Chapter 32
Trill-Land, Jungle Estate
It was football season and I was kid-free, so I was in the kitchen making Pressure and Renza lunch, because once those two got in front of a TV they turned into grown ass toddlers with appetites I should’ve been getting paid for.
Renza was already in the living room talking shit at the screen and Pressure had went upstairs for a second.
I had chicken wings in the air fryer, sliders warming, and the rotel dip thickening on the stove while I held my phone between my ear and shoulder.
Toni was irritated as hell.
“I’m just… Pluto, I’m tired,” she said, letting out a long breath.
“Now this bitch talkin’ ’bout she missed her period and she goin’ to the doctor.
Like why the fuck she even tellin’ me that?
Why is she in my inbox like a fuckin’ weirdo?
This bitch gon’ make me find her and beat all that thick ass lip gloss off her face. ”
I shook my head, stirring the dip. “Because she messy, Toni. She know that shit gon’ bother you and that’s exactly why she doing it. If she really thought she was pregnant, she wouldn’t be running to you first. She’d be runnin’ to Kay’Lo.”
“That’s the crazy part,” Toni muttered. “Kay’Lo keep sayin’ he ain’t fuckin’ with her. She keep sayin’ they fuckin’. I don’t know who lyin’.”
“She is,” I said without hesitation. “She been showing you she spiteful. She been watching your stories, sending dumb shit and acting territorial about a man who ain’t claim her. This is just another stunt.”
“But Pluto…” Toni sighed. “What if she ain’t lyin’? What if she really—”
“Girl, stop giving her that much credit.” I slid the sliders around in the pan. “Until you see a doctor’s report, an ultrasound or something with her name on it, she lying. She know Kay’Lo went back to you. She know he been trying. She’s trying to stir the pot.”
Toni was quiet for a second. “Yeah… but she said she missed her period.”
“A missed period don’t mean shit,” I said. “Stress can make that happen. Birth control. Anything. And if she so certain she pregnant, why she need to tell YOU before she even pee on a stick?”
Toni sucked her teeth. “I hate this shit. I hate bein’ in the middle of this stupid ass drama.”
“I know,” I said softly. “And Kay’Lo need to clean this shit up.”
“I been fightin’ with him over it all week,” she admitted. “He swear up and down she lyin’, and I wanna believe him, Pluto, I do… but everything so messy and fucked up right now.”
I turned off the stove and opened the air fryer. “Toni, until there’s proof, don’t let this girl play with your mind. She’s been obsessed. She’s been meddling. This just another lie, and my gut never lie.”
Toni let out a frustrated breath. “I hear you, Pluto, but this shit is gettin’ on my nerves.”
“I know,” I said, softening my voice because she was wound up tight. “Calm down though. Take a deep breath. Roll up or hit your pen if you need to. Just don’t let that bitch pull you out your body. I’m going to call you later and check on you, alright?”
“A’ight,” she said. “Thank you.”
“Always.”
Then we hung up. Before I could take a step forward, I felt somebody walk up behind me.
I turned around expecting Pressure or Renza, but it was Kay’Lo.
He stopped dead in the middle of the kitchen and looked at me like he was focused.
“Pluto,” he said low, “you told Toni about me leavin’ with ol’ girl that night we linked for my birthday?”
My stomach dropped.
“Kay’Lo… what are you talking about?” I said, even though I already knew.
“You know exactly what the fuck I’m talkin’ about,” he said, his eyes cuttin’ through me like he been waitin’ to snap.
“You ran ya mouth and you made shit worse. When I left with ol’ girl on my birthday, Toni knew the next damn day.
Only place she could’ve got that from was you.
Don’t nobody else out here know Toni like that, but you. ”
The hurt hit immediately because he had never talked to me like this. Me and Kay’Lo always been tight. He was my kids’ godfather.
I turned fully toward him and held the counter behind me, because the way he was looking at me didn’t even look like the same Kay’Lo I been around for years. “Kay’Lo, you need to calm the hell down.”
“Nah,” he snapped. “You made shit worse. You should’ve minded yo’ fuckin’ business.”
I felt my heartbeat climb, but I kept my voice even. “You can be mad, but you not gon’ talk to me crazy. My husband don’t even raise his damn voice at me.”
“I ain’t Pressure,” he said, stepping in closer, his voice low and sharp, “and you should’ve stayed out of married folks’ shit.”
“We all married, Kay’Lo,” I shot back. “And Toni is my sister. I wasn’t about to sit on some shit like that and pretend it wasn’t happenin’. You left with another woman. What the hell you expect me to do with that?”
His nostrils flared and he leaned in even more. “I expected you to mind yo’ fuckin’ place.”
That hit something in me. My eyes stung but I didn’t back up. “Mind my place? Kay’Lo, you the one that walked out with her, not me. You made that choice. So, whatever happened after that? That’s on YOU.”
He pointed at me like he wanted to break his finger doing it. “Nah, Pluto. If you would’ve just kept yo’ mouth shut, none of this shit would be happenin’. I got months of bullshit in my house ‘cause you couldn’t stay neutral.”
I blinked slow because the audacity alone could’ve slapped me. “Kay’Lo, this ain’t got a damn thing to do with me being neutral. You stepping outside your marriage and fucking around is why your house flipped upside down. I didn’t make you do none of that.”
He stepped so close I could feel the heat rolling off him. “But you helped it blow up.”
“No,” I said, standing my ground, “you helped it blow up when you took yo’ damn private parts somewhere it wasn’t supposed to be.
I didn’t make you cheat. I didn’t make you lie.
I didn’t make you have sex with another woman.
That’s ALL you, Kay’Lo. So don’t walk in here tryna dump your sins at my feet like I created ’em. ”
His chest rose with a slow, furious breath. “This shit been goin’ on for months, Pluto. MONTHS of me and Toni bein’ fucked up. And you really think you ain’t part of why it went down?”
“Kay’Lo, be serious,” I said, shaking my head. “Echo or whatever her fucking name is, been doin’ weird shit every day. Toni been complaining every day. YOU the reason she stuck in this mess. YOU the one she trying to figure it out with. Not me.”
Kay’Lo stared at me, his chest heaving and anger in every line of his face.
Before either one of us could clap back, Pressure’s voice cut through the room.
“What the fuck goin’ on in here?”
Kay’Lo turned but didn’t step back. Pressure was walking in from the hallway, wiping his hands on a towel. His eyes flicked from me to Kay’Lo and back, and his whole energy changed.
“Kay’Lo,” Pressure said slowly, “why you got your voice raised at my wife like you done lost your damn mind?”
Kay’Lo didn’t even blink. “She told Toni some shit she ain’t have no business tellin.”
Pressure looked at me and I saw the disappointment hit him like a truck. Months ago, he had told me to stay out of it. He warned me. His face wasn’t angry, but that quiet “Pluto… why?” look hurt worse than if he yelled. I dropped my gaze because I couldn’t hold it.
Kay’Lo faced him again. “You need to check yo’ fuckin’ wife. Because she got my whole household flipped upside down.”
Pressure stepped forward with this slow, heavy walk like he was picking which part of Kay’Lo to hurt first. “You not about to stand in my kitchen yellin’ at her. I don’t give a fuck what y’all got goin’ on.”
Kay’Lo shook his head. “I don’t give a fuck about none of that. She ain’t have the right to speak on shit I got goin’ on, and you know it.”
Renza came rushing in from the living room, already loud. “Man, what the hell y’all doin’? I’m tryna watch the damn game. Who yellin’ like this?”
Nobody answered him because Kay’Lo and Pressure were now chest to chest.
Pressure said, “Lower your voice talkin to my fuckin’ wife, ‘Lo.”
Kay’Lo shot back, “You let her talk too much. You let her do what the fuck she want. Now look.”
“Kay’Lo,” Renza said with his hands up, “come on nigga, let’s chill. Let’s talk like niggas with sense. This ain’t the–”
Kay’Lo cut him off. “I ain’t talkin to you, nigga.”
Renza blinked. “Fuck you then, boy.”
Pressure cocked his head, his eyes narrowing. “Say somethin’ else out ya mouth about my wife. I’m really warnin’ you, nigga.”
Kay’Lo leaned in. “You warnin’ the wrong nigga. You need to warn her ‘cause she so far in my fuckin’ business she forgot how to shut the fuck up.”
Pressure inhaled slow. “Okay. Now you gotta go to sleep.”
Kay’Lo didn’t even have time to react.
Pressure swung so fast all I heard was a thud. Kay’Lo dropped hard as hell on the floor.
“OH MY GOD!” I screamed, covering my mouth.
Renza stumbled back, staring wide-eyed. “Nigga. Did you… did you just knock out Kay’Lo? Kay’Lo Mensah? Bruh…
Pressure looked down at his cousin on the floor, shaking his head slowly like he already regretted it but wasn’t about to say it out loud.
Renza pointed dramatically. “Aye, listen. If you know like I know, you ain’t gon’ let this crazy muthafucka wake up in this kitchen. Drag his ass somewhere else before he come back swingin’.”
Pressure snapped out of it. “A’ight, come on.”
They each grabbed an arm and started hauling Kay’Lo toward the front door, but Renza was strugglin’.
“Damn,” Renza complained, “why this nigga built like a damn pitbull? Pressure, lift yo’ side more, my shoulder burnin’.”
Pressure muttered, “Shut up and walk.”
They dragged Kay’Lo outside and sat him upright in the driveway. Renza leaned over him breathing hard.
“Aye,” he said, his hands on his knees, “this man gon’ wake up on demon time.”
Pressure wiped his forehead. “Oh well.”
They walked back in, closed the door and leaned against it catching their breath. I was still in shock.