~~~Chapter 4~~~ #3
I tittered. “Girl, calm down. It wasn’t like you’re thinking. I didn’t hop on the first dick I saw.”
“Okay, so how did you end up with him?” She wanted to know.
“We saw each other in the club. We flirted. Then I left. He caught up with me outside, and asked if he could holler. It was cold, so I sat in his truck with him. Then muthafuckas started shooting. I mean, it was a whole fucking shootout.”
“Nah,” my sister gasped.
“Yes, girl. Shit was crazy. It looked like a planned hit. On a whole crew of niggas. They were walking ‘em down, the whole nine.”
“Wait a minute. You’re talking about that shooting outside of The Den?”
“Yep.” I nodded.
“What the fuck? About five dudes were killed that night.”
“Really?”
“Yes. How the hell you didn’t know?”
“Because. I wasn’t really on the phone like that.”
“So, you left with Malice after the shooting?”
“More like we left while they were still actively shooting. He realized that people were exchanging gunfire, and floored it. Then even as we were down the street, they were still shooting. Hopping out at red lights and shit. So, he jumped on the freeway. From that point, I just kinda decided that I was gonna kick it with him. Hell, we’d already driven across the city. ”
“But that was days ago,” she pointed out.
“Right,” I agreed. “And I was supposed to be dipping my toe in the pool. You know. Get a feel of this single life. But I wasn’t expecting for the dick to be so big ,” I stressed. “Sis, I aint never had no dick like that. And I just…kinda got carried away.”
She smiled. “Was it the best you ever had?”
“ The fucking best. It was like he already knew my body. He never left me hanging. And was literally picking my heavy ass up, girl. Whew.” I fanned myself at just the thought.
“So, you like him?”
“I mean…I guess you can say that. But it was just one weekend. I don’t know that man, for real.”
“I feel that. Because let’s be real here. If that nigga looks good and has some money, plus a big dick…then you know that he’s got some hoes.”
“True.” I nodded. “But couldn’t the same be said about Sin J?”
She rolled her eyes. “Girl, bye. That nigga aint trying to die. Cause after three fucking kids, I wish he would.”
I snickered. “Yeah, you’re right. My brother-in-law aint crazy.”
“I know,” she absently stated, as she pulled up to my recently built four story home. “Is that Zae’s truck in the driveway?”
Gazing at the BMW X7, I exhaled. “Yeah, that’s his, but I don’t know what the fuck it’s doing here.”
“Girl, bye. You know exactly what it’s doing here. He’s in there, waiting on your ass to come home. That’s why he has a key, and clothes hanging up in the closet. In his eyes, y’all are just going through the motions. Meanwhile, you been hopping all over some new dick.”
“Because I’m single,” I added.
“Yeah, I hear you. But tell that to Zae.”
“I will.” I swerved my neck.
“Okay.” She nodded. “You bathed before he dropped you off, right?”
I frowned. “Of course.”
“Alright. I’m just asking, just in case that nigga’s on some bullshit. I would hope that you wouldn’t go in there smelling like sex.”
“Ewe. Hell, no. But that has nothing to do with Zae. I wash my ass in general, hoe.”
“Girl, duh. But shit happens, and I’m just checking all the boxes. Cause you just showed your ass, and aint no telling how that nigga is gonna react.”
“Tuh,” I spat, as I absently gazed out of the window. “That nigga aint crazy.”
Jahreiah twisted her lips. “Look, don’t get this shit twisted, Jaylah.
Yeah, our family has a name out here, but niggas will always be niggas.
So, don’t ever think that one won’t try you.
Because let’s not pretend that there hasn’t been family members who regularly get knocked between the washer and dryer.
We’ve both heard and seen it. Then those manipulative niggas wager their love, forcing them to either choose their relationship or get the family involved.
Because you can never have both. When you make a call for the family to step in, then you have to be completely done.
Cause there’s no turning back. Everybody knows that.
So, there’s undoubtedly some cousins in this family who suffer in silence, and won’t let anybody handle their niggas because they love them. ”
“I know, but that aint me,” I swore.
She pursed her lips. “I hear you.”
“Kay,” I inhaled, as I grabbed my bags from the backseat. “Thanks for the ride, sissy.” I leaned over and kissed her cheek. “Love you.”
“Love you too,” she responded. “Call me tonight.”
“I will,” I promised, before hopping out of the car.
With my bags in hand, I moseyed up my sidewalk, and ascended the steps leading up to my front porch. After entering my code into the door, I heard a click, before I pushed the door open.
“What the fuck?” I grumbled, as I noticed the wilted rose petals on the floor.
Cautiously, I traveled through the foyer, taking everything in.
There were oversized stuffed animals and balloons on the first floor.
Rose petals led upstairs to the primary living area.
Once I made it to the second floor, I saw that Zae had gone all out.
Looked like he’d had food catered. Everything was professionally decorated in silver, gold, and white.
And I’d missed it all, as some of the food had already been eaten, and there were empty bottles of Don Julio on the counter.
Stepping closer to my sectional, I arched a brow, as I saw Zae snoring on the couch. He was shirtless, and merely wore basketball shorts, exposing most of his chocolate, chiseled, heavily tatted skin.
Admittedly, he looked enticing, as his washboard abs flexed, while he breathed deeply.
To put it plainly, Zae was that nigga. He was super tall, had a cut physique like a boxer.
His skin was smooth, while his hair was in an ocean of waves.
He was unquestionably handsome…but that didn’t matter.
Me and him had been broken up for over a month, and he had no business sleeping on my damn couch!
“Zae,” I called out to him.
“Huh?” His head popped up, and he opened his bloodshot red eyes. “Oh, shit,” he uttered, after laying eyes on me. “You finally home, huh?” He gradually sat up.
I folded my arms across my breasts. “What are you doing here?”
“What chu mean?” He opened his arms. “You texted me Friday night, claiming that you was about to head home from the club.”
“Right.” My lashes fluttered.
“Okay. So, how the fuck are you just now walking through the door?!”
I sighed. “In case you forgot, I don’t answer to you. And me mentioning going home wasn’t an open invitation for you to show up. So, what are you doing?”
His nostrils flared, as he scooted off the couch. “How the fuck do you just wake up and decide that you don’t wanna be together no more, and think that I’ma just accept it?”
“I didn’t just wake up one day and decide anything,” I responded calmly.
“I’ve been telling you that I wasn’t happy.
You told me that you were gonna do better.
I was giving you the chance to get right, but what do you do?
You go and text your old bitch behind my back.
And to me, that was the universe showing me that it was time to call it quits. ”
“Call it quits?” He snarled.
“Yeah.” I nodded.
He stomped up to me. “Where the fuck have you been?”
I rolled my eyes. “It doesn’t matter.”
“Don’t fucking piss me off, Jaylah,” he growled. “Cause I’m really trying to keep my fucking composure.”
“Zae, are you fucking losing your mind? I keep telling you that we’re through—”
“So, you aint gone even acknowledge my efforts?” He cut me off, opening his arms.
I sighed. “This was…cute, but it changes nothing, Zae. I can bet that you didn’t do any of this yourself.
You paid somebody else to do it, and that goes right back to what I don’t want.
You honestly didn’t have to spend no bread, and that’s what you can’t seem to grasp. I want what money can’t buy.”
“And what’s that?” He snapped.
“I want somebody who loves and knows me like the back of their hand. It’s been three years and you still don’t know what I like.
I tell you that I feel like I need more from you, and you run to the mall.
When really all you had to do was slow down and pay attention.
You never come over and watch TV with me.
We never take rides, just because. And I refuse to be something that you just check off your to do list.”
“Rides just cause? Jaylah, come on. You forget that we don’t live in the same realities.
You literally set for life, while I gotta get it out the mud.
If I don’t hustle, then I don’t eat. So, nawl, I don’t always have the time to give you a whole day of nothing.
But I try, baby. I wanted us to live together, but you wouldn’t even do that, for real.
The smallest irritation, and you run back home.
Then you constantly remind me that you don’t need me for nothing.
This shit goes both ways, and you don’t be willing to meet me halfway. ”
“And if you wasn’t talking to your ex bitch, then you might have a valid argument. But now, I aint trying to hear that shit. But not just that. I’ve had to question you too many times. I don’t trust you. And—”
The ringing of my cell interrupted my rant. Glancing down at my hand, I saw that it was an unprogrammed number calling.
“Who is that?” Zae gritted.
“I don’t know—” I barely got out, before he abruptly pried my phone out of my hand.
“Hello?” He answered the call on speaker, while locking eyes with me.
“Yeah. Damn. I’m trying to figure out if I got the right number.”
Zae frowned. “Who you looking fo?”
“Shit, I’m looking for my Big Baby. She’s about 5’7, brown skin, thick as fuck. You seen her?”
Zae seemed momentarily speechless, as his jaw dropped.
Nervously, I licked my top lip. “Can I get my phone—”
I flinched, as Zae hurled my phone into my TV, creating a sizable hole.
“Zae, what the fuck—”
Fuming, he yoked me up by the hoodie I was wearing. “So, you was really somewhere fucking another nigga?”
I slid my tongue across my teeth. “I’m single.”
“And I should break your fucking face,” he growled, before shoving me back. “Let me get the fuck out of here,” he grumbled, as he stomped around the room, snatching up his belongings.
When he was fully dressed, and had his keys in hand, I breathed a sigh of relief.
Not because I was afraid. Nope, that wasn’t it.
It was because I didn’t hate him, and I would hate to make that call.
But I would, and I knew that his mama wasn’t trying to bury her son.
So, he did us both a favor when he jogged downstairs, and then out the front door.