23. Ozyris Brentley
The party was jumping.
Kids everywhere out in the backyard. Two bounce houses, clowns, face painters, a snow cone machine, a whole petting zoo, and whatever else you could think of that could be at a kid’s party.
I ain’t spare nothing. Man, King was having a good time, and that’s all that mattered to me. He had the biggest smile on his face the entire time.
And you already know I dripped my boy out.
I ain’t care if he was gon’ get dirty, mess up his clothes, or even break the chain I iced him out with.
He had on designer from head to toe, and his little girlfriend was following him all around.
The photographer was snapping pictures of everybody, and once shit calmed down a little, I ended up with a red Solo cup because, kid’s party or not, I needed to have a lil’ sip of something, especially since they were doing a whole bunch of yelling, running, and falling.
The moms and dads of the other kids were acting starstruck at first, whispering and shit, then sneaking their phones out to take pictures of me, but I wasn’t sweating it.
I looked around the backyard. That’s when I saw Noree standing over by the cotton candy table.
I walked over to her, and when she looked back and saw me, she smiled. “There’s the man who cuts the checks…I just know I’m getting overtime for being here when I’m not even on the clock today, right?”
I laughed. “I do more than cut checks.”
She giggled and then put her hand on her hip. “I know that silly. I was just playing with you… you having a good time?”
I nodded, then held up my red Solo cup, and she smirked.
“I might need a little bit of that… this is a lot. It’s beautiful, and everything looks perfect. King is having a ball, BUT all these kids running around is low-key making my nerves bad!” She laughed.
“I got you, love.”
I surprised her and myself when I stepped a little closer, took the red Solo cup, and put it to her lips. She made eye contact with me the whole time as I tilted the cup for her. She took a few sips, then pushed the cup away.
“Damn… that’s strong.” She playfully patted her chest. “What’s that?”
“You know I only drink brown, baby.” I winked at her, and she shook her head.
“Whatever.” There was a slight pause before she walked over to me and placed her hand on my arm. “There is something I wanted to talk to you about. Do you mind meeting me in the kitchen?”
“Aww, shit. What done happened?” She laughed, and we fell in step with each other, heading towards the kitchen.
“Nothing like that. It’s just a conversation I had with King.”
Once we got to the kitchen, there were a few staff members standing around, just making sure everything was staying organized, but I dismissed them for a moment, and once they left the kitchen, we were alone. She placed her hand on the counter and looked at me.
“Sooo, King told me this morning that he wants me to be his new auntie instead of Ginger.”
I peered down at her over the top of my cup, took one more sip, then laid it on the counter and crossed my arms. “Oh, so you finna propose to me?”
She slapped my arm. “Boy, no.” She giggled.
“I think the two of us have been getting a little closer than we were before, and I think King is noticing. He said that I’m sincere and that Ginger isn’t, so he wants me to be his new auntie because he likes me.
I know it might not be too serious, but I did wanna run that conversation by you. ”
“What did you say?” I quizzed, and she looked at me confused.
“When?”
“When he said that,” I replied.
“Honestly, I just kind of shook it off and told him to head downstairs so he can eat breakfast.”
“Oh, my fault, love. I thought you were about to tell me that you agree with him.”
She gave me a look. “It’s not that I don’t agree with him, but clearly you’re taken, so that’s not something that can happen.”
She set her phone down on the kitchen counter.
“So that kiss ain’t mean shit?”
“It doesn’t matter if it did, Ozy…” Then she paused. “Oh! I got a gift for King that I wanted to run past you. One sec.”
She dipped out, and I shook my head because her ass was jiggling heavy in that outfit. I damn near wanted to kiss her ass again. She was always tempting me, and the crazy thing was, she wasn’t even trying.
I chuckled at the thought of King trying to persuade her to be his new auntie.
I grabbed my cup and took another sip just as Ginger walked into the kitchen. She walked right over to me and said, “Babe, I’ve been looking for you. What are you in here doing?”
“I was waiting for Noree to come back. She said she got a gift for King and wanted to run it by me first before she gives it to him.”
“Mmm… that’s cute,” she said with a snooty attitude.
“Chill,” was all I said. “Ain’t ‘bout to be no shit at my nephew’s party.”
She scoffed. “I’m not even doing anything.”
“Yeah, aight.”
A phone dinged, and out of habit, both of us looked at our phones, but Ginger said, “Oh, whose phone is this?” Once she realized the message wasn’t for either of us, she reached for the phone on the counter.
Noree came back into the kitchen excitedly, holding a huge painting in her hands. “Okay, so I don’t want to bring the mood down, and I didn’t wanna upset you or King, but I thought this would be super cute to maybe hang in his room. I just didn’t wanna overstep.”
“Okay. Lemme see.”
With the same infectious smile on her face, she set the painting down and then spun it around to face me, and honestly, the painting was beautiful as hell.
It was a picture of my sister sitting in a chair with angel wings, and King was standing next to the chair, hugging her while she kissed him on the forehead.
“Damn, I ain’t gon’ lie, Noree, this is tough.
” I stepped closer, admiring the painting, looking at every little detail.
I loved how she came up with something thoughtful for his birthday and didn’t think to buy him toys or something that wouldn’t serve any purpose to him probably in the next couple months.
This right here was something he could keep forever, and I fucked with that.
“Really? You like it?” she asked nervously.
“I love it, and I think King will too.”
I gave her a hug, no hesitation, and held onto her tight. She wrapped her free arm around my neck, and no cap, I deadass forgot Ginger was standing there until she cleared her throat.
“Aww, well, isn’t this cute… you’re hugging her when you really should be cursing her sneaky ass out.”
We both pulled away from the hug, confused, Noree’s lips now poked out as she set the painting to the side, ready to snap on Ginger.
“I’m so sick and tired of your weird ass! What are you even talking about?”
Noree went to take a step forward and was pointing in Ginger’s face, but I put my arm out to separate them. Ginger started laughing.
“Oh, I’m weird? Hell no, it’s your ass that’s weird. When my man was down at his lowest, going through it, I was the one that was there helping put the pieces back together while you kept messaging him on IG and through email with your thirsty ass. That’s why I had to block you.”
“Wait…” Noree placed her hands on her head. She took a long pause. “You’re the reason I couldn’t reach him?”
“Yup! You were blowing him up nonstop, and I wasn’t about to let you come in and steal my man. But now it all makes sense.” She held the phone up. “You weren’t just trying to get his attention. You were trying to tell him you had his fucking baby, weren’t you?”
Noree’s eyes grew wide, and a nigga’s ears perked all the fucking way up.
“Yeah… if you’re going to do dirt, you should at least make sure your phone is locked.”
“Gin.” My face was harder than a muthafuckin’ rock right now. “What the fuck are you saying right now?”
Ginger held up Noree’s phone. “The name on this thread says Ma with a bunch of hearts next to it, and Ma just sent you a bunch of pictures of a baby girl. Right above it, I see, ‘What is my baby doing? FaceTime me right quick so I can talk to my baby. How’s my baby sleeping through the night?’” She looked up at Noree. “Should I keep going?”
I damn near broke Ginger’s fucking fingers trying to get that phone out her hand. I stared at the pictures for a long time. This baby had my whole face. She had my eyes, my nose, my lips, and she looked just like I did as a baby.
I looked up and over at Noree, who was now crying, and that shit right there practically confirmed it for me, but I still needed to hear her say the fucking words. “Is she mine?”
“I’m so sorry.” Noree’s voice came out barely above a whisper, so I stepped into her personal space and grabbed her by the chin. I made her look me dead in the eyes, even with tears falling and a little bit of snot coming out. I didn’t give a fuck. I needed her to look me dead in my eyes.
“I said… is she mine?”
TO BE CONTINUED…