Chapter 26
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Yanna was supposed to be going to the hospital to keep her mother company, but she felt stuck.
Like the weight of all her transgressions, irrational actions and bad decisions were suffocating her, making it difficult to move.
She had to do something to rid herself of the current desolation that consumed her.
She needed to start along the path of getting her life together because, in its current state, she wouldn’t survive much longer.
The most pressing situation of them all was by far the paternity of her baby.
She couldn’t believe she put herself in such a perilous position, but there she was, and she needed to exude some sort of responsibility.
Her first thought was to call Trell, because that had to have been easier than talking to Kas at the moment.
Swallowing what little pride she had left, she grabbed her iPhone from beside her, sat up on the bed, and dialed Trell’s number.
“Wazzam.” Trell answered, loud music filling his background.
“H—hey, Trell, this is Yanna.”
“I knew that. What you need, love?”
“I um, I need to talk to you about something.”
“I’m listening.”
Yanna released a deep breath because she could already tell her task wasn’t going to be an easy one. “Well, it’s kind of important, so I think it would be best we talk face to face.”
“Oh, so what you gone hop on a flight?”
“Well, I wasn’t planning on it. I got a lot going on here.”
“I mean, if you need to talk face to face, the only way you gone be able to do that is by catching a flight to Nola. Unless you wanna wait until the next time I’m out in VA, but who knows when that’ll be.”
Annoyance was growing within Yanna, but what other choice did she have?
Dropping news to her two-time one-night stand that he’d potentially gotten a perfect stranger pregnant was not news to be broken over the phone.
However, she was not about to fly to the bottom of the map when her mother was in the hospital, knowing anything could happen.
“Can you at least go somewhere quiet?”
There was silence on the phone for a moment as if Trell was contemplating it. “Yea, hold on right quick.” The sound of walking then a car door closing sounded through the phone. “Ight, go ‘head speak yo piece, love.”
“Ok, well, I really don’t know how to say this, so I’mma go ahead and just spit it out. I’m pregnant.”
“Uh huh.” Trell was waiting for her to tell him more. Waiting for the part that was relevant to him.
“What you mean, uh huh? I don’t know if your memory is bad or if you fuck that many girls, but the second time we were together, we didn’t use a condom. There’s a possibility that my baby is yours.”
“Possibility, ha?” Trell didn’t try to conceal his laughter.
“I’m sorry, this situation is funny?”
“When you think about it, it kind of is. I told yo ass all I had to offer you was one thing, right?”
“Yea, but—”
“Nah, ain’t no buts, love. I peeped yo steez from a mile away. Fucking with me only because you was mad at the next nigga. A broad like you pulled the okie doke on me one time before, and I’ll never let it happen again.”
“You act like I did the shit by myself, nigga, I’m not capable of getting my damn self pregnant.”
“But clearly another nigga is since I’m a possibility. I meant it when I said I only had one thing for you, yo ass still chose to fuck off with me, so that poor choice is on you. I ain’t no poo putt ass nigga though, so there is one more thing you can get off me.”
Almost instantaneously, Yanna’s phone pinged. Pulling it away from her ear, she saw Trell had sent her an Apple Cash payment for one thousand dollars.
“Wow, really?”
“Yes, really, Yarra. Don’t act all surprised like this was more than it was. You don’t want me, you want that other man, and I don’t want you. I just wanted to fuck. Take the money and get rid of it because this shit is a no-go.”
“I don’t believe this.” Yanna spoke more so to herself than to Trell.
“Believe it, love. A lil’ word of advice for you too… fix shit with the nigga you want to be with instead of letting lil’ girl emotions drive you to make bad decisions. Because when you do shit like that you end up running into a nigga like me that don’t have no heart left to give a fuck.”
Yanna was fully prepared to curse Trell the hell out, but the three beeps on the other end of the phone let her know he’d already hung up.
She looked at her phone just to be sure because she couldn’t believe he’d told her to get rid of her baby then paid her for it.
Aborting her child would never be an option, but she surely wouldn’t be sending him his money back.
She’d accept that as payment for making her feel like a complete fool…
mostly because he’d been right. She allowed hurt feelings and overreacting to lead her to make rational decisions, and now her life was an episode of Maury.
Although she knew there were people she could talk to, her embarrassment hindered her from doing so, making her feel alone.
Swallowing back her tears, she slid her feet into a pair of sneakers so she could go and spend time with her mother.
At the moment, she needed to be around someone who’d also managed to self-sabotage their life.
“Ma, look at these flowers and cards you got. See, people do love you,” Yanna informed her mother, walking through her hospital room and rearranging the bounty of gifts she’d received.
“Yea? What the cards say? Sorry you’ve drank yourself to death. See you at the funeral?”
“Why the hell would anybody say that, ma? It’s mostly people sending you well wishes, thoughts, prayers and all that. Ooh look, somebody sent your favorites… blue hydrangeas. They’re from… what the hell? Trash.” Yanna tossed the bouquet in the trash can after reading the card.
“From who?”
“Doesn’t matter. They’re gone now.”
“Jaiyanna, tell me who they’re from.”
“They’re from Jaivion and just like him, they’re trash.”
“Take them out.”
“Take them out? Why would I---”
“Little girl, take them out!” Janis screamed, resulting in a bout of coughing.
Yanna rushed over to her mother and held the cup of water for her to take a drink. “Calm down. I can’t understand why you would even want anything from him.”
“Sit down, there’s something I think you need to understand about me and your father.”
“Jaivion.”
“Your father. I know you’re upset for how he left us, and I’m not saying you don’t have the right to be. It wasn’t his fault though; it was mine.”
“Hell nah. What you not gone sit here and do is blame yourself. He left you, left us, that could never be on you.”
“Except it is. I’m not some sad ass female down on myself thinking it was my fault because I wasn’t sexy or pretty enough. Hell, only bitch in this city that came close to fucking with me is my sister. When I say it was my fault, I mean it.”
“What? How?”
Janis patted the side of her bed for Yanna to sit. Yanna placed down the card in her hand and went to sit next to her mother.
“So, he’s long gone now, but the man who killed your uncle Jaiden is the same man who killed your uncle Troyan.
Your father knew this, but of course me and your auntie Kamilla didn’t.
In the months that followed both of their deaths, I watched your father become a different man.
He lit the whole damn Northside up looking for this one nigga---”
“I already know he used to be a murderous ass drug dealer. What does that have to do with anything?”
“Girl, let me finish. So, he thought he was getting close to finding ole boy, and it seemed like he was in the streets more than at home. Your Auntie Kamilla forced me to go out with her one night, and we ended up seeing your father coming out of a hotel room with some model looking bitch.”
“Figures.” Yanna scoffed.
“Same shit I said. Anyway, me and Kamilla beat the hell out him and her, right in the middle of Broad Street. Getting that wreck off felt good in the moment, but it wasn’t enough.
I was devastated. So… after I dropped Kamilla back at home, I went to the after-hours spot.
There, I met this fine, tall ass guy. With all the alcohol in my system, I didn’t even need time to think when he asked me to go home with him. ”
“If Jaivion could do it, so could you, shit.”
“Hmph, I’m starting to see how much like me you truly are.
I was thinking that same way, went home with that man, and tried to fuck away all the pain and sorrow I felt.
That man had me in his house for two whole days.
Then, on the second night, niggas came through guns blazing.
Shot his ass up while he was in the shower. ”
“Damn.”
“Yep. I was so caught off guard the most I could do was hide under the damn covers. That’s when I heard one of the niggas say, Aye Jai, it’s a bitch in the bedroom. Instantly, the hair on the back of my neck stood up because I knew who they were talking to.”
“Jaivion.”
“Jaivion Priest… and he’d just caught me in the bed of the nigga who killed his brother and his best friend.”
“Ma, you lying.”
“I wish I was making the shit up. Your father never laid a hand on me before, but he choked the hell out of me that night. Made his little flunkies put my ass in the trunk to take me home. I sat in the house with you for three days, wondering what he was going to do to me. He eventually showed up with proof that he wasn’t having sex with the lady I saw him with.
She was the private investigator helping him find the man he killed. ”
“Wow. So…”