Chapter 15
FIFTEEN
Karsyn
Married. Put a finger down if you fell in love with a hood nigga who made things happen with god speed.
Put another finger down if you married that nigga even after he stormed your wedding to another man and told you to bring your ass.
Put another finger down if he told you that he was gonna kill your father and you didn’t blink.
Instead you told him that you loved him unconditionally and would stand beside him…
Yeah babes, you’re gone. Too far gone for a conversation or any sense to be talked into you. No more fingers needed to be put down.
“Syn, Grams said come see her later. Said she made you a cake.”
I grinned immediately because I knew what cake she made. We talked about it before the wedding. She made the best lemon poundcake. I’d had it one night at Psy’s house and ever since then it was a serious craving.
“Yo, look at you getting happy as fuck over a fucking cake.”
“Damn right. Call Junior, breakfast is done.”
I plated his and Junior’s food before going to my own. I made eggs, waffles, chicken sausage, and bacon.
“Ay, Junior, come eat.” Posydiann called out, then took a seat at the end of the island.
“I gotta handle some things today. I won’t be out too long.”
“Me too. Can you drop me off at my truck? I need to get to my condo and get my laptop, then to my mother’s house to get my dog. I’ll probably go to the studio tomorrow.”
“Speaking of, when do you think we can start getting that together?”
Confusion filled my face just as Junior entered the kitchen.
“Morning, y’all,” he said groggily.
“Stayed up on the game again?” Posydiann asked.
“No. Junnie took me to see that new scary movie.”
Psy shook his head, but his focus found its way back onto me. “The move, Syn. How long do you think it’ll take to pack all your shit up?”
I mugged him. “Do you know how long I’ve stayed in that condo? It has history. There is a lot there.”
“Yeah, aight. Enough for me to pay a crackhead to box that shit up for you.”
I laughed at his seriousness.
“Wait, are you moving in here with us?” Junior asked.
“Only if you want me to. But if you want me to stay closer to your school then we can wor—”
“Stop fucking playing with me, Karsyn. We already talked about this.” I could tell I was working Posydiann's nerves.
“Nah, I want you here.” Junior grinned.
“Then it’s settled, but the idea of coming back from a tropical vacation to manual labor is wild. I still have a studio to run and work to do. Not to mention I have to figure out how that move would even work. Your house is tailored to you guys, not me. I’d have to ge—”
“Remember what we talked about, Syn. I really ain’t tryna hear none of that.”
I grinned, remembering the exact conversation he and I had. Well maybe not the exact conversation, but his convincing and everything that happened after. “Fine. But where are my books supposed to go? My sofas?”
“Karsyn,” Posydiann said through bites of the waffle sandwich he’d made with what I put on his plate.
“Posydiann,” I countered.
“Junior,” Junior said, then laughed. “I just wanted to say my own name. Thank you for breakfast, Ma. I’m going back to sleep. Pops, my other mama said call her.” He walked out of the room without another word, leaving me and his father.
“I thought I earned less lip, Syn.”
“You did, but us coming right here and you expecting me to have it all together is maddening and unrealistic. Can you give me like two or three weeks? A month tops?”
He studied me for a moment before nodding. “Aight.”
“See, was that so hard?” He was on his feet, moving to wash his plate in the sink.
“Nope.”
He got behind me, pulling my body into his embrace seconds later, those wet ass hands on my nonexistent bump. Ever since I gave him that sonogram, his hands stayed on my stomach.
“Let’s go upstairs and talk about it.” He kissed my neck.
“Don’t you have somewhere to go?” I grinned.
“I do and so do you. You need your laptop, right?” He backed up, leaning against the island.
I turned to clean my plate. “And my dog. I told you the stipulation for me moving here is BJ comes with.”
He laughed. “I heard you the first time, but didn’t you say he keeps your mother company?”
I mugged him because I already knew what he was getting at. He had never been fond of my dog. “Psy.”
“We’ll get the dog. Can we just get you settled before we pick him up? That’s all I’m asking.”
I laughed at how serious he looked.
“Fine. I need to get dressed, because even though I’m not picking up my dog, I still need my laptop and my vehicle.”
“Aight.”
I headed upstairs to his bedroom when I heard his footsteps behind me. I definitely thought he’d stay downstairs, but boy was I wrong. While I walked through his bedroom getting dressed, he lay across the bed watching me and talking.
“Next doctor’s appointment, I wanna be there.”
“And you will. She’s your baby.” I knew it was early, but I believed in aggressive manifestation, which meant if I kept referring to the baby in my belly as a she, then she would be a she when she was born.
“Why do you keep saying she, Syn? Do you realize I’ll be behind bars if you give me a daughter? You want me behind bars?”
I laughed at his dramatics. “You’ve never been caught before, right? So why get sloppy when you have a daughter?”
He laughed. “Emotions, baby, emotions.”
I waved him off and continued pulling my jeans up.
“You need some help with that?”
I looked up from the jeans to see him staring at me with a look that let me know he wanted more than to help me with my jeans.
“I can manage. What I’d like is for you to tell me where my clothes are gonna fit if you have all tha—”
“I got it, Syn. You act like I ain’t seen the inside of that fucking boutique you call a closet. I’ma get somebody out here next week. Now either come here and show me something or finish getting dressed before we don’t make it out of here.”
I didn’t even respond, I got my ass dressed then pulled my hair into a bun on top of my head.
We were out of the door in thirty minutes.
While he talked on the phone with who I assumed to be Killah, I checked my emails and responded to texts.
I was a little backed up in the requests department, but it was nothing I couldn’t sit down and get through.
One thing I was glad about was the fact that the second day I was at my mother’s house I set up an out of studio email, which automatically responded to anyone reaching out and let them know I was taking a moment and would be right back.
Given that was almost three weeks ago, I had to get back on my shit, because not only had Patience hit me up, but so had Lue, one of my usuals.
I had coins to make and a business to grow.
After Psy dropped me off, I did as I intended. I went up to my place and packed some items to wear and grabbed my laptop and planner. I was almost finished when my phone began to ring and Siri announced in my ear that it was Junnie calling.
“Hey, baby girl,” I greeted, walking through my place putting together yet another duffle.
“Don’t ‘hey baby girl’ me. Why am I just now speaking to you?”
“Because we got back last night and he just dropped me off at my condo with strict instructions to pack enough shit so I wouldn’t have to come here every day.”
She laughed. “Bossy, isn’t he?”
“Very.”
“Well, you’re stuck with him. No take backsies.” She laughed loudly.
“Definitely not giving him back. Where are you?”
She sighed into the phone, irritated. “At work. I started to call in but every time I take a day off they act like they can’t run this bank without me.
People call me every fucking hour with what they consider to be a fucking emergency, but to me would be common sense,” she responded with irritation deep in her tone.
“I feel you.”
“But on another note, pizza and libations at your place tonight? I’ma need you to tell me about Saint Lucia minus the nasty parts.”
I giggled. “Sounds like a plan, except how about on the patio at Psy’s.”
She laughed. “Bitch, you actually thought I was talking about your condo. No, you’re married now and I’m pretty sure that nigga is all over you to move into his house.”
“That he is, you know your blood well. He was on me about moving this morning, not once considering how long I’ve lived here and how much space my closet takes up. Either way, he says he’ll handle it, so I guess he can do that.” I laughed as well.
“You have no choice but to. Let him be him. I’ll see you when I get off.”
After we hung up, I finished my slight packing then went into my office.
The thought of taking it apart gave me straight up anxiety because I had to beg Kolton’s complaining ass to help me put everything together.
Then again, my life had changed so much since then.
The only man in my life wasn’t just my twin anymore.