12. Talia
TALIA
The music was loud, and people were everywhere. All week between Tahini, Pepper & Spice, The Ebony Candle, and his other investments that kept him busy, Izael had been MIA.
With renovations at one of his restaurants, some issues with one of his Airbnb homes, and trying to track down his mom, who he claimed had been moving strange lately, he had little time for me.
I was thankful that we lived together, because otherwise, I might not have seen him at all this week. He usually rolled into bed long after I’d fallen asleep. Our routine had become four AM wake-up sex, shower together, and I would cook and make coffee while he dressed.
Although Izael insisted that I not worry about him, it was my pleasure to do those things for him. He would head out about six in the morning with a kiss on my lips, and I wouldn’t see him until he was holding me in the wee hours of the night.
I would fall back asleep after he left and get up again around nine. My true mornings would start with prayer, half an hour on the treadmill, and a cup of coffee while I read other blogs before I began to transcribe my notes from my restaurant visits.
I had been repeatedly checking my email for a follow up from the second interview that I had with the Bold Beautiful Black Girl magazine. I desperately wanted to be either a full-time staff or a freelance writer for their magazine. They were a cultural magazine that discussed everything from finances to fashion and education to social life, but they didn’t have a culinary section, and they wanted to start one.
An extensive campaign had been launched a year prior, and there were numerous applicants from around the Southeast region. I was excited to be chosen out of hundreds as one of the top ten final candidates to interview.
Although I hadn’t been running all around the city like Izael, my week had been stressful. I was thankful when my mom called last night and invited me over for a family cookout. They told me to extend the invitation to Izael too. That meant I had a night off from cooking, and I could socialize with family and friends I hadn’t seen in a while. I was excited, but also nervous because we would finally tell my family about us.
“Zae knows his ass is still as fine as he always was,” my cousin Paulette stated, eying my man over the rim of her beer mug.
I sucked my teeth but kept quiet because although we would tell my family the truth tonight, we did know that we weren’t going to tell them in front of the rest of the family. My parents and my brother deserved more respect than that.
“Pauley, someone needs to snatch his ass up,” my friend Kedra replied to Paulette. “I would if I wasn’t already locked down.”
“Girl, that man don’t want your pregnant ass,” Sharmise, Kedra’s sister, commented.
“If it wasn’t for my man, I wouldn’t have this baby. So, yes, ma’am, Shar, I would definitely be on the list,” Kedra snapped back and rolled her eyes at her sister.
“Isn’t he in a relationship anyway?” Sharmise asked.
“I heard they broke up,” Paulette replied.
“Yeah, he broke up with Cee-Cee a while back. Didn’t he, Chè?” Eve answered, urging me to get involved in the conversation.
I waved my hand and muttered, “I guess.”
“Who’s that bougie bitch?” Paulette asked, forcing all of us to turn away from our conversation and look to where Izael was standing again.
Tahj had arrived late as usual. He had his fiancée Dahlia with him along with another girl I didn’t recognize. She was looking down her nose at everyone else and clutched her purse tightly to her side. She was short, brown-skinned with long, curly hair that stopped at her waist, and had an ass on her for days. Men all over the yard turned to stare at her.
“More than likely, she’s a friend of Ms. D’s,” Eve commented and sucked her teeth.
It was no secret that she wasn’t a fan of my brother’s fiancée because Eve had a crush on Tahj, who didn’t even know she existed. I had known that feeling for years, and while I felt for my bestie, that sympathy only went so far. She would have another man in her face and her bed in the blink of an eye.
The girls continued to chat about the woman who was a new arrival at the party, but I watched her closely. I saw my future sister-in-law introduce the woman to my man. I saw Tahj hype the situation up, and I saw Izael take the woman’s hand, shake it, and smile that sexy-ass smile at her.
Jealousy was a bitch who had my ass in a headlock, and she wasn’t letting go either. I literally felt sick to my stomach, like I would throw up at any moment. I was drinking a lemonade, and I chewed the straw in my cup as I watched closely.
Tahj and Dahlia walked away and left Izael with the woman. Not once had he looked up at me, but I was patient enough to see how he would handle the situation. The last thing that my family needed was to find out about Izael and me because I showed my ass.
My jaw clenched as he took her by the hand and led her away from everyone else. They sat in a couple of lounge chairs on the other side of the pool, and he handed her a soda. Izael said something that caused the girl to lean in closer. She laughed and touched his knee flirtatiously.
I wanted to beat her ass, but there was little that I could say or do. After all, I was the one who told Izael that I didn’t want to bring it out here in front of everyone else. I stood and removed my T-shirt and cut-off denim shorts.
Stepping out of my flip-flops, I looked at my cousin and my friends and stated, “I’m hot.”
“Girl, I’m not about to mess this hair up,” Paulette replied.
“I mean, I guess I can get my belly and feet wet,” Kedra chimed in. She stood and removed her wrap from around her waist.
“I’ve been in the pool already. One of them niggas got one time to splash my hair, and I’m going off. I just spent four hundred on my hair yesterday, and I ain’t got time for no foolishness,” Sharmise stated.
“You getting in, Eve?” I asked my best friend.
“Nah. I’ma chill here with Pauley and Shar,” Eve answered.
“All right,” I replied and walked off with Kedra.
“Girl, I’ll be glad when I drop this baby and get my shape back.”
“Why? You got a man,” I pointed out.
“Honey, there’s nothing wrong with a man looking at and appreciating my curves. It keeps Montez appreciating me more,” Kedra responded as we walked to the pool.
I knew exactly what she meant, and I was hoping for the same. I wore a yellow bikini that showed off all my curves and highlighted all my assets. The way it drew the eyes to my breasts and hips, it didn’t matter that I had no ass. The rest of me looked good as hell, and I knew it.
I had gotten my hair braided the day before, so I wasn’t worried about messing up my hair in the water like my friends and cousin were.
I felt eyes on me as we made our way to the pool, and it only boosted my confidence. I heard a couple of my brothers’ and my male cousins’ friends release a low whistle along with some of the neighbors who had been invited.
“Damn, baby girl ain’t no baby no more,” I heard behind me.
I turned around and smirked over my shoulder at my brother’s old friend Drexel. I hadn’t seen him in a couple of years.
“Hey, Drex,” I greeted and smiled flirtatiously at him as he walked up to me.
“Girl, that nigga’s fine. Gon’ get ya back blown out tonight,” Kedra suggested with a cackle as she slipped into the pool.
I sat down on the edge beside Kedra and swung my feet back and forth in the water. I had the perfect view of Izael and Miss Thang just like I knew he could see me too. The way that I saw it, two could play this game.
“Where’ve you been? I heard you were back in town, but I hadn’t seen you,” Drexel said as he kneeled beside me.
“Working and trying to put my life back together.”
“You look like you got everything in perfect working condition,” he stated with a smile as he eyed my titties.
Where a lot of girls had a big butt that drew men in, I knew that I was lacking in that area. So, I often played up my other assets like my cute baby face and these big-ass girls up under my neck.
This morning before I left, I applied a lotion that had a sheen of glitter in it, and I knew that I sparkled in the afternoon sun. My bikini top was low cut, and the beautiful yellow color contrasted nicely against my coppery skin.
“I’m trying. What’ve you been up to?” I asked.
“Just opened my second auto repair shop. Trying to grow some things, but other than that, looking for that special lady to come into my life,” he answered as he reached out and touched my shoulder before slowly dragging his fingers down my arm.
“You’ve been saying that since I have known you,” I replied and hit him on the arm flirtatiously.
His arms were large and muscular, and his bright skin shone beautifully underneath the sun. Unlike Izael, Drexel had no tattoos. He was always a pretty boy, the one we expected to go into modeling, but his attitude was far from that of a pretty boy.
“I’m serious. I’m trying to find someone who wants to be my wife, the mother of my children, and stand beside me while I grow my empire.” He winked at me.
“Oh, is that what time you’re on?”
“Yeah. You got a man?” he asked when he reached out and gripped my chin.
“Yeah, she does. And that nigga don’t like nobody fucking with his possession.”
Drexel looked up and held his hands up to block out the sun. I looked forward and refused to meet Izael’s angry gaze. I could tell by the tone of his voice he was angry, but I had to keep up appearances for now just like he was doing by flirting with Ms. Big Ass.
“Word? I don’t see that nigga around, Zae, so I’ma get my holler on while I can.”
“I don’t think you wanna do that shit,” Izael replied.
“Why you cock-blocking, nigga?” Drexel asked and stood up.
“Like I said, I don’t fucking play ’bout mine. That woman ya ass is pushing up on is mine all day, homie.”
“Word? Why didn’t you say that shit from the start, G? You know I respect the code. I didn’t know y’all was rolling like that.”
“Oooh, girl! Why you didn’t say anything?” Kedra whispered.
“Shush, Kedra,” I whispered back fiercely as another voice spoke up.
“Yeah, I didn’t know y’all was rolling like that,” Tahj said from behind Izael.
I hadn’t seen my brother approach. I jerked my head back and looked at my brother, who mugged the shit out of Izael. His face was a deep shade of red, and his fists were clenched at his side.
“You got some shit you tryna tell me, big homie?” Tahj asked.
I could see the fury written all over Tahj’s face, but I also saw the way Izael shut down emotionally. He respected and loved my brother as much as he did his brother, but he had never been that guy to back down in the face of confrontation. Izael feared no man, and that was just one of the things that Tahj and I both loved and respected about him, but it was also the same thing that worried me now.
I hopped up from my seat on the edge of the pool just as Izael turned around and faced Tahj.
“Tahj, you know you my homie, and I don’t usually explain myself to nann nigga, but I didn’t want you to find out this way. Chè and I were gonna tell y’all when everyone else left for the evening.”
“How long this shit been going on, chief?” Tahj asked.
“A few weeks,” I answered.
Tahj wouldn’t even look at me. He kept mugging Izael with his nostrils flared, and he clenched his fists.
“I was just over there, and neither one of y’all saw fit to tell me that shit? When was the right time gonna be? You know how the fuck I feel about my sister, yo. You knew that shit was off limits. I’m coming over here to dead Drex’s ass, and all the while, the homie creeping with my sister behind my back?”
I could hear the hurt and pain in my brother’s voice, and I reached out to him.
“Tahj, it wasn’t like that. I?—”
“Man, shut the fuck up talking to me!” Tahj shouted and shrugged my hand off him.
I felt like someone carved my heart out at that moment. My brother had never rejected my touch before or yelled at me.
“Aye, nigga. You can come at me any way you want and be mad as hell at me. You got that. But don’t muthafuckin’ disrespect her. She ain’t did shit to you. That’s still your sister at the end of the day, nigga!”
“Nigga, I?—”
I saw Tahj get ready to throw the punch, but before he could, my daddy was right there. He grabbed my brother’s arms and held them tightly behind his back.
“Son, some shit you can’t come back from. You got every reason to be upset right now or feel how you feel, but this ain’t the answer.”
I looked at my daddy, who stared between Izael and Tahj, and I felt ashamed. I had brought this beef between two men who were like brothers. Neither of them deserved this.
“Boys, y’all two just need to calm down, okay? You weren’t raised like this,” my mommy stated from behind my daddy.
Tahj pulled away from my daddy and turned and walked away.
“Tahj!” I shouted and turned to run behind my big brother.
My daddy grabbed my arm and pulled me back. “Not now, baby girl. Give him some time. I think you and Izael need to head on home and chill out for the evening. Son, you and I will talk some other time. Okay?”
“Yes, sir,” Izael stated.
“Zae, take care of my baby, okay?” Mommy asked as she pulled me in her arms and held me tight.
“Yes, ma’am,” Izael replied in a tight voice.
I knew that he was hurt over being sent away from my parents’ home, and my heart hurt for him. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go.
I hated that everyone in my parents’ backyard had their eyes glued to our unfolding drama. It was embarrassing, and it wasn’t who I was. I never brought drama and attention their way.