Marvin Maddox
I looked over at Alexia and instantly felt that familiar regret creeping back in. I still didn’t know why the hell I kept dealing with her.
Shorty was fine as hell. I couldn’t even take that away from her. Pretty face, body crazy, always dressed like she had somewhere important to be. But her attitude?
That shit ruined everything.
Her ego was through the roof, and the wild part was that she stayed in silent competition with her best friend.
I peeped it every time Sianni walked into a room.
The slick comments, the fake smiles, the little looks she thought nobody noticed.
Yeah, that shit was ugly. But instead of calling it out every time, I just sat back and watched.
My mama always told me a muthafucka would hang themselves if you gave ’em enough rope, and Alexia was damn near building the noose on her own at this point.
“Marvin, why are you looking at me like that?” she asked, finally glancing up from her phone.
I cut my eyes at her before looking back at the TV.
“Looking at you like what?”
“Like you got something on your mind.”
I let out a low breath through my nose, stretching my arm across the back of the couch. “I’m just trying to figure out what the hell got you so locked into that phone.”
Her fingers slowed against the screen a little.
“We’re supposed to be watching a movie,” I added.
A small smirk touched her lips. “So now you paying attention to me?”
I finally looked over at her fully this time, my eyes dragging slowly from her face down her body before coming back up.
“Don’t do that,” I muttered.
“Do what?”
“Act like you don’t know I’ve been paying attention to you the whole time.”
The smirk on her face twitched slightly, and for the first time all night, she finally set the phone down.
“I’m sorry, Daddy,” she muttered.
“Uh-huh.” I leaned back against the couch, my eyes staying on her. “Lemme ask you something, though.”
I let a couple of seconds pass before speaking again.
“You got a problem with Sianni?”
Her face twisted up instantly. “Why does everybody keep asking me that shit?”
A smirk pulled at my mouth, but it ain’t fully formed. “Because yo’ face tell on you every damn time.”
“It does?” she asked, looking at me like she was genuinely confused.
“Yeah,” I replied calmly. “So, what’s the issue?”
She looked away for a second, then shrugged.
“I don’t know, it’s something about her that rubs me the wrong way.”
My brows pulled together slightly. “Like what?”
Alexia sucked her teeth softly before finally looking back at me.
“Every time you turn around, it’s some nigga in her face,” she muttered. “They are always trying to talk to her, always looking at her, and she just lets it happen.”
I stared at her for a second, then a low laugh slipped out of me as I shook my head.
“So, you’re jealous?”
“No,” she answered too quickly.
“Aight,” I dragged the word out slowly, my eyes staying locked on her. “Then why do you sound bothered?”
“I’m not bothered,” she replied, sitting up straighter now. “I just feel like she knows exactly what she be doing.”
That made my jaw tighten.
“Watch how you talk about her,” I said calmly.
The room went quiet after that, and Alexia looked at me for a second like she was trying to read me, but I just stared back at her, my arm stretched across the back of the couch while my fingers tapped slowly against the cushion.
Truth was, I didn’t like that shit at all. Sianni was my cousin-in-law now, and I saw how heavy Kyrie was fucking with her. The way Alexia kept looking at the girl? That shit sounded deeper than jealousy. That shit sounded personal.
“Excuse me?” she asked, cocking her head like she couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“You heard me,” I replied calmly.
She sucked her teeth loud as hell before throwing her hands up. “Oh, my gosh! Don’t tell me you like the hoe too. See? This is exactly the type of shit I'm talking about. Every nigga I deal with wanna be laid up with her. I don’t know what kinda spell this bitch got over y’all.”
I leaned back against the couch, watching her carefully. There it was, her true colors.
“Nawl,” I said after a second. “I don’t like her like that. But she is with my cousin, and for that reason, I respect her.”
Alexia rolled her eyes hard. “Please. You and I both know she’s not really with Kyrie like that. As soon as all this fake marriage shit dies down, he's going to go back to his old ways, and she's going to be right back here with us.”
I sucked my teeth, shaking my head slowly. “I doubt that.”
“And why is that?”
“Because that nigga actually diggin’ her.”
And he was. I ain’t never seen Kyrie act like this over no female before. The nigga had women all over him since high school, but once football and fame hit? That shit got worse. Females were everywhere. Different faces every week.
But Sianni? That shit looked different. The nigga had her staying at his house, walking around calmer than usual, always looking for her with his eyes whenever she was in the room. That wasn’t regular Kyrie behavior.
“Yeah, okay,” Alexia scoffed. “Well, Marissa has been in my DMs saying Kyrie has been hitting her up and telling her he wanna marry her once all this dies down and his image is fixed.”
That almost made me laugh. I already knew Marissa was fucking crazy. Kyrie told me himself that he regretted dealing with her because the girl got obsessed and wouldn’t let shit go.
“You believe that if you want to,” I said.
“Oh, so now I’m lying?”
I held her gaze before pushing myself off the couch. “You know what? I can’t do this anymore.”
Her face twisted instantly. “What?”
“This jealousy shit.” I shook my head. “It ain’t cute no more.”
“What are you even talking about?”
“And I know about you and Amani.”
That shut her up quick. Her eyes widened so damn fast it almost made me smirk.
“What?!” she shouted, jumping up from the couch so fast she almost lost her balance. “Marvin, you trippin’!”
“Am I?”
“Yes!” she snapped. “That’s my brother. Why the fuck would I do some weird shit like that?”
I ain’t even argue with her; I just laughed. Then I grabbed my phone from the table, unlocked it, and pulled up the videos.
The second I turned the screen toward her, all the color damn near drained out her face.
“This is fake,” she replied, quick as hell. “That shit AI.”
“AI?” I shook my head slowly. “Shorty, you got caught. Just stand in it.”
Her mouth kept opening and closing, trying to find another lie, but I was already over it.
“Nawl,” I muttered, sliding my phone back into my pocket. “Get the fuck out.”
Her head snapped back. “What?”
“You heard me.”
“Marvin, stop playing.” Her voice softened instantly as she stepped closer to me. “You know I love you.”
“Nawl,” I replied, looking down at her hands when she started reaching for my belt. “You love what comes from me.”
“Baby—”
“Watch out,” I cut in, grabbing her wrists and moving her hands away from me. My voice stayed calm, but my jaw was tight as hell. “That mouth ain’t fixing this shit.”
She stared at me for a second like she couldn’t believe I was serious.
I stepped around her and headed toward the bedroom. “And leave that phone on the counter before you go.”
“But Marvin—”
I ignored her completely, walking into the room and shutting the door behind me before locking it.
Then, I dropped onto the bed, dragging both hands down my face. I was done with that hoe.