Chapter 23
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
THREE WEEKS LATER…
“First of all let me saaay, you can’t accuse me of all the things you know that you are guilty of. And I see… that it is easy for you to blame everything on me!” Kas loudly sang off key to the Keyshia Cole song blaring from his wall speakers.
He was a mess. His curly mane was dry and matted to his head. He’d been wearing the same Tee shirt and sweats for the past two days. A bottle of Dussè was clutched in his hand while the other rested over his heart.
“I might as well haaaad cheated on youuuu YOU as much as you accused me of cheating. I might as well haaad lied to youuu YOU!” Kas continued to croon at maximum volume as his front door swung open.
“What in the hell… boy, what are you doing? We have to get out of here soon!” Layla marched into the living room, elegantly dressed in an off white one shoulder jumpsuit.
Her hair and makeup were done to precision as they were all set to attend Troi and Onyx’s co-ed wedding shower.
Onyx came in behind her, also dressed in navy blue and off white for the occasion.
“Mumma, it hurt. It hurt so bad, I think I’m having a heart attack.”
“You not having no damn heart attack, boy. I told you that yesterday. Goodness, Onyx, can you take him upstairs to get dressed? I’ll go put on a cup of coffee.”
“I got him. Bring yo ass, Kas.” Onyx gripped his brother’s hand and pulled him from the couch.
He had to practically push him up the winding staircase, directing him to his bedroom.
He went into the bathroom and turned on the shower, adjusting the knobs until the water was lukewarm. “Hurry up and take a shower.”
“You trying to say I stink?”
“Nigga, yes. Gone nie, you fitna make us late.”
Onyx waited in the bedroom while Kas took a shower, still singing the entire time. Ten minutes later, he emerged with a towel wrapped around his lower half, stumbling his way into the closet.
“Aye, Nyx?”
“Yea?”
“I’m fucked up, and I’m not talking about the liquor.”
The confession caused a pang to shoot through Onyx’s chest. He never wanted his brother to feel anything other than joy but knew he couldn’t protect him from everything. Certainly not from heartbreak. “I know, baby bruh… I know.”
“I tried, Nyx, I really did. I loved her the best way I knew how.”
“You did.”
“And she fought me the entire time. At the first sign of real problems, she ran from me like she’d been training for the shit.”
“Dusted yo ass.”
“Like Sha’carri Richardson doing the 100-meter race.”
“She’s a runner, she’s a track star,” Onyx sang.
“Bitch fast as fuck. Jetted and took my poor lil’ heart with her.”
“Yea, but I mean, you knew she was a flight risk. You spooked her, and she took off… did some irrational dumb shit. I had one of those before. When I started feeling that shit in my chest so much, I felt like my shit would bust open… I went and got mine.”
“Nah, that shit was different. Yanna had a damn fuck fest that involved my cousin, all Troi baby did was get some ---”
“Better not finish that.”
“I’m just saying, shit is not the same at all.”
Onyx released an exasperated lungful. “You love her?”
“Yes, but I hate her too. I hate her so bad that it almost make me love her more… that make sense?”
Oddly enough, Onyx understood what his brother was saying perfectly. “Yes, it makes sense. Look, we got to get going, but we’ll talk more later. Let’s just get through this shower and make sure you don’t say shit to her if you can’t be cordial.”
“I ain’t gone fuck up y’all shower. I don’t want my sister pissed at me,” Kas assured as he stepped from the closet. As soon as Onyx laid eyes on his brother, he howled loudly. “What’s funny?”
“You ain’t going nowhere with me dressed like that!
” Kas had pulled a full outfit together, but the ensemble didn’t make sense.
His navy blue trousers were on theme, but the red and black Gallery Dept.
hoodie paired with purple and black Retro Jordan 12s didn’t belong. “Take them shoes and that hoodie off.”
Onyx went into Kas’ closet and chose a proper shirt and shoes to go with his pants.
In less than five minutes, he was dressed and looking somewhat put together.
Onyx hoped the Clive Christian cologne would be sufficient enough to cover the liquor scent radiating from Kas’ pores.
They descended the stairs, where Layla was waiting with a fresh cup of black coffee.
“We only have twenty minutes to get to the venue. Should I ride with y’all?”
“Nah, you go ahead and ride with Troi,” Onyx replied, still not feeling his mother.
“Ok, fine.” Layla’s feelings were wounded, but she didn’t have time to dwell on herself. She was more worried about the fragile state her baby boy was in.
Yanna exhaled in relief, finally being able to relax.
With so much going on in her personal life, she was afraid she wouldn’t have everything for the shower set up in time.
Luckily for her, the decorator Onyx hired had done the brunt of the work.
She’d just finished bagging prizes she’d purchased for games and arranged them on a round table.
Taking a step back, she assessed to make sure the table looked nice and didn’t clash with the food stations and souvenir table the decorator set up.
Once she was satisfied with what she’d done, she took in the venue as a whole.
The theme for Onyx and Troi’s joint wedding shower was tea party brunch, decorated in the color scheme the wedding: navy blue, off white, and blush.
Yanna completed her assessment and was confident she’d done her job as maid of honor.
It was almost time for the shower to start, and her family waltzed in right on cue.
She exchanged pleasantries with Troi and Onyx, who quickly ran off.
Her heart skipped a few beats when she laid eyes on Kas.
He was dressed well, Gucci loafers, monogram collar shirt, AP watch glistening on his wrist. However, Yanna could see past the designer wear and commanding presence.
He was hurting. Such was evident by the look of sorrowfulness resting behind his eyes as he looked her up and down then walked right past her.
Layla approached her next, with a less than pleased look on her face.
“Hold out your hand.”
“Huh?”
“You heard me, little girl. Hold it out.”
She was confused, but Yanna did as Layla requested and held out her hand. Shock gripped her as Layla slapped the backside of the extended hand. “Ow, lady, did you just hit me?”
“I sure did. Bring your ass in this room.” Layla pulled Yanna into an empty room with Troi running in behind them and closing the door. “I should kick your ass. My baby boy is a damn mess behind the little stunt you pulled.”
“Well, he did it first.”
“He did it first? Jaiyanna, you need to grow the hell up and think about how your actions will affect people before you do it.”
“Me? Look who’s talking, Ms. Surprise baby daddy.” Layla’s eyebrow rose, and her face grew stoic as she glared at Yanna. She immediately wished she could swallow back those words. “Too far?”
“Too fucking far, girl. Watch yourself nie.”
“I’m sorry, Mumma Lay… but I’m hurt too, damn. I know I did something terrible, but everything can’t always be on me.”
“And it’s not. However, you have to learn to take accountability when something is on you.
When you were saying Kas wasn’t your man, you should’ve stood on business, because the moment you saw him getting a little attention from someone else, you lost it.
But you took it too far, ladybug. Now I don’t know if y’all can recover. ”
“I’ll take accountability when I’m all the way in the wrong, but Kas was wrong too. That girl should’ve never been there.”
“You’re not wrong about that, but instead of you running off and doing the unthinkable… a little communication would’ve gone a long way.” Layla lovingly patted Yanna’s shoulder. “We’ll talk more once the shower is over, okay?”
“Yea,” Yanna replied quietly, her mood suddenly downtrodden.
“Don’t be looking all sad. It’ll be okay eventually. I still love you.”
“I love you too, lady.”
The couples’ shower kicked off shortly after the family’s arrival.
Kamilla, a few of Onyx’s aunts and cousins as well as some random people neither Troi nor Yanna knew very well were in attendance.
Janis was supposed to come, but she’d called Yanna that morning and told her that she wasn’t feeling well, meaning she was too drunk to pull herself together.
That was fine with Yanna because she had enough going on without her mother being there to make things worse.
The shower was progressing perfectly. The guests gorged on delicious brunch food and enjoyed a few games.
She’d completely forgotten that Layla had come up with some game to entertain the guests that involved three couples.
The bride and groom-to-be, Kamilla and her boyfriend, Chauncey…
then Kas and Yanna. They’d agreed to play the game before things between them went sour.
Yanna tried to back out, but Troi wasn’t having it.
Three couples were needed, and there was no one else who could fill in.