Chapter 7
CHYNA
Nerves bounced around me as I checked and double-checked and then triple checked Liam’s bags.
Whenever Liam went with his father, I got super nervous.
It wasn’t that Damien was bad with Liam.
He just didn’t see him often. I normally felt a lot better leaving my son with my sister, cousins, or parents because they really knew Liam.
Damien only saw our son once a month, if that, and Liam grew so much every single day.
Things changed about him every day. New fears, new questions, new quirks . . .
I sighed as I sat down on Liam’s little bed.
We had been at Keegan’s house for five days now, and Keegan insisted on getting Liam his own bed that matched KJ’s.
This room had suddenly become their room, and KJ seemed so excited about it.
That was the only reason I was okay with adding space for Liam.
To say I felt extremely intrusive right now was an understatement, but everyone else seemed happy with the arrangements.
To be honest, I was happy with it, too, but I didn’t want to overstay my welcome.
A sudden small smile formed on my face when I thought about my budding relationship with Keegan.
I bit my lip as flashbacks of the way he made love to me filled my mind.
I couldn’t even call it fucking, which was what I had been used to in my past. With Keegan, love was always present, and it was strong.
My head spun from how quickly we went from a comfortable space of keeping things friendly to the L word floating around so freely inside my mind.
“Mommy, when Daddy come here?” Liam asked as he ran into the room with KJ on his heels.
Before I could respond, the doorbell rang. I sprang up. The last thing I wanted was for Damien and Keegan to be alone together for even one second.
“Come on, boys.” I ushered them out of the room and rushed toward the stairs.
Tension left me as I descended the stairs and realized it wasn’t Damien.
It was Stephanie, Keegan’s baby mama. It had just so happened to work out that both the part-time parents wanted their children this weekend.
Keegan had told me about how Stephanie was pretty much like Damien, .
. . chasing after everything but her own child.
“Mommy!” KJ yelled. He ran toward the pretty, light-skinned woman with a big booty.
“Hey, Junior. How’s my baby—” She stopped talking as her eyes narrowed on me. “Keegan, who is she?”
“My wife.”
Her eyes bucked. “Wife?”
“And who is you?” Damien asked as he walked up behind Stephanie, who still stood in the doorway.
He peeked over her head and looked all into the house.
When his eyes landed on me, they narrowed.
That seemed to be the thing to do today.
“Chyna, what the hell is goin’ on? Why you tell me to meet you here instead of your place? ”
I sighed. “Hi, Damien.”
“Hi hell. What’s goin’ on?” he barked.
Keegan chuckled. It was a low, vibrational growl that caused the hairs on the back of my neck to stand at attention. Flashbacks of Mr. Chang filled my mind.
I looked between Keegan, Stephanie, and Damien and knew nothing good would come out of this. Why the hell did both of our headaches have to arrive at the same damn time?
“Boys, Ninja Turtle mode,” Keegan said.
“No, no! Boys, stop.” I lifted both KJ and Liam up by the backs of their shirts as they tried to crouch down on the floor.
Keegan had done this little trick on them the other day when he wanted to go for a quickie.
I watched in amazement as the boys crouched down and covered their ears.
I remembered how they were crouched down in the car during the confrontation with Mr. Chang and knew that was when Keegan had taught them this little trick.
Needless to say, I wasn’t really amused by this little game because it was clear to me that he only played it when he was about to act up.
He didn’t get his quickie that day, and he wasn’t about to beat on my stupid-ass baby daddy today. “Keegan, cut it out.”
Somewhere within the last few days, I had become comfortable putting Keegan in his place because Chyna from over a week ago would have never.
Maybe it was the fact that Keegan couldn’t go to sleep without putting my pussy in his mouth.
Whatever it was, in this moment, I was thankful for the confidence.
“Fuck I do?”
“Fuck Daddy do?” KJ asked as he craned his neck to look up at me as I still held onto the back of his shirt in one hand and Liam’s in the other.
I cut my eyes at Keegan, and he put his hands up. “Language, I know. My bad. KJ, don’t say fuck.”
“I not say fuck. I say fuck Daddy do,” KJ reasoned.
I sighed deeply and shook my head, but before I could speak, Stephanie did. “I know like hell that bitch better let go of my son.”
“Bitch?” I asked with my brows pulled in as I glared at her.
I had worked hard as hell to get out of the hood, but that shit was still in me. Stephanie really needed to tread lightly. I never had any intentions of disrespecting her at any point. My love for KJ wouldn’t allow it, but her disrespect definitely could override that notion.
“Hey, not too much on my baby mama,” Damien said as he looked down at the top of Stephanie’s head.
My nose wrinkled when he called me that. I really couldn’t stand his ass, and it was such a shame because he had taken up so many beautiful years. The man that he was today, though, erased all the good we experienced back in the day.
“Yeah. We not about to do this. Boys, go to your room,” Keegan snapped.
I let go of their shirts, and the boys scurried up the stairs.
Once we heard their bedroom door close, I looked at Keegan.
His jaw clenched and unclenched, and I could tell he tried hard to keep the crazy thoughts inside his mind and not act on them.
I walked over to him slowly and put my hand on his arm. “You good?”
He looked at me, and his expression softened slightly. He nodded. “You?”
I shrugged. I felt a headache coming on, and that was the last thing I needed. Icelynn would be here soon, and she would definitely be bullying everyone to take shots. All I wanted to do was get these kids out of the house and focus on setting up for this party.
“Yeah.”
Keegan peered at me for a second longer, as if he could sense my headache, but he finally seemed to accept my response because he turned to the two people we had procreated with.
“I’m Keegan, and this is Chyna.” Keegan dragged his words out as if he was explaining technology to old people who had no chance of grasping his teachings. “We go together now. Y’all niggas”—He pointed his finger between them—“need to understand that, accept it, and respect it. Any questions?”
There was a moment of silence before Stephanie and Damien spoke at once.
“I don’t know her and she been around my son—”
“Chyna don’t even be around niggas like that—”
“So how am I supposed to believe y’all just suddenly got together—”
“Does she live here?”
“Man, shut the fuck up. Both of y’all,” Keegan roared.
Stephanie immediately clamped her mouth shut. Smart girl. She knew who Keegan was and how he could get. Damien didn’t, unfortunately. Poor tink.
“Nah, you shut the hell up and answer my ques—”
Keegan moved so quickly that my brain had a hard time processing what happened. He had Damien hemmed up by his shirt, up against the wall next to the still open front door.
“You gonna wanna be real careful wit’ how you speak to me, nigga.
I ain’t the one, two, or three. I ain’t even the four.
Matter of fact, count that bitch all the way up to a hundred thousand.
All you need to know is that Chyna is mine now, and her and Liam are more than taken care of when they wit’ me.
You understand that? And before you answer, I sure the fuck hope you do understand.
Only reason you ain’t leakin’ on the floor right now is ’cause my respect for Liam and Chyna outweigh my irritation for you, but one wrong word from you can change that. You feel me?”
“I got you,” Damien said through clenched teeth.
Keegan let him go and then patted Damien on the head. “Good man.”
Damien pulled away with a confused expression, and I stood there planted in place, unsure if I should burst out laughing or allow the secondhand embarrassment for Damien to seep through me. Option two won. I couldn’t believe I had spent so much time with such a punk.
Avoiding eye contact with him, I looked at Stephanie, who appraised me right back.
“Do we have a problem?” I raised a brow at her. I wasn’t as crazy as Keegan, but I didn’t have a problem with taking it there if it came down to it, and she needed to know that. I wouldn’t tolerate another B word or name that wasn’t Chyna Drayton to fall from her lips.
She must have caught the hint because she sucked her teeth and rolled her eyes. “Nah.”
Keegan had to be rubbing off on me because I had the crazy urge to pat the bitch on her head and call her a good girl, but I refrained.
“Now that we got that settled. Take these lil niggas off our hands so we can have some fun.” Keegan bent and grabbed Liam’s and KJ’s bags, respectively, and handed them to Stephanie and Damien.
They both looked hesitant to take the bags and like they wanted to protest some more, but they thought better of it. Begrudgingly, they grabbed the bags as I called out for the boys.
“KJ, Liam! Come on,” I shouted.
Seconds later, we heard the bedroom door open, and their little footsteps sounded above us. Moments later, they were downstairs and looking at all of us expectantly.
“Is we go now?” Liam finally asked.
I bent to give him a hug. “Yes. Give me some love.” His little arms wrapped around my neck, and he kissed my face repeatedly. I giggled. “Say bye to Kee and KJ.”
Liam pulled away from me like I was suddenly made of fire. His little face took on a look of horror. “Bye to KJ?”
I nodded slowly, sensing a tantrum coming on. “Yeah, baby. You’re going with your dad, and he’s going with his mommy.”
Liam looked over my shoulder at Stephanie and Damien, then back at me. He lifted his finger and pointed at them. “They can live together.”
I chuckled. “No, baby. That’s not how this works.”
“It can work,” KJ chimed in. “I not like Mama’s boyfriend. Him can be her boyfriend.”
I glanced up at Keegan, and his ass was bent over laughing. “Aye, man. Good luck wit’ that conversation. I ain’t in this one,” he said to Damien and Stephanie, who eyed each other defiantly.
Keegan straightened up and hugged KJ and Liam. KJ gave me a quick hug before he grabbed his mom’s hand. Damien grabbed Liam by the top of the head and navigated him toward the door.
The boys wasted no time trying to convince Damien and Stephanie why they should all spend the weekend together.
“Bye! So nice to meet you, Darnell!” Keegan said before he slammed the door shut behind him.
I elbowed him. “You know that man’s name is Damien.”
“I don’t know shit.”
I laughed. “Whatever. So, we really, really go together now, huh? I got a whole man?” I asked as I smiled up at him.
Truthfully, the moment his lips met mine, I considered him my man.
Our chemistry had always been strong, but the connection between us strengthened the moment we let go of the friendly act and gave into that physical lust. I couldn’t get enough of his ass, and I knew he couldn’t get enough of me.
There was no better title than boyfriend and girlfriend for us at the moment.
“You got a whole ass man, and I got a whole lot of woman,” he said as he palmed one of my ass cheeks.
“I can’t believe I’m dating my boss.”
“I can’t believe we ain’t make this happen sooner.”
“I can’t believe I’m dating my boss,” I repeated, the weight of the statement finally settling on me.
I had never been the kind of woman to fuck for the things I wanted or to advance in life, and I still wasn’t.
That wasn’t what this was between me and Keegan, but I knew others might suspect that was the case, and that bothered me.
Shattering my thoughts, Keegan used his finger to lift my chin.
“I can’t believe I’m finally dating the woman of my dreams.”
I beamed at him. Somehow, he always knew the exact right things to say to snap me back into reality. It was one of the many qualities I cherished about him.
Looping my arm through his, I said, “Come on. Let’s set up for this party now that the rug rats are gone.”
“Terrorists, you mean,” he corrected.
I giggled. “Not too much on my babies.”
“Shit, that wasn’t nearly enough. They’re a damn handful.”
“They are,” I agreed. “But so are you, and you don’t see me complaining.”
“Fair point.” He kissed my temple.
We entered the kitchen where all the decorations and food sat on the center island.
“Time for me to put you to work, daddy,” I teased.
His eyes traveled the length of my body. “You know I have no problem being put to work, Doll.”
I knew it would be a task all on its own to keep Keegan focused on the party and not on making love, but I wouldn’t complain.
I couldn’t say I prayed for times like this, because a relationship was never really on my radar after Damien, but God seemed to know what I needed anyway, and for that, I was so thankful.