Chapter 10
ten
. . .
“At some point, you’re going to talk to me and your brother,” Mrs. Wright spoke as Khalif entered his home after a three-mile run.
He’d barely slept since Aurora left. He hadn’t regretted not having his phone until he couldn’t contact his best friend to track her down. Her scent was still on his pillows and sheets, evidence of her presence in the tenderness of his dick, scratches on his back, and peace in his spirit.
Peace he would lose if he couldn’t be back in her presence soon.
“I told you last night, I’ll tell you again, I don’t have shit to say to Khalil,” Khalif scoffed, removing his earbuds. “I also asked you to give me some space.”
“I’m your momma,” Mrs. Wright hissed.
“I’m not debating that. You came in here hella rude and loud last night, demanding shit out of me that no one deserves. You haven’t even asked me if I’m alright. All y’all seem to give a damn about is how this made you look.”
“Watch your mouth, boy.”
“Not in my house. Nah. Hell nah,” Khalif blew.
“I’m mindful. I’m respectful. I have gone above and beyond to make everyone in this family happy.
I have taken care of that nigga when he tried to drag me to hell with him.
This ain’t about Shenae. Fuck her. But my brother?
The nigga I shared the womb with – my life with, snakes me out like that? Nah. I’m not having it.”
“Khalif!”
“No, ma. No! He should be happy I’m not still beating his ass for disrespecting me like that.
I have never thought about hurting him. I never thought about disrespecting him as a man.
He got in trouble, I hired a lawyer. He went to prison, I kept the books stacked.
He came home, I gave him a job. Whatever he wanted, whatever he needed, I gave him.
Like I gave it to you, Dad, and Brielle.
Not one of y’all has ever asked me or cared to know what I needed. Didn’t even cross your mind.
“I would have married her and been the fool and miserable-ass man because it made y’all happy, but it made sense on paper business or otherwise.
And you still wouldn’t have cared about my well-being.
I am tired of taking care of people who can’t even be bothered to check in until I embarrass them and shatter their image. I’m cool on it.
“So, I’ll politely ask you again to leave me alone. I won’t be talking to Khalil. I won’t be making this right with her people. I won’t make a statement. I’m going to do what I want and y’all gotta deal with it.”
“Even that little stripper you had in here?” Mrs. Wright scoffed.
“Her name is Aurora, she’s a law student. And if that’s what I want, that’s what it’ll be, and ain’t shit you can do about it, no matter how hard you huff and puff. The days of y’all dictating my life are over.”
“Khalif,” his father’s baritone shook the space. “What you say to your mother?”
Khalif turned to face them both. “I’m not doing this no more. The people-pleasing bullshit is done.”
“Henry, you need to talk to him before I knock some sense into him. You know he had some whore in here last night?”
Henry looked at his wife. “Marketta. I got it.”
“You better,” she hissed, walking away. “Embarrassing me.”
“Son, you and I, outside.”
Khalif drew a breath, walked out of the side door he’d recently entered, and started toward the open space leading toward the lake. Henry joined him and drew in a breath of his own.
“If that were my brother, I think I would have killed him,” Henry admitted. “Two punches to the face were generous. But regardless, I’m still disappointed. You two are twins. What the fuck? Sharing a woman? Come on.”
“If he would’ve come to me like the real nigga he tells everyone he is and kept it a buck, this would be a lot different.
I didn’t love her, and I was trying to find ways to get out of this every day.
But I never disrespected her. I never spoke ill of that nigga.
But this is where we are. I take all of it.
It’s on me. I should’ve stopped worrying about everyone else and focused on me.
This mess is my fault. If Khalil wants Shenae, he can have her.
But that life that both of them are accustomed to living isn’t on me anymore.
If y’all don’t need it, I’m not doing it. ”
Henry nodded, understanding how his son came to this conclusion to begin with. Khalif had truly taken care of his whole family and didn’t ask them for a thing. Everyone had a breaking point. Even the strongest.
“I understand. Who was that woman you ran off with? Is she really a stripper?”
Khalif huffed and shook his head. “Law student. She’s a law student. I didn’t pay her. She didn’t ask me for shit other than how I was doing.”
“So what was all of this? Sex to make yourself feel better? A distraction? What? Because I can’t market a stripper on your arm. That doesn’t get you endorsements.”
Khalif turned and looked at his father with confusion. “You haven’t heard a word I said, huh? That’s what I am, a walkin’ check.”
“Son, you’re the face of the NFL defensive players. You are a walking check. Every woman you step out with. Shenae fit the image. Not some stripper, flashing pussy to become a paralegal.”
Khalif clasped his hands together, no longer in the mood to go back and forth.
No longer in the business of the blatant disrespect of a woman he’d mentally, emotionally, and spiritually claimed as his.
Sure, it seemed crazy, but he’d rather be crazy than invisible in a room full of people who were supposed to love him.
“You know what, you’re right. I am the face of the defensive line.
I’m also in control of my shit. Down to who represents me.
I think it’s about time you and Mom enjoy retirement, and you leave my business to me.
Just like I’ve told Mom and Brielle since they bust in here disrespecting the fuck out of my guests, y’all can go. I’ll be around when I’m ready.”
Khalif walked away back into the house, up the stairs, and into the bedroom that hours ago, was filled with beautiful moans. He removed his branded workout gear and stepped into the shower. In the bed, he grabbed the pillows with her lingering perfume and finally went to sleep.
That was until the touch he was craving pulled him from his slumber with a new need…find the woman who’d turned his world on its axis.