Mine Again

Chapter 1

Igroaned the moment I saw my baby mama’s name pop up on my phone. Every time she called, it ruined my mood, but there was nothing I could do. At the end of the day, she had my daughter, so I couldn’t ignore her.

“What do you need, Tiana?”

“Damn, I can’t even get a decent greeting. Which one of your bitches pissed you off today?”

“I’m straight. What do you need, though? Is Mimi good?”

I wasn’t in the mood to go back and forth with her, because it would only prolong the inevitable. She rarely ever called to talk about our daughter, no matter how many times I tried to set those boundaries.

“Yeah, of course she’s good. She’s always good with her mama.” Tiana scoffed as if I had offended her or something.

“Okay, then what are you on my line for, Tee? I’m in the middle of something, and you still haven’t told me what you called for.” I tried not to raise my voice, but I hated when a mothafucka beat around the bush. Get to the point or get the fuck off my line.

“Umm, were you at Saturn’s last night? A couple of people were sending me pictures and videos of you hugged up with that little bitch that you swear is your homie. I’m tryna see what’s up.”

Her tone switched up, indicating she had an attitude. I honestly didn’t give a fuck about how she felt about what I did in my personal life. We weren’t together, and we never would be.

“If somebody sent you pictures of me, why are you asking me if I was there? You obviously know I was,” I taunted, knowing it would get under her skin.

“Key, don’t play with my intelligence. We’ve argued about that little bitch for years, and you swore there was nothing going on.

Based on how you two were dancing, I feel like you played me for a fool.

Then I heard you were out there fighting niggas for trying to talk to her.

I don’t like that shit. Nor do I appreciate the fact that you had that bitch around my baby. ”

My jaw flexed, and I could already tell the conversation was about to go left.

“You know how I give it up, so I don’t know why you even thought it was okay to call me with this bullshit.

I’m grown as fuck and single too. As far as Naiari is concerned, I’ve explained myself too many times.

We’re friends and she ain’t no bitch. Put some respect on her name when you speak about her. ”

“There you go defending her. A bitch can’t even breathe in her direction before you start puffing your chest out.

All I did was ask a question. You had me thinking I was crazy whenever I questioned you about her, but then I see her grinding all over you like the two of you were fuckin’.

I’ve never danced on any of my guy friends like that. ”

“There you go, lying. Even if I did want to fuck her, it’s none of your business.”

I reached my destination, ready to get off the phone. Tiana had a habit of ruining a nigga’s mood with her nagging, and I wasn’t going for it today. It was time to wrap the shit up.

“You love to play games, Key. Since you don’t want to answer my questions, I’ll go ask her myself. If I find out you’re fucking on that young hoe, I’m beating her ass and then yours. You’ve been parading her in my face for years, and I don’t take disrespect lightly.”

“Leave that girl alone. She ain’t got shit to do with our situation, and honestly, you’re wasting your time. The only thing you need to be focused on is our daughter.”

“I am focused on our daughter, which is why I don’t want any young bitch around her tryna play step momma in order to get close to you.

I should be able to express my feelings without you tryna make me seem like I’m the bad guy in this.

Keyami is still young, and she isn’t ready to be introduced to random people. ”

Rather than arguing, I decided to try to smooth things over with her. The last thing I wanted was for her to make our co-parenting arrangement difficult because she was in her feelings.

“I understand where you’re coming from. Keyami is my priority, and I would never allow her to be around anyone who wasn’t gonna be a permanent part of my life.

Right now, I am not dating, and it isn’t something I’m considering at the moment.

If I ever get serious with someone to a point where I feel the need to introduce them to her, I’ll sit down and talk with you about it first,” I reasoned.

The truth was, Tiana wasn’t worried about me introducing our daughter to anyone.

Her jealousy toward my best friend had been present since the day I introduced her to Naiari.

We argued about her time and time again over the years, and no matter how much I tried to reassure her that nothing was going on, Tiana refused to believe me.

“Yeah, you think I’m a dumb bitch. It’s all good, Key. When I start showing my ass, you’re gonna wish you hadn’t played with me,” she threatened.

“Alright, Tee. I’m busy, so if you don’t have anything important to discuss, I’ll let you go. While you’re over there stalking people on social media, you might want to see if you can find a therapist.”

With that, I hung up the phone to attend to my business. As soon as I stepped out of the car, I noticed my homies Logic and East sitting on the porch of East’s grandmother’s house.

“What’s up, scrubs?” I joked, shaking hands with both of them.

“I ain’t no fucking scrub, hoe ass nigga. What’s good witcha, bro?” Logic greeted.

“Not shit. You ready to count this bread?”

“Hell yeah. We’ve been waitin’ for your ass for an hour. I swear, you’re worse than a bitch when it comes to being on time,” East complained.

The three of us had been friends since elementary school, and now we were out of high school and still thick as thieves.

“Man, here you go. My bad for being late, Ari needed a ride to school.”

I ignored the wide grins on their faces because I wasn’t in the mood for their bullshit.

“You still pretending the two of you aren’t in love with each other?” Logic chortled.

“Exactly. I don’t know why he’s still tryna fake the funk as if she doesn’t have his nose wide open. We saw the way the two of you were carrying on during her birthday party. I thought y’all were gonna fuck right there on the dance floor,” East revealed.

They roasted me for hours in the group chat with pictures and videos.

My best friend, Naiari, turned eighteen, so we were celebrating her big day.

I’d admit, I might have drunk too much and gotten a little carried away.

Naiari completely avoided the topic while everyone else couldn’t stop talking about it.

There were rumors that we were in a secret relationship.

It wasn’t true, but people were gonna believe what they wanted.

“Whatever. Come on so we can get this money counted. I don’t have all day to play around with y’all.”

“You’re right about that. I need my cut so I can take Nova’s fine ass on a date. She said I gotta start applying more pressure, so that’s what I’ma do,” Logic explained.

We stepped into the house and headed to the basement.

East lived with his grandmother, who was one of those loyal churchwomen who devoted all her time and energy to the house of the Lord.

She spent most of her time attending services or volunteering; meanwhile, East hustled to get the lights and water on.

All her money was spent on tithes and the church’s building fund, with the claim that God would provide for the household.

“It always smells like mothballs, stale cigarettes, and hot combs in here. I thought your granny was one of those praying hoes. Are they supposed to be smoking?” Logic blurted out.

“Aye, watch yo’ fucking mouth. She ain’t a hoe.” East was seething as he gave Logic a warning glare.

“My bad, you know I ain’t mean no disrespect by what I said.” Logic raised his hands up in mock surrender.

“Yeah, whatever. As far as her smoking, I don’t know, and I don’t care.

She and her old ass friends are always smoking and going to the casino when they aren’t at church.

I keep my thoughts to myself because if I say what’s really on my mind, it will turn into an argument.

I’m tryna keep the peace until I can afford to cop my own spot. ”

“Well, after this last lick, you should have what you need. I’ve been saving my money for months because when I get out of my momma crib, I want to pay my rent in advance for at least six months, get my own car, and fully furnish my place.

I need to be able to leave and never look back,” I declared.

I loved my momma to death, but the environment was toxic.

If she and her husband weren’t arguing, they were drinking and getting high.

My momma swore she wasn’t on drugs, but it was hard to fool someone who sold them for a living.

“I can’t wait to get my own spot. I’m tired of my shit coming up missing and Ma Dukes acting like she doesn’t know what happened.

I put a lock on my door the other day to get her out of my shit.

I’m afraid I’m gonna come home one day, and all of our furniture will be missing,” Logic vented.

His momma had been on drugs for years, but things took a turn for the worse when his brother Wisdom was killed in a drive-by shooting.

It bothered him more than he let on, but I understood why he chose to keep his feelings to himself.