12. Skyler
skyler
. . .
Should I have been in Dior, buying my daughter a pair of Dior ballet flats and high-top sneakers? This was supposed to be about me, but as us mothers normally did, we thought of our children before ourselves.
I treated myself whenever I could, but I was forever thinking about Estella and buying her things. Her birthday was coming up, and I wanted these ballet flats for her birthday shoot.
As much as I was girly, I loved sneakers and preferred them over heels. Estella was my opposite because she loved all things shoes. If it had a little heel on it, even better.
When I showed her these shoes, she was going to be so excited. I couldn’t wait to see her little face and how she slapped her cheeks with her hands and acted shocked.
God, I loved my baby.
It wasn’t easy at times, and I was always wondering if I was doing a good job when it came to her. Some nights when she was asleep, I rubbed her hair and thought about all we had gone through.
Being separated, losing the most important person in our lives, and now trying to make it in the big city with little to no family. All we had was Stevie and my aunt, and then my aunt passed, so now it was just the three of us. Well, and the man in the corner store that Stevie was super close with.
“Look at this stroller… you think they will ship it back to the states?” Capri pushed the Dior stroller and messed around with it.
“Ma’am, we can absolutely ship that to your home,” the sales associate answered while she debated on it.
“Thank you. I think I’m going to wait for my sisters… I promised to do all the baby shopping with them. But I will take those items.”
“Can you please get me those sneakers, that shirt, and that jacket,” Aimee told her, as she picked out things for Rory. “What? Capella gave me his card, too… still won’t give me access to the account.” She rolled her eyes.
Blair sat on the couch and looked at us. “You alright, Blair?” I asked, and she smiled.
“Just loving seeing you all be mommies… it’s sweet.”
Capri came over and sat next to her. “You can tell me what’s wrong?” I loved how in touch she was with her people.
Capri made you feel like family the minute you met her. She had this way that made you feel so warm and welcomed. Since working with her, I had such a high respect for her.
The way she didn’t back down when men tried to tell her something. She stood her ground, and in the courtroom, she was also hardcore. I could tell she questioned herself, and at times her confidence wasn’t always high. However, before she walked into that courtroom, she shook it off and shut shit down.
“I promise nothing is wrong. It makes me excited to become a mom…I want to be a mommy so bad.”
Capri hugged her. “I think you and Sim would make beautiful babies,” Aimee said, and we all looked at her. “What? I’m not the only one that sees the chemistry between these two.”
“She right. She right,” I agreed.
“Quasim has come around and he doesn’t avoid me, but he doesn’t open up to me. We have long talks, but they are always around me… I don’t know much about his daughter other than her name, or his girlfriend. I can’t sit and expect him to give me a baby… I don’t want just a baby. I want it all. The love, marriage, and life with my person. My doctor told me that trying could be hard, you know? And he wants me to wait at least six months… well, he said two to five years and I damn near cursed him out,” she vented.
“The man bought you a building… we don’t ever have to talk.” I plopped down on the couch. “I’m kidding. If a man isn’t ready for a child, believe his ass… I would know.” I sighed, thinking about my baby father.
Corleon: Forgot fucking dress shoes… can you get me a pair while you in Dior.
Me: Don’t even wanna know how you know where I’m at.
Corleon: Size 46… appreciate you, Geeky.
I stood up and went over toward the shoes and looked at shoes that would go with his suit. When I found the perfect pair, I had the sales associate check for the size and paid for it.
Capri and Aimee were still talking to Blair when I came back over with my bags. “Corleon forgot his shoes… I need to bring him another pair.”
“Look at that girl running.” Capri laughed, as Blair looked at her phone. “Really Blair?”
“What? My man that’s not my man texted me, too.” She stood up and grabbed her bags. “I’ll walk back with you.”
Capri laughed. “Aimee, you bet not?”
“Girl, my man that’s my husband, that don’t act like it, is with his father.” She sipped the complimentary champagne. “I’m flying in with Landon. I texted Morgan to ask if he needed something, and he told me to just meet him at the ball. Just fuck how I’m going to get there.”
“His ass been texting me all damn night wondering where I was. I told him that Star invited me to fly with her to the ball.”
“Goon is pissed,” I laughed.
Goon was playing Morgan’s security. Since the gala, Morgan felt like he and Goon were on the same page, not even knowing that he was with the enemy. The enemy that wanted to kill him his damn self.
“See you ladies tonight… Oh, and don’t let your man that’s actually your husband talk sweet in your ear,” I warned Aimee.
“I’m not,” she promised.
I loved Aimee, but she had a habit of allowing Capella to get away with anything because she felt guilty. While he held shit against her, she was always so quick to let it go because she felt like what she did was worse than what he did.
However, he fucked Shante because he was a man child and couldn’t get his emotions in check. Aimee wasn’t innocent, but at least she was trying to fix her problems. His ass went and added another problem on top of all the problems they were already facing.
I used the keycard and gained access to the suite that Corleon booked for my birthday. It felt surreal waking up to that beautiful view of the harbor, while being in Monte Carlo.
As much as I wanted to, Core didn’t try and sleep with me. We even shared the same bed, and he gave me space. He didn’t crowd me, or pressure me into feeling like I had to sleep with him.
In the morning, I woke up with my leg tossed across him as he was fast asleep on his back. God, it felt so right being near him and that was what scared me the most.
“Geeky, you fixed my situation?” I heard his voice, and he rounded the corner in his towel.
I could smell him from the door. The masculine smell of shea butter and bay rum. He stopped when he saw me at the door, and I put the bags down, scooping up only the one with his shoes.
“I picked these out for you.”
He kissed me on the cheek. “Appreciate you, Geeky.”
I watched as he opened the box and looked at the shoe before trying it on. It fit perfectly and would look nice with his suit. “What else you got?”
He went over toward the couch and sat down while I brought the bags into the living area. I didn’t buy myself much, other than a designer card holder.
I was in Monte Carlo with a man’s card that didn’t have a limit, and my ass bought a card holder. “Well, I got Estella something for her birthday coming up, and something for Stevie because she’s doing me a solid by watching her for me.”
“As you should… my daughter deserves the best.”
“Corleon!”
He looked up from his phone. “What up?”
“Why do you keep calling her your daughter?” I laughed and pulled out the shoes to show him, plopping down beside him.
He pulled me on his lap, and I looked down at his phone. It was a bunch of numbers; contacts and the screen was black. The phone looked like an iPhone, but the format was nothing like a regular iPhone.
“I’m paying you attention… people are arriving, and shit is a little hectic… but I promise I hear you.” I got comfortable in his lap and watched as he worked with ease.
As he cleared the queue more numbers and symbols popped back up. “This system is amazing, Corleon... can you teach me it?”
“It better be… I built the shit. You already know I would.” I looked into his handsome face as he was locked in focused on what he had to do. His actual phone started to ring. “Answer that for me.”
I slid my finger across the screen, and no sooner than the phone was answered, Menace’s voice came through the speaker. “Core, this bitch just fucking put my bodywash next to the fucking shaving cream… then she fucking squeezed the fuck out the toothpaste.”
You would have thought this woman killed his dog and then wore it like a fur with the way he was talking. “Mens, you said Kim was good… you liked her.”
This would probably have had me stressed because Menace’s tone sounded like he was gonna kill that bitch, and Core was nonchalantly working while having this conversation. He put the phone down after finishing and kissed me on the cheek, wrapping his arms around me, as I melted in his arms.
“Send that bitch fucking home. Any person that fucking leave their suitcases every fucking where… fucking savage. She probably fuck dogs, too.”
“Menace, that is unnecessary,” we heard a woman’s voice in the background.
“You right in front of her, Mens? What the fuck?” Core shook his head as he kissed my neck.
“Nigga, you cup caking right now while my fucking life falling apart? This bitch could potentially be fucking dogs and you over there kissing and shit. Skyler?”
“Yes?”
Core looked at me and laughed. “Would you squeeze the toothpaste like you the fucking Incredible Hulk?”
“Can’t say that I would… my daughter does, though. You might not like her much,” I giggled.
“So, you raising my goddaughter to be a fucking monster, Skyler?” It was how he asked the question, and he was dead serious.
“Answer the question, Geeky.”
“Both of you are nuts… she’s four.”
I could hear a door slam in Menace’s background. “It starts with toothpaste and then she fucking strangling her friends. You want a serial killer? I’ve done my fair share of shit… but I will not sit around Thanksgiving dinner with a mini serial killer.”
“Yo Mens… you took your medicine?”
I was holding in my laugh because Menace was casually talking, as if we were talking about the weather, and he was serious. “What the fuck now?” he roared.
“Um, Jeffie says that one of the choppers is having problems, so we’re down to only four.”
“Four choppers with all these people flying to the island… I’m about to toss yo’ ass over this fucking terrace.”
“Mr. Caselli, we will fix it.”
“Want some good news?”
“What?” he spat.
“You just hit over four million and the night hasn’t even started… congrats, Big Mens.”
“Appreciate that… couldn’t do none of this shit without yo’ overly smart ass.”
I nuzzled my head in his shoulder, as he wrapped his arms tighter around me. “Where’s my other baby?”
I’ve never been someone that was jealous, but I had always been a chick that wanted her man to have one woman. Whenever Jeffie was mentioned, I never felt a way. It was so fucking weird because I actually liked Jeffie a lot.
She was so chill and down to earth, and she never gave off vibes that she was jealous. “Probably barking on somebody in the kitchen.”
“I’m about to get ready and head over there… is there a damn chopper to bring me, and my baby over?”
“Kim, what the fuck? Water stains…. You don’t see the coaster? My fault, I forgot you got a semi lazy eye.”
I don’t have a fucking lazy eye, you damn lunatic… people can drink water and sit it down!” the woman hollered back, and Core ended the call.
Soon as he ended the call, Jeffie’s name came across his screen. He answered and put it on speaker. “What’s going on, Sexy?”
“We’re short?—”
“Choppers,” he completed her sentence.
“Menace called you?”
“He did.”
“Do you mind sharing with a few senators… they happen to be coming over the same time you are.”
“I don’t mind.”
She let out a sigh of relief. “What you doing? Did Skyler enjoy her birthday shopping?”
“I did… thanks, Jeffie.”
“What did you buy… tell me you maxed his card out.” She cackled into the phone.
Core laughed. “She bought Estella stuff and didn’t get herself anything.”
“I got a cardholder.”
“Hey, the princess deserves whatever she wants, right?” Jeffie giggled into the phone. “Don’t forget we’re going to take that shot… I know you see me on this damn phone… I... I sorry,” she mocked whoever was interrupting her. “I have to go… see you both soon.”
She quickly ended the call, and I looked at Core. “So, this is how she deals with Menace’s crazy ass?”
“She’s well versed in Menace.” He pushed a loose strand of my hair out of my face. Between the weather, dancing last night, and shopping, my hair was starting to revert to its natural state.
“Sounds like you need to be getting ready to head over.”
“Uh huh.” He rested his head back with his eyes closed, and I snuck a kiss on his lips. “Give me another one.”
My insides felt like they were on fire each time I kissed him. “Is that enough?” I laughed and ran my hand through my hair.
Core puckered his lips up and I gave him one more. “I want to take you and Je—” As he was about to say something my phone started to ring, and I jumped up and ran across the room to grab it from my purse.
Stevie’s name was on the screen, and I answered while Core signaled for me to return back to his lap. I put my phone on speaker, and got comfortable back in his lap, as he rested his head back on the couch.
“Hey Stevie!”
“Happy birthday, again… have you been enjoying your birthday?” I could hear the hesitation in her voice.
“What happened, Stevie?”
My cousin was very much a scatter brain that was unorganized and all over the place. I loved her to pieces, but the girl was always all over the damn place. “Um, so, Keyshawn is here… he said he wants to take Estella to his niece’s birthday party.”
“Absolutely not. He never takes her alone, and his family were the loudest people screaming how I was trying to trap him.” I rolled my eyes.
Keyshawn was a senior, on his way to play college ball, and follow behind his brother who was already killing it in college ball and going pro. He ended up getting shot and that ended the career he thought he would have, so he started running with his older cousin, and now he was crip, and got money in the streets.
Estella had never been a blip on his radar, and he was so inconsistent that she didn’t even call him daddy. Since I bought her back with me to New York, he barely came around, and whenever he did, he tried to hand me a couple hundred dollars like her daycare didn’t cost me over a thousand per month.
While his brother was one of the star players on the New York Sonics, Keyshawn was out in the streets trying to prove himself. Secretly, I fucked the wrong damn brother because Keyshawn was a little slow. Why the hell did he think he was about to get my daughter, when he had never taken her alone, and I didn’t trust his family.
Especially his mother.
She was the biggest mouth screaming I was a fast girl trying to trap one of her sons. My mother cussed that lady out so bad, and I never called her again, even after I had Estella. Keyshawn’s ass wasn’t even there to see her come into the world.
I was some chick he was able to sweet talk on Snapchat, and I fell for it. “She said no… not while she’s out of town.”
“So, she out of town while you playing nanny, when her father could take her? The fuck sense that make?”
“Stevie, he’s fucking there?”
“At the door… he ain’t getting in here.”
Core lifted his head and looked at me, and I saw the look on his face. He remained calm, but the flex of his jaw showed me that he was becoming pissed. “Let me speak to him.”
Since Core was so damn big, and against my petite body, it was like I was in my own human chair, so I pulled my legs up under me while sitting on him.
“What up, Skyler?”
“Hey Keyshawn.”
“I want to bring my daughter to my niece’s party. They around the same age and never met each other.”
I laughed. “Last week you told me you wanted to sign your rights over because I asked you for some money and didn’t let you smash… this week you want her to know your family.”
“Her family, and I was fucked up last week. Niggas hit the block, and I had to go to three fucking funerals, Skyler… three. You know what that do to a nigga?”
“Oh. I’m sorry, Keyshawn… what happened?”
“Niggas on bikes and whips came through and flooded the block… a lot of shit been going on, so I ain’t been right.”
Core shook his head and laughed. I quickly muted my phone and looked at him. “Why are you laughing at this man losing his friends?”
I was trying to keep a straight face because he was really tickled at this man being sad about his friends. “Hurry up and get that nigga off your phone, Geeky. I’m trying to spend time with you before having to get dressed and dip. He not getting my daughter, case closed.”
It was how smooth he said it, and I could tell he meant every word. Core hadn’t even met Estella and was already calling shots and calling her his daughter. Not to mention, the way that Menace’s crazy ass kept calling her his God daughter.
I unmuted the call. “I’m sorry about that, Keyshawn. I’m not in the country, and not comfortable with her going with you alone… maybe when I’m back we can go visit your niece together.”
“Negative,” Core spoke.
Keyshawn was quiet on the other end of the line. “Who the fuck you with? Stevie said you traveling for work.”
“I am.”
“Then why do it sound like you out there with a nigga while my daughter here?” He had the nerve to call me out, when his ass was always in Miami with his basic ass hoes, he fucked.
Nigga couldn’t wait to catch a flight to Miami and post pictures like he was really about it. Yet, he was calling me out because I was actually out the country minding my business. Core held his hand out and I happily gave it to him.
“She out the country with her nigga. Why the fuck you worried about what she’s doing? I believe she said that you not taking my daughter, so move the fuck around.”
Core held the phone and spoke so casually you would have thought he was ordering a damn pizza. Keyshawn was confused on what the fuck he was gonna say and started stammering.
“That’s my fucking daughter… got the fucking papers to prove she’s mine, Nigga. Matter fact, Skyler, I wanna meet yo new nigga and see if he keeps that energy.”
It was Core hysterically laughing in the phone that had Keyshawn stuck. “Finish your conversation, baby.” He kissed me on the lips, and moved me over on the couch and went to get ready. His laugh reminded me of that damn GIF with 50 Cent riding away in the car.
I watched as he swaggered across the suite to the bedroom and looked at my phone. “You heard him… put my cousin back on the phone.”
“Bitch, I will break yo fucking neck for having another nigga claim my daughter.”
“Alright… she told you and he told you, so go on,” Stevie said, and I heard the door slam behind her. “So, you working and playing, huh?”
“Quit it,” I laughed and laid back on the couch. “I really am here for work… Keyshawn deserved that. He’s forever popping up and demanding shit when he does nothing.”
“That’s your fault, though. You allow him to pop up, give him some pussy, and then he be thinking he can tell you how to move when it comes to Estella.”
“True,” I groaned, as Core came out the room with only his dress pants on, and they were open while he was looking for his belt.
I nearly bit my nail off with the way his body shined, and muscles bulged as he did something as simple as opening up a duffle bag that was on the floor. “On the counter.”
He looked up and found the belt he was looking for. “You handled that?”
I had switched from speaker and had the phone to my ear as I laid across the couch. “I did.” Mocking him, whenever I asked him something.
“He ain’t gonna be a problem with your cousin?”
I waved him off. “Keyshawn will go about his business, and then pop up whenever I’m back home… I’m not worried about him.”
“Then ask your cousin if she can keep an eye on Estella a little bit longer.” He walked over as my head hung over the arm of the couch and kissed my lips, inserting his tongue into my mouth.
The way he eloquently sucked my face, and I allowed it should have been studied. When he pulled away, he kissed my lips and then swaggered back into the room.
“I wanna kiss a man just like that.” I had forgot Stevie’s ass was on the phone and slapped my hand across my face. “I can and will watch her… go have fun, Skyler… you deserve it.”
“Well, you have to give a man a chance to do that, Ms. Virgin Mary,” I teased my cousin, who happened to be a virgin.
She laughed. “Men are weird, and they lie so bad. I’m better off without one.”
As much as I loved my cousin, she was scared of being hurt again. Her ex-boyfriend hurt her badly, and since then she had sworn off men. She dated here and there, however, because she was a virgin and wasn’t putting out, those relationships never lasted, which only proved her theory.
I was scared of being hurt after the damage that Keyshawn had done on me. One day I woke up and realized that I could either lay in bed and be sad about my past, or I can move on. I never let things sit with me for too long, because life was too short to sit and be sad about a nigga that isn’t worried about you.
Ever since I was in that trap house and stared at Cappadonna and the barrel of his gun, I couldn’t sit and harp on things because life is over that quick, and then what are you going to do?
Cry to God and tell him that you had plans on wearing that outfit, going after that guy, or position at work? It was the reason I was intrigued when it came to the entire Core situation. Life was too short to toss the possibility out the window.
Not when he was handling shit like he had been.
“Stevie, you really need to find someone, or at least have a life. Working and painting isn’t your entire life… especially because you never sell those damn paintings.”
“When did this conversation become about me? Look, you are young and deserve to have fun. Ignore Keyshawn and do you. He’s mad because your life didn’t end when he called himself not wanting to have anything to do with Estella. You still went to college, and you’re still living your life while he begging at the door like a little dog.”
“Thanks, Stevie… seriously.”
“Go and finish enjoying your birthday. I’ll have Estella call you again later… if we don’t fall asleep.” She giggled.
“Okay.”
I ended the call with Stevie and closed my eyes while enjoying the warm breeze that was coming through the opened windows. Taking a few breaths, I opened my eyes and went into the bedroom.
“Stop stressing about shit you can’t control, Jeffie. I’m getting dressed now and will be there in a little while… when I get there, we gonna fix it and you gonna fix that attitude, right?”
Core was in the mirror tying his bow tie, while the phone sat on the bed on speaker. Jeffie laughed and huffed. “You swear you can fix everything.”
“Not everything. When it come to you and Geeky, I can and will fix it. Like I said, that attitude gonna be fixed, right? Can’t have you stressed tonight… we already got a lot riding on tonight, right, Geeky?”
“How the fuck?” I muttered.
His ass must have had eyes in the back of his head, because I was peeking off to the corner and wasn’t visible in the mirror that he was fixing his bow tie in. “I get paid to know everything.”
He nodded for me to come further into the room, and I crossed the room as he finished his bow tie. “You look handsome,” I smiled up at him.
He kissed me on the forehead. “Thank you… Jeffie?”
“I’m here… about to pull my locs out.”
“What happened?” I asked.
She groaned in the phone. “The menu tonight is supposed to be nut free, and I found out some of the dishes have nuts in them.”
“Fuck.”
“Girl, right? Everybody is acting all fucking confused in this kitchen. Then Menace is really on something… Kim ran out the damn villa crying, and he was on the balcony tossing her shit at her as she ran to one of the SUV’s… I told him that she would never work out for him. I just need his ass to find somebody… craziness aside, Menace is a good person, and he does love hard. I mean, if you crack through that damn cinderblock chest of his and get to his heart. He has had to be this way his entire life.”
Core sat down on the chair near the vanity, and I took his phone and sat on the bed, crossing my legs. “You also cannot stress yourself about someone else’s happiness, you know? He’ll find that one when the time is right, you know?”
She sighed. “You’re right, Skyler. I can’t help but to control everything… have always been that way.”
“Now you need to sit back and let somebody else lead… always trying to control shit and stressing yourself out with shit you can’t control.”
Jeffie laughed. “I hate when you’re right… um, you should be making your way to me now.”
I laughed. “Don’t worry, he’s coming to you… I still need to get myself together.”
“See you in a few, Core, and see you later, Skyler.” She paused. “Thanks for the talk, both of you,” I could hear the smile in her voice.
“Always,” Core replied.
“Don’t mention it… breathe and handle your business,” I said before we ended our call, and I turned my attention back to Corleon.
He had this satisfied expression on his face as he stood back up and continued to get ready. His peppery cologne teased my nose as I watched him. So confident, regal, and knew he was that nigga.
“What’s on your mind, Geeky?” he asked, never breaking his stride, as he grabbed his two other phones from across the room. I watched as he grabbed his gun and tucked in his back, with his blazer covering it.
“Nothing… am I crazy to think that you can possibly handle two women? That something like this could actually really work?”
He was checking something on his phone and looked at me. “Nah, ‘cause I can, and it can… with time.”
“My daughter, and then what will peop?—”
Core crossed the room again and lifted my chin with his finger. “Which is why I said you’re not ready for what I want, and that’s fine, Geeky. I’m not rushing you into anything that I know you’re not ready for.”
“How do you know I’m not ready?” I folded my arms, ready to argue with him because how the hell did he know what I was ready for?
“Those questions wouldn’t even be a question if you were ready. You would know that I would step up and make sure our daughter is straight, and you wouldn’t give a fuck what anybody else thinks. I’m cool with people knowing what I want, and I stand on it when asked… when you do that, then you’re ready. I don’t want anything unsure, feel me? I want to know that my women want this, can handle this, and there’s no back and forth… I don’t even like to go back and forth between computer tabs, so I don’t want that shit when it comes to discovering and having love.” He kissed me on the lips and looked down into my eyes before kissing me once more. “See you later?”
“Ye…yeah,” I stammered.
“I want location and tabs on you all night… ight? After that Rich situation, I don’t trust none of those niggas tonight.”
I nodded my head slowly. Corleon winked as his phone chimed and he headed out the room.
“Geeky?” he called from the hallway.
“Yes?”
“Private schools only for Estella… ight?”
“Yes.” How was I supposed to respond to something like that? He laid everything out, and like Capri said, the ball was in my court.
God, this man.