~~~Chapter 25~~~
Jaylah
Heading back home in the middle of the day hadn’t been in my plans. However, after seeing Malice bitch-slap a man, while I watched from the angle he was holding his phone, I felt like I needed to get him away from that scene, just in case that man came back blasting.
I knew like nobody else how things went down in the hood, and bruised egos were flat out dangerous in those environments.
I was also sure that Malice could handle his own, but that didn’t mean that he wouldn’t find himself behind bars over some bullshit.
So, I needed him at the house, away from the impending drama.
“What the fuck?” I mumbled to myself, as I pulled up to my house, and noticed a red G-Wagon parked in my driveway.
As far as I knew, nobody I knew had a truck that color, so I didn’t know who the hell had pulled up to my house. So, as a precaution, I reached over and opened my glove compartment to grab my gun. I then tucked it into my crossbody Louie bag for easy access, before easing out of my car.
As soon as I exited my vehicle, two men emerged from the G-Wagon. One was a medium built, light skinned, older man with salt and pepper hair, while the other was a tall, burly, man, who was about three hundred pounds, with an intimidating disposition.
“Hey, there,” the older man greeted with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.
“Hey.” I cautiously approached them. “Is there a reason that y’all are parked in my driveway?”
“Yeah. I’m Drop.” He extended his hand.
Filled with apprehension, I briefly shook his hand. “Okay.” I pulled my hand back, while noting that the big fella he’d come with hadn’t bothered saying a word. “How can I help you, Mr. Drop?”
“Yeah.” He stroked his beard. “I’m here to see Malice.”
“Malice?” My eyes widened. “And he told you to come here?” I pointed at the ground.
“Nah. He didn’t,” he admitted. “But I’m here. So, where is he?”
Like he’d been summoned, Malice’s Rover whipped into the driveway. Wasting no time, he sprung out of the truck.
Drop smirked. “Just the nigga I wanna see.”
Malice marched over to us, and immediately hooked an arm around my waist, before positioning me behind him. “What’s up? What are y’all doing here?”
Drop licked his lips. “I came to holler at you. I thought that after the way that I embraced you that you would’ve come to me first. Yet, here we are.”
Malice squinted. “Come to you for what?”
“Shit, plenty, nigga. Especially with the way you’ve been playing with my daughter. Removing her belongings off the property y’all share. Stopping her access to the money. And then you put your fucking hands on her.”
“Mannn,” he drawled, while shaking his head.
“This shit is never ending, I see,” he grumbled.
“Look, Drop, man. It’s been nothing but mutual respect between us.
And when we first met, you told me to have good intentions with your daughter or leave her alone.
That’s been the only rule, and when I decided that I was done, I tried to handle her with all the respect and dignity she deserved.
On the flip side, she’s pissed that I’m not with her, and been moving wild out here.
So, I did what was best for me and chose to sever all ties.
Removed her from everything that belongs to me.
That’s why she showed up over here to jump my woman. ”
“They said that you punched her in the face,” Drop seethed, as his light face reddened.
Malice shrugged. “I was doing whatever to get them off my gal. It was four of them and one of her.”
“You aint supposed to entertain hoes’ beef, nigga,” The big burly man finally spoke up.
Malice waved him off. “Nigga, your big ass can miss me with that. I’m unquestionably stepping for mine. Especially when y’all standing here behind a hoe.”
“A hoe?” Drop snarled.
“Shit, did I stutter?” Malice chided.
My stomach twisted into knots, as I realized that the conversation was going downhill, quickly. “Baby.” I grabbed his arm. “Come on. Let’s go in the house.”
He nodded. “We going in a minute. Just let me address them.”
“Shit, you might wanna listen to this bitch,” the big dude spat.
“Bitch?” My neck jerked back.
“Yeah—” The man attempted to get out, before Malice abruptly smashed the butt of his gun against the man’s face.
Everything happened so quickly that I never even seen Malice pull the weapon out.
Then clearly big boy didn’t see it coming, either, as Malice ruthlessly worked him.
Meanwhile, I couldn’t focus on the fight, because I was too concerned about Drop making a move. So, I moved first, whipping my gun out.
“I need you and your fat ass boy to get the fuck out of my property!” I shouted, while aiming my gun directly at him.
He snidely smiled, while Malice forcefully shoved big boy to the ground. “You got it.” He nodded, as he turned to grab his boy’s hand, and helped him stand. “Y’all definitely got it.” He nodded.
“Yeah, okay,” Malice scoffed, while spitting on the ground.
I stood beside him, while Drop and his big flunky retreated.
Once they’d backed out of the driveway, I sighed with relief. “I can’t believe that they just pulled up—”
“Let’s go pack up some clothes,” he cut me off, while grabbing my hand. “Cause we aint fucking sleeping here tonight.”
***
I was sitting Indian style on the floor, while folding my clothes, and placing them into my suitcase.
Of course, Khari was on the floor with me, sitting in the suitcase, like I was packing her away too.
I was halfway done packing, after already filling three different pieces of my Louie luggage set.
It was early in the morning, and we were set to catch a flight later that evening. Meanwhile, I was trying my best not to forget anything or lose my mind in the process. It had been a week since that confrontation with Paisley’s daddy, and I’d been on edge ever since.
Doing exactly what Malice had instructed, I’d gone into my house, and packed our bags.
Then we headed to one of the Airbnbs I own to temporarily stay.
Naturally, the home was nice, but it wasn’t home .
Then on top of having to adjust to a different environment, I was also ducking and dodging questions from my family.
After talking to Malice, he asked for some grace, and to hold off on telling anybody about the incident with Paisley’s family.
I understood why he didn’t want them knowing, because he wanted to handle it on his own, without any side eyes from my people.
On the flipside, I felt like telling my daddy could actually help.
However, I’m sure that Malice’s pride didn’t want any man stepping in on his behalf
I could tell that Malice was under immense pressure, as his phone was constantly going off, and it was often about pure drama.
Paisley’s family was clearly riding for her, right or wrong.
They also didn’t care to hold her accountable, after she’d shown up, asking for trouble.
I can’t say that my family wouldn’t do the same, but personally I wouldn’t involve my people, if I was actively chasing a nigga.
Then Malice was clearly not the type to back down, and I could only see this turning out badly.
“What, nigga?” He snapped, as soon as he answered his phone.
Looking up, I studied Malice, as he sat at the foot of the bed, shirtless, wearing an aggravated scowl.
“Mannn,” he drawled. “Listen. I’m not trying to hear none of that shit. Them niggas can’t shut shit down! Now, you tell that muthafucka that he’s dancing with the fucking devil!”
My lashes fluttered, as he ended the call. “What happened?”
He shook his head. “Drop’s bitch ass thinks that he’s some type of shot caller, claiming that my name is dead in the streets.”
“Oh, damn,” I uttered, not knowing what else to say. Personally, I didn’t want him in the streets, anyway. So, the last thing I could muster up was some type of pep talk to get him motivated.
“Yeah, he got me fucked up,” he grumbled, while standing.
I gazed up at him. “What are you finna do?”
“I gotta handle some shit.”
I gulped, as my stomach twisted in knots. “But you said that you was chilling today. You still haven’t packed, and we have to head to the airport in a little while.”
He sighed. “Look, Jaylah, I know that I said that I’d go, but I got business to handle—”
“No, fuck that,” my voice cracked, as I became incredibly emotional. “You always swear that you’re a man of your word, and I need you to stand on that today.”
“And if this was about any other thing, then I would keep my word. But this is about my livelihood. This is how I eat.”
“No.” I shook my head. “You literally have multiple businesses, Khamere. Own a couple of properties. And there’s undoubtedly money in the bank.
So, that’s not how you eat. That’s what you do, because you’re fucking greedy.
With all this bullshit happening, it’s not dawning on you that something might need to change? ”
“Man, that’s easy for you to say when you don’t know the ends and outs. No matter what I wanna do, this shit can’t stop overnight. It’s people depending on me, and I’d starve at least twenty families, right now, if I said fuck it.”
“Okay, cool.” I nodded, as tears slipped from my eyes. “You do what you gotta do, and I’ma do the same.”
He paused and frowned. “Do what you gotta do? The fuck does that mean?”
“It means that if you aint on that flight, then I’m fucking done with you.” I wiped away my tears.
“Really?” He opened his arms. “So, so, just fuck everything else, right?”
“No. You have a choice in this, and if you show me that the bullshit outside comes before me, then we’ll have nothing else to discuss.”
“Man, fuck this,” he mumbled, before stomping into the bathroom.
Feeling like he was showing me where we stood, my head dropped into my palms, as I wept, feeling super fucking weak. I hated that I’d given him the power to make me feel this way. I was uncomfortable with how vulnerable I was, right then. And that had me questioning if I’d fallen for the wrong man.
Grabbing my phone, I was about to text my sisters in our group chat, when he came out of the bathroom, and traveled into the closet.
He then came back out with his suitcase, and threw it on the floor, before grabbing a shopping bag off the bed.
Saying nothing, he began tossing newly purchased clothes into the suitcase.
I sniffed. “What are you doing?”
He glanced at me with hooded eyes, but said nothing.
Shaking my head, I rolled my eyes to the ceiling, thinking that my family vacation was off to a fucked-up start.