28. Khalil
I pulled the pizza from the oven just as the alarm announced Piper’s arrival.
Since we were going to bed early to get up for our flight, I wanted to get dinner started early.
Pizza was the only thing I was good at making, but I got no complaints.
I gave Donnie two weeks off since we’d be gone for that long, so I had the task of feeding us tonight.
Setting the pizza on the stove, I went to greet my wife at the door. Once she came into view with the beautiful four hundred long-stem roses I’d sent to her in her arm, along with her bag, I stepped out to help her.
“Hey, beautiful. I wasn’t expecting you this early,” I said, placing a kiss on her lips.
“Yeah, I got irritated and decided to leave early.”
“Who fucking with my baby so I can beat they ass?”
“Apparently your new baby mama.”
I frowned deeply. “What?”
The alarm sounded again, and I could see Nia’s car pulling up to the gate. I pulled my phone from my pocket and hit the button to the gate then looked at Piper for an answer.
“What you mean, Pipe? Where that shit come from?”
“We’ll talk,” she said just as Nia pulled up to the door, and Kiy jumped out with her ankle biter in her arms.
“Thanks, Dad! Thank you, M2! I love it!” she exclaimed, hugging us both.
Piper smiled. “You’re welcome, PGK. Now, this is only a trial run. We have one month to take care of her and train her right, or daddy is going to make us give her up.”
“I will! I promise!” She hurried inside the house as Nia got out with Kiy’s bag, iPad, and phone in her hand.
“She was so in the rush to get that dog here that she just forgot about her stuff.” She giggled. Her eyes then went to Piper, and I stepped closer to make sure nothing transpired between them. This would be the first time since their fight in college that they came in contact with one another.
Nia smiled at her. “I see the queen has returned to her rightful throne.”
Piper smiled back. “Yeah. Bad decisions made me abandon it, but that’s done. How are you, Nia?”
“Can’t complain. He shouldn’t have had that seat filler in your shit anyway,” she said, cutting her eyes at me while handing me Kiy’s belongings.
“Agreed.” They both laughed, which made me relax, but my mind was still swirling with the shit Piper said.
“A’ight, y’all done yet?”
“Boy, hush.” Nia waved me off. “But I’m glad you’re back, Piper.
I know we had our differences in the past, so I’d like to apologize for the way I acted.
I wasn’t in the best mental space back then, and I took my frustrations out on you both.
Seeing you guys’ connection made me a very jealous person, but I realized he was never mine to have.
“He was my best friend, who had a vulnerable moment with me, and it produced that beautiful little girl in there. That was all it was supposed to be between us. He found his person in you, and I see how much he’s still crazy in love with you.
” That pulled a smile from Piper and me that made Nia turn her lip up playfully. “Ugh, y’all so ugly right now.”
We laughed as Piper stepped closer to her.
“It’s water under the bridge now, Nia. We all had to grow up to realize our poor decisions, and I appreciate your honesty and apology. All is forgiven.” Piper held her arms open, and they embraced.
“Thank you,” Nia replied, wiping the tear from her eye then letting her go. “Well, I gotta go. Y’all have fun on y’all’s trip. I wish I could be on an island sipping margaritas and letting my hair down.” She giggled.
“Come with us,” Piper offered.
“Oh, hell nah—”
“I don’t want to be on the island with you anyway, lil’ ugly,” Nia said, putting her hand up to stop me from talking. I didn’t take offense, because this was how we interacted now. Just like when we first met.
“Don’t listen to him, Nia. If you want to come, I wouldn’t mind, and I’m sure Kiy wouldn’t either. Besides, having someone there around my age will be good for me. We can get drunk and gossip.” Piper made a silly face, which caused Nia to laugh.
“Only if it’s okay with him. I can close my shop down and pack my shit before sundown.”
“Do yo’ ass even have a passport?”
Nia wiggled her fingers at me. “Been had one, FYI. Try again.”
“And what about Rick? You just gon’ leave him out?”
“His job is remote. I’m sure he’ll love a good vacay too.” She smirked.
“Then it’s settled. You’re coming.”
“Period, queen. Let me go. I’ll see y’all on the jet tomorrow at five!” She hurried and hopped back into her whip and drove out of the gate.
“I’ma fuck yo’ pretty ass up. Ain’t nobody tell you to invite her.”
She giggled. “And why can’t she come?”
“Fuck all that. What’s this shit about a new baby mama that had you irritated?”
Piper sighed then pulled me inside and shut the door. “Anais came to my job today, claiming she’s pregnant by you. And since she couldn’t get in contact with you, she stalked me, came into my job, and decided to deliver the news to me to give to you. Thinking that would get me angry.”
“What the fuck is wrong with this stupid-ass bitch? I never hit her ass raw, and that bitch ain’t got a maternal bone in her body, so she was popping birth control pills like she was popping molly.”
“It may be possible that she stopped taking them when you proposed to her, or she felt like she was losing you. I wouldn’t be surprised if she poked holes in the condom.”
“Yeah, a’ight. Fuck a possibility.” I walked over to the wall and grabbed the keys from the key rack. “Kiyanne!” I called from the intercom.
“Yes?”
“Come on. We gotta go somewhere right quick.”
“What are you doing?” Piper asked me.
“You’ll see.” Kiy came down the stairs with that little ugly, furry-ass dog.
“Can I bring Aria?”
“Yeah. Let’s go.” I took Piper’s hand and led them out to the garage. We got inside my Porsche truck, and I pulled out of the gate, heading to a bitch who had me fucked up.
It only took us thirty minutes to get to CVS and then across town to Anais’s crib. I pulled in her driveway behind her white Range Rover.
“Kiy, stay in the car, and keep the doors locked. We’ll be right back,” I told her.
“Okay.”
“You. Come,” I said to Piper, grabbing the pharmacy bag and getting out. Piper met me as we headed up to Ana’s door.
“Khalil, this is crazy. It’s not even that serious, babe. I don’t believe her.”
“It’s definitely that serious. Before I let her monkey ass try to ruin us, I’ma end this shit now.” I took my fist and pounded on the door. I didn’t stop until it flung open, and Ana appeared, looking upset and frustrated.
When she saw who stood at her door, her anger turned into shock and fear.
“Khalil, what—”
“Watch out.” I pushed her ass aside and guided Piper inside, slamming the door behind us. “So you think you gon’ keep playing these childish-ass games, Ana?”
“What are you talking about? No one’s playing any games with you!”
“You pulling up to my wife’s place of business on some fuck shit!
I don’t know why you think I won’t shut you the fuck down, but you should know my reach!
I know motherfuckas that’ll have you and your daddy scooping cow shit for the rest of y’all fucking lives if you keep being on bullshit.
” I tossed the bag to her. “It’s three tests in there, and you gon’ piss on all three.
Once it’s confirmed that you’re pregnant, I got a doctor that can do a DNA test while the baby is still in utero. ”
“Wife?” she asked, looking appalled.
“Out of all the shit I just said, that’s all you got out of that? Let’s go. Get your ass in the bathroom and handle that. My wife is coming with you to make sure you ain’t on bullshit.”
“I’m not doing that! You think you can play me for this tacky stripper, and I just allow it? I’m Anais Wellington! Nobody plays me and thinks they’re going to get away with it!”
Piper giggled. “The fact that you think you’re somebody because your daddy used to own a basketball team is crazy.”
“Fuck you, you dirty cunt!”
Piper reached around me, but I was quick to snatch her up. “Nah, mama. Don’t give this bitch more shit to talk about. Get the fuck in the bathroom, Ana. Last time saying it.”
“Now! You delusional-ass bitch,” Piper said, pointing her finger toward where she believed the bathroom to be.
“I’m calling the cops! This is harassment and trespassing!”
I grabbed her by the arm and moved her toward the bathroom down the hall.
“Let me go! You can’t do this to me!”
“Watch me.”
“Okay, okay! I’m not pregnant!” she exclaimed, snatching away from me.
“We gon’ make sure. Get in there.”
“No!”
I pulled my gun from my waistband and cocked it. Anais jumped back as if I lit a fire to her ass.
“Khalil!” Piper screeched.
I ignored her. “You got five seconds, Anais.”
She ran into the bathroom, ripping the tests from the boxes and papers, pulling up her dress, and sitting on the toilet.
“Babe, put the damn gun away. You made your point.”
“I need to make sure I did. I’m not having a repeat of what we went through to have you run away from me again. I’ma annihilate any threat against us, as I should have done back then.”
“I’m not running, Khalil. I told you that multiple times.”
“I know, but the shit is still triggering. Ain’t nobody gon’ fuck up what we got going on ever again. And I’d slump any nigga or bitch who think they can.” My eyes went to Anais, who pretended as if she wasn’t looking or listening, but I knew her nosy ass was tuned in. “Piss!” I yelled at her.
“It’s hard to do with you screaming at me!”
“I yell, nigga. I don’t fucking scream.”
She huffed and pushed that shit out on all three sticks, then capped them all before standing, wiping herself, then washing her hands.
“This is sick. You won’t get away with this.”
“I bet I will. If any of what went down today gets out, I’m going to do as I promised, and your luxurious lifestyle will be over before you even fucking blink.”
She plopped down on the edge of the tub as we waited for the results to come. Once they did, I looked at them on the counter, and they all confirmed that this ho had lied.
“So whose test did you steal?” Piper asked. Anais remained silent.
I put the gun to her head. “Answer her.”
“Okay! My dad invited Isaiah and his wife over for dinner to sever any investments they had together. I knew, as a pregnant woman, she would have to use the bathroom, so . . . I rigged the toilet.”
“You are a fucking nutcase. I didn’t see the shit before, but you gotta be missing a few nails in the toolbox.”
“I gave you two years of my life! And you just said fuck my feelings!”
“You said fuck my kid. You thought I would stay with your ass after you blatantly called her a loudmouth and disrespectful? Not only that, you never fucked with her unless the cameras were watching. Fuck outta here with that. Let’s go, Pipe.
Fucking up my quality time for this dumb-ass shit!
” I put my gun away, grabbed Piper’s hand, and left her house.
I could hear Anais inside, screaming and crying, and I felt nothing. That ho had me fucked up.
Piper chuckled before we made it back to my truck. “You are insane.”
“I ain’t denying that shit. But I wasn’t playing when I said I’d body anybody who tries to stand in our way. Celebrity or not.”
“Oh, goodness. Let’s go, sir. I’ve never seen this gangsta version of you, but I’m immensely turned on.”
“Good. Because I’m about to give you this gangsta dick as soon as we get home.”
She laughed as I helped her inside the car, got inside, and sped off.
Piper needed to know that I wasn’t playing about her anymore. Before her ass ran again, I would make sure I got rid of any threat against us living out our dreams.