Chapter Nine
“I need to use the bathroom!” Spice beat on the bathroom door. “Hurry up! You don’t even live here!” She yelled, pacing back and forth in front of the door.
It was a little after ten in the morning, and Spice had been waiting to use the bathroom since nine-thirty.
When she knocked on the door and Scottie responded, Spice stormed away.
Not only did Scottie wake up the whole house with her loud talking in the middle of the night, but now she was sitting on the toilet, posting pictures of Logic that she took while he was asleep.
“Who in there?” Sage questioned, stepping out of his room, fully dressed.
“Who else?” Spice rolled her eyes. “Miss pop up in the middle of the night.”
“Oh,” he chuckled, knowing exactly who she was referring to.
“Yall were sweeter when yall were little,” Scottie commented, pulling the bathroom door open. “Turning into little teenagers done made yall evil.”
“Girl, move.” Spice pushed past her and entered the bathroom. “Arg,” she gagged, stumbling back out. “Eww, how are you comfortable with pooping at someone else's house?”
“Close the door,” Sage backed away, covering his nose. “Damn Scottie, you smell like a landfill.”
“Excuse me?” Scottie frowned. “Yall dragging it.”
“Did he stutter? It smells like some crawled up your-
“Spice, chill.” Logic muttered, exiting his room. “Scottie, spray something because that shit don’t smell like roses and take those pictures off your page.” He moved past her, going into the living room.
“Why I gotta take my pictures down?” She responded, following him and neglecting the first part of the conversation.
“Because I fucking said so, Scottie. Stop doing that weird shit,” Logic snapped.
“How is it weird?”
“You posting pictures of me sleeping is weird as fuck. I’m laying in this bitch snoring and you flicking it up. Take it down.”
“Whatever, I’ll take the dumb ass pictures down. I only came over here to congratulate you.” Scottie folded her arms across her chest. “I mean unless you was trying to chill with another bitch.”
“If I was, you ruined that shit.”
After seeing the video of Logic on stage with Czar and Southwest Rah, Scottie jumped out of her sneaky link’s arms and ran straight to the city.
She didn’t even bother washing her ass before she pulled up to The King Homes, beating on the door, demanding Logic let her in.
To her dismay, he wasn’t even home. Logic was still out celebrating, so she took a shower and crawled into his bed.
When Logic finally made it home, he was too intoxicated to put her out.
Between the drinks he consumed, and her soft body pressed into his, Logic was turned on and drilled a hole in her pussy while pressing her face in the pillow.
“It’s not that serious,” Scottie pressed. “So, tell me about last night. You’re signed?”
“Yea, well almost. I have a few loose ends to tie up,” Logic replied with his head buried in his phone.
The number of notifications he had was crazy.
Everyone was tagging him, congratulating him, and sending him their blessings on a successful career.
It was almost overwhelming, and although he was grateful, he was overthinking.
Logic didn’t know if it was the pressure to succeed or the fear of failure.
“Oh my god, this is amazing. You’re going to blow up! I’m so happy for you. I knew you could do it.” Scottie wrapped her arm around his neck. “Let me find out I’m about to be on Love & Hip-Hop. Oh my god, you can put me on with all the rappers’ wives.”
“Why are you always so loud?” Shugg complained, stumbling from the back. “And you’re not his girl and yall not a couple, so why would you be involved in anything?"
“Then what am I?” Scottie asked, folding her arms.
“You’re a raccoon.”
“Not a raccoon,” Spice sputtered.
“The fuck? What is that supposed to mean?” Scottie frowned.
“You creep around at night, eating people's food, leaving a mess in every room, blowing up the bathroom... sounds like a raccoon, right?” Shugg explained.
“You hit the nail on the head with that one, twin.”
Knock knock knock
“I got it.” Sage flew to the door before Logic could stop him.
Without looking through the peephole, he pulled the door open and smiled. It had been years since he last saw his mother, and there she was, standing on their doorstep wearing a grin that matched his. She was smiling like she was invited, not just a random visitor.
“Heyyyy, I’m back,” Pepper cheesed, stretching her arms out as if she had ran out to get milk.
“Mama.” Sage wrapped his long arms around his mother’s slender frame.
“What the fuck?” Logic frowned, rubbing his eyes to make sure they weren’t playing tricks on him.
Looking as if she stepped out of Ebony Magazine, Pepper’s shoulder-length hair was jet black and flipped at the ends.
Her thick eyebrows were perfectly arched and her mink lashes were full.
Being that it was hot outside, she wore a black tank top with a pair of jean shorts, black Chanel sandals, and a black Chanel purse hung from her manicured hand.
“I know you fucking lying,” Spice uttered. “Yea, I'm going back to bed and I’m going to make sure I pray this time.”
“Send an extra one up for me because ain’t no way. Between lil stank booty clogging up the toilet and Ms. Have-a-kid, leave-a-kid, it’s going to be a bad day.” Shugg followed her twin, not bothering to look at their deadbeat mother.
“Yall be nice,” Sage hissed at their backs. “Mama came to visit.”
“Boy, shut yo gullible self-up, inviting the opps to where we lay our head at. That lady don’t care about us,” Shugg spat.
“Wow, you’ve raised them to be so respectful,” Pepper chuckled, still holding onto Sage’s arm.
“At least he’s raising us!” Spice slammed their bedroom door.
Logic didn’t even bother chastising his sisters because he was on the same tip, only he was ready to knock the birds out of Sage’s chest.
“Um, hi.” Scottie stepped from behind Logic. “I’m Sc-
“Aye, go get your shit and bounce,” Logic cut her off.
“I was only-
“I don’t care what you were doing. This is family shit and you ain’t family... bounce,” he reiterated.
“Wow.” Scottie clamped her mouth closed. “I’m not family, but good enough to be in here cooking, cleaning, and everything else.”
“I’m not about to repeat myself.” Logic pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Fine, Logic. You're such an asshole.” She stormed past him.
“He get it from his daddy,” Pepper chuckled. “Lionel was a mean old man.”
“And you can go sit outside.” Logic turned his attention to his deadbeat mother.
“Excuse me? I am your mot-
“Don’t even finish that statement.” He glared at her. Logic hadn’t seen their mother in almost eight years and there she was looking like she hadn’t aged a day. Like she didn’t have any worries. Like she wasn’t visiting kids that she had long ago abandoned.
“Bro, please. I told you she was coming,” Sage spoke up.
“And I told your hardheaded ass that I didn’t give a fuck.”
"Oh, he’s just mad because you’re handsome. You look just like your father.” Pepper waved her oldest son off.
“For real?” Sage grinned, basking in the compliment.
“Yes, and you have a lil mustache.” She touched the hairs that tinted his top lip. “You better not be doing grown people things to get that lil shadow.”
“Don’t say no shit like that to him,” Logic frowned.
“Yep, still got your daddy attitude,” Pepper chuckled. “Don’t be mad at him.” She put her arm around Sage. “I just missed yall, it’s been a minute.”
“A minute, huh?” Logic angrily repeated. “Eight years is a minute?”
“I came to visit that one time,” she tried to explain. “And I call a lot.”
Logic gave her a blank stare, and before he could tell Sage to take his mother outside, Scottie stormed from the back of the house carrying her overnight bag. She didn’t bother saying anything to the dismantled family. Scottie walked right out of the screen door and slammed it behind her.
“Your little girlfriend is mad,” Pepper said, breaking Logic's stare. He wanted to go snatch Scottie by the back of her shirt and make her close his door properly, but there was other shit to deal with.
“You gotta go too.” Logic glared at her.
“But bro,” Sage pouted.
“But what nigga? I told you she wasn’t welcome and you went behind my back and asked her to come here?!”
“She’s our mom.”
“And she fucking left you in a house that we couldn’t fucking afford,” Logic barked. “She left you without food, water, and all the other shit you needed to fucking survive.”
“Look, I’ll just leave.” Pepper backed up toward the door.
“Bye.”
“They are my kids, LJ. I have a right to see them.”
“They not your shit!” Logic bellowed with a chest full of anger and hurt. “These are my kids and they been my kids for eight fucking years. If you want to talk to Sage, that’s cool, but take that shit outside. You ain’t welcome in my house.”
“Wow.” Pepper nodded, tucking her lip. “I know that we’ve had our differences in the past, but I guess I didn’t know how deep they ran.”
“Differences?” Logic frowned. “Leaving me with three kids surpasses differences. I simply don’t fuck with you.”
“Sage, I’m going to go.” Pepper cleared her dry throat. She wasn’t expecting Logic to run into her with open arms, but she also wasn’t expecting him to talk to her like she was trash.
“Nah, Ma. You can stay, we can go to my room.” Sage lightly grabbed her arm.
“It’s ok. I’ll come back when your brother isn’t in such a mood,” Pepper said, opening the screen door. Sage turned to Logic, hoping he’d stop her from leaving, but he didn’t. “I'll call you, ok, baby?”
“But-but I don’t want you to go,” Sage choked up. Only then did Logic react. His brother’s cracking voice triggered memories he tried to forget.