~~~Chapter 24~~~ #2
Taking a deep breath, Malice stepped onto the porch, and gazed at me. “You went and checked on Khari, right?”
I nodded. “She’s right there in the foyer in her stroller.” I glanced back to see that my baby was bight eyed and bushy tailed, as she gazed at us with a lopsided grin.
“So, what was happening by the time you was pulling up, Key?” My mama questioned, as she now standing on a step.
“By the time we got here, Malice pretty much had it covered. He was handling the fuck out of them. But I still had to tag them bitches, once I realized that it was four of them,” Keyasia reported.
Standing back, I studied my daddy to gauge his reaction.
He was nodding, okaying what he was hearing.
My only concern was him taking issue with Malice, before getting to know him, properly.
My daddy wasn’t super judgy, but for some reason…
how he felt about my relationship with Malice mattered more than I cared to admit.
So, I was praying that this thing with Paisley didn’t become bigger than it already was, and interfering with the life I was trying to build.
Malice
“Yeah?” I answered a call, while I was behind the wheel of my Rover, while parked at a corner store in the hood.
“So, I gotta use somebody’s else’s phone to get you to answer?” Paisley sassily questioned.
“Mann,” I drawled. “The fuck do you want?”
“What I want? Are you fucking serious? I want access to my fucking house, nigga!”
“What house? Can’t be the one in that gated community with that ten-thousand-dollar mortgage. A mortgage that you obviously can’t afford. Can’t be talking about that house. Cause if you wanted to live there, then you wouldn’t move how you move.”
“So, I gotta kiss your ass for you to do what’s right?”
“What’s right? That shit went out the window the minute you started posting my daughter on social media.
That’s why I had them people to pack up everything you had in that house, and drop it off at ya mama’s and daddy’s.
The bridge was burnt then, but then you showed up to where my baby rests her head, and that’s venturing into a whole different territory.
You’s the enemy now, and you’ll never eat off my plate again. ”
“Eat off your plate? The same muthafuckin’ plate that I helped you make,” she seethed.
“The fuck did you help me make, Paisley? The way you be talking, you’d swear that I was a scrub when I met you.
I was already doing my thing. It was you who told me that your daddy wanted to do business.
Then that nigga wanted me to take consignment off the rip.
After one round, I told him that I didn’t need no more advances and that nigga was heated.
Because he thought that I’d be another worker.
But he learned early on that I wasn’t going.
So, anything after was on the up and up.
Nothing extra, just because I was with his daughter.
Shit, you know that like nobody else. That tight ass nigga makes you work for everything you have.
It’s the same reason that you can’t afford to pay the bills without me. ”
“Look, whatever,” she scoffed. “You’re so fucking ungrateful. And it sounds like you have real strong feelings towards my daddy, when he’s shown you nothing but love and respect.”
“Nah, I aint got nothing against that nigga. You just not about to use him or nothing else to hold over my head. This shit is a wrap, and any help I was gonna give…you fumbled that. So, what’s up?”
“Really, Khamere?” She sniveled.
I sucked my teeth. “Man, miss me with that bullshit.”
“But—”
Tired of hearing her voice, I ended the call.
Then I sat back for a minute to reflect on some shit.
It had only been a week since Paisley had shown up to the house to jump Jaylah.
Since then, things had been relatively calm.
Jaylah’s people swore that they were going to get some people to lay hands on Paisley again, but nobody had managed to catch up with her.
With her no longer having access to my house, I didn’t know where she’d been resting her head.
But if she kept up the bullshit, then I wasn’t above luring her somewhere.
It was wild to me. I once loved the broad, but she was gradually transforming into my biggest opp.
Me not wanting her hadn’t stopped me from caring about her, but she was pushing it to a point of no return.
Then when I saw how she was attacking my baby online, I had never been happier with the decisions I’d made.
The whole way she was handling things showed me just how flawed her character was.
Paisley being hurt or mad was a normal human reaction, but talking about a baby that was made while we was technically broken up was diabolical.
Then I hated how everything else unfolded.
Big Baby’s family hadn’t gotten to know me fully yet, and then this bullshit happens.
I could only imagine the sidebar conversations that were happening, because I’d definitely have smoke for any nigga who’d have my sisters in the middle of some bullshit.
I know that she claimed that she didn’t care what her people thought, one way or another.
However, I could see right through her, and knew that she cared about what her parents thought, like a muthafucka.
And now, she was talking about going on this family trip with everybody so that we could get better acquainted.
Naturally, I’d agreed to go, but I had to admit to myself that being around her family had me questioning if I was enough for her.
Not saying that she couldn’t experience the same level of drama with any of them athlete niggas, but at least that would be the only bullshit they’d come with.
Unfortunately with me, Paisley being bitter was just the tip of the iceberg.
And for the first time in my life, I wasn’t exactly proud about where I currently was…
because I felt like my daughter and Big Baby deserved a better version of me that was operating on a higher frequency.
Ironically, it was like the more I thought about her, she could feel my vibrations from across the city, as I received a FaceTime call.
“What’s up, my Big Baby?” I smiled into the camera, after answering.
“Hey,” She smirked, giving me those dimples that I loved. “I was just calling to check in.”
I nodded, while squinting. “Where you at? And where’s my baby?”
“I’m down at the boxing gym with Riah, and Khari is with Ms. Shelia at home.”
Just as she said that, some random nigga came into view, seemingly gawked at her ass while she was standing, before stepping out of view.
“Come holler at me, when you get off that call,” the nigga attempted to whisper.
“The fuck? Say, nigga, she ain’t got shit to holler at you about,” I growled loud enough for him to hear.
“Exactly,” Big Baby co-signed.
“These niggas gotta want me to pull up.”
She smirked. “I hear you, bae, but you do know that he’s a middleweight champion, right?”
I frowned. “Who said that I was fighting?”
Her eyes ballooned. “So, you’re shooting?”
I didn’t bother with a response.
She shook her head. “Boy, I can’t with you.”
Eyeing her, I licked my lips. “I’m saying. They got a mirror around?”
She hooded her eyes, appearing confused. “Yeah, why?”
“Let me get a view.”
“Okay,” she stressed, while traveling through the gym. Then once she reached a mirror, she flipped the camera.
I saw that she was wearing some leggings along with a cropped tank top. Her long hair was pulled up into a ponytail at the crown of her head, drawing attention to her tight eyes.
“Damn,” I grunted. The fit was definitely appropriate, but that body was so outrageous that everything felt provocative on her.
“Damn, what?” She smirked.
“Aye.” Somebody abruptly knocked on my window.
“Wait. Hold up, bae,” I told her, before rolling down my window. “What’s up?”
Paisley’s cousin Ken wore a mean-mug as he stood outside of my truck.
He was a local knuckle head that was so reckless that Paisley's daddy kept his distance.
The nigga was a tall, slim, heavily tatted, medium brown, yellow eyes having shiesty individual, and was known for robbing.
“Aye, I been meaning to catch up with you,” he claimed.
“Catch up with me for what?” I grimaced.
“To address what’s going on with you and my lil’ cousin.”
I stroked my goatee. “What about it?”
“She just had a black eye, and she said that you gave it to her.”
I licked my lips. “Watch out,” I instructed, as I pushed my door open.
He slightly stepped back, allowing me to ease out of my truck.
“Now, what was said?” I queried, while squaring my shoulders.
“Paisley is telling me that you put your hands on her.
I licked my lips. “Look, nigga, Ion cop no pleas. Let’s get that straight. Secondly, you might wanna check the facts, before you approach a nigga like me. Ya cousin was out of order for showing up to my gal’s house with three other dumb bitches.”
“Nigga, Ion give a fuck what she did—”
Ken never finished his sentence, as I slapped the fire out of his mouth, sending him staggering backwards, kicking up dust in the process.
“Malice!” I heard Big Baby shouting through the phone.
“Damn!” The corner store hustlers erupted.
“Yeah, alright.” Ken angrily nodded, after catching his balance. “I got something for that,” he claimed, as he jogged back to his Buick.
“I stay ready, pussy ass nigga!”
Not bothering with a response, he hopped in the car, and skirted off the block.
“Malice!” Big Baby shouted.
I finally lifted my phone to face her. “Yeah?” I questioned, while hopping back into my truck.
“Did I really just see you slap that man?”
I sighed. “Yeah.”
She shook her head, while I couldn’t miss the look of concern etched in her expression. “Can you meet me at the house, please?”
“Okay.”
“Right now, please.”
I backed away from the store. “Alright, I got you.”