Another Man's Treasure (Joey Bada$$ Story)

Part Trentadue

I had never experienced something like what took place at Cheddy’s house. I never saw a group of people go from extreme violence to a genuine truce so quickly. It was beautiful, but at the same time a little frightening. I just hoped it would last, that we would no longer have any problems with them and our lives would be at peace, finally.  

Keisha gave me her number when I was leaving, saying that she’d love to meet Latara sometime.  

Her phone number wasn’t the only thing I received on my way out. Just when Joey and I were about to walk out of the door, Cheddy pulled me back. He said he had to give me something; it was an apology for the death of my ex-fiancee. He said that he knows he wasn’t the one to shoot Edwin, but it was his fault.  

“It was a setup. We were trying to send a message to Joey. We told Edwin that we had his kid and if he didn’t help us, we’d kill her. We blackmailed him, like we did Steez. We didn’t want him to die, really. We found out that he had ties with you and were going to use that against you and Joey, but we didn’t mean for things to go the way they did. So, from the bottom of my heart and on behalf of the others, I’m sorry.”  

I accepted his apology, only because if I kept being mad at him and myself and whatever the reason was that my life was so dissatisfying up to this point, it would drive me crazy. It would make me sad. It would bring unnecessary negativity into my life. So I hugged him and told him that everything happens for a reason, that maybe Edwin’s time here was done and I’d see him in another lifetime.  

I didn’t mean it, though. My nonchalant attitude was accidental; while I was giving a forgiving half-smile on the outside, my heart was shattering slowly and painfully on the inside. My coping mechanism for dealing with Edwin’s death was to not think about him, and now that Cheddy brought it up, I’d forget about it again. At least until my wounds had healed enough for me to even allow his name to cross my mind again.  

Pro Era, after all the action, left. We left the house and the area. We picked up Latara and went home.  

I mean, really, home. Each and every one of them went to their actual addresses. We walked them all to their homes, CJ last, until it was just me, Joey and the baby. It almost brought tears to my eyes to see his apartment building again after so long. Not just because of the nice, warm bed that was waiting for me inside, but the fact that we made it this far, all of us alive and well. Some had been shot but not so badly that they couldn’t quickly go to the hospital and leave within an hour. Joey was untouched. He was healthy enough to walk me through his front door, go straight to his room, and jump onto his bed. As soon as he hit the sheets he fell asleep, and I realized that I hadn’t seen him do that in a while. He deserved a nap at least.  

I took a long, refreshing shower with Latara for about an hour. I cleaned us up and then just held her, sitting on the floor of the tub letting the water run over us. For the first time in a very long time, I looked at my child. I looked in her eyes, at her plump cheeks, at her smile. I kissed her and hugged her and held her close - partly because I missed being with her alone in a peaceful environment, and partly because I wanted to make sure that she was actually here.  

When our shower time was done, Joey was still asleep. I got Latara dressed, fed her a big meal (something she hadn’t had in a while) and let her watch television in the living room with her toys. There was nothing much for me to do but watch Joey sleep, just watch his chest rise and fall and watch his eyelashes flutter, just wonder what he could be dreaming about. I wanted to wake him up and find out, but if I woke him up I’d have to face my responsibilities. I’d have to do the inevitable, and I didn’t want to deal with that. Not now, when for the first time in forever things felt peaceful. Not now. Later. Another time. Another day.