~~~Chapter 23~~~
Jaylah
“Hey, where are you?” Jhyrah questioned over the phone, while my cell was glued to my ear.
Eyeing the Chanel sneakers that I was trying on, I sighed. “In the galleria. Why what’s up?”
“You been on IG today?”
“Not really? Why?”
“Girl…some hating ass bitch done created a whole burner page, dedicated to you.”
I frowned. “Say what, now?”
“You heard me right. I feel like it gotta be Malice’s ex, because everything is surrounding your relationship with him. They stole pictures from your page and even mama’s. So, they’re posting Khari, talking about you got pregnant, after a one-night stand.”
The back of my neck grew hot. “Oh, wow. That definitely sounds like her—”
“Well, don’t you got that bitch’s number?”
“Yeah. If it’s still the same.”
“Okay. Call that hoe on three-way,” she demanded.
“Expeditiously,” another voice added.
I frowned. “Who else is on this phone?”
“Riah and Key,” Jhyrah revealed.
“Yup,” Key finally spoke up. “Now, call that hoe.”
Sighing, I pulled the phone back to scroll through it. After locating Paisley's name, I called her.
“Hello?”
As soon as I heard her voice, I merged the calls together.
“Hello?” She repeated.
“Yeah, this is Paisley, right?” Jhyrah questioned.
“Right? And this Jaylah, huh?”
“Nah, this aint Jaylah. This is her sister and I’m calling to get in your ass.”
“Get in who’s ass?”
“Yours, bitch,” Key added. “And you know exactly what it is. We know you made that fake ass page to harass my cousin, but you gotta know that you’re playing with the wrong one.”
Paisley giggled. “OMG, who do you bitches think you’re intimidating?
We all know that y’all aint about that life.
Ya daddy being in the streets don’t make y’all tough.
Plus, y’all aint the only ones touching bread out here.
I can put some money on y’all heads, right now.
Have some of the most cutthroat bitches from the hood to slide you lame hoes.
Meanwhile, I ain’t gotta lift a finger.”
“Bitch, you crazy, for real,” Key chuckled, knowing that she had a man ready to pull the trigger over her, and had already done so, for less.
“Nah, I’m just the wrong bitch to play with. Should’ve done some homework, because my people will lay it down ‘bout me. Ask Khamere. He knows exactly how my daddy gets down.”
I exhaled, before speaking up. “But what’s the beef about? No matter what, I haven’t came at you sideways—”
“Jaylah, bitch, please!” She lashed, clearly recognizing my voice. “Just like your coward ass got all these people to address little ole me, then you could’ve easily called me like a woman. But I haven’t heard from you.”
“Cause she don’t owe you that much,” Riah interjected.
“I keep telling my sister to stop being so nice to you groupie bitches. You was the one pressed to kick it with her . Then from my understanding, y’all never even physically hung out.
Just chopped it up on the phone. So, what exactly does she owe you? ”
“But did she tell y’all how she’d sit on the phone, listening to me talk about Khamere?”
“And I didn’t know that he was my Malice,” I argued.
“And Jaylah, wasn’t you giving this hoe relationship advice?:” Key questioned.
“Yep. Said that I saved their relationship.”
“Exactly,” Jhyrah concurred. “If you wanna be real, it sounds like you’re the only reason they even lasted for as long as they did.
Sounds like he was attracted to your thoughts that she was merely implementing.
Otherwise, that nigga would’ve been gone.
And I don’t get how that’s not clicking.
That nigga been unhappy and was probably walking around half-dead, sticking to what’s familiar. ”
“I’m glad you bitches are trying to analyze me, like y’all aint got niggas who can be fucked,” Paisley spat.
“Well, seeing as how that dried up pussy cat couldn’t keep Malice, we damn sho aint worried about you fucking ours,” Key rebutted, causing us all to snicker.
“Nah, this pussy is a waterpark. Trust,” Paisley claimed. “Jaylah’s fat ass probably just like gobbling up that artery clogging food he loves to cook and that made him feel good about himself.”
Hearing that, I giggled. “I do be eating the hell out of the food he cooks. Was he making you breakfast in bed too? Or has he ever ate your pussy, after drizzling the syrup from a waffle on it? Cause he definitely has me spoiled. Like this morning. He fucked me, until I was screaming. Then he cooked me breakfast, before eating his breakfast off my ass. And now? I’m sitting here in Saks, trying on shoes, while he’s carrying our fat ass baby around the store.
Then I keep getting distracted by the Patek watch he just blessed my wrist with.
So, I get it, and that’s why I been sparing you.
Cause it gotta suck to know that he’s sliding that big dick into me every chance he gets. ”
“And when I see your fat ass, I’ma slap a few pounds off your Teletubby ass!”
“Girl, fuck you,” I nonchalantly responded through laughter.
“I gotta tell Malice about the power of his dick. Got a scary, lame hoe, thinking that she can really stand in the paint. I think you’re of the belief that because our money is longer that you’d have some type of physical advantage.
But you gone fuck around and get tossed up. ”
“Yeah, whatever,” Paisley scoffed. “I'ma catch you bitches in traffic.” She ended the call.
Everybody on the phone exploded with laughter.
“I know that bitch is heated,” Key snickered. “She’s gonna be thinking about this conversation for days to come.”
“I know, right?” I smirked. “Even though I really didn’t wanna take it there.”
“Well, you better shake that guilty conscience off, because that hoe is doing way too much,” Jhyrah preached.
“I feel like you should get that hoe’s address,” Key suggested.
“Really, Key? Is it that serious?” I questioned.
“Hell, yeah. These bitches have taught me to take all threats seriously. You’re over there, probably thinking that she’s just talking, but to me, she sounds like somebody who’s ready to crash out about that dick.”
“True,” Jhyrah agreed. “I can make a call and have somebody go see her—”
“Nah. Y’all stand down. For now,” I interrupted.
“Alright,” Jhyrah sighed. “Don’t say that I didn’t tell you so.”
“And we still gone ride, regardless,” Key added.
“True,” both of my sisters said in unison.
I smirked. “I know. But on another note, I am still shopping. So, I’ll call y’all tonight.”
“Okay,” they responded simultaneously.
I ended the call, before checking out the posts they’d shared in my dm.
These were the posts that Paisley had allegedly made…
and I could see why they didn’t want to let it go.
That bitch made a post claiming that my fat ass baby’s neck gotta stink with all the rolls and folds she has.
There was post after post, roasting me and my child.
One post even said that my parents had a tenth child, but my fat ass had eaten it.
“What the fuck,” I grumbled, as I scrolled through the numerous posts, wondering where it would end.
“What happened?”
Lifting my head, I found Malice and Khari now standing before me.
I inhaled. “Your girl has made a burner page to antagonize me.”
He frowned. “Paisley?”
I nodded, before handing my phone to him. He then scrolled through the posts, as a frown gradually graced his face.
“The fat, sour, bastard baby?” He grumbled. “Mannn,” he drawled. “This bitch done crossed the line.”
“Yeah, she really has,” I agreed.
Nodding his head, he sat in the chair next to mine, while Khari was energetically bouncing in his lap. “Okay. I guess she didn’t respect when I was trying to handle her with kid gloves. So, now, I’m finna show her how shit can really go.” He handed my phone back to me.
With a raised brow, I sat back and listened, as he called three different banks. Three credit card companies. Then change the codes to the house he shared with Paisely.
“Okay,” I stressed. “I know that you changed the codes to the house to be petty, but I’m sure that she’ll find a way to get into her house. Legally.”
“Nah. Legally, she’s a tenant, at best. And if she calls the laws to get back in, then I’ll just serve her with a eviction notice.”
I squinted. “Wait. So, her name aint on the deed?”
“Nope.”
“Damn…that’s kinda foul, Malice. Cause if a nigga goes through the buying process with me, and bought it while we’re together, then I’d want some type of security.”
“I feel you. And depending on the circumstances, you could be right. Because there’s a lot of women who hold it down for their man.
With a ring or not. But in Paisley’s situation, she had other people in her ear.
Then a situation came up, right before I closed on that house.
My right-hand was in a jam and needed collateral to bond out.
His mama ended up putting her house up, and Paisley made a comment about not taking that type of gamble for nobody.
Like my nigga wasn’t the one who’d bought that house for his mama, in the first place.
It was some more shit she said too, and I never argued or tried to get her to see my point of view.
I just knew right then that I wasn’t putting no real assets in her name, because if my back is against the wall, and I gotta put it all on the line, then I’m not finna wheel and deal with a muthafucka who don’t wanna sign on the dotted line, while my freedom is in jeopardy.
Especially when I’m the one who paid for it. ”
“I hear you. You’re the type to let people show you who they are, with no interference.”
He nodded. “Exactly.”
“Yeah, I’m sort of like that too…but it can also be problematic.”
He furrowed a brow. “How is that?”
“Because…sometimes the tactic is manipulative. Especially if you’re looking for an issue.
That means that the first time a person messes up, you don’t address it, because you’re moving to quietly respond to it.
Or use that as an excuse to do something behind their back.
The issue is that not everything is malicious.
So, when you really care about individuals, you gotta give them the benefit of the doubt.
If it’s something that you don’t like, then address it.
But to convict somebody when they’re unaware of being on trial is a slippery slope. ”
He lightly chuckled. “Why do it always come down to you defending Paisley in one way or another?”
“Truthfully, I’m not defending her. I’m defending logic.
When a person uses emotions to problem-solve, then they’ve already lost. I’m not going against what’s right, just because I don’t care for the person it’s happening to.
Because I can never look past the fact that it could one day be me.
That’s like having a baby with a deadbeat nigga, and being cool with it, until it’s about your baby.
Nah. That nigga already showed you who he was, and that wasn’t a dealbreaker. ”
He nodded. “No, bullshit. But on another note, I don’t think that I’ve ever loved politicking with a woman, the way that I love having these types of conversations with you. That emotionally intelligent shit is so sexy.”
I blushed a bit, while playfully rolling my eyes. “Boy, whatever.”
“I’m for real. After what I just saw on that burner page, there’s not too many women I know that would’ve handled that with the same level of composure. You didn’t let Paisely shake us up. And I appreciate that, because that was something that she never mastered.”
I snickered. “I hear you, but don’t get it twisted. You and I both know that I can get ignorant. I just gotta care.”
“So, you’on give a damn about Paisley, huh?”
I shrugged. “I guess not.”
“Cool. I aint mad at it. You getting those shoes?” He quizzed, as he peered down at my foot.
I wiggled my foot. “I think so.”
“Okay.” He slightly lifted and reached into his pocket, before pulling out a bank roll. “Here you go.”
I arched a brow. “You want the change?”
He cut his eyes at me.
I giggled a bit, before removing the shoe. “Well, in that case, let me grab a few more.”
I definitely appreciated Malice’s generosity, because no matter how much money I had, I’d never pass on a chance to spend his.