15. Lennox
Lennox
back in Cannon Hills…
The first place I went when I got back to Cannon Hills was Kree’s.
I had spent the entire ride home thinking about everything Reiana told me, and the more I replayed it…
the less I believed any of that shit happened by accident.
Kree had been the one who told me Reiana was cheating, then after Reiana left, Kree somehow ended up close enough to me for us to start fucking around.
Now I knew somebody had answered Reiana’s pregnancy message from my phone, and Kree was the first person who came to mind.
Lennyn must’ve been looking out the window because she opened the door before Kree could get to it, and the second she saw me, her whole face lit up.
“Daddy!” she yelled as she threw herself at me.
“Hey, pretty girl,” I greeted as I lifted her and kissed the side of her face. “You missed me?”
“Yes,” Lennyn answered as she wrapped both arms around my neck. “You were gone too long. Queenie said you had work, but I told her you need to stop working so much.” I laughed as I walked toward the front door. “I made you something, but Mommy said I had to wait until you came back to show you.”
“Aight, let me see it,” I told her as I carried her farther inside.
Kree was standing near the kitchen watching us, but I barely acknowledged her.
I sat with Lennyn while she ran to get whatever she made, then spent the next several minutes listening to her explain the picture that she drew for me.
I gave her my full attention because whatever problem I had with her mama didn’t have shit to do with her.
Once Lennyn finally finished telling me everything, I kissed her forehead and set the picture beside me. “Go chill in your room for a little bit, baby girl. Daddy needs to talk to your mama.”
“About what?” Her little nosy ass asked.
“Grown folks business,” I answered as I gave her a look. “Go ahead. I’ll come get you in a little bit.”
“Fine,” she muttered as she headed toward the hallway. “But don’t take forever.”
“I won’t,” I assured her as I waited until she disappeared before turning my attention to Kree.
She was already smiling at me in a way I knew too well. “You could’ve called and told me you were coming,” Kree said as she moved closer. “I would’ve made sure Lenny was with your mama.”
“That ain’t why I’m here,” I replied as I stood. “Come on. Let’s go to the room.”
Her smile got bigger immediately, and that alone irritated me because she thought she was about to get some dick, but she’ll never even sniff this muthafucka again. Kree walked ahead of me toward her bedroom without asking another question.
As soon as we got to the room, she closed and locked the door before turning around and reaching for the hem of her shirt, but I stopped her before she could do anything else.
“Did you know Reiana was pregnant when she left Cannon Hills?” I asked getting straight to the point.
Kree froze with her hands still near her shirt. “What?”
“You heard me,” I replied as I kept my eyes on her. “Did you know Reiana was pregnant?”
Her face shifted, but she recovered fast. “No. Why would I know that?”
“Because you were her friend,” I reminded her as I stepped closer. “And while we’re at it, did you lie to me about her fucking that nigga from class?”
“Lennox, where is this coming from?” Kree frowned. “I told you what I knew back then. If she was sneaking around… that ain’t got shit to do with me,” she fired off.
“That’s not what I asked you,” I said as my patience started to wear off. “I asked if you lied.”
“No,” Kree denied as she folded her arms. “What reason would I have to lie to you.”
I stared at her for a few seconds before I said anything. She wasn’t confused about why I was asking. She looked like she was trying to figure out how much I already knew.
“I’on know what reason you would have to lie, but I saw Reiana,” I told her as I watched her face carefully.
“You saw Reiana? Where?” She sounded shocked.
“In Arbor Point,” I answered as I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone. “I saw my son too.”
“Your son? What son?” She questioned with a frown.
“The son you lied and told her I didn’t give a fuck about,” I replied as I unlocked my phone.
“Lennox, if you saw Reiana with a kid, that doesn’t mean he’s yours. She could’ve had a baby with anybody after she left.” She shook her head almost like she was trying to convince herself.
I didn’t say anything as I pulled up the clearest picture I had of Rhyse and held the phone out toward her.
Kree looked at the screen, and the denial disappeared right off her face.
I watched her eyes move over every feature I had already studied myself.
Rhyse had my face all through his, but what made it worse was how much he looked like Lennyn too.
Anybody who knew both of my kids would see it without being told shit.
“I-I can explain,” Kree stammered. “Lennox, it was a long time ago.”
“I’on give a fuck if it was thirty seconds ago! You had no right to make a decision about a child… my child!” I roared but quickly remembered my daughter was down the hall. “You saw the text in my phone and decided to respond like it was your decision to make.”
“Yes, I did it. I did it because I was in love with you,” she cried.
“Cut the bullshit. You couldn’t have possibly loved me by lying. Especially knowing I was with your friend,” I countered.
“She knew I liked you first and she just had to be with you,” Kree shot back. “She didn’t give a fuck about how I felt so why should I care about her feelings.”
“You sound dumb as fuck,” I snapped as I pointed at her.
“Reiana didn’t take me from you because I was never your fucking man.
You liking me first didn’t mean I belonged to you.
Besides, I approached Reina… not the other way around.
” I wanted to wring her fucking neck because she thought the shit she was saying made perfect fucking sense.
“That’s easy for you to say,” Kree countered as she wiped the tears that fell from her eyes. “You didn’t have to sit there watching your friend get everything you wanted like it was nothing,” she explained, still not making a lick of sense.
“I chose her,” I reminded her. “That’s the part your simple ass still don’t seem to understand. Reiana didn’t force me to be with her. I wanted her, and because you couldn’t handle that shit, you lied and told me she was cheating.”
“You were already questioning her anyway. I just told you what you were already thinking.” She shrugged.
“You lied about the shit, though,” I snapped as I stepped closer. “You took some nigga she was studying with and turned it into her fucking him because you wanted me pissed enough to walk away from her.”
“Don’t put every damn thing on me like I dragged you away from her. You could’ve asked Reiana if you trusted her that much, but you didn’t,” she countered.
That only pissed me off even more than I already was, because she had the nerve to stand there acting like my mistake erased what she purposely did.
“Yeah, I should’ve asked her, and I’ll own that shit.
But I believed you because you were supposed to be her fucking friend.
I didn’t know your jealous ass was feeding me lies because you wanted her spot. ”
“She always got everything anyway,” Kree laughed, but it lacked any amusement. “Everybody loved Reiana… everybody thought she was so fucking perfect, and then she got you too. So excuse me if I didn’t feel sorry for her when her perfect little world finally fell apart.”
I stared at her for a second because I couldn’t believe this shit. She was acting Reiana had personally ruined her life simply by being the woman I wanted.
“You sound dumb as fuck standing here mad at a woman because I chose her instead of you. You were that bitter that you left my son without his father, Kree! What if somebody did that shit to Lennyn. How the fuck would you feel about that? Huh?”
“She left anyway, so why the fuck does it matter?” She shrugged.
“It matters because it was her life and mine… not yours,” I shot back as I stared her down. “And because your selfish ass couldn’t stay the fuck out of it, you made me miss seven fucking years of my son’s life.”
“You keep saying that shit like I knew she would keep the baby from you or even keep it!” She yelled.
“You knew she was pregnant, though. That was enough,” I snapped before lowering my voice. “You read the fucking message, answered it pretending to be me, and deleted it. What the fuck did you think was going to happen?”
“I thought she would leave you alone,” Kree replied as she glared at me. “That’s what I wanted. I wanted her gone, and she left. I didn’t sit around thinking about what she was doing afterward,” she confessed.
I stared at her with pure disgust because that answer was worse than any apology she could’ve given me. “Your selfish ass didn’t think beyond getting what you wanted. You didn’t give a fuck that there was a baby involved because all you cared about was Reiana being out the way.”
“And now what? You found her and suddenly she’s the love of your fucking life again? You came running back here ready to blame everything on me because precious Reiana told you her side?”
“This ain’t about choosing sides Kree and you know it,” I replied as I shook my head. “I saw my son with my own eyes. That little boy looks just like me and Lenny, and then Reiana tells me she tried to tell me about him, only for me to find out different.”
“So what, you’re just going to play happy family with her now?” Kree asked with an attitude.
“That ain’t none of your fucking business,” I told her as my voice went cold. “What I do with Reiana, or my son has absolutely nothing to do with you.”
“It does when we have a daughter together,” Kree argued as she pointed toward the hallway. “You’re not about to act like Reiana popping back up doesn’t affect Lennyn.”