from major airports to smaller airports.”

“That might actually be needed more then we think.”

“I’m lookin at our current businesses and I think we touched on all basis that there is. Medical, law, education, electronics, travel, media, kids, appliances, automobiles, motorcycles; everything has been touched on.”

“You’re right about that.” I agreed. “Then again, we could expand into services.”

“What do you mean?”

“We have an insurance company, construction, networking, satellite, and cable. Maybe we could broaden into discovering new ways to provide power, a better oil alternative, and some otha thangs.” I suggested.

“I feel ya. Provide utilities. I don’t think we touched into furniture.”

“Sho haven’t. Man, these three months that Dad and Uncle Tevin are gone is goin to be tight as hell.” I stood up. “Let’s get to work.”

“Fa sho.” I gave him dap. “Let’s do thangs dat Dad neva thought of.”

“That’s what I’m talkin bout.”

I walked out his office and went back to mine. Tierra was on her computer doing 7^th grade educational material. I watched her as she easily answered math problems. I then decided to challenge her myself.

“How smart do you think you are?” I asked her.

“For my age, very smart, but compared to you, not smart enough.”

“Well, don’t forget, I have 18 years over you.”

“True.” She agreed.

“May I see this?” She moved her hand and let me take control of the mouse. I went into a file and pulled up a picture. “What is that?”

“What is what?”

“This picture.” She looked at it and had a puzzled look on her face.

“A blueprint?” She guessed.

“Nope, but it’s like a blueprint.” She thought some more and then shrugged her shoulders. “It’s a schematic.”

“Oh yea.”

“Do you remember what I told you a schematic is for?”

“Like a blueprint, it shows connections in an electrical system.”

“Very good. I want you to learn all these symbols, how to trace a signal, and take the test.”

“I’m on it.”

“That’s my girl.”

I kissed her and went to my desk. I went through the files in R&D to see what was still in progress. I made a list of new jobs and sent it to them. I then started the design on a new project that came to mind. I called Dad real quick.

“What ya need, B?” He answered.

“Do we still have the military contract?”

“And you know this.”

“That’s what’s good. I’ll holla at ya.”

“Iight.” I hung up wit him and continued with the project.

It was a quarter afta 11. I shut down my computer.

“Tierra, you ready for lunch?” I asked her.

“Yep.”

“Iight get yo stuff. I’mma run to da bathroom real quick.”

“Ok.” I went to the bathroom. When I came back, she was ready to go.

As we approached the hospital, I could see Sydney outside. I stopped and let her get in. She said hi to me and then started having a conversation with Tierra. Yea, they talk to each other a lot. Go figure. We got to the restaurant that we always go to and got a table. We ate and all talked about things that I can’t even remember now. After an hour, it got serious.

“Kenny, I need to tell you somethin.” Sydney said. I looked around and saw Karla.

“Princess, go play with Karla.” I told Tierra.

“You read my mind.” Tierra said. She gave me a kiss and ran to Karla.

“What’s up?” I asked Sydney.

“There’s some thangs that I haven’t told you and I believe you have a right to know.”

“Ok.”

“For starters, my ex-fiancé is in town.”

“Since when?”

“A couple days ago. I saw him yesterday. That’s one reason why I was hoping we were havin lunch together.”

“Understandable. You neva really talked about yo ex. What’s he like?”

“Before the event that led to our break up, he was a sweet heart. He did sweeping romantic gestures, he told me he loved me every day, gave me a gift every week, and seemed to live just to please me.”

“What does he do?” I asked.

“He’s this high profile lawyer in LA. He was in several law magazines and was selected to defend top officials. It’s because of this that things went down the way it did.”

“What are you talkin bout?”

“There’s one thing that I’ve kept from you.” I had no idea what to expect, but one thing is fa sho. I definitely wasn’t expectin what I was about to hear. “You knew I was engaged, but you didn’t know we had a son together.” At the sound of that, I gasped and went wide eyed.

“How old?”

“Almost a year older then Tierra. I was one of the unlucky ones. Lost my virginity and got pregnant. Part of me feels the reason he cheated on me was a cry for escape since he wasn’t ready to get married. I don’t really know.”

“What’s your son’s name?”

“Kendal. I wanted to name him as close to you as possible.” I smiled in flattery. “This is my situation. Afta the breakup, we went to custody court. He being such a high profile lawyer, he was able to win without any problems. Some how, he managed to put a restraining order on me. I don’t know how the hell he did it, but I couldn’t come within 200 feet of them. So I fled here and established my career here. When I met back up wit you, it gave me stability and the strength to get my son back. I had to show that I was on my own and handling mine, so I had to get my own apartment since we weren’t married. Throughout our relationship, I’ve been setting up court dates and appeals; the whole nine yards. The day before we broke up, I got a date set.”

“Wow. So why did you want to break up?”

“When I told Latoya my situation and she agreed to defend me, she said the best appearance I could give is being single. Being single shows I’m handling my own and will prove that I will devote all my time and energy into my son. Even though I would have did that anyway, she believed it would show a better appearance to the judge if I was single.”

“Well, Latoya knows best. Look, I’m here for anything that you need, iight?”

“Thanks. I could really use your support in court.”

“You know I’ll support you in any and everything you do.” I looked down and then back into Sydney’s eyes. I smiled. “Do you have a picture of your son?” She smiled back at me.

“Yea.” She pulled a picture out from her purse and handed it to me. I looked at it. “Who do you think he favors more?”

“Definitely you. He looks nothin like him.” I stated. “When is your case set for?”

“Wednesday morning. I know you have to work, are you goin to be able to make it? It’s at noon.” She asked.

“Yea I’ll be there. I forgot to tell ya, Dad and Uncle Tevin are out of town…..well more like out of country. They made me and Will Presidents for the next three months.”

“That’s amazing. I guess that means you can pretty much do anything you want.”

“Anything I want.” I repeated. “I guess since you and I aren’t together anymore, I’ll bury myself in work so I don’t start to miss you too much.” She smiled.

“I miss you all the time.” We smiled at each other. I then heard Tierra yelling. I turned around and saw her yelling at a boy in the play area. “What’s goin on?”

“I don’t know, but I better find out.” I stood up and walked to the play area.

Before I opened the door, I saw the boy hit Tierra in the arm as hard as he could. In the process of opening the door, I saw Tierra hit him in the face as hard as she could. The boy fell to the ground and started crying. I ran up to Tierra as she was still yelling at the boy. I picked her up and carried her into the corner.

“What the hell was that all about?” I asked Tierra. She didn’t say anything or even look at me. She was breathing deeply and looking at the boy. The adrenaline was still flowing. “Tierra Annetta Johnson, look at me.” I told her sternly. She looked at me. “What happened?”

“Me and Karla were playing on the slide. As we were sliding, that boy and his friends were running around. It was Karla’s turn and as she came at the end of the slide, he ran into her before her feet hit the ground. Karla fell off the side and hit her head on the ground. I told him nicely to apologize. He didn’t. I said, please apologize to her. Still didn’t. I started yelling at the boy to apologize. He didn’t. I kept yelling and he kept threatening me. I then dared him. He hit me and I hit him back.”

I looked at Karla. She had a big knot on her head. I looked back at Tierra. She was crying as she thought she was in big trouble. I hugged her.

“Hey, hey, hey, it’s ok, baby girl.”

“I’m sorry I hit him. You always said not to resort to violence, but he hit me first.” She whined.

“I know, sweetie. I saw him do it and I saw you hit him back. It’s ok, you’re not in trouble. You were defending yourself.”

The boy’s mother and father approached me. The boy’s mother was holding him as he was still crying.

“Is that your daughter?” His father asked. I stood up and looked down at him.

“Yea, that’s my daughter. How’s your son lookin?” I asked.

“He’s bleeding from the mouth, nose, and has a sore jaw.” He replied. I’m filing assault charges against you.

“Look, there’s no need to go there. He started it and she finished it. They’re even. I’m sorry your son got cold clocked by a girl, but he hit her first anyway.”

“I didn’t see that. I saw your daughter hit him.”

“I saw both.”

“Maybe you don’t understand, sir, my son is the one with the wounds.” He said with a little too much boldness.

“Aye, don’t be getting mad at me cuz he got knocked out by a girl.”

“Oh really, how bout I make you the next person to get knocked out?”

“Are you serious? Do you know who I am?”

“Frankly, I don’t give a damn.”

He started cracking his knuckles like he was bout to do somethin. His wife looked at the posters on the wall, back at me, then the wall, and then back to me. He looked at her husband.

“Hold him.” She told him, handing their son to him without a reply. She approached me and pulled me to the side. “I’m really sorry about all this, Mr. Johnson. Ever since my husband joined the WBA, he thinks he can fight anyone. I hope your daughter is ok. My son can get a lot like his dad and I apologize for that.”

“Thank you, but I apologize for the injuries that my daughter caused. She’s a lil too much like her dad.” I replied.

“You don’t have to worry. No one is goin to go to the press or file charges. This was completely our fault. We should have prevented the situation all together. We’re also very sorry about your niece.”

“Baby, why are you apologizing to him. He’s the one at fault. Let me just…” Her husband began. She cut him off.

“Shut up and let me handle this.” She told him. She looked back at me. “Like I was sayin, my son should have apologized. I taught him better then that.”

“It’s all good. Thank you for being so kind about this even though it’s your son that got the bad end of the deal.” I thought to myself. “You know what, let me give you a lil token of my appreciation.” I went into my pocket and pulled out a roll of money. I counted and gave her half a million dollars. “Take him to CMH and tell them to put it on my tab. Take this money and do whateva you want.” I then thought again. “Betta yet, to show how much I appreciate your courage in talkin to me, I want to give you this.” I handed her a backstage pass.

“Oh my god, I was just tellin my girlfriend about how your concert was sold out.”

“Is your friend married too?”

“Yea, but she’s in love with Will. She claims he’s better then you in everything, but I say the opposite. We both agree that y’all are the absolute best group alive.”

“Well, tell you what, give this to your friend.” I gave her anotha backstage pass.

“Oh my goodness she’s goin to flip.” She said in excitement.

“Now I neva forget a face, so I betta see you dare.”

“I wouldn’t miss this fa da world.”

“Good deal.”

“I guess I should give this back to you.” She tried handing me back the money.

“Nah, keep that. That’s for you and your family. This backstage pass is for you and your friend. I’mma tell Will too, so y’all betta be dare.”

“We will. I promise you that.”

“Good. Iight, what’s yo name?”

“Cherry. My friend’s name is Jackie.” She replied.

“It’s on then. I’ll see you in a couple weeks then.” I shook her hand. “Come on, Netta.” I picked up Tierra. She laid her head on my shoulder.  Sydney was attending to Karla. I joined them. Will was rubbing some cream on her wound.

“Don’t worry, La-La, it’ll clear up in a few hours, ok?” Will said to her. She nodded.

“You ok, Karla?” I asked her. She nodded. “Does it still hurt?”

“Not as much as it did, but a lil.” She replied.

“You’ll be iight.” I told her. “Sid, did you see Tierra hit that boy?” I asked her in a low tone.

“Yea, that was crazy. When she inherited a lot of your genes, I didn’t think your strength would be one.”

“Who’s you tellin? I was expectin like a lil slap, but she knocked him the hell out.” I said.

“How’s she doin?”

“She’s ok. She thought she was in trouble, so she started crying. Right now she’s goin to sleep.”

“How can you tell?” She asked.

“Every time she cries, she ends up goin to sleep soon after. Not to mention she’s not use to that much adrenaline flowin through her. I’m sure that tired her out.” Sydney looked at Tierra and noticed her eyes closed.

“Yea, you’re right.” She said. She then looked at her watch. “Well, it’s time to go back to work.”

“Iight, let’s go.”

After dropping Sydney off at the hospital, I got back to my office a lil afta 1. I lied Tierra down on the couch and went back to work.

Tierra woke up a few hours later and got back on her computer. She went through the projects she came up with that were in progress.

“Daddy, why can’t I design things that aren’t for kids?” She asked.

“Who said you couldn’t?” I replied. “You can design anything you want.”

“I have an idea of a video game that won’t be for kids.”

“Now what game could you design that wouldn’t be for kids?” I asked her.

“You remember that vampire movie you were in?”

“Yea.”

“A game like that with just as much blood and gore.” I thought about it.

“I see. Look here, baby girl, anything you come up with, put it in this program.” I showed her the program to use. “Everything you submit through there will come straight to me. I will look it over and if I like it, I’ll put it through.”

“I noticed you haven’t turned down anything I’ve done. If I did somethin you actually didn’t like, you’d tell me right?”

“Of course, Princess. I’d put it nicely as possible.”

“What if I wanted to create a blow pop that tasted like oil?”

“Sweetie, I don’t think anyone would like a blow pop that tasted like oil.” I told her, smiling. She smiled back.

“Just checking.” I kissed her forehead and went back to my desk.

“You have nothin to worry bout. The meanest thing I could do would be to act like I like somethin when I don’t.”

I continued working. I was finished by 7. We shut down our computers and left the office.

When we got home, I made dinner and Tierra helped make cupcakes. What can I say, I’m a really good father. After dinner, we watched Jeopardy. She answered a few of the questions, more then I thought she would. We both passed out at about 2.

Wednesday approached and it was time to attend Sydney’s court hearing. I sat right behind her with Tierra. I saw her ex on the otha side. I leaned forward to talk to Latoya.

“Have you ever faced him before?” I asked her.

“Yea.” She replied. Sydney turned around.

“Really, when?” Sydney asked.

“Sad to say, it was my third case. I was just establishing my career. It was a homicide case and I was the prosecutor. The man was clearly guilty, and I had all the evidence, I had the right jury, yet he still beat me. He’s the only one I loss against.” Latoya looked at me. “I’m tellin you, he’s the absolute best.” I saw Sydney’s ex start to walk over.

“Latoya Johnson, is that you?” He asked.

“Yea, I’m surprise you remember me, Dwayne.” She stood up and shook his hand.

“How can I forget? You were the closest one to beating me. I was hoping to face you again to make sure it wasn’t a fluke. I’ve been following your career and I must say you’ve gotten quite good. That case against your father and uncle were probably the highlight of your career. I question if I could have even pulled that off.”

“Thank you, you have no idea how much that means to me comin from you.”

“So, Ms. Johnson, now we face off again. Nervous?” He asked.

“It’s Mrs. Lopez now. I’m actually lookin forward to this. We start off at even points and it’s goin to be interesting if I’ve actually gotten as good as I had hoped.”

“That it will be. Mrs. Lopez, you’ve gotten married too? Lopez….Lopez….” He started thinking. “Is that Chris Lopez the football star?”

“Yea, that’s him.”

“Amazing. You’ve done really well for yourself. I would have neva thought you’d even get married.”

“I could say the same about you. Then again, I guess that still stands.”

“You’re right about that. So how do you know Sydney? I didn’t really think she’d be making enough to afford you.”

“I’ve known Sydney for a long time. She grew up with my brother. In fact, allow me to introduce you to my brother, Kenny.” I stood up and shook his hand. “Kenny, this is Dwayne Hughes.”

“I’ve heard a lot about you.” Dwayne said to me.

“Like wise.” I said back.

“Well, Latoya, good luck to you and may the best lawyer win.” He said.

“Good luck to you too.” He left and Latoya sat back down.

“Is it me, or is there a lil more history then you’re letting on?” I asked.

“We dated for like a month in law school. It was during their separation. He dumped me to get back with her. I didn’t mind since it was Sydney he was talkin bout. While we were together, he taught me a lot of tricks and gave me a lot of tips.”

“What’s goin to be his angle to win this case?” I asked.

“He’s goin to use the fact that a boy needs a strong father in his life. He’s then goin to go into statistics about how most males raised by a single mother resorts to crime in more ways then one. Males raised by a mother with a boyfriend are neglected and lean more towards suicide then anything.”

“If both cases are negative, then why did you have us break up?” Sydney asked.

“The single mother scenario is a lil bit easier to deal with.”

“Good point.” I agreed.

The judge came out and it was time to get started.  Dwayne led off and made a lot of good points. He did just like Latoya expected. When it was her turn, she also made a lot of good points. Security brought out Kendal and placed him next to the judge. He was an adorable 7 year old that looked to be well behaved.

An hour and a half into it, the judge came out with a decision.

“It is my duty to ensure the personal well-being of Kendal Conner is in the rightful hands. It is very important for him to have both a mother and a father, but even more important for him to have a father. In that case, I have no choice but to award the custody of Kendal to…” Latoya knew where this was goin and immediately acted.

“You’re Honor, I’m sorry to interrupt you, but I forgot to mention one important thing that will affect your decision.” Dwayne looked at Latoya.

“Please, continue.” The judge replied.

“You’re right about that. Kendal needs a perfect father type. Dwayne is the rightful holder of that title, but he doesn’t have the needed essentials to raise Kendal like a mother can. If Sydney is awarded custody, Kendal will have his mother and a father figure. That father figure would be Kenny Johnson.” My eyes widened.

“Why would you think Kenny Johnson is a better choice to be the perfect father figure?” The judge asked.

“For one, we all know his success stories. Kenny is by far financially capable of handling things. The most important aspect would be the fact he’s already demonstrated how good of a father he is to his daughter, Tierra Johnson. In fact, I would like to take the time to give myself and Dwayne an opportunity to talk to his daughter and hear it from her own lips.” The judge paused and nodded. “Tierra, could you come up here.” Tierra looked at me.

“It’s ok, Princess. Just answer all questions, and be honest.” She nodded and kissed me. She walked up to the stand and sat in the chair.

“Tierra, has your father ever hit you?” She asked.

“No.” Tierra replied.

“Have you ever done anything wrong?”

“Yes.”

“What did you do?”

“Yesterday, a boy punched me in the arm and I punched him in the face.”

“Did your father see this?”

“Yes. He ran to me and broke us up. I explained what happened and thought I was goin to get in big trouble. I thought he was goin to give me a whoopin.”

“What did he do?”

“He consoled me and calmed me down. The boy’s parents confronted him and he gave his mother half a million dollars and said he’d pay for the boy’s medical bill.”

“Did he punish you?”

“No. He talked to me about fighting and said not to unless you’re defending yourself and that’s all I did.”

“How much time do you spend with your father?”

“A lot. He spends a lot of time at work, but instead of leaving me home, I work with him.”

“Does he put you to work?”

“No, I choose to work. Everyday, he tells me I can do whateva I want. I could play games if I want to, but I mostly like to design new toys and stuff like that. I help him solve problems because sometimes I’m smarter then him.” Everyone laughed, especially me.

“What about outside the office?”

“We spend time together until I go to sleep. He sings me to sleep sometimes and always either tucks me in or sleeps with me.”

“Is there any doubt that he loves you?”

“None. I’m the most important person in his life even when he was dating Sydney.”

“When they were together, did your time with your father decrease?”

“Nope. Sydney wanted to spend time with both of us. She’s been my mother since my parents divorced.”

“So you know what it’s like to not have both of your birth parents. Are you glad you went with your father?”

“I couldn’t be any happier.”

“You’re Honor, Tierra is 6 years old. Everything she knows was taught to her by her father. It’s been proven that not only is Kenny a good father, but a good teacher. He’s more then fit to fill the void. Dwayne, you may question her if you like.” Toya sat back down and smiled. Dwayne stood and was speechless. He exhaled and sat back down.

“Since Mr. Hughes has nothing, I will begin my decision. In light of this new proclamation, I have one question and that’s for Mr. Johnson.” I stood up. “Would you be more then willing to be that father figure for Kendal Conner?” I smiled.

“I’d be more then happy to.” I replied. “It would be an honor, your honor!” I said smiling.

“In that case, I’d like to grant custody to Sydney Conner. Keep in mind that if things become too unstable for Kendal, custody will be given to Mr. Hughes.”

“I understand you’re Honor.” Sydney replied.

“Very well. Court is adjourned.”

She slammed her mallet and left. Sydney gave Toya a hug and then myself. She ran up to Kendal and embraced him. Dwayne approached Toya.

“Maybe that was a fluke.” He said to her.

“No, it wasn’t. I just got better since then. Hopefully we meet again.”

“I hope so.”

“Who knows, maybe this was a fluke.”

“Our next meeting shall determine that.” He smiled and shook her hand. “Take care.”

“You too.” Latoya watched him leave and attended to her stuff.

“You know, it may be me, but I still see it in your eyes.” I stated.

“You may be right, but I’m not interested. I have a husband and a son of my own.”

“Maybe so, but you’d be all ova him if you didn’t.”

“Can’t deny that.” I smiled and kissed Latoya.

“See ya at home.” I picked up Tierra and came up to Sydney. “Tierra, I want you to meet Kendal. Kendal, this is Tierra.” They said hi and shook hands. “He’s a shy one.” I said to Sydney.

“Around new people, yea.” She said.

“We’ll change that. Tierra, get on my back.” Tierra got on my back and I picked Kendal up and put him on my shoulders. I jogged around as both of them laughed. “Come on, Sydney.” Tierra yelled back as we ran out the courthouse.

When we got in the car, I let Tierra in and then took Kendal off my shoulders and sat him down. I got in on my side and started the car. They buckled up and started talkin to each other. They seemed to get along perfectly. I was a lil bit worried about that.

“Thanks.” Sydney said to me.

“For what?” I asked.

“Handlin everything the way you’ve been. You’ve taken the whole fact that I had a son like I was tellin you I bought new thongs.”

“You did?” I said, smiling.

“No, I was just using that as an example.” She said, smiling.

“I understand, baby girl. It was hard for you to realize you had to be away from your son. I can care less if you had one. At least you know who the father is and you wanted to do everything you could to get him back. I respect you for that. Besides, I kinda had a feeling. You have those natural motherly skills that you’re not born with. The way you act with Tierra told me you’ve dealt with kids before.”

“Thanks.” I started thinking.

“You still have that beautiful voice I used to love?” I asked her.

She started singing her response, “And you know this.”

“That’s what I’m talkin bout. Will and I have this track that we’re working on, and we need two female vocalists. Are you and Candace willing and able?”

“Are you serious? That would be a dream come true. When do we need to have lyrics made?”

“In two weeks.”

“Is that when y’all plan on recording?”

“Negative. That’s when we’re performing.”

“Whateva, recording, performing, same difference.”

“No, I don’t mean it like that. I mean performing as in concert. You know we have a concert at the C-Town Coliseum 4^th of July, ri?”

“Yea.”

“We’re unveiling 7 new tracks. This one is one of em. We want you and Candace to be in it. Afta that, we’ll go into the studio and put it on the next album.”

“Oh my god.”

“I’ll give you the chorus and my verse when we get to the crib. We’ll have two verses a piece. That’s a total of 8 verses. You can have each verse as long as you want.”

“This is unreal. What are the 6 otha new songs goin to be like?”

“Chris and Dre are featured on this one hit that we just straight rip. It’s goin to be the hardest track we drop to date. It’s goin to be about these two gangs on the west side that does nothin but run they mouth.”

“Sounds like a true story.”

“It is. We also have one with Karla and Tierra on there. They sing a lil somethin somethin. It’s goin to sound real good. Our last 4 new hits are just us as we are and two of em have people featured from our click.”

“What else are you performing?”

“We’ll have 20 bangas selected from our past 4 albums, 7 new hits, 4 new tracks comin from our new CTB album, and then last but not least, a patriotic track that was on the Independence Day album.”

“32 hits, do you think that’s enough?”

“I don’t know, but that’s all we’ll be able to do. We tried getting as much feedback as possible, but an unclear decision came. Everyone like every track we put out, so we didn’t know what to choose.”

“I agree.” I looked at my rear view mirror and saw Tierra and Kendal talking and laughing. It put a smile on my face.

We got home and I showed Kendal around. We started off with the main floor. I showed him all the rooms. I then took him up to my floor and showed him everything on that floor. Tierra took the opportunity to show him her room. Sydney and I went into the kitchen and made lunch.

“So how much longer do you want to stay apart?” I asked her.

“I like making you wait like this.” She said, smiling. “I think I’ll enjoy this for a while.” I smiled.

“I can last as long as you can.” I told her.

“That’s good. I just want to feel that I’m capable of actually providing for myself and Kendal. Once I prove myself that, then I’ll get back with you.”

“I’ll wait for you.”

“Thanks.”

“Just don’t think I’m not goin to go do my thang.”

“I’m not expectin anything else.” We smiled and started talkin about work. “You know, with Natasha in Moscow, she put me in charge while she’s been gone. Did I tell you that?”

“Nope, you neglected to mention that part.”

“Yea, she made me President of CMH. I didn’t know what to do.”

“That’s tight as hell.”

“What have you been workin so hard on lately?”

“New military technology. I think I’ll be done by Friday. I’mma send it in to the Department of Defense and see if they’ll approve.”

“I’m sure they will. Everything you worked hard on has been.”

“I agree.” We set the table. “Tierra, Kendal, come eat.” I yelled. They ran out and sat at the table. Sydney and I also sat down. We ate and talked like a family even though we weren’t……..YET!

CHAPTER 3

ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT

It was the night of our concert and we were at the C-Town Coliseum doing last minute things. Tierra was practicing her lines. Sydney knocked on my door. I told her to come in. She looked absolutely stunning in her dress that she had.

“Damn, you look good.” I said.

“Thanks. I’m a lil nervous.”

“Don’t be. There’s almost a billion people out there. Get nervous when you see all of them.” I started smiling.

“You smile, but you’re serious.” She said.

“Yes, I am. I’m used to it though.” There was anotha knock on my door. “Enter.”

“Mr. Johnson, you have a visitor.” My bodyguard told me.

“Let her in.” I replied. It was Cherry. “Well, well, well, you made it after all.”

“I told you, I wouldn’t miss this for the world. You were all I talked about since I saw you.” She stated.

“Iight, Kenny, we’re goin to go and keep our voices moist.” Sydney said. “Come on, Tierra.” She took Tierra’s hand and winked at me. She was setting me up and actually helping me do somethin I had no intention on doin. She closed and locked the door. I looked at Cherry.

“I hope I wasn’t interrupting.” She said.

“Nah, you’re straight. Is your husband here?”

“Nope, he’s still upset and now he’s even madder because I talked about you so much.” I started laughing.

“I tend to have that affect on significant others.”

“I don’t see how you don’t. I’m sure you broke up a lot of relationships.”

“Not intentionally. A lot of wives just want to see me. I’m sure you’re hated by many being in this position.”

“Yea, alone with Kenny Johnson, K-Dawg, in his dressing room with the door locked. What is a woman to do?” I looked at her as she gazed into my eyes. She then jumped up and kissed me. I pulled back.

“What about your husband?” I asked her.

“I’m sorry, but I’m in a once in a lifetime situation. I love my husband very much, but if I don’t do this, I’ll regret it for the rest of my life.”

She started kissing me again. I started kissing her back. My conscience stopped botherin me as I did what I would normally do.

It was 5 minutes befo show time. I let Cherry out. She had a big smile on her face and a lil bit of a limp. At least I think a lil…..I’m not really sure, I wasn’t paying attention. I finished getting ready and headed out. I ran into Will on the way out.

“You ready fa dis?” I asked him.

“Ain’t nuttin but a thang.” He replied.

We gave each otha pound as our names were called out. The entire arena erupted. 500 million people filled the C-Town Coliseum. We began with our first 20 hits. Then we came out with 3 of our new ones. That’s when we surprised em. Our 24^th hit, 4^th new track, was when Sydney and Candace came out. They sang corresponding to our rap. I looked out in the middle of the crowd and saw somethin. I paused as it was pointing at stage. I couldn’t tell at whom. I immediately covered Sydney as I realized what it was. A guy was shooting at us. I looked further into the crowd and saw three people tryin to kill us. We stood behind some equipment and waited.

“You iight?” I whispered to Sydney.

“Fine, you?”

“I’m iight.”

“What the hell was that all about?” She asked me.

“I’on know, but someone wanted to get us.”

“Yea, I’ll say.”

When the shooting subsided, our bodyguards came onstage and escorted us off.

“Good evening, this is the 10 o’clock news on channel 6. We start off with our top story tonight. At the C-Town Coliseum, an assassination attempt occurred during the K-Dawg/Fully Loaded concert. The two performers were unveiling a new song as three men opened fire on the stars. No injuries were reported and everyone on stage was escorted off. After the shooting occurred, the concert was called off. James Towns is live from the C-Town Coliseum.”

“Jan, this was the first time an assassination attempt has been made against these two. K-Dawg and Fully Loaded, or as we know them, Kenny and Will, have always had clean concerts. This is the first time anyone has attempted to take their lives. The three men are still at large, and may try to attempt at the young stars’ lives again. This concert was sold out 30 seconds after ticket offices opened; it has been the most anticipated event in this city’s history. Billions tuned in on pay per view to watch it in the comfort of their homes. For things to turn out like this I’m sure upsets all. Luckily, both Kenny and Will have no injuries. Jan back to you in the studio.”

“We have word that Tom Underwood is live with the commissioner of the Cleveland Police. Tom?”

“Good Evening, Jan, I am live with Commissioner Brad Martin. Commissioner, how did the perps get guns into the concert?”

“We have no idea. Metal detectors were placed at the entrance. All metal detectors are state of the art and can’t be tricked. For them to fail and actually allow people to bring in weapons is impossible, so they must of used some otha means.”

“How much of a priority is this for the Cleveland Police to tackle?”

“Being that it’s Kenny Johnson and Will Smith that were the target, this is a very high priority. It’s eitha almost at the top, or at the top. If nothing is uncovered in 24 hours, things will get a lil more intense. Right now, the Cleveland Police cares about nothin else but bringing these men to justice.”

“Commissioner thanks for your time. Back to you Jan.”

“Thank you Tom. Things have gotten real violent for the young stars, but things have also gotten better. Kenny Johnson and Will Smith have assumed the Presidential position for SJ Enterprise. With Kevin and Tevin out for the next couple months, that opens the doors for our young heroes. Staying with the Johnson-Smith family, Natasha Johnson and Keasha Smith have saved 20,000 lives since being sent to Moscow. The doctors that they teach have been outstanding in saving lives.”

We got home and I was carrying Tierra. She was crying on my shoulder because she didn’t get a chance to go onstage.

“You tend to her, we’re goin to go home.” Sydney said.

“No, I don’t want you alone tonight. I’m not sure if they were aiming at me or not, so until we know fa sho, I want you to stay here.” I told her. She nodded and sat down. Kendal got on her lap and curled up. He was sleepy.

“Where is he goin to sleep?”

“There’s anotha room here.” I kept tryin to calm Tierra. “Shhhh, it’s ok sweetie. You’ll get anotha chance. I promise.” I looked at Sydney. “Come on, I’ll show you.”

I led her to the room. She lied Kendal down and lied down with him. I closed the door and went into Tierra’s room. She stopped crying and was struggling to stay awake. I put her on the bed and started taking off her clothes. I put one of my shirts on her and she lied down. I gave her a kiss as her eyes slowly began to close.

I walked out her room and went into my own. I lied down on my bed and looked at the ceiling.

“So who do you think was bold enough to try that?” Sydney asked, standing at my door.

“I’on know, but they betta hope the cops get a hold of em befo I do.” I replied. Sydney came in and stood between my legs.

“Thank you for protecting me.”

“Did you expect me not to?”

“I expected you to, but at the same time, I wasn’t expecting to be under fire.” She said smiling. “What are you goin to do as far as putting on anotha performance?”

“I’on know. They schedule anotha one, I’ll be dare. I ain’t scared to go back on stage. I’m so used to getting shot at, it doesn’t matta if I’m on stage or not.”

“I noticed you saw the gun; did you see anyone that was holdin it?”

“Nah, they were hidden pretty good. I can’t put my finger on who would try to pull a stunt like that.”

“All the enemies you have, it’d be pretty hard.”

“You’d think, but almost all my enemies like my music. They just hate me. They’d wait til afta the show.”

“That’s strange.”

“Yea, you’re tellin me.” I sat up and started getting undressed. I went into the bathroom and splashed some water on my face. The phone started ringing. “Sid, answer that.”

“Got it.” She picked up the phone. “Hello, Kenny’s residents.” She said, joking around. “Who may I ask is calling?” Pause……. “Kenny, Cherry is on the phone.”

“Really?” I don’t remember giving her my number.

“Yea, she doesn’t sound too good. She sounds scared for her life.” I grabbed a towel, dried my face, and grabbed the phone.

“What up?”

“Kenny, I’m sorry to bother you, but I’m not sure what else to do.” She said. She really did sound scared.

“What’s goin on?”

“My husband has gone crazy. I’m hiding in the bathroom with the door locked. He’s in the room with a gun. He’s already hit me twice.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, he hit you?”

“Yes. He’s drunk, which he hasn’t drank in 12 years. I don’t know what got into him.”

“Iight, calm down, sit tight, and I’ll be dare in a minute.”

“I stay at…”

“Don’t worry, I got yo address. That’s what I love about my caller ID. Just sit tight.” I hung up and got dressed. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

I went into my drawer and grabbed an AMV and a clip. I left the room and went to my Mazda RX-Dub. I sped to her crib as fast as I could. When I got there, I kicked open the door. I looked around and saw nothing. I then heard yelling upstairs. I went upstairs and saw her husband on top of her, raping her. I went to them, stood on the bed, and kicked him directly in the face. He flew back and hit the wall. Cherry jumped up, and hugged me. She was crying, bleeding in the face, and her clothes were ripped.

“Thank god you’re here.” She cried.

“Yea, I’m here.” I said, softly.

“Yes indeed, thank god you’re here…..gives me a second chance.” Her husband said. He grabbed his gun and pointed it at me.

“So it was you that tried to kill me.” I stated.

“My whore of a wife is the blame for that. We used to have such a good marriage til she met you in person. Don’t worry, I know you boinked her.”

“Boink? If that’s the same as cut, den yea, I ain’t gon deny it.” I said. “But ya know what, she wouldn’t had wanted me to do that if she was getting hers at home. I’m talkin bout getting it right, not the lil shit you give her.”

“You son of a bitch.” He pulled the trigger and shot me in the arm. I looked at my arm and then back at him.

“Now that was bold.” I said in a regular tone. Cherry looked at me like I wasn’t human. “Are you tryin to kill me or intimidate me? So far, neitha is workin.”

“Shut up!”

He pulled the trigger again and caught my other arm. I looked at my arms and then back at him. He also thought I wasn’t human. I walked up to him as he started to back up.

“Care to try again?”

“What the hell are you?” I walked close enough to where his gun was directly against my chest.

“How bout pullin the trigger now?” As he was about to shoot again, I hit him in the jaw before he was able to. He hit the floor. I started kicking him in the stomach and chest. “Get up.” I told him. I backed up to give him a lil space. He slowly got up. “Now let’s see how bad you are when it’s a man you’re swinging at.” I told him.

“I’m goin to knock you the hell out.”

He started swinging. I dodged everything without even tryin. I was dying to see how hard he could hit. I decided to let him actually catch me. He caught me with a right hook, left hook, and anotha right. My head barely moved on all contacts. I looked at him in sadness.

“And you box? Let me show you how a real man is supposed to hit.”

 I got into a boxing stance, as did he. I swung about 10 times in 3 seconds. He didn’t dodge any of them. He fell back and hit the wall again. I held him by the throat and hit him in the jaw a few times. I dropped him and watched him hit the ground. I walked away and tended to Cherry.

“You iight?” I asked her. She nodded, still looking at me like I’m not human.

“I always heard gunshots hurt.” She stated. I looked at my arms and smiled.

“They do. Trust me, I’m in serious pain right now. Don’t let my demeanor fool you. The last thing I’mma do is let him see it though. Besides, the most painful part is actually the bullet extraction. Cleaning it and stitching it is more painful then the gunshot itself.” I looked at her husband and then back at her. “Cha’mon, let’s get you to the hospital.”

I helped her up. Just as we were leaving, I had a bit of a twitch in my eye. I paused, shook my head, pulled my AMV out, and shot her husband 6 times. I looked at him and watched his arm drop and the gun hit the ground.

“I swear, you’re gifted.” Cherry commented.

“I say the same thing.” We walked out the house and into the car. “Where’s your son?”

“At my mother’s.”

“Iight. I’mma take you to CMH, coo?”

“That’s good.”

I got home and immediately went to my room. Sydney was still awake, reading her book. I got undressed, went to the bathroom, and washed my hands and face. When I came back out, Sydney wasn’t reading her book anymore. She was naked and ready for a lil before bed playtime.

“What’s goin on?” I asked in surprise.

“I’m ready to give myself to you.” She said, softly. She got up, crawled to me, and wrapped her arms around me. “I’ve taken all the time I needed to take. If you’re still interested, I still want to get back together. The best way to put a period on the agreement was to have make-up sex.” She smiled.

“Sydney, I feel like you’ve been toying with me for the past couple months. I’m actually starting to enjoy being single. I’m sorry, I need more time to myself and to Tierra.” She looked at me in dismay. I started to smile, “I think that was enough time.” I started kissing her. We made love for hours and didn’t want to stop.