~~~Chapter 21~~~ #3
“What?” My nostrils flared. “How the fuck did you take my truck? And these incompetent muthafuckas let you, when I left my shit with them?”
“You forgot that you gave me the spare key?” He furrowed a brow. “That was all the convincing they needed.”
I sucked my teeth. “Nah, that sounds like a fucking lawsuit.”
“Yeah, yeah. All that good shit. Now, get yo ass in the truck,” he persisted.
“I aint doing shit—” I sassily swerved my neck, before he snatched me up.
“Tootie!” I tipsily screamed, as Malice lifted me off my feet.
Tootie stood back, laughing. “Kinfolk, I’m realizing that my ass is too damn drunk. Aint no sense in both of us getting embarrassed out here.”
Handling me like I weighed nothing, Malice placed me in the passenger seat. Stubbornly, I tried to get back out, and he shoved me back in, before buckling the seatbelt around me. To do that, we were face to face, as we locked eyes.
“Say, chill out. Cause you done really did the most, and I’m trying to take it easy on you. But you really pushing it, and I’m not trying to get out of character. But I will. Just keep fucking playing,” he warned.
Recognizing when it was time to stop, I sighed, before allowing him to close the door. He then turned to address Tootie. “Aye, I got it from here. She going home, and will probably call you tomorrow.”
Wearing a grin, Tootie nodded, before peeking around at me. “I’ma call you, cuz.”
Knowing that she didn’t even jump in, like I’d told her to, I waved her off, and gave her the finger.
Meanwhile, Malice marched around to the driver’s side and hopped into the jeep. I folded my arms across my breasts, as he pulled away from the curb.
“You fucking wild for this,” he clamored, while focusing on the road.
“Ion know what you’re talking about.” I turned to gaze out of the window.
“Nah. Look at me, Jaylah,” he sternly commanded.
Sighing, I turned to look at him.
He glimpsed at me. “The fuck is up? Huh?”
“Why does something have to be up?”
“Because. This is a pattern. Every time something happens between us. Something that you don’t like. Then you run to the club, acting like a thot.”
I frowned. “Acting like a thot? You got me fucked up. Plus, I’m doing the same shit that caught your fucking attention. Don’t forget that.”
“Nah, I aint forgot. You was acting thottish then. The difference now is that you my thot, and you need to move fucking accordingly.”
“Accordingly? Oh, that’s exactly what I’m doing,” I established. “Because anytime a nigga can come in at five in the morning, then I can go shake my ass until I get good and tired.”
“I was handling business,” he argued. “You can’t compare that to you posting up in the club.”
“No, what we’re not gonna do is act like you’re doing something respectable that I should have understanding for,” I sneered. “That street shit is for the birds, and we might as well address the shit.”
He angrily nodded. “Okay, address it.”
“Alright. I don’t see myself doing anything long-term with somebody who is actively in the streets, with no real exit plan in sight.”
He frowned. “Who said that I didn’t have a exit plan?”
I bucked my eyes. “Then what the fuck is it? What’s the amount needed? What do you have to have accumulated?”
He hesitated. “That’s not a simple question. It’s logistics—”
“No, fuck that,” I lashed. “All you gotta do is look at everything you have. The money. The jewelry. The investments. Everything. Then ask yourself if any of it is worth you having to spend the next ten or twenty years of your life in jail tomorrow. If the answer is that not a penny of it is worth you giving up that type of time, then there’s your fucking answer. ”
He sniffed. “I hear you.”
“No, I don’t think you’re hearing me, at all,” I persisted.
“Maybe somebody like Paisley is suited better for you. Because I know that she had her own motion, but me and her are cut completely different. If you didn’t hold up your end, then that would’ve impacted her lifestyle.
When a man is the provider, it sounds a little weird when a woman wants him to compromise their livelihood.
So, although she doesn’t like it, she has to accept what you’re doing, until you’re in the position to do something different.
However, this aint that. I’m never gonna be okay with you not having structure, and always using the hustling as an excuse to run the streets.
And don’t try to tell me that I just don’t understand, when I’m the daughter of one of the biggest D-boys this city has ever seen.
So, I know firsthand that a man with any real motion is a shot caller.
He moves when he wants to. The problem is that you niggas got hustling mixed up with a lifestyle.
Rolling through the hood, kicking it with your boys, gambling is all a choice.
Shit that you don’t have to partake in. And I refuse to believe that whatever business you had to handle, could only be done at four in the fucking morning. ”
After my rant, the jeep fell silent for a moment.
Then he eventually cleared his throat. “So, what are you saying, Jaylah?”
“I’m saying that perhaps the fact that Paisley was such a hill to climb, that we never stopped to examine everything.
I’m saying that you being Khari’s daddy, and fucking me good is not enough.
If you can’t find a balance that we’re both comfortable with, then I don’t see this working.
And maybe you aint up for the challenge of changing, which is more of a reason that you aint got no business tryna stop me from doing—"
“I never said that I wasn’t open to change, Jaylah.
Shit, I done already changed. I aint never been in the house as much as I am now,” he interjected.
“I’m fucking trying, and I need you to bear with me.
You just gotta find a better approach. Come talk to me versus going to do something that you know is gonna piss me off. ”
I slid my tongue across my teeth. “So, me going out is a dealbreaker?”
“Nah. Like you said, I met you in the club. You young and lit. I get it. I just want you to move, like you would if I was right there with you. And you know fucking well that you wouldn’t have left the crib, wearing this bullshit, if I was there.”
I smirked, knowing that he was right.
“Yeah, I see you trying to hide that grin,” he teased. “But it’s all good. We gon see who’ll be laughing in a minute.”