Chapter 9 #2
“Questionable? Like what?” I probed.
“Like none of your damn business, are y’all hungry?” She changed the subject smoothly.
“I came here to see my nephews first, then get a free meal.” I smirked.
“I shouldn’t give you any food since you admitted to wasting my time not taking any of the advice that I always give whenever you come calling with theatrics. Maybe I should start listening to my husband and not be available.” She laughed.
“See, that’s why I liked you better when you were bald headed. Women start getting a little length on they head and start having a whole new attitude.” I retorted.
“Yeah, and men see their exes at mid shows and—”
“Please don’t start that shit.” Bleu cut right into it.
If I wasn’t going back and forth with Truly, me and her sister Kenzuri threw insults back and forth between each other.
It drove Bleu crazy, but to us it was all love.
I was happy that Bleu married Truly for several reasons.
One of those reasons was always wanting a sister.
Now I had two sisters with Kenzuri and Truly.
I didn’t claim their eldest sister just based off how nasty she treated Truly.
Till this day it hurt Truly. She confided in me once and told me that she’d rather protect her and the kid’s peace and energy by not dealing with her big sis, Calissi, at all until she changed her evil ways.
“Anyways, dinner will be ready in a minute. Bleu help me get the twins to their swings in the kitchen so you and this meat head can finish talking.” She playfully rolled her eyes and stood up.
I flicked her off before she stood up and grabbed Kreu off of Bleu.
I kissed True’s forehead then passed him to his dad.
Once they ambled out of the den, I dug in my pocket and called my mom to check her temperature.
She ignored my call and my stomach tightened.
She had been doing that shit a lot lately and I didn’t like it one bit.
I got this funny feeling inside of the pit of my stomach.
I wanted to press Bleu about telling me what was really going on with our parents but decided against it.
I made a mental note to ask Truly for some of her energy tea that I constantly ran out of due to being in the studio.
I smoked a lot of weed but didn’t do any of the hardcore drugs that came with being famous.
Truly’s tea was the truth, she only made her special teas for family.
She now turned her kitchen experiments into a full-blown franchise in under a year.
Her herbal weight loss company worked for women and men.
The tea was like crack, whatever she mixed in that shit really had people dropping pounds weekly.
Since the demand for the herbal weight loss tea was in high demand, she kicked back on her other strains of tea.
Truly even tripled Maison Langston’s revenue by expanding the fashion side.
She took over the plus-size collections and added spice to that shit.
Each collection she created sold out the first week.
As much as my mom tried not to like her, she fell in love with Truly once she saw how much of a true mastermind she was.
Thinking about Truly’s success made me think of Jatavia. I wanted that and more for her.
“You good?” Bleu asked walking back into the room.
“Yeah, just thinking.” I said a little too quickly.
“Let’s go to the backyard to smoke before dinner.” He smirked.
I stood up excited as hell; I needed a blunt right about now and a moment to talk to my brother over a nice spliff.
We both kept busy, so our time together was hit and miss.
Sunday dinners stopped a year ago until my mom found herself overly emotional and missing all of us under one roof.
Bleu saw more of our parents now that he had kids but even that was in increments since my mom did the most each time she came over.
I inhaled the crisp cool air soon as we made it out to the backyard.
The yard stretched wide and open, the grass manicured so clean it looked fake.
A stone path cut through the lawn, leading to a sunken firepit wrapped in smooth gray seating.
Bleu had tall palm trees all around his yard.
There was a built-in grill off to the side of a gated pool.
I chuckled when I laid eyes on the water fountain that my mom gifted Truly and Bleu.
Moms had a fit when they refused to put the water fountain in the front yard.
It was an expensive fountain sculpture of all three of the kids. She wanted her grandbabies conceited just like her. I walked toward the firepit where Bleu already sat, his elbows rested on his knees. He already had a cigar stuffed with weed between his fingers.
“Every time you come back here, you look around like it’s your first damn time out here.”
I chuckled then dropped into a chair across from him.
“Shit is dope as fuck, I gotta fix up my property. I’m trying to get my Pancakes out here to visit,” I looked off at the pool. “Maybe she can bring more life into my house.”
Bleu passed me the blunt. I took it, sparked it, and inhaled deep. A comfortable silence sat between us. I listened to the bird’s chirp as wind bristled through the trees. I exhaled and leaned back.
“She got you fucked up, huh?” Bleu asked casually.
The smirk on his face made me chuckle because Jatavia had me beyond fucked up.
“Shit is that obvious huh?” I laughed under my breath.
“Hell yeah, I been missing your annoying ass. You hardly come sit with me unless it’s something heavy on your mind. Half the time you go to Truly.” He stated.
“Man don’t even, you acting like I’m a bad uncle. I always come over here when I’m in town, I hang here more than anything unless I’m in the streets with Iceman.” I shook my head at Bleu.
“You a good uncle and brother-in-law. You just been neglecting your big bro.” He took the blunt from me and inhaled sharply.
“I’ll do better bro.” I reassured him.
“I know you will…I just think it’s fucked up that you will only do better now that Jatavia is in the picture. Something tells me that you’ll be headed in my direction. Iceman ain’t gone be much of a friend when he finds out y’all will no longer be tag teaming hoes together.”
Leave it to Bleu to think far ahead into the future. He was always good at doing that. I stared up at the sky for a second, then brought my eyes back to the pool.
“Jatavia.” I murmured lowly.
Bleu nodded like he already knew what the weight of just saying her name meant to me.
“It’s like all the years in between disappeared between us.
I been around and done had a lot of women, bro.
Bad ones, beautiful ones. Ones who was just after the bag…
they ain’t care about shit but the lifestyle…
Bitches ain’t give a fuck how I was coming, as long as I could cash out and make their lives easier. ” I stated.
“That’s what men are for though. Doesn’t matter if a woman is a hoe…
Men are here to protect women of all breeds.
Any man that can lay with a woman and explore her treasure should never leave a woman empty handed.
Which is why any past hoe of mine, got compensated.
It just becomes intense when it’s your soulmate. ” He stated seriously.
Bleu used to be the biggest ladies’ man I knew besides our dad. One thing about him was any woman he dealt with got paid or offered the job of a lifetime making six figures.
“What does a soulmate supposed to feel like?” I asked seriously.
Bleu didn’t answer right away. That’s how I knew the questioned mattered. He leaned back in his chair, cigar resting between his fingers. His gaze drifted toward the trees like he was searching for the right words instead of making his statement easy.
“Shit ain’t fireworks all the time…that’s the lie people try to sell when it comes to describing what finding a soulmate feels like. Truly felt like the peace I didn’t know I was missing until she showed up.” He sat up to tap the edge of the ashtray.
“It feels like somebody seeing your mess and not trying to fix it right away…Truly sat in my mess with me while I cleaned up hers. Then when I least expected, she got me right.” His voice cracked.
Without him having to tell me what his mess was, I already knew our parents played a big part in it.
Growing up, they put a lot of weight on Bleu.
He didn’t know what it was like to choose him first until he met Truly.
Our mother placed a selfish ultimatum on him in order to remain the CEO of Maison Langston’s.
She honestly only did it because she knew how much Bleu put into the company.
Moms knew that Bleu would break his neck to stay in position because he worked damn hard for it.
I personally never gave a fuck about wearing a suit and tie, nor talking proper like Bleu and being around uptight ass people.
“With Truly, I don’t feel like I gotta perform.
I don’t feel like I’m Bleu the brand, Bleu the provider or the man with the answers.
I can just be me while still being all of those things in more.
Truly know and accept my flaws like I do her.
I’ve exposed to her my weak spots, my insecurities as a man that no one else knows about.
She chooses me bro…chose me in a way that doesn’t make me feel trapped but anchored.
She challenges me without disrespecting me.
She pushes me to grow but don’t shame me for who I used to be.
The biggest thing, is that Truly feels like home even when everything else in my life feels unstable.
” He finished his statement looking me in the eyes full of emotion.
I nodded my head slowly.
“That’s how this woman makes you feel?” He asked slowly.
“Yeah.” My voice came out rougher than I expected.
“Even years ago, she always felt like somewhere I could rest at comfortably. Be myself without putting extras on it. She wanted me before I became Big D. Caters to me… Jatavia is beautiful on the inside and out.” I meant every word that I said.
“Then she’s your soulmate.” Bleu took a slow drag from his cigar.
“I know,” I muttered. “And that’s the problem… I’m not going to let momma disrespect her…I gotta have a talk with her.” My jaws clenched tight as my heart rate picked up.
“Why would mother have a problem?” Bleu asked curiously.
“Because momma is superficial as fuck. I can just hear her now…” I licked my lips and tried to sound like our mom to the best of my ability.
“You just trying to copy your brother, Bleu!” I mimicked.
Bleu fell out and laughed full-fledged as I continued.
“What is it about overweight women that y’all like? She doesn’t look good on your arms Dreu Langston! My goodness her breasts is nearly covering her—”
“Alright bro that’s enough.” Bleu cut me off waving his hand.
“I’m saying bro, Jatavia is beautiful, but momma not gone see her that way. I really don’t give a fuck how she sees her; I just don’t want her disrespecting her or giving her fucked up looks.” I shook my head.
“Mother has bigger issues right now…” Bleu’s words trailed off.
Like a moth to a flame, he noticed Truly before I did from across the yard standing at the glass sliding door waving us in.
“Here we come babe, give us like five more minutes.” He yelled.
“Seriously though, don’t let up on Jatavia.
Chase her with consistency, action, and patience…
not words. Good women don’t need convincing, they need proof.
I remember you said she walked away from you quietly when you hurt her…
you didn’t know how rare she was until you lost her.
By her talking to you, proves that she didn’t turn bitter…
that kind of love don’t age. Remember that.
” Bleu’s words held magnificent weight to them.
“I’m taking this advice for this time.” I smiled but was serious.
“You better, Dreu. It’s time to be mature this time around. If she still got space in her heart for you, you earn that shit back. Don’t rush her either and test her patience…you like to disappear when shit gets uncomfortable and tough for you.” He said standing up.
A breeze moved through the yard, carrying the smell of grass and smoke.
“I hear you man.” I stood up next.
I wanted to crack a joke but held it in for another time. Bleu never sounded right saying the word nigga nor cursing. He was corny and he knew it, swear he had swag, but I was the one with it.
“And if she doesn’t choose you?” He asked.
She will choose me…this is the part where I don’t take his advice. I thought with a smirk on my face.
“Then at least I know I showed up right,” I said sounding extra corny like Bleu.
He nodded his head and smiled faintly.
“That’s growth.” He concluded.