3. Princeton Brentley
Iwalked into the kitchen fresh out the shower and was thirstier than a muthafucka.
My chef whipped up breakfast just right, and because I had a busy day, right after I ate, I hopped in the shower, making sure to put a little pep in my step so I wouldn’t be late to where the fuck I had to go.
But I realized after the fact that I hadn’t even taken a sip of water.
Pais was standing at the island, pecking away at her phone, but the second she saw me, she tried to play it off and place her phone face down on the counter.
Pais never put her phone down unless she didn't want it to light up in front of me, and I already told her ass she ain’t have to do all that around me.
"You still fucking that nigga?" I asked her, getting to the point.
She smacked her lips and crossed her arms under her chest, giving me a look.
"No, PB. I'm not. I'm just tryna make arrangements to take my baby over there to see his daddy every once in a while. You already know this."
"But is you letting him touch you?"
She shook her head slow. "No. I'm not. Why would I still be trying to fuck around with him when I'm living here with you?”
I gave her a long look. She held it too, didn't blink, didn't flinch, and I still couldn't tell you why I asked.
"Yeah, aight," I said, grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge and downing it while she kept her eyes on me.
I walked on out the kitchen after tossing the now-empty water bottle into the trash.
I went upstairs, back to my bathroom, to grab my phone, checking to make sure I didn’t miss out on any money. My assistant Bridget was fire. Couldn’t get shit past her, but just in case, I always double and triple checked my emails.
I could feel Pais behind me before I saw her in the mirror, leaning up on the doorframe with her arms still folded, one bare foot on top of the other. She chuckled at me.
"So, you call yourself being jealous or something?"
I looked back at her over my shoulder. "Nah. But that's your problem. You want me to be jealous, but that ain't never gon' happen. He could never be me. You and I both know that shit."
She smirked and pushed off the doorframe, and I watched her come across the tile in the mirror. She wrapped her arms around my waist.
"Yeah. You right. He could never be you."
Then she spun me around by my hips, and I looked down at her. "Aye, what you got going on, Pais?"
She was already bending down slow, hands sliding down my chest, eyes on mine the whole time.
"I'm trying to please you. I mean, I been living with you rent-free for what, almost two years now?
You make sure Summer and her brother are good.
It's about time for you to start letting me do something for you.”
I caught her by the wrist and pulled her right back up off the floor. She sucked her teeth at me and snatched her hand back.
"Really, Princeton? I can't suck your dick?"
"You know me, and you know I ain't on that type of time. I don't got no problem taking care of y'all. I wanna make sure y'all good at all times. And after the shit that fuck nigga pulled, I don't want you around him unless you dropping Rah Jr. off.”
She rolled her eyes hard.
"See, it's you saying stuff like that that makes me wanna fuck you in the first place," she said. "Don't act like we ain't never had good sex. We used to have the best sex, fucking all night, sweating till the sun came up, coming back to back. You don't miss that?"
I leaned my lower back against the counter, crossed my arms, and just looked at her.
"It ain't about missing it. I’m not dickin' you down ‘cause yo’ ass be actin’ crazy behind this dick."
She laughed and waved me off. "Boy, whatever. You act like it's the best dick in the world."
"I never been subpar, love. Fuck out of here.
" I laughed with her, then I let it settle a little. "But real talk. Me and you, what we got straight. You my baby mama. We can talk whenever, about whatever. You make sure the kids good, and even when King comes over, you’re always making sure he doesn’t feel left out, and that's the shit I like.
I fuck with that. But fucking you, Pais? Nah. That ain't happening."
I walked out of the bathroom and into my room, and she came right behind me the way she always did.
When Pais first moved in with the kids, we were bumping heads every other day. I liked things done a certain way. She thought I was on some control-type shit at first, and after about three months, she figured out I wasn't gon' bend, so she stopped pushing.
Pais ain’t have to lift a finger unless she wanted to. She stayed out my way, and I stayed out hers, and other than her mouth at times, it worked.
I went in the closet, the motion-sensor lights automatically turning on.
My closet was bigger than the apartment I grew up in, and it was set up like a store, the way I asked for it: shoes on the back wall behind glass, everything hanging by color, an island in the middle with the watches and cufflinks in it.
Pais followed me in and hopped up on the little velvet stool by the mirror and sat there swinging her leg.
"Me and the girls supposed to be going out tonight," she said. "And I need some money for something to wear."
I chuckled while I was flipping through my shirts. "You need to sit yo’ ass down somewhere. You always tryna be in muthafuckas' faces, partying and shit," I kidded.
"Oh, I know Mister I'm-not-jealous ain't talking." She was smirking. I ain't even have to turn around to see it. "You can come too if you want.”
I already knew exactly who she was going out with, and I was good on that.
“Nah.” I shook my head. "Now you know I don't fuck with Shonda hoe ass. Not after that time you convinced me to put her down with one of my boys and she robbed him."
Pais started laughing so hard, and as I turned to walk past her to grab a pair of pants, she was wiping under her eye with the side of her finger.
"Boy, she did not rob him. She got what was deserved.
She fucked him real good, and you know he not that good-looking.
He looks like a thumb, so he should've been coming up off that money in the first place.”
I stopped what I was doing and just stood there looking at her.
"Sound like she got what was due to me."
"Yeah, aight.” I walked out the closet with her behind me.
I placed my clothes on the bed, then stopped at the dresser by my bed and pulled a roll out the top drawer, peeling her off enough for the dress, the shoes, and whatever else she was gon' say she needed. She took it and thumbed through it real quick before grinning.
"Thanks, baby daddy."
I didn’t even say shit. I turned to walk off, but she caught my hand and quickly pushed me back onto the edge of the bed.
She stood between my knees, looking down at me. "You act like I don't be seeing you look at me when I be walking around here with my panties on."
"Why the fuck wouldn't I look? You look good, Paisley. And you just reminded me; you do need to stop walking around here in your bra and panties and shit."
She giggled and put her hands on my shoulders. "Why? The kids be sleep, and I promise I'm not gon' trip. I'm not gon' be jealous, and I'm not gon' come at you no kind of way about what you doing, who you with, where you going, none of that. Just let me get one last test drive."
I ain't say nothing. That was my mistake, because she took it as a yes and climbed up on that bed and swung her leg over me. Right when she got settled, my phone went off on the comforter beside me.
I laughed and looked over at it. "Saved by the fucking bell, shawty."
She scoffed and rolled her eyes.
I picked the phone up and saw my brother’s name across the screen. I put my hand on Pais’ hip and moved her off me.
“What’s up? Happy birthday, big bruh! Yo old ass halfway to Costa Rica by now?”
“Nah…” He sighed. “Plans changed. I ain’t in the mood for none of that shit today. Plus, Gin was trippin’, tryna fight the stewardess. Stupid shit. But I need to holla at you, bruh. You busy?”
My brows rose. I was confused.
I looked over at Pais, who was pouting, then said, “Nah, what’s up?”
“Bruh, Noree showed up at my crib today.”
I sat up straighter. “What? Noree? Why the fuck would she be at your spot?”
And soon as her name came out his mouth, my mind went straight back to that weekend. The Ozy Love Weekend Experience, where I met Nourah, the same woman I always wondered about. If she were good, if a nigga locked her down, if she thought about me.
When Reesie died, we all felt that shit bad, and all I could focus on to get my mind off it was my daughter, my career, Pais, and Rah Jr. By the time the smoke had cleared, so much time had passed, and I ain’t wanna disturb shawty’s life.
"Man," Ozy said, and I could hear him rubbing his hand down his face. "She showed up to fill the position as King’s nanny.”
“Damn…well where she at now?”
He sighed. “Shit, I don’t know for real. She almost fell tryna get away from my ass, and she looked upset. Nigga, if you would’ve seen the way she looked at me… I don’t even know what the fuck I did.”
“Uhhh, hello!” Paisley waved her hand in front of my face.
I looked over at her, then gave her a look before checking my phone for the time.
“I don’t know either, but look, I gotta get dressed and head out. I’ma swing by later and chop it up with you. Cool?”
Ozy agreed, and we ended the call. I went to get up, but Pais pushed me back down.
“Aye, chill, P. I gotta dip.”
“Okay, buuut… you can’t spare ten, maybe fifteen minutes?” She rubbed her hand down my chest, but I shook my head.
“Nah.”
I stood up, and she grabbed a pillow, throwing it at me.
“Whatever, Princeton. I’ll just grab my rose since you wanna be stingy with the dick.”
She climbed off the bed angrily, walking out the room.
A few moments later, I got dressed, grabbed my phones, and headed out.