Chapter 15 #2
She burst into tears as my mama went to her, crying right along with her. My dad stood off to the side, smiling at their interaction. I looked down at Arlie to see she was crying too. I didn’t know where Kimaji had gone, but I could imagine she had the same reaction to their reunion as well.
When they finally separated, I went to them and hugged my bio mom. I leaned over and whispered in her ear, “She told me everything. You’re an amazing woman.”
She hugged me tighter as she cried more.
I could feel my face heating up and the lump forming in my throat.
I wanted to pull away before the tears surfaced, but she was clinging to me, making it impossible for me to do so.
Despite my clinched jaws and constant swallowing, a couple of tears escaped. I only held her closer.
After a moment or two, I extended one arm to my mama, beckoning for her to join us. She practically ran to me and circled her arms around me as well. I kissed her forehead. She was only a couple of inches shorter than me. My bio mom was probably close to eight inches shorter than me.
When they finally released me, I wiped my cheeks. Arlie came close to me and hugged me. “That was so beautiful, baby.”
I gave her a tight smile then went to the couch with her to have a seat. My bio mom giggled, and yelled, “Maj, get out of my kitchen! Come sit with our family while I put the finishing touches on dinner.”
She looked around at all of us again and smiled before walking off. My mama stood and said, “I’m gonna come help you, K.”
When Maj flopped next to me, she hugged me tightly. “This is the family I’ve always wanted as a kid. Now that I finally have it as an adult, I can barely handle the emotions because of it. I love you like we grew up together, Graham. Damn.”
I kissed her head, glad that this didn’t get discovered when I was younger.
I wouldn’t have been as receptive. I wouldn’t have wanted to meet her or her mother.
The parents and family I had was more than enough.
Truth was, there was always room in my life for people who were genuine, especially family.
These days, that was a rarity. What my bio mom did for my mama was unheard of.
As we sat, engaging in small talk, my phone rang. When I looked at the screen, I saw it was my job. I stood and quickly answered as I made my way to the front door. “Hello?”
“Hello, Mister Taylor. This is Joshua McDonald from human resources at Premier Wings.”
I took a deep breath and rolled my eyes. I knew what was coming. “Yes?”
“I was calling to inform you that the company has decided to terminate you due to the negative light your actions placed on the airlines.”
“The company didn’t decide that. Ross Stanton decided that. What he doesn’t really know is that I wasn’t just a normal employee. He’s about to find out what’s real.”
I ended the call and stepped outside to cool off.
Ross Stanton was my direct supervisor, and I knew he didn’t like me.
As long as I wasn’t being mistreated, I didn’t care whether he liked me or not.
The line had now been crossed, and I refused to let it ride.
That suspension to investigate and present a good faith moment for the public was more than enough.
Before I could completely calm down and walk back inside, a man approached the porch.
I frowned, not knowing who he was. He had a similar stature as mine, six-two and two hundred something pounds.
He looked slightly heavier than me though.
When he got close enough, he said, “Hello. I’m Eldridge Owens. Umm . . . are you Kyleon Owens?”
I frowned harder, knowing exactly who his punk ass was now. As I was about to respond, Arlie walked out the door followed by my dad. They both adorned frowns as well.
I turned back to him, and said, “Why do you wanna know? That’s not my name, by the way.”
“You’re my son. I know you have to be. You look just like K. Your birth name is Kyleon Owens, and that nigga next to you, and his wife, tried to take me to court when I tried to claim you.”
“Who the fuck you think you talking to?” I asked as Arlie looped her arms around mine.
“You’re my son, man. They took you illegally. I didn’t sign away my rights.”
“That’s because your ass was locked up. You didn’t have no fucking rights. Get the fuck out of here.”
He frowned hard as he glanced at my dad, then Arlie. When he tried to take a step closer, my dad pulled his weapon. “You’ve been following him. That’s what’s illegal. It’s called stalking. Do what my son told yo’ ass to do.”
I could feel Arlie trembling as she stared at him, refusing to tear her gaze from him. He nodded repeatedly as he backpedaled. “See, you done escalated shit now. This ain’t over. That lil celebrity-status ho next to you ain’t gon’ protect you.”
I broke away from Arlie and charged him.
She was screaming as I punched that nigga right in the mouth.
I unleashed every ounce of aggression I had in me on his ass.
When we finally stopped tussling, my dad came closer with his gun drawn.
I backed away from him as he stood from the ground, flexing his jaw.
There was blood coming from his nose, and his eye was red.
Fuck him. Knowing what he did to my bio mom had crumbled my already fragile resolve.
However, had he not done that shit, I wouldn’t know who Devin and Sidney Taylor even were.
I didn’t give a fuck about none of that right now though.
He wasn’t going to stand here in my presence and disrespect my woman and my dad.
I glanced at Arlie to see her seated on the porch, crying.
“Yeah, she back there crying. You defending her, but you don’t know what the fuck you defending,” he said through clinched teeth. You’ll see me again.”
“Yep. And you gon’ see bullets when I do.”
He limped down the street to a pickup truck and got in. We didn’t take our eyes off him until he drove away. I glanced at my dad, and he said, “We need to call the police. I can’t be here all the time. You still have that gun I bought you?”
“Yeah.”
“Carry it with you everywhere. It won’t hurt to go get some practice in at a gun range.”
I nodded. “I guess Mama gon’ really be busy.
I’ll need her for this fucker. I have that feeling.
Plus, I got fired. That was why I came out here to begin with.
I wanted to cool off before I went back inside.
I could feel the old Graham surfacing really quickly.
I didn’t want to take my anger with them out on anyone else. ”
I saw Arlie stand in my peripheral. “They fired you?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
She turned and went inside as I frowned.
I wasn’t sure what her issues were or why my bio fuckup called her a ho.
Whatever the reason was, she must have thought the same of herself for her to look so upset about it.
I didn’t give a fuck about her past. The only person I wanted to get to know was the woman she was today.
The woman she was in her past didn’t have shit to do with me.
We all had something in our past we weren’t proud of.
Hell, some of us had shit to us in our present we weren’t proud of.
I turned to my dad, and he shrugged. We made our way inside, only for me to see Kimaji pleading with Arlie as she grabbed her purse and phone. What the fuck?
“Arlie? You leaving?”
She swallowed hard as she stared at me. “Yeah. I-I can’t deal with this shit. You don’t need to be with me. You’ve already gotten fired because of me. Happy birthday, Graham. I gotta go.”
She attempted to walk past me, and I grabbed her arm. “What the fuck you on, man?”
“Graham, let me go.”
“Naw. You finna explain.”
“No, the fuck I’m not! I can’t!”
My mothers both came running from the kitchen to see what was going on. My bio mom said, “Arlie, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I have to go.”
My mama had a frown on her face, and I could see her claws ready to come out.
Whenever she thought I was being wronged in any way, she was ready to defend.
It seemed my big ass age of thirty-four, thirty-five tomorrow, didn’t matter to her.
Arlie jerked away from me and ran out of the house with Kimaji right behind her.
I stood still like I was in wet cement. Arlie was fine until that nigga said what he said and I announced being fired.
Turning to my mama, I said, “I’m gonna need you.
I got fired, and Ross Stanton needs to go down for it.
Then, I’ma need you to keep me out of jail, because Eldridge Owens gon’ get fucked up. ”
My bio mom dropped to the couch in shock, and my mama’s facial expressions hardened, like she was ready for war.
I supposed Arlie’s age and immaturity was showing itself.
However, she didn’t realize the kind of man she was committed to.
I refused to let her go. She was mine. It didn’t matter that it had only been a week.
She was gonna honor her fucking word, voluntarily or involuntarily.
I’d shake her ass to death to make her see what she was doing to us.
We hadn’t even gotten started good yet, and she was ready to tuck tail and run, fucking with our future together. My patience was already thin as a muthafucka, but all this bullshit at once was gon’ have me wildin’ out like a fucking animal.
I glanced at my mama, and she said, “I got’chu, son. Ain’t shit changed about that. We gon’ get to the bottom of all that shit.”