Chapter 15
“How are you holding up?” Dre inquired after we took our seats on the bleachers. The coaching staff provided us with breakfast and coffee, so I made sure to take full advantage.
“What do you want me to say? I got about three hours of sleep last night, so don’t expect much from me today. My mind is all over the place, but I don’t want to jump to conclusions, so I’m trying to keep an open mind.” In my heart, I kept telling myself there was no way her children could be mine because she would have told me. The alternative was what left me feeling uneasy. It was one thing for her to sleep with my former best friend, but was it possible they continued their relationship, and she gave birth to his children?
From the time I met Charae, I stepped up for her, and I never allowed her to fight her battles alone. Regardless of what was going on in my own life, I had her back. Outside of being lovers, I thought we were friends, so this shit really fucked with me. Then there was that lingering thought that questioned if her sons were mine. A part of me hoped that maybe she cheated to get back at me and got pregnant, because accepting the fact that she intentionally kept my children away from me didn’t make any sense. The woman I fell in love with would have never done something so spiteful. Right?
“Look, I understand why you might be upset about it because it really would be foul as fuck if she ran off with your kids. However, I think it’s best to get the whole story before you react. I know how your ass gets, and the last thing we need is for you to tear up these folks’ equipment,” Dreis joked. While I tried to calm down my aggressive nature, I had a bit of a reputation for being a hothead. In my defense, I only reacted when a mothafucka tried to play with my intelligence.
I would never put my hands on a woman, especially Charae, but I couldn’t promise this building would remain intact if she gave me the news I expected today.
“Try to take her side into consideration. I know that shit is easier said than done, but right now, you need to get to the bottom of things. We haven’t been around Charae in years, but the person I remember would never do anything malicious to hurt anyone. Try to keep your feelings out of it until you hear the whole story. Then you’ll be able to assess how you should handle things,” Dreis coached.
“You’re saying that because you aren’t in the same boat as me. She has two fucking kids, Dre! She had years to tell me what was going on, and she chose not to. I don’t care how you slice it, that shit is bogus as fuck.”
“And I agree with you on that. If she did keep the kids away from you, then she was wrong. However, you have to take into consideration that the two of you didn’t break up on good terms either. Maybe she felt like she couldn’t talk to you about it.”
“Are you taking her side or mine?” I questioned.
“I’m riding for you always, but I also know how much you loved that girl. Regardless of what happened, she was your first and only love. I want you to handle this with a level head before you do something you can’t take back. You saw how protective that young bull was over his mother and brother. If you are his father, you won’t be able to build any type of bond with him if you’re on the outs with his mama.” I nodded. His advice made a lot of sense. Moolah already had a chip on his shoulder when it came to me, so I needed to handle this with the utmost care.
“Man, this shit is crazy. I don’t even know what to say anymore. Never did I imagine that we would even be having this conversation.”
“It’s all gonna work out. I believe all of this happened for a reason. Maybe this will bring the two of you back together.”
“I don’t know about all of that. I haven’t forgotten about the fact that she fucked my best friend. Well, my ex best friend. I don’t care how mad you are at a person; you don’t get them back like that.” I huffed. I might have been drunk, but I hadn’t forgotten about the fight between Drake and me. When I got that call from Sunny, I prayed she would tell me it was all a lie, but instead, she cried and tried to explain to herself. That shit crushed my soul in a way I could never explain.
“You still don’t know the full story behind that either. I know you said she basically admitted to it, but something seems off with that shit. Charae and Drake never got along with one another, and after what his father did, I don’t see her wanting anything to do with anyone in that family. Even if she was upset about the breakup, I don’t see that being her response. Besides, I’m way finer than Drake, so if she wanted to get some revenge, I would have been the obvious choice.”
“Dre, get the fuck out of my face with that bullshit.”
“I’m just saying. Maybe it’s time for the two of you to finally sit down and hash everything out.” I hated to admit the fact that he was right. There were a lot of things we needed to lay on the table.
“Yeah, I guess. Let’s get to work.” Sunny and I were originally supposed to meet to talk, but I suggested that we wait until after the training. Based on what she had to tell me, I might not have been in the right headspace to continue with the practice, and I needed to be completely focused. These boys deserved my full attention and commitment, and that was what I would give.
“You ready to play against your son again? He got that fire in his eyes. He might actually beat your ass today,” Dreis joked.
“I’m glad you find this shit funny. That boy hates my fucking guts, and I don’t even know what to do. He looked at me as if I had shit on my hand when I tried to dap him up yesterday. I wasn’t sure if I was offended or proud.” Moolah reminded me of myself as a young boy. When my parents first died, I was angry at the world. I hated everyone and everything because I couldn’t take my frustrations out on God.
I wasn’t sure how to approach this situation since I was on the outside looking in. On one hand, I could understand if he was upset at me for not being around, but that was completely out of my hands, as I had no idea he even existed. I guess I would have to deal with things once I got the answers I needed.
“Alright, guys. You guys played well out there today. I’m proud of the work you’re putting in and the fact that you have taken the advice from these men and applied it. A great leader is one who is teachable. There is no such thing as perfection, but you must always strive to get as close as you can to it. Have a great night. I’ll see you guys tomorrow!” Coach dismissed the boys for the day, and my nerves were getting to me. The idea of seeing Sunny excited and stressed me out at the same time.
Moolah and Cash played their hearts out today, and I couldn’t help but feel pride in how advanced they were. I’d never seen so much passion in boys their age. It reminded me of how hungry I was as a young boy. Football was in my blood, and no one could convince me I wouldn’t be playing professionally. My father told me that if you had a dream, you had to study your craft and put all of your effort into it. He said you could never allow anything or anyone to get in the way of what you wanted.
From that day forward, I stayed training to perfect my craft. The twins possessed the same determination. Even though I wasn’t Moolah’s favorite person, I noticed him applying the tips I’d been giving him. Regardless of his feelings toward me, his desire to be great exceeded his hatred for me.
“There goes your girl,” Dreis spoke on the side of me. Glancing up, I saw Sunny greeting the boys. Their interactions with her were completely different, but the love was obvious. I wasn’t sure if I should approach her or not, but we still needed to have our talk.
“I know your ass isn’t scared.”
“Dre, I’mma fuck around and beat your ass. Stop playing with me.”
“Don’t get mad at me because you’re too afraid to talk to your baby mama.”
“We don’t know that yet.”
“Man, please. You and I both know those boys are yours. The pure talent on the field is a dead giveaway. Plus, they may look like Rae, but they have your nose and that big ass head of yours,” Dreis teased. I shoved his ass away from me before deciding to approach Sunny. The walk over to them felt like an eternity as I thought about what I wanted to say. My emotions were so conflicted, and I hated that shit. With anyone else, this would have been a major violation, but the lines were always blurred with her.
“Yo,” I called out. Sunny turned in my direction with an unreadable expression on her face.
“Hey,” she whispered softly. Moolah and Cash burned holes in the side of my face with their stares. However, I was sure Moolah was picturing ways he could bury me alive.
“Do you have time to talk? I know I changed the plans this morning, but I wanted to make sure I was in the right head space for the training, you know?”
“Of course. Umm, can you guys head to the car while I talk to Mr. Sutton?” I cringed at how formally she addressed me. I guess it made sense, considering the current nature of our relationship. However, it made our interactions seem less personal.
“I don’t know if I like that idea because if he tries something with you, I’m gonn?—”
“Moolah, don’t. I promise you have nothing to worry about. Mr. Sutton would never hurt me. Now, go to the car, and don’t make me tell you again,” Sunny instructed with an elevated tone. I could tell she rarely raised her voice at them because of the way Cash’s eyes widened.
“Yes, ma’am. I’ll go, but I can’t promise I’ll stay there.” Moolah cut his eyes over to me with nothing but pure hatred. It was such a strange experience because I’d never been hated in this way before.
“Cashynn.” Sunny raised her eyebrow without speaking another word. Moolah reluctantly dropped his head and shuffled toward her car.
“Is there somewhere we can talk in private?”
“Yeah, come on.” I led her to the school’s doors. We headed over to the gym since we had been using it in the mornings. I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to sit or stand, but I felt I needed to stand for this conversation.
“The floor is yours.”
Her arms were crossed in front of her chest as we faced one another. Her beauty had only become more refined with age. She still possessed the same sweet baby face with perfect skin. I could only assume life had been good to her.
“I don’t really know where to start, so I’ll just cut to the chase. I don’t know who the father of my twins is. The window between when we had sex and when they were conceived is close, but it wasn’t the only interaction I had with a man, so I don’t know.” She struggled to get the last part out, but I was fuming with anger.
“Damn, that’s crazy. I really didn’t want to believe it, but you really turned out to be a ho after all.”
Smack!
My face turned as she smacked the hell out of me. I was stunned, so it took a moment for me to react. I already knew about her fucking Drake, but hearing her admit it really sent me over the edge.
“I’m not a violent person, but I’m not gonna stand here and let you disrespect me. You can believe whatever you want to believe, but to be honest, I no longer give a fuck. You wanted the truth, so I gave it to you. What you choose to do with that information is on you.”
“Why the hell wouldn’t you tell me about the pregnancy when you found out? Regardless of what you did, there was still a possibility that they were mine.”
“Based on the timeline, I honestly didn’t think they were. We were having sex for two years unprotected, and I never got pregnant. I assumed they belonged to… someone else, and since I had no intentions of them being in my children’s life, I left it alone.”
“Naw, don’t try to sugarcoat what you did now. You’re calling him someone as if you don’t know exactly who that fool is.”
“Look, I understand you’re upset, but you don’t even know the whole story.”
“What is there to know? You got mad at me and fucked my homie.”
“Is that what you think happened?” She scoffed as if I was the one in the wrong. It confused me, pissing me off even more.
“You’re telling me that Drake isn’t the other guy in this situation?” It felt as if she was trying to play on my intelligence, and I wasn’t going for that.
“It isn’t as simple as you’re trying to make it sound. Either way, it’s none of your business. The facts are that I didn’t believe they were yours, and I knew that I wasn’t going to abort them, so I decided the best thing for me to do was to raise them by myself.”
“Your reasoning makes no sense at all. Even if you thought he was the father, you still should have made me aware. At least then, I could have taken a DNA test and learned the truth earlier on. And even if Drake is the father, he deserves to know too. You had no problem lying down with him, but then you get pregnant, and all of a sudden, he isn’t good enough to be a father? Make that shit make sense.”
“You have a lot of nerve, but I’m gonna let you make it because you don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about. I can’t go back and change a single decision I made in the past, and to be honest, I don’t know if I would, even if the option was there. My only concern at the time was protecting myself and my children. You don’t have to agree because it won’t change anything. I owed you the truth. You can take it however you want to.”
“And this is what you call the truth? The only reason you’re even talking to me about this is because we ran into each other. Had I not been coaching those boys, you would have never reached out to me.” I was fuming. She was standing here acting as if she hadn’t been caught in her lies.
“Okay, so what do you want me to say? It’s clear that you’re upset, and I’m not here to invalidate your feelings. I did what I thought I needed to do, and I’m sorry if that may have had a negative effect on you. I attempted to reach out to you on two separate occasions, so I’m confused as to why you’re acting as if this is the first time you’ve heard about them. You made it clear that you didn’t want to find out the truth, so I left well enough alone, especially when I was convinced they weren’t yours.”
“What are you talking about? You never reached out to me.” I would never disrespect Sunny by calling her out of her name, but the longer we talked, the more I lost respect for her. I’d never known her to be a liar or a manipulator, but maybe I didn’t know her the way I believed I did.
“You are unbelievable. You don’t have a problem placing all of the blame on me as if I never told you about them.” Sunny rolled her eyes and then reached into her purse to retrieve her phone.
“Is this not your profile on IG?” She held the phone up to my face. I grabbed it so I could read the message. My face dropped as I read about the interaction between her and my profile—only this was my first time ever seeing these messages.
SunnyGirl88:
Hey, I know it’s been a while since the two of us have spoken, but I needed to talk to you about something. I know you’re probably going to be upset, and it’s understandable. However, I feel like this is something you need to know about.
MoneyMoves528:
What do you need to tell me?
SunnyGurl88:
Image sent.
These are my boys. I found out I was pregnant shortly after we split. There were so many things happening at the time, so I never mentioned it. I tried to tell you the night I called you, but we got into it before I could. Things are complicated, and I wasn’t completely sure who their father was, so I’m not here to pin them on you. If you would like to have a DNA test done, I would be willing to do so. I just didn’t want to keep this from you because I feel like you have the right to know.
MoneyMoves528:
No DNA is needed. I can look and tell those aren’t my kids. Besides, I never fuck bitches raw. Good luck with that.
My eyebrows squinted as I read the message over and over again. I knew for a fact I never sent this message, so the biggest question running through my mind was who else could have done it.
“I didn’t send this shit.”
“Oh, come on, Dinero. What are you trying to say? You were hacked, and the scammers denied my children?”
“No, I’m being serious. You know I’m not even the type of nigga to lie about shit. This wasn’t me replying to your messages. I mean, think about it. We never used protection, so it wouldn’t make sense for me to say something like this.” I was racking my brain trying to figure out who had access to my account. My PR rep, Alyssa, managed my social media, but I didn’t believe she would have done something like this.
“W-what do you mean?” Sunny asked. I couldn’t answer her question because I still had no idea how this could have happened. When I tried to find Sunny’s IG page years ago, it was as if it disappeared. I figured she must have blocked me from having access to her page.
Retrieving my phone from my pocket, I checked my inbox to see if those messages were showing on my end. I never checked my DMs because there were always a handful of women in there, sending pussy pics and videos or trying to shoot their shot. When I attempted to type in Sunny’s username, nothing came up for me. When I searched my messages, there were no messages at all, which I found strange because I had never deleted anything from this app.
“Did you hear anything I just said?” My head shot over to her, realizing I had completely checked out of the conversation. I hated feeling as if someone had been playing with my life. Even though Sunny waited a year after we split to say something, I never even got the chance to address it. At least then, I would have been able to take a test sooner and potentially be in their lives if they were mine. Now, I felt as if someone had violated me, and I needed answers.
“My bad. I’m still trying to figure out what the hell happened. I know for a fact I never sent this message, so someone else must have responded for me. I’m gonna get down to the bottom of that. However, it still doesn’t change the fact that you should have talked to me about this shit. Hell, you could have come to my apartment with their fucking car seats and demanded answers.”
“You’re not wrong, but at the same time, there were a lot of other things that played a factor in all of this. Hell, I was a nineteen-year-old pregnant with twins. I had no idea what the hell I was doing and who I could trust. I packed my shit up, used the money I had left in my account, and moved away. All I knew was that this was my only chance to be a mother, and I wouldn’t let anyone ruin it for me. Was it selfish? Probably, but those boys are the greatest blessing I’ve ever received.” I dragged my hand down my face, trying to make sense of all of this. I still couldn’t believe she had twins. We used to talk about starting a family one day, but I never imagined her doing it without me.
“All of this shit is crazy. And why the hell does Moolah have so much hatred toward me? If you weren’t sure who the father was, why is he so angry?”
“A few years ago, he overheard a conversation between Tamia and I. She asked me if I was going to reach back out to you, concerning the boys, and I told her no because you made it clear you weren’t interested. He used to ask questions about who his father was, but I never knew how to answer his questions, so I usually tried to change the subject. Eventually, I gave him some generic answer, telling him that his father wasn’t able to be in his life because he lived far away, and his job kept him away. He accepted it when he was a little kid, and once he got older, he stopped asking. I assumed he had just accepted the fact that he didn’t have a father, but I later found out that he had heard us.
“I’m sorry for the way he reacted. In his mind, you weren’t there because you didn’t want to be, and no matter how much I tried to explain, I couldn’t get him to understand.”
“I guess I can’t really blame him, because I don’t understand any of it myself. You could have told him the truth and explained that you weren’t sure who their father was.”
“They are kids, Money. Regardless of what you may feel toward me, they aren’t able to process things the same way we are. I told them the important things they needed to know at the time.”
“So, what now?” I asked, wondering about the next steps. Obviously, I needed to get answers about their paternity, but I wasn’t even sure where to start with all of this.
“There is a DNA center on the East side. We can go up there and take a test if you want.” Something about the way she said it caught my attention.
“Why aren’t you pressed to find out the truth? You keep saying if I want to. Are you afraid of the truth or something? You don’t want your dirt to come to the light?”
“Fuck you, Money. You have every right to be upset, but I’m only going to let you take so many shots at me. Like I said, the ball is in your court.”
“You can cut the attitude because all of this shit is on you. Now it’s clear there is someone in my camp who has to answer some questions, but you could have done more to make sure I knew. It seems like you really didn’t want me around.”
“Again, you don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“And you don’t seem to have very many answers. Look, I don’t even want to argue with you. I can’t change shit that happened. Right now, my only focus is getting the answers I need concerning the twins.”
“I’ll schedule an appointment and send you the information on where to meet us.” We hadn’t been in each other’s presence in years, but I noticed how much she had changed. Back in the day, she probably would have broken down crying, but her shoulders were square, and she appeared much stronger. I liked her new edge.
“Yeah, you do that.” Her eyes rolled, and I smirked. Baby girl looked like she wanted to smack me again. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t slightly amuse me.
“Whatever, Money. I’ll be in touch.”
“When did you start calling me Money?” I inquired, catching on to the fact that she kept calling me by my nickname. As long as I’d known her, she never addressed me by that name, so it sounded weird coming from her mouth.
“What?”
“I asked when you started calling me Money. You never called me that before.”
“Because you aren’t my Dinero, and you haven’t been in a very long time. Anyway, I’ve kept my boys waiting long enough, and Moolah is blowing my phone up. I don’t want him thinking something happened to me.”
“I would never do anything to hurt you.”
“I used to believe that too.” With that, she turned and walked out of the gym. I stood there replaying the interaction over and over again in my head. My reaction was valid, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was a lot that I didn’t know about. I guessed the truth would be coming out sooner rather than later.