Carmen Royal
The heat hit me the moment I stepped out the truck.
Miami sun was cutting up today, making me feel like I was slowly baking.
My security detail moved first… two men in black stepping ahead of me, scanning the block while I adjusted my shades.
I wasn’t here to make a scene, but I also wasn’t here to play either.
Keondra’s new house sat clean on the corner, light yellow with white shutters and it still smelled like fresh paint the closer I got to the porch.
She’d been bragging all week online about “finally moving on up,” and not necessarily saying “how” but the way she ran her mouth on the phone to Dique had me curious, especially after I personally spoke to him about it before coming here.
So, I brought reinforcements. A black sprinter pulled up behind us, and out stepped my stylist, Liyah, with two assistants hauling racks of clothes, garment bags, and shoeboxes damn near looking like small mountains.
“Gah damn,” one of the security dudes muttered under his breath.
I shrugged. “Welcome to fashion rehab.”
We walked up the walkway, and I didn’t even have to knock. Keondra opened the door wearing fuzzy slides, a bonnet halfway off, and a robe that she probably should’ve retired two years ago. Her eyes got wide when she saw me.
“Carmen? Girl what the fuck… you here to serve me more cease and desist? Cause I ain’t said shit to nobody about nothing.” She rolled her eyes crossing her arms over her chest. “I just feel like…”
I didn’t let her finish. “Good morning. You got coffee? No? Okay, we won’t be long.” I breezed right past her like I paid the mortgage.
The look on her face was priceless. “You just gon’ walk up in my house like that?” She asked, still holding the door open for Liyah and the team hauling the racks inside.
“Keondra, if we waited for you to invite us, you’d still be on live talking about how you moved up in life but still mentioning how stressed you are,” I said, scanning the living room. “Cute space though. Your decorator was a little heavy on the fake flowers, but we’ll fix it.”
“My decorator?” she blinked. “Girl, this came from Ross.”
Liyah winced. “Lord have mercy.”
I laughed, setting my Chanel purse down on the counter. “Exactly why we’re here. Dom said you need a little coaching on image. You know… how to carry yourself like you belong to the Royals and not the clearance rack.”
Her mouth dropped. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me.” I pulled off my blazer and revealed the small Glock holstered to my side.
Her eyes went down to scan it and back up to me.
“Don’t look nervous, baby girl. Everybody in this house is protected, including you.
I don’t go anywhere without mine… ever.” I told her.
She had a lot to learn if she was going to be around the Royals.
The security team did a sweep of the perimeter while Liyah started hanging clothes on the portable racks filling it with silk blouses, fitted dresses, wide leg trousers, designer heels, and jewelry. The whole layout screamed money without screaming ‘look at me’.
Keondra folded her arms once again as her attitude warmed up. “I don’t need no makeover, Carmen. I been fine all my life and you can ask Dique that. How you think I ended up pregnant anyway?”
I chuckled. “Sweetheart, Dique also thought buying you a house in the suburbs meant you’d automatically turn into Michelle Obama.
But here you are, answering the door in SpongeBob slippers.
” I shook my head immediately hearing Tone’s laughter echo in my head; he would’ve loved this moment.
I motioned for Liyah to start unpacking.
“Look, this isn’t about shade, it’s about image.
You don’t have to stop being you. You just have to learn how to be the upgraded version.
Still be you, but with the volume turned down and the price tag turned up. ”
She rolled her eyes but followed me to the dining area where I pointed at the racks. “Start with this. No more loud prints that look like Skittles. Neutrals, gold accents, and tailored fits only. That’s how a Royal woman moves. You walk in the room and people feel it before you speak.”
Liyah held up a nude dress that hugged in all the right places. “This one’s classy. It says I pay my bills on time and I’m a real Boss ass bitch.”
Keondra smirked. “What if I don’t pay all my bills though? My baby daddy handles that.”
“Then it’ll at least look like you do,” I shot back with a slight grin.
It wasn’t that I didn’t like the girl, she was just a tad bit rough around the edges like we all used to be, we just learned how to clean it up with the lifestyle.
The room broke into laughter, even one of my securities cracked a smile.
We spent the next hour with Keondra trying on outfits while Liyah snapped pictures to keep track of the looks. Every time Keondra stepped out, she struck a pose and asked, “You think Dique gon’ like this one?”
I sipped my iced coffee, which I probably shouldn’t have been drinking, but it was still very early on in my pregnancy.
I cleared my throat. “Dique will probably like anything you put on if it’s tight enough.
But this isn’t about him liking it, it’s about the world respecting you, as well as you doing so yourself. ”
She nodded her head and left out to change into something else. She finally came out in a cream-colored jumpsuit with gold sandals and a cute little chain around her neck. Her whole demeanor shifted, and for the first time her face soft but confident.
I nodded my head, leaning back in the chair. “Now that’s what I’m talking about. You look like you could walk into Royal Enterprises and make the receptionist nervous looking that good.”
Keondra laughed, glancing in the mirror. “Okay, maybe y’all did somethin’. I feel… rich and shit now.”
“You look expensive, and there’s a difference,” I corrected, standing to adjust the collar of her jumpsuit.
“Now we just have to work on how you talk. You can’t be out here cussing on every syllable.
Replace ‘nah for real’ with ‘absolutely.’ Replace ‘periodt’ with silence sometimes because sometimes the quiet flex is the loudest.”
She rolled her eyes again but smiled. “Girl, you funny. You talk like the first lady of the cartel or somethin’.”
I gave her a knowing look. “That’s because I am.”
Her laugh filled the room as if it was half disbelief and half admiration.
“You a trip, Carmen. But for real… thank you. Ain’t nobody ever did somethin’ like this for me before or taught me much about being a woman at all for that matter.
Everything about me is straight from the mud,” she explained.
I knew exactly how she felt as I briefly thought back to hard times in Trinidad.
I softened a little, resting a hand on her shoulder. “That’s what family does. You’re in this now and when you stand next to us, I need you to represent right. You don’t have to be perfect, just polished.”
I glanced out of the glass floor to wall window and caught sight of the security detail still posted up at both ends of the street. One of them nodded toward me through the glass giving a silent check in and I gave a small nod back.
Keondra followed my eyes and sighed. “So, they really just gon’ stay out there like that, huh?”
“Absolutely,” I said, slipping my blazer back on and securing my Glock beneath it. “Get used to it. That’s what protection looks like when you’ve got something to lose. They’re called shadows, and that’s their job, to shadow you.”
She shook her head but smiled, admiring herself one last time in the mirror. “Well, I guess if I’m gon’ be watched, I might as well look good while it’s happenin’.”
I once again nodded my head. “That’s the spirit.”
Keondra stood in front of the mirror still admiring herself, twisting side to side like she was modeling for somebody. Liyah was trying not to laugh while zipping up another garment bag, and I was sitting on the arm of the couch studying her.
“Maybe you should try coffee sometimes. It’ll mellow you out or tea… it’s better than drinking Hennessy shots all day,” I said, watching her reflection. “That’s why you still talk too damn much before noon on live all the time. Stay away from the socials giving too much.”
She snapped her fingers like she was catching an attitude, but the grin gave her away. “Excuse me, I always got energy, that’s all… I’m just like that and always have been. Coffee slow y’all bougie people down.”
“Bougie?” I repeated, standing up slowly.
“Keondra, you live in a gated neighborhood with security detail that probably costs more a month than your whole last apartment lease, and you’re walking around here in fuzzy SpongeBob slippers.
If that isn’t confusion, I don’t know what is.
For the record, we are far from bougie, you have no idea but if you can keep yourself alive long enough, you’ll find out. ”
Even Liyah couldn’t hold it in. “Not confusion!” she laughed.
Keondra side eyed her. “I see y’all are trying to team up on me today.”
I smirked. “We didn’t team up, love. We’re trying to help you get through a week without ending up on a group chat somewhere labeled ‘Dique’s baby mama caught at Publix in pajama pants.
’ Speaking of, I hope you’re not telling the world about your connection to him.
Don’t forget that cease and desist. You still have rules. ”
She gasped, with her hand on her chest. “First off, you play too much! I haven’t been to Publix in pajamas in about a month. Second, my homegirls and family knows who my baby daddy is. I’m not a secret and neither is baby.”