Chapter 33
Melody sat at the kitchen table with her sisters, picking at her breakfast while occasionally taking a sip of her mimosa.
Between the food, the drinks, and the nonstop conversation, the morning had turned into one of their usual sister circles.
The occasion made it even better because they were also celebrating her twenty-first birthday.
"How many times you done been to Oklahoma this month?" Harmony asked.
"I don't know." Lyric playfully rolled her eyes.
"No, seriously, every other week you loading up the twins and catching a flight. If you bout to move out there, then just say it.” Melody took a sip and replied.
"That’s Zaire…. He keep flying us out there."
The conversation continued for a while before eventually shifting to Harmony's situation.
Melody and Lyric listened while she recounted the disaster at the warehouse and how everything had blown up in her face.
"I can't believe neither one of them let you explain yourself and made you take an Uber home.”
"But what exactly was there to explain?" Lyric asked.
"See, that's why I should've kept my business to myself." Harmony sucked her teeth.
The laughter slowly died down before the attention shifted toward Melody. Unlike Harmony's situation, nobody found hers funny.
After discovering Judge Wallace was Cameron's father, Melody had practically run out of their house and never looked back. Nearly a week had passed since then, and she had spent every day dodging Cameron's calls and texts.
"You know you gotta talk to him eventually," Harmony said.
"I know."
"So, what you waiting on?"
Melody stared down into her glass.
The truth was she didn't know where to start. Cameron knew parts of her life, but he didn't know everything. He didn't know about the hustling, the court dates, the criminal case, or the fact that his father already hated her.
The conversation continued, but Melody found herself zoning out. Her phone had been going off nonstop for the last ten minutes. At first, she ignored it, assuming it was one of the group chats she was in, but eventually the constant buzzing became impossible to ignore.
When she finally looked down, she immediately regretted it.
Major sent message after message, blowing her up.
At first, he was asking when he could see her.
When those messages went unanswered, he switched tactics and started talking about money, mentioning different plays and opportunities like that would somehow get her attention, but it didn't.
Melody locked her phone and set it back on the table. Major was the least of her concerns, and sooner or later, she would deal with him and whatever conversation needed to be had, but that day wasn't the day.
Eventually, breakfast started winding down, and empty plates and half-finished drinks were scattered across the table when the doorbell rang.
"Okay, let's make a bet on who that is… I bet it’s Vonte, " Harmony looked towards the living room and said.
"Hell naw, it better not be. I bet it's Major."
"I pray to God it ain't that nigga. But I got my money on Vonte too."
"Well, y'all know it ain't for me because none of my niggas fucking with me right now," Harmony stood up from the table and replied.
The sisters laughed as she disappeared into the living room. A few moments later, she returned with a smile.
"Okay, who won?" Melody and Lyric asked at the same time.
"Nobody."
"So, who was it?"
"Cameron."
Melody's eyes grew to the size of golf balls. For a second, she thought Harmony was joking, but after a while, she realized she wasn't.
Slowly, she pushed her chair back from the table and stood on her feet. The walk from the kitchen to the living room felt a lot longer than it actually was.
By the time she rounded the corner, Cameron was standing there waiting for her.
"Baby, we need to talk," he immediately said.
"I know we do." She paused before going on.
"And I'm sorry. I was scared to tell you about everything I was dealing with, and I had no clue Judge Wallace was your pops.
I'm not the innocent girl you think I am.
I got a temper, I like to fight, and I've been getting in trouble since I was a kid.
I never really cared about none of that until I met you, but now it's like my past is finally catching up to me. "
Cameron remained quiet, allowing her to continue.
"Before you, I was in a relationship with this nigga named Major. Major and I did a lot of illegal shit together. I don't want to be with him no more, and I don't want no dealings with him, but he still around."
"What you mean he still around?" Cameron finally spoke up.
"Still around like…. He won’t let go and on top of that he know where you live.”
"Wait. How the nigga know where I live?" He frowned.
"He followed me to your house one day."
"What?"
"And then he popped up again when you wasn't there."
"The nigga popped up at my crib? And you just now telling me?”
"Yes, and I'm sorry." Melody swallowed, fighting back tears.
"Baby, why wouldn't you tell me that?" He took a step closer and asked.
"Because I was scared. Major a street nigga and I…”
"Look, I don't fear no man but God. That nigga bleed just like me." Cameron cut her off.
"I know, but I just kept thinking everything was gon’ blow up."
"Listen to me. I don't give a fuck about what case you fighting or who the judge is. I fuck with you because of you. Yeah, you should've told me about this Major shit, but that don't change how I feel."
"But your dad..."
"What about him? I explained everything to him after you ran out."
"And?"
"And you don't have shit to worry about… Baby, not only can I protect myself, I can protect you, too. Don't let this engineer shit fool you."
A small smile finally appeared on Melody's face.
"But I don't need you stressing yourself out over none of this. We gon’ figure it out."
"What about Major?"
"Fuck that nigga! When I say I got you, I got you.” Cameron nodded before pulling her into a tight hug.