Chapter 11
Eleven
X arielle
The ex was stressing Kept out. I liked to keep the sliding glass door that led from my room to the side deck open so that I could enjoy the ocean breeze. I figured the deck was where Kept disappeared to after he left my room. The deck was quiet and serene. It offered the silence he required.
From there, he would able to watch the sunrise that gave him so much contentment.
It would also give him time to get his social meter up for the day ahead.
There was going to be a lot of stimuli, verbal and otherwise.
I was happy he was getting the time alone, particularly because I knew it would probably be the only time he was alone that day.
But not the ex bitch. She didn’t care about interrupting his solitude.
She didn’t care about putting him on the spot and asking him questions that he shouldn’t have to answer.
She walked away. She chose the other dude over Kept and the girls.
Why did she get to question him about whether or not he still had feelings for her?
Couldn’t she see that he was in a whole different space in life?
I shouldn’t have been surprised though. She had the same spirit as Tasha, and of Vivienne, even though she claimed to be reformed. It was a selfish spirit that put their own needs before anybody else’s. I couldn’t honor that spirit.
“What’re you doing, baby?” he asked when I dropped down to my knees right in front of him.
I looked up at him with a grin on my face. “I like when you call me baby. Keep doing it.”
I pulled down the joggers and the drawers he was wearing. The scent of a masculine shower gel hit my nose when his dick bounced free. It smelled like fresh air, cedar wood, and a hint of musk. I produced saliva in my mouth, then licked the head.
“Damn, baby.” His hands immediately went into my braids.
“I want you to be surrounded by calm right now. You need to be relaxed in order to deal with your people today.”
With that, his dick disappeared into my mouth.
The Butterfly Garden at the Dorothy G. Jackson Community Center on Jackson Island was a magical place.
It was a large field. One side of the field featured an immense variety of flowers and milk weed plants meant to entice butterflies to stop by to feed, lay their eggs, and pollenate.
There were several mid-sized trees that would shelter the butterflies from wind and rain as well as benches and fountains.
The other side was an open grassy knoll with picnic tables so visitors could enjoy the butterflies without interrupting them.
“My little cousin is the world’s biggest sweetheart, but I don’t know about this butterfly shit,” Yahirah muttered as the two of us worked together to cover the four picnic tables with butterfly-themed tablecloths.
“Butterflies are creepy as hell to me. Those legs, those antennae.” She shivered. “Eww. They give me the creeps.”
I gave a small smile. She stopped what she was doing and watched me intently.
“What’s going on with you, bestie?”
“Nothing.”
“Stop playing in my face, Xari. You’re acting weird.”
I gave her a genuine smile. “I’m acting completely relaxed and totally . . . I’m talking totally satisfied.”
“What does that mean?” Yahirah’s lips were pulled up into a cute grin. “What are you telling me?”
“Me and?—”
She cut me off before I could finish. “You and Kept? Are y’all having sex? Wait. Are you all a couple?”
“We’ll see. Right now? We’re just good. So good.”
“Well, he needs somebody to be good with right now. I can’t believe both Vivienne and Jayla showed up this weekend.”
“I don’t know what Vivienne wants from him, but I definitely know what Jayla wants. I heard her this morning asking him if the feelings were still there after she told him about how much she regrets leaving because the other dude is dogging her out.”
“Is that why she’s out here all blonde haired and blue eyed? What did Kept say?”
“He basically asked her what feelings she was talking about.”
Yahirah laughed heartily. “Yes, cuz. Let that bitch know.”
“Let what bitch know what?” Vivienne asked.
Apparently, she and Mama Reese had snuck up on Yahirah and me.
“Mama!” Yahirah cried. “I asked you to stop sneaking up on me.”
“And I told you to pay attention to your surroundings.” Mama Reese eyed both of us. “I told both of you that and look at you. Out here talking about folks . . . gossiping and not even looking up to see who’s coming.”
“Let what bitch know what?” Vivienne repeated.
Yahirah’s eyes shot to her mother like she was requesting permission to speak. I didn’t know Vivienne, so I wasn’t about to stand on formalities with her.
“His ex,” I explained. “She’s here, pretending it’s about Dakota. When really, she wants something from him that she doesn’t have a right to ask for.” I eyed her. “But there seems to be a lot of that same audacity going around.”
Vivienne didn’t respond. She just looked off into the distance plaintively.
I didn’t care for her, and I also didn’t care that it was based on the fact that she was just like Tasha in my book.
She’d hurt and abandoned Kept. She stayed gone for years, living life and doing her.
And when she was finally ready, she made her triumphant return and expected acceptance with no concern for how Kept felt.
I rolled my eyes and sucked my teeth. “You ready, Yahirah?”
The birthday party was a success.
“Am I the only one who wanted to beat Jayla’s ass?” Trinity asked.
When the party was over, I ended up riding back to the house with Ayden, Yahirah, and Trinity. Jayla had beaten me to the passenger’s seat of Kept’s truck under the pretense of wanting to be with the girls. I knew what she was trying to do—paint the picture of them as a family.
“With all of the panting and sweating she was doing, it looked like she was beating her own ass,” I quipped from the back seat.
Yahirah sputtered while both Trinity and Ayden laughed.
“Out there trying to be I’m every mother .” Yahirah made a play on words with the song title “I’m Every Woman.”
“Which she is not. You can’t be every mother when you’re seeing your children for the first time in over a year. You’re every deadbeat,” Trinity added.
“Over a year?” I repeated. I couldn’t imagine having girls as precious as Dakota and Destin and not seeing them.
“Yeah,” Yahirah confirmed. “And she’s been in the U.S. for over a month and is just now coming to see the girls.”
“Well, shit. Vivienne’s been right over in Londynville for Kept’s whole life. She’s just now coming to see him.” Ayden tacked on.
The vehicle went quiet. My heart went out to Kept. He didn’t deserve all the drama the women in his life were dumping in his lap.
When Ayden finally pulled to a stop in Kept’s driveway, the five of us climbed out wearily. The family had managed to hold things together for the party, but now that we were away from the public eye, I wasn’t sure if shit was going to hit the fan or not.
We could hear the elevated volume of voices as soon as Mr. Boudreaux opened the front double doors for us and we stepped into the foyer. They weren’t yelling, but the volume was louder than a regular conversation. The woman’s voice rang out, and I knew it was Jayla.
I immediately started looking for the girls.
They didn’t need to witness an argument between their parents, and besides that, it had been a long day.
They were sweaty and tired from running around all day.
They missed their nap. They needed baths and time to recalibrate.
I followed the hallway that led from the foyer to the kitchen, looking for the girls.
Kept and Jayla were in the kitchen. He was putting out the extra food from the party with Destin attached to one of his legs. Jayla stood at the island, a slight frown on her face, as she watched him. Dakota leaned against the refrigerator. Her face was the very definition of exhaustion.
She caught my eye right away when I entered the space. I held my hand out to her.
“Come on, Dakota, baby. Let’s?—”
Jayla cut me off. “I didn’t ask you to get her. When you see me standing here, as her mother, if I don’t ask you to get her, don’t get her!”
I’d had a lifetime of people playing in my face, particularly family members. One thing I didn’t do was let people talk crazy to me without provocation. I spoke up for myself before I even thought about it.
“Who are you talking to?”
At the same time, Kept said, “Yo, don’t talk to her like that!”
By that time, the entire family had migrated into the kitchen and were watching us like a movie.
“Oh. Ho. Okay.” Mama Reese chortled at Kept’s response to Jayla. “My nephew is mild-mannered, until he’s not.”
“Trinity, can you take the girls upstairs and?—”
She stopped him. “I got it, big bruh.”
“June, we’ll take—” Vivienne began but Kept cut her off.
“Nah.” He shook his head. “I don’t want you to take them. I want Xarielle to take them, but it’s her day off. So, Trinity’ll take them. I want to talk to you,” he pointed at Jayla, “you,” he pointed at Vivienne, “and you.” He pointed at his dad. “Let’s go in my office for a minute.”
“Oh, shit,” Nehemiah stage whispered, causing his wife to punch him in the bicep.
While we laughed at Nehemiah’s antics, Kept led the other three out of the room.