15. Lennox #2
“Don’t use my daughter to cover up your bullshit,” I warned as I stepped closer. “Lenny ain’t got shit to do with what you did, and neither does Rhyse.”
“I’on want Reiana around my daughter,” she stated, crossing her arms.
I laughed because she had officially lost whatever sense she had left. “You’on get to dictate how I see my kids. If Rhyse is my son then he’s Lennyn’s brother, and I’m not keeping my kids separate because you wanna be in your feelings over some bullshit you created.”
“That bitch doesn’t like me so why would I want her around my daughter?” Kree shot back.
“She has a good gah damn good reason to hate you,” I replied without hesitation. “You lied on her and helped destroy our relationship. What the fuck you think she’s supposed to do, send you some fucking flowers?”
Kree looked away, but I wasn’t finished. I had spent the entire drive back thinking about years I couldn’t get back, and now the person responsible was standing in front of me, more worried about Reiana than what she had taken from me.
“You made me miss seven fucking years of my son’s life because you were jealous,” I continued as I pointed at her.
“First steps… first words… seven fucking birthdays… Christmases, his first day of school—all that shit happened without me because your selfish ass wanted a man who never fucking wanted you the way you wanted him.”
“Fuck you, Lennox,” Kree snapped as tears filled her eyes again. “You still fucked me. You still kept coming back, so stop acting like I forced you into anything,” she cried.
“I never said you forced me to fuck you,” I replied as I stared at her. “That was my choice, and I own it. But if I knew the kind of foul shit you did to get Reiana out the way, I wouldn’t have touched your ass with somebody else’s dick.”
“Whatever, Lennox. Go run behind Reiana then since that’s clearly what you want to do.”
“This ain’t about me running behind no muthafucka,” I told her as I shook my head. “It’s about my son. Something your simple ass should’ve thought about before you decided your feelings were more important than a child having his father.”
Kree wiped her face and glared at me, but there wasn’t anything else she could say that mattered.
She had done enough, and the more she talked, the clearer it became that she still didn’t give a fuck.
Her only problem was that everything she buried had finally come back and she had to face the shit.
“Ain’t no fixing this shit you did,” I told her as I headed toward the bedroom door. “From now on, if it ain’t about Lennyn, don’t call me… don’t come by my house… and don’t find some bullshit reason to be in my face. Whatever little arrangement we had is dead,” I stated with finality.
“So you just gonna throw me away over some shit that happened years ago?” Kre asked as tears stained her cheeks.
“Nah,” I replied as I opened the door and looked back at her.
“I’m done fucking with you because I finally know exactly what kind of woman you are.
” I stepped into the hallway before stopping and turned back toward her.
“And I’m taking Lennyn with me. She’s staying with me tonight, and before you start your shit, I’m not keeping her from you.
I just don’t want to look at your fucking face anymore today. ”
“Fine… take her,” she conceded.
I left her standing there and went down the hall to Lennyn’s room. My baby was stretched across her bed watching something on her tablet, and when she saw me in the doorway, she sat up immediately with a smile.
“Put your shoes on, pretty girl,” I told her as I leaned against the doorframe. “You’re coming home with Daddy tonight.”
“Really?” Lennyn asked excitedly as she jumped off the bed.
Whatever anger I had toward Kree stayed out in that hallway because my daughter didn’t deserve to feel one ounce of it.
When we walked downstairs, Kree was standing in the living room…
watching us. Her face was hard now instead of tearful, but I didn’t give a fuck which version of her I left behind.
I picked Lennyn up and walked toward the door without saying anything else to Kree.
I had wasted enough words on her ass, and she still couldn’t understand that her jealousy had cost me years I could never get back.
Kree could hate Reiana until the day she died if that was what she wanted, but she wasn’t getting between me and my son ever again.
***
By the time I got to my mama’s house and got Lennyn settled, I told sat and told my mama and Lena about the shit I found out while I was gone, but left out Kree’s involvement… for now.
“So you’re saying that you have an eight-year-old son that you knew nothing about and your raggedy ass baby mama is the reason your first baby mama left, and you didn’t know anything about the little boy?” Lena asked.
“Pretty much,” I responded. “Look for yourself.” I handed them my phone with the pictures of Rhyse that I took so they could see him instead of rambling off question after question.
“Oh my God,” Mama whispered as she looked from the picture to me. “Lennox, this baby looks just like you.”
“And Lenny,” Lena added as she took the phone from Mama and zoomed in.
“I know,” I replied as I took the phone back.
Mama shook her head slowly while she tried to process what I was saying. “But how? Reiana never told you she was pregnant?”
“That’s what I thought,” I answered as I leaned back again. “I went to see her and asked about him. She told me she did tell me.”
“What do you mean she told you?” Mama frowned.
“She said after I broke up with her, she texted me and told me she was pregnant,” I explained. “According to her, I texted back and told her fuck her and the baby.”
“That doesn’t even sound like you,” Lena mentioned.
“I know that, and I told Reiana the same thing,” I replied.
“She thought I was lying because the message came from my phone. She said she told y’all that she needed to talk to me, but I was thinking that she was trying to plead her case…
not tell me she was pregnant. Then I started thinking about what happened back then and who was involved, and Kree came to mind. ”
“What does Kree have to do with it?” Mama asked.
“A whole fucking lot apparently,” I answered before lowering my voice because Lennyn was still upstairs. “I went straight to her house when I got back. I asked her if she knew Reiana was pregnant and if she lied to me about Reiana cheating with that nigga from school.”
“And?” Lena urged.
“She lied at first,” I explained as I shook my head. “Then I told her I saw Reiana and my son. I showed her his picture, and she couldn’t even deny how much he looked like me and Lenny. After that, she finally admitted everything.”
Mama closed her eyes for a second, like she already knew she wasn’t going to like what came next. “Everything meaning what, Lennox?”
“Kree knew Reiana was pregnant,” I told them as my voice hardened. “She saw the message Reiana sent me, answered it from my phone, told her fuck her and the baby, then deleted everything before I saw it.”
“I know you fucking lying?” Lena snapped as she shot up from the couch. “That bitch did what?”
“Lena, sit down,” Mama warned.
“Nah, Mama, fuck sitting down,” Lena replied as she started pacing. “Kree’s crazy ass really did all that shit and been walking around this family like she’s not the reason my brother didn’t know he had a son?”
“It gets worse,” I told her as I watched her pace. “She admitted she lied about Reiana cheating too. She knew the dude was just somebody from class, but she told me they were fucking around because she wanted me to break up with Reiana.”
“Oh, I’m beating her ass,” Lena spat.
“Lena,” Mama warned again as she looked over at her.