6. KD
KD
Islept for about an hour before sneaking out of bed. I had some calls to make and didn’t want to wake Sage up with my talking. Especially since one of the calls I needed to make was to her brother. I didn’t want him to mess around and hear her in the background with his supersonic ears.
Plus, I wanted to check his temperature.
Every chance he got, he reminded me to stay the hell away from his sister.
I wanted to break the news to him that I never listened, but I needed to see where his head was before we had that conversation.
I loved Supreme like a brother, but he should have known better than to try to interfere with matters of the heart.
As soon as I was outside, I pulled out my phone and hit my guy up.
“What’s up, ugly ass boy? Where the hell you been?” he asked.
I smiled, although he sounded like he was furious. I didn’t expect anything less after seeing that I had missed several of his calls last night. He couldn’t have wanted too much since he still hadn’t sent back the contracts I sent over yesterday.
“Good morning to you too. Did you look over that paperwork I sent you?”
“Jrue checked it out for me. She said it looked good. Nigga, answer my question. Where you been, somewhere trickin’ off?”
“I was busy.”
“Busy my ass. I’m your job.”
“Did you sign the paperwork or not, son? We need to get this deal moving. I’m supposed to go check Cashville Casino out next week. I need to have an answer for them before I cash in on those presidential suites.”
“I got it, man. You still out in Jade Harbor?”
“Yeah. I’ll probably be out here for a few more days,” I revealed.
“Oh, OK. Pops shot down that way to get JJ for a few days. I'm supposed to go holla at them when he comes back to town.”
“I’ll probably go by and check in on Sage while I’m down here,” I said, testing the waters.
“Nah, nigga. You ain’t got to do that. Sage don’t need your dog ass checking on her. Jaylen got it covered. I don’t half want him around her. I definitely don’t want you sniffing up behind her with your slick ass.”
Not that I didn’t expect him to give his regular response to me bringing up Sage, but damn.
I needed Supreme to warm up to the idea of us being together because whether he liked it or not, it was happening.
I had already let Sage go once. That was not happening again. I didn’t care who didn’t like it.
“You do know she’s an adult, right? The last time I checked, she was two years older than your little behind.”
“What the hell is going on, Klever? Is she in trouble? Bash took his ass down there out of the blue, and now you’re down there talking about checking on her?”
I hated how easy it was for him to jump to that conclusion.
My baby doll had been in her share of trouble.
The thing was, she never asked for help from any of us until things went too far.
I knew that was the reason Supreme thought we were collectively hiding something from him.
He was actually right. Maybe this was my chance to tell him what was going on.
Then again, I knew that was something Sage would want to do together.
The answer was right on the tip of my tongue.
Typically, bro and I told each other everything.
Supreme had always been like a brother to me, but I had never considered Sage my sister.
I really couldn’t explain how that worked.
I just knew when I laid eyes on her at eleven years old, I was absolutely smitten with her.
Ten years later, she was my wife. Ten years after that, she was still my damn wife. I was never letting her go.
“No,” I finally lied.
Well, actually, it wasn’t a complete lie. As long as I had anything to do with it, Sage would never be in trouble. I was the biggest problem she had to worry about from here on out. For a minute, he was quiet, which was out of character for Supreme. He always had some shit to say.
“Take care of my baby, KD,” he stated calmly.
“You know that’s a given. She’s my baby too.”
“Don’t make me fuck you up,” he threatened.
“Supreme, I got her. I’m never going to fuck her over or make you feel like I’m mishandling her. I know she’s your pride and joy.”
“You also need to know that I love you like a sibling, but I will end your life about my sister.”
“As long as you know that I will also end your life and anyone else’s about your sister.”
“Well, it sounds like we’re on the same page.”
“What’s understood doesn’t have to be explained. Get that material to me, bro. Don’t make me have to hound you. You’re getting in the way of my money. You know I don’t like that.”
“I got you, broke-ass boy,” he said, ending the call before I could respond.
My conversation with Supreme was a reminder that although we had been married long enough for Sage to take everything I had in divorce court, there was a rush on me talking to her dad about us.
I didn’t plan on ever letting her go again.
It was going to be weird as hell for Sebastian to discover us living together out of the blue without knowing what was going on ahead of time.
I didn’t like leaving her people in the blind, but that was never my decision.
From the start, Sage felt some kind of way about her family knowing about us.
I was done letting her drive. With that in mind, I scrolled to Sebastian’s number in my contacts and hit send.
“What’s up, son?” Sebastian answered after his designated two rings.
“I need to holler at you about something. You still in Jade Harbor?”
“The question is, why are you still in Jade Harbor.”
“I had to take care of a little business while I was out here.”
“Where are you staying?” he asked.
“I grabbed a spot.”
“A spot, huh? I got time today before me and my little guy pull out. Where do you want to meet? At your spot?”
“I’ll meet you somewhere. I need to grab a few things.”
“OK, hit me up before it gets too late.”
I didn’t know why Sebastian’s wording reverberated in my head, but it did. It was time for us to let him and the rest of the world know that Sage was mine. She was finally coming around to accepting it. It was time for everyone else to do the same.
I tried it her way. I gave her what she thought she needed at the time.
Sage wanted to be with the father of her child, thinking it would fix her perceived mistake.
I knew she was just trying to save face, but that didn’t make the heartache any less painful.
Knowing that she had probably never been truly happy fucked with me.
I lived in misery thinking that at least the woman I knew was the only one for me was somewhere happy. That shit was dead now.
The nigga I let have her fumbled the ball, so now I was back to pick it up and score.
I should have done more than beat him within an inch of his life the first time he tried to play with her.
The night before I married Sage, I went to his fuck ass to give him a chance to right his wrongs.
I loved Sage, but I knew the only reason she agreed to marry me was because she was desperate and pregnant.
I cared enough about her to want to protect her from whatever was worrying her.
Ten Years Ago . . .
It only took a quick social media search for me to track Jaylen Jackson down.
Not that I had to find his account. He was all over the internet.
Plus, he called himself dating the woman I loved.
I knew exactly where to find him. Nobody questioned me when I walked into the fraternity house and spotted the university’s golden boy standing over a pair of girls, spitting game.
The look on the blonde’s face told me that whatever he said to them was working.
He kissed the one with the afro on the cheek right as I walked up.
A chick with long blonde hair and another one with an afro was a wild combination.
Clearly, ol’ boy didn’t have a type. Neither did I, but that was another topic.
My hand landed on his shoulder while he was whispering in her ear.
“I’m not signing no autographs tonight, bro,” he said after shooting me a quick glance.
“Do I look like I want your autograph?”
“Oh shit. You’re Sage’s little brother or something, right?”
“Or something. I need to holler at you right quick,” I said.
He was really testing my patience. Seeing Sage cry over him already had it thin as fuck.
This bitch-made punk had just told my baby to get rid of their baby, and he was out partying like he didn’t have a care in the world.
I wanted to give him one more chance to make shit right with her.
The music was too loud at the house party for him to hear what I had to say, so when we finally stepped outside, I turned to face him.
“I’m not sure if you heard, but Sage is pregnant.”
“Yeah, she told me. I told her it’s not a good time for me.”
“What do you mean it’s not a good time for you?” I questioned.
“I can’t have a baby right now. I’m going into the draft at the end of the season.”
“It’s too late for all that. You should have thought about that shit when you were raw dogging.”
“I don’t even see how that’s your fucking business. I was the one fucking her, not you. Unless you got some shit to tell me.”
“I’m trying to tell you to make this shit right. I’m sure you rather hear this from me than her dad.”
“Sebastian is supposed to be my agent. I’m not worried about what he thinks about me fucking his daughter. I’m pretty sure if we went to him, he would say the same damn thing. We don’t need a baby. I got big shit coming my way. I’m not letting Sage or any other bitch get in the way of that.”
I didn’t mean to hit the boy. I didn’t even know I was hitting him until a group of people were dragging me off him and yelling about calling the cops.
“Bitch-ass nigga, I can’t wait to see Bash. I’ma make sure he drops your ass.”
The next morning, I married Sage with zero regrets. She apologized a thousand times and asked if I was sure even more times than that. I would have married her under any circumstances.
Say what you will about me, but I loved that girl from the moment I laid eyes on her.
She was perfectly imperfect and beautiful beyond words.
Even when she felt like she was damaged for life, I saw her for what she was worth.
If I had to, I would spend the rest of my days making sure she knew that she was worth her weight in diamonds and gold.
I remembered how nervous and scared she was right before we made our vows. Even if she did it out of desperation, I took my vows seriously. Before we went and made things official, I went and spent half of my savings to get us a place where she could commute to school.
I was twenty years old, and she was barely twenty-two.
It didn’t matter that we were young and dumb.
I was determined to give her and the baby the best life I could.
They would never have to worry about the man who thought they weren’t good enough for him.
Two days later, we were in our apartment eating spicy ramen with chopsticks and planning our future.
All we had was a king-sized bed and a head full of dreams. Even then, I knew that my career would take off exponentially.
I wasn’t worried about anything but making my girl happy.
I was so happy that I wanted to yell from the rooftops that I had married the woman I loved.
She wanted a little time to break the news to Sebastian, so I hadn’t said a word to Supreme either.
I didn’t care if no one knew about us yet.
I was just grateful that my princess was smiling again. I missed her smile.
My entire world came crashing down twelve days later when Jaylen showed up with some half-dead flowers and a healed cut under his eye from when I got on his ass.
I wanted to kick my own ass for going to him to try to appeal to his better nature.
A man who wanted to have his own child murdered didn’t have a better nature.
What he had was a fear of being dropped from Sebastian’s roster.
I sat there watching and listening as he broke the news to Sebastian that he made a mistake when he hurt Sage, and he would do everything in his power to make it right.
I didn’t miss the look on his face when he found out that Sage was still pregnant.
Apparently, she didn’t notice, or she didn’t care.
Either way, the day that fool came back crawling on his knees, begging for another chance, was the day my heart went on ice.
The only thing she offered me was an apologetic smile.
A few months later, I was served with annulment papers that I immediately set on fire.
Just because Sage felt like she could trust Jaylen didn’t mean I could.
I knew she would need me eventually, and I would be right there.
It didn’t matter whose possession she was in. She was mine.
Once I made it to the park, I went for a two-mile run to clear my head.
I tried to make sure I got in a few miles every day no matter what.
Thankfully, there was a perfect spot near the house.
It took about twenty minutes since I wasn’t in a hurry.
I wanted to give Sage a little alone time before I went back home.
Even after a short period of time, I missed the shit out of her, so once I wrapped it up, I hopped in my car, ready to get home to my girl.
Since I’d told Sage I would grab lunch, I called her to see what she had a taste for. I was so caught up in my thoughts that I didn’t have an appetite. Besides, Sage wasn’t vegetarian. I didn’t plan on forcing my eating habits on her, but I needed her to point me in the right direction.
When I saw I had three missed calls from her, I instantly went into panic mode. Three missed calls was never a good thing. I called her back, but she didn’t answer. I was only ten minutes from my spot, so instead of blowing up her phone, I made a beeline back to the house.