Chapter Three #3
“Ok listen, I know that Co is irresponsible as shit. My mother coddled his ass, and she didn’t have to say it, I know Co was her favorite,” I told Kaliyah. That part wasn’t a lie; my brother was truly a mama’s boy. .
“I’m not making excuses for him, but you know that he and daddy have a strained relationship.
He tries to go above and beyond to kiss our father’s ass because he feels guilty for not being able to run the gym like Bernard wanted.
So anytime daddy says jump, Co says how high should I go up?
It was daddy’s idea to paint, and Co inserted himself into that trying to be an ass kisser and forgot his own responsibility.
I bet they are over there at the house, right now covered in paint and arguing over who is right or wrong about something.
Daddy is trying to tell him how they used to do it back in the day, Co doesn’t want to hear it and they are both ignoring their phone.
I want to apologize to you on his behalf, and I will come and get my niece and nephew and take them over to auntie’s house.
Their daddy will get them from me in the morning.
I know you and him are going through y’all thing right now, but that man loves his kids you know that. ” I told my sister-in-law.
I leaned back in my chair and the headache I’d been fighting all day doubled.
Kaliyah laughed softly before saying, “You always clean up after him.” I glanced at the family picture again.
My brother had the biggest heart of anybody I’d ever met.
He’d also drive you insane, in the same day.
I cleaned up after him because somebody had to.
“Family means everything to me Kaliyah. You and the kids are my family. I love y’all.
It’s late, I’m sure the kids have already ate and you have their bags packed.
I’m leaving the gym and I will be there in thirty minutes to pick them up and take them to Auntie’s house. I’ll handle it,” I assured her.
“You always do Brick. What the hell would your brother do without you? Why didn’t I just marry your ass instead?” Kaliyah laughed.
“Cause you not really my type sis. You are too pretty, you have no waist, and you have a fat ass. My type is more tall, rugged, hard hands, thick biceps, and oh yeah, a dick. A big thick dick is definitely my type, and you don’t have any of those things so I’m sorry it would never work between us,” I joked and she laughed loudly causing me to smile.
“I’m sorry about that loser, I will be there in a minute.
Get some rest, I have a key I will let myself in, grab the kids, and lock up on my way out.
Good luck on your first day tomorrow,” I told her and we hung up.
I put in an order for a bouquet of flowers to be delivered to the house for her at 8am, with a note attached that said, “Congrats on your first day.” I knew that would make her smile.
I put the phone down and looked over at Trallis, who was unusually quiet.
“Aww that is so sweet you love your brother so much,” she said breaking the awkward silence. I pointed at the door and told her to get out. She laughed all the way back into the hallway. The second, the door closed behind her, I looked back down at my phone. There was a text message from CO.
Baby Brother: My bad sis. I got caught up with some thick shit. Can you do me a favor and pick up your niece and nephew from the house? I don’t feel like being bothered with Kaliyah’s whining ass.
Me: I got you bro. Next time shoot me a text instead of having me worried about your big head ass
Baby Brother: I’m sorry sis, let me tell you about this thick lil bitch I just had in the hotel room….
Me: TMI, I don’t want to know about your extramarital affairs. I hate lying to your wife and acting like you care about her while you are out here being a dog. Mommy wouldn’t like this.
Baby Brother: You always have to guilt me by bringing Mommy into this.
I have been separated from Kaliyah for a year.
I no longer live there. She won’t give me a divorce, even though we both haven’t been happy for a long time.
Maybe if you would stop selling her dreams, she would finally sign the damn papers.
Me: I just hate to see her hurt, that girl loves you. You are a grown ass man and it’s time you start acting like it. Leave these hoes alone, go get your family back, it ain’t nothing in these Atlanta streets but diseases and bitches looking for a come up. You have a good girl at home.
Baby Brother: Love you, bye.
Every time I tried to convince Co that he should take his ass back home, he always dismissed it.
He claimed to be so sick of being married but had no problem using marriage as a way to fuck multiple women without them getting attached because they signed up to be side chicks.
I felt sorry for the weak ass, low self-esteem ass girl that he just had in someone’s cheap ass motel room.
He was the reason I didn’t trust men, especially not the attractive ones.
What type of man was separated from his wife and pretended that they were still married so he could get pussy?
“My trifling ass brother,” I said aloud answering my own question.
I wrapped up my research and found a name for the juice bar.
I also sent emails to a few of my contractors asking for a quote.
I planned to turn one of the empty conference rooms in the gym into an official juice bar.
It would be a cute little addition to the gym and a way to keep that money in house and out of the juice man’s pocket.
Satisfied with my plans, I locked the computer, stood up to stretch, and walked out of the office locking the door behind me.
I had planned to stay longer and go over some payroll and profit loss margins, but Auntie duty called.
It annoyed me that my brother barely helped run the gym with both of our names on it and barely showed up as a father as well.
I wished that he would just get his shit together.
When I made it to the front of the gym, Shelly and Trallis were grinning sinisterly at me, and I frowned my face at them.
“What are those smiles about?” I asked them as I crossed my arms.
Shelly pointed to a beautiful, large wicker box that I noticed was sitting on top of the counter. It had THE JUICE PLUG on the front of the box the large logo had a juice plugged into a man’s arm fueling him through a workout. I rolled my eyes in annoyance.
“What is this garbage doing here?” I asked angrily looking back and forth between Trallis and Shelly.
“The fine ass man from next door just dropped it off,” Trallis said as she unscrewed the top on a juice with his logo on the front and began drinking it hungrily.
Shelly smiled at me and I walked over and took the top off the box.
Inside there was shredded paper, a menu, 10 different juices, and a note. The note said:
I’m sorry for stealing your spot. It won’t happen again. Take this box as a peace offering, I hope you enjoy the juice. You inspired me to create a new one, it’s called Midnight in the Parking Lot, I hope you enjoy it.
With Love and Juice,
Zumo
I folded the note and placed it back into the box before pulling out juices one by one.
Each juice had a different name on the front.
I picked up the one with the name MIDNIGHT IN THE PARKING LOT.
I unscrewed the top and took a sip. The taste of watermelon, carrot, cranberry, and a few other ingredients I couldn’t place exploded in my mouth.
It was unlike anything I had ever tasted, and my eyes closed in bliss.
It was better than good and worth every brag.
I didn’t know I finished the bottle until I took it from my mouth and held the weight of the empty plastic in my hand.
“I told you it was good,” Trallis grinned sheepishly.
I looked through the box in envy at the names of a few of the juices and I couldn’t help but smile, Spin the Block, Red Flag, Toxic Trait, Ghosted, Double Text, The Side Piece.
The names were hilarious, and if the juices tasted anything like MIDNIGHT IN THE PARKING LOT, it was going to take a little more than some basic ass juice and a cute new name to compete with Zumani Welsh.
I could tell he was going to be trouble, and I had enough shit on my plate to deal with, I didn’t need to add in the fine ass juice man from next door.