Chapter 7 #2
“You’re trying to make sure you don’t fuck a lot up, but I swear you’re doing better than you think.” She walked up to look over the meat selection.
“With this or you?”
When she turned back to me, she grinned. “What do you think?”
“Doesn’t matter what I think, it’s what you think, Rim.”
“I think you’re doing great with your daughter. Her eyes brighten every time she sees you and it’s obvious you are her favorite person. Now which meat do you want? Chicken or steak, daddy?”
She said daddy in a taunting way, but that didn’t stop all the blood from rushing to my dick. “Karim.”
She grinned. “I’m waiting. Beef, steak, or chicken?”
“Steak,” I grunted, eyes moving around the crowded store to look at anything but her ass.
“Okay.” She grabbed it then turned back to me. “What exactly do you eat on your tacos?”
“Everything.”
She didn’t offer a response, just a nod.
“Rim, can I play games on your phone?” Romance asked.
Without a lick of hesitation, Rim unlocked her phone and handed it to her. That made my shit even harder, the way she treated my baby. She treated her like she was her own.
We resumed walking toward the dairy section.
“And what about you? Am I doing this shit right?” I asked once we reached the cheese section.
She stood back and looked me up and down. “I’m probably biased, but you didn’t ghost me nor did you feign busy to avoid me. You’ve been different, and before you ask, that’s a good thing.”
I chuckled. “In short.”
“I like being with you, Reminisce, and I feel like you like being with me too. That’s all that matters, especially since you said you weren’t going anywhere, right?”
I nodded, not offering a response at first, but then it slipped from my lips. “I’m not.”
“Good, because if you hurt me at this point, I’m liable to shoot you.”
“Damn, Rim, you’d knock me off?”
“Nah, I can’t leave RoRo without her daddy, but I’d definitely let you feel something so you’d be reminded of why I’m not to be fucked with.”
“Wouldn’t have it any other way.” I glanced down at Romance, then back at Karim. She was right. At this point I had a list of shit I didn’t want to fuck up, but both of them were at the top.
“Karim, that you?” A heavy voice made Karim’s whole body go rigid. I picked up on it easily because I was fluent in her energy and had been since the moment she first let me touch her. Friends, my ass. Shit, friends made the best lovers.
“You got some nerve to be calling my name like we’re friends or something.” Her voice was even different.
“Figured I’d at least speak to an old friend.”
She chuckled dryly, causing me to step up behind her, letting her know I was there. “You must want me to make good on my promise.”
“Toro, baby, I found the cream cheese.” A woman’s voice made me look away from the exchange briefly.
Shorty was about five foot six, pregnant, and ugly as a fucking duckling.
I didn’t miss the expression on her face when she laid eyes on Karim, which let me know there was history there.
It was then that it hit me. When Karim and I first met, she had been fucked up over some nigga who had done her dirty.
It was the main reason she gave me that spiel about not looking for anything serious.
“Yeah. Good. It was nice seeing you, Karim.” His eyes were on Karim like he was on some taunting shit.
I stepped around her about to knock dude and that slick ass smirk on his ass, but one word caught my attention and cut my thoughts back on.
“Daddy. Look! I won.” Romance’s voice made me look at her. Then I stopped moving.
Shit, I couldn’t hit this nigga if I wanted to.
I saw myself knocking his bitch ass into the dairy cooler, but I couldn’t.
Apparently, I wasn’t the only one thinking something.
When ol’ boy went to walk past Rim, she slid her foot out and tripped him.
He busted his shit, falling face first on the market floor. It made a loud thud.
“Oops he fell, Daddy.” Romance’s little deep tenor filled the space in a way only a child could.
“Yeah, that’s why I be telling you to stop running in the house, shorty. Motherfuckers fall like that every day, baby girl. They just be fucking themselves up.”
“Didn’t I tell you to stop cursing around her?”
I sucked my teeth. Everybody got mad at me for cursing around Ro, but I told them I wasn’t raising her on no proper shit. This wasn’t gonna be the first or last time she heard me curse. I’d always be up for adding seasoning to my words.
“I’ll stop running, Daddy.”
I nodded. “Good, now let’s go get these cookies so we can get home.” My hand found Karim’s side, pulling her with me as I pushed the cart around ol’ boy, no matter how badly I wanted to run him and his Oompa Loompa over with it.
“We’re horrible,” Rim said as we walked toward the cookie section.
“Nah, we’re perfection.”
We were out for another hour before finally making it back to my place.
On the ride home Romance fell asleep, which let me know she’d sleep good until dinner.
Then she’d eat and be sleepy again. Romance got the itis after eating no matter the time of day.
When we made it in, I quickly tucked her in, so she didn’t wake up.
Lil mama was rude as hell when woken up from her sleep.
“You were about to hit him?” Karim’s voice made me turn around. She was unpacking the bags while I put a pot of tea on.
“Damn right and I didn’t even know who he was at first.” I chuckled at myself.
“But you were about to hit him for me?”
I nodded.
“Tell me something though.”
Her brows furrowed as she began to move through the kitchen prepping for dinner. “’Sup?”
“When we first took it there, you told me you weren’t looking for anything because you were still reeling from something. Was he that something?”
Even if she didn’t say anything, her eyes did. “Yeah.”
“What happened?” I asked, though I shouldn’t have. The thing was, if I was making sure I didn’t fuck up, I needed to know what had hurt her in the past. So I could vent a nigga’s skull and fix that shit.
“The girl in there calling him baby. She was my best friend, or so I thought. He and I were engaged.”
“Damn.” Those two sentences told me things about Karim I wasn’t aware of.
“Crazy thing is, I’d never been the type of chick into getting married or any of that, but I trusted him and let my guard down.”
I nodded. “So what you’re saying is when I see him I should knee his ass.”
“I already did.”
“Left or right? For my memory.” I moved behind her, leaning into her body, resting my chin between her neck and shoulder.
“Right. Why, what are you gonna do?”
I kissed the side of her cheek. “Hit that nigga in his other knee. Fuck a limp, baby,. I want that nigga on a walker for life.”
The weekend did that shit where it somehow sped past, and before I knew it, we were all in Rennix’s kitchen talking shit Sunday night while the kids watched movies in the other room.
Shit was kind of strange seeing as how I was used to cutting out and not being one of the ones here with somebody.
The somebody I had with me was Rim and I couldn’t keep my eyes off her.
It was like I wanted to make sure she was always fine, even though I knew she was a big girl and no stranger to my family. I was on some sap shit and I knew it.
I stood out back with my twin while he pulled from the blunt, eyes traveling the massive yard before they found him again.
“You seem happy.”
“C’mon get off that sap shit. I ain’t come back here to talk about feelings or happiness, Renny.”
He laughed and held the blunt out for me to take. “Considering you been smiling at Karim all night, I think it’s what we should be talking about, don’t you?”
I accepted the blunt. I pulled a couple times, allowing the smoke to flow from my lips. “It’s not, but you and your siblings nosy as fuck; so what you wanna know?”
He chuckled. “We wanna know how that’s going. I didn’t even know you had gotten out of your head about it. Then you show up tonight all booed up.”
I shrugged. “Things happened and the moment presented itself.”
“That’s all you giving me? Jade is about to be all in your sh—” The sound of the door opening behind us made me turn around. It was G sliding out and fixing his coat.
“Y’all out here hiding and sneaking dissing.” He mugged us both.
“Not even. Your boy is out here tryna keep his lips shut about his business when he damn sure be in everybody else’s business.”
G laughed. “You damn right. So, what’s up? You in love yet or what?”
“Yo, I can’t stand either one of you.”
“Then take a seat. I’m tryna hear about this.
” Rennix accepted the blunt I held out. “Oh, and I’m keeping my niece, so find you some business.
And hell nah, yeen coming to pick her up early either.
I’ll bring her home and don’t gimme that shit about her not having nothing to wear.
She has the stuff Jade bought her that you left here. ”
I laughed hard as fuck. “Damn G, you putting my business out like that?”
He threw his hands up, laughing. “It happens to the best of us.”
We stood outside talking for a while longer before it got too cold and we went into the house.
When I walked in, I peeped all my siblings sitting in the living room.
I assumed Karim was in the kitchen. I was right, because when I entered, my eyes landed on her sitting at the island with her phone to her ear.
“I know, Aro. I’ll look at it and call you in the morning, unless you want me to meet you at Bry’s.” She put the spoon to her lips, listening to her brother.
“Don’t be trying to track my moves. I’m grown. Now I’ll see you soon, rudeness. Love you too.” She pulled the phone away from her ear within seconds, then placed it on the island next to her plate.
“Yo, you in here eating sweets and we ain’t even ate dinner.” I mugged, watching her eat the banana pudding I had yet to try. My siblings called this dinner, but what the fuck was a bunch of sweets and some cold cuts? This wasn’t dinner.