28. Daylin
TWENTY-EIGHT
daylin
“You like this dress?” I showed Rakim my phone screen once he came to a stop at the red light.
“I like anything you put on.” He took off once the streetlight changed.
“Thank you, babe.” I simpered, adding it to my cart even though I truly couldn’t trust his opinion since the man truly did like everything I wore, did, cooked, and said.
“Shouldn’t you be buying them pregnant people clothes? Months down the line, you ain’t gon’ be able to wear that sexy shit.” He bobbed his head toward my device.
“Nope. I won’t be buying maternity clothes. Gonna get regular stuff and finagle it so I can wear it after I give birth too.”
“Aight.” He laughed. “I gotta pull up on the doctor,” he said, referencing my father, “and without you.”
“You have to promise me that you won’t fight him, Rah.” I giggled when he frowned, caught off guard by my statement.
“I ain’t gon’ fight him. Might put him in a quick lil headlock, though, nothing wild.”
“You better not!” I cackled through my surprise, swatting him as he turned onto a residential street.
“Nah. Ya pops is a regular old nigga. I really ain’t got no reason to lay his ass out. I’m gon’ be on my best behavior. Whatever I want him to comprehend, I can do the shit with words only, just like the next nigga.”
“I know.” I smiled as he pulled over into a park. “I love that.” I leaned over to kiss the corner of his mouth.
“What else you love?”
“You.”
“Okay, but what else?” He grinned, making me roll my eyes. “I’ll give you a hint. You had it last night and this morning.”
“Come on and let’s go.” I settled back into my seat, ignoring his impish remarks, before he climbed out of the car.
He stepped up onto the curb, then opened the passenger side door for me to get out.
I could already hear some Jhene Aiko playing softly from the backyard of Ayan’s big ass mansion as Rakim led me around the side.
Today, Ayan and LaMia were having a big birthday party for their son, AJ. I was typically nervous anytime I had to be in the room with Ayan and my man, but the latter claimed they’d somewhat made amends, so I was hoping Ayan’s trash ass didn’t renege.
“Hey!” Kasia greeted us first, hopping up. I partially think it was to get away from her baby daddy because Josias was yapping at her side profile when we walked in.
“Hey, girl.” I beamed, embracing her just before Rakim did as well.
Shardaya and Téa followed suit, hugging me and then Rakim.
“You look so pretty, and you’re glowing,” Shardaya complimented, even though she had no idea I was pregnant.
“Thank you. I’m gonna need to borrow that outfit, though, and the ass to go with it.” I patted her on her behind, making the ladies laugh.
“I’m out,” Rakim announced, walking off toward his brothers as I chuckled at him.
“You got about as much as she does,” Téa said, and Shardaya and Kasia co-signed.
I shook my hips a little bit at the compliment, but then felt eyes on me that, of course, belonged to Rakim. His brows were pinched as he ran his hand across his neck to tell me to cut it out, jokingly but seriously.
As the ladies talked to me about the food available, my eyes landed on Ayan, and I was shocked to see Morgin standing behind him, massaging his shoulders.
She wore a cropped top, her stomach extremely flat, so I knew she’d in fact gotten the abortion like he and, I was sure, Shaun wanted. She and I locked eyes, but I quickly looked away as I followed the women to the buffet table.
We piled our plates, swaying a little bit to the music playing over the party with elaborate decorations. I wanted to say happy birthday to AJ, but he was too busy having the time of his life inside of the dinosaur shaped jump house.
As a child, I hated when adults interrupted my fun to talk, so I wouldn’t do the same to him. I’d get my chance when he took a break.
The whole party bore the color scheme of bright green and blue from the balloons to the tablecloths, the popcorn machine, face painting, and, of course, the silverware and dinner plates. I liked that though his dad had money, they made the party kid friendly and not a vehicle to floss their funds.
“You know her? ’Cause she keeps looking over here.” Shardaya called out Morgin.
“She used to be my assistant before I found out she was sleeping with my boyfriend Shaun at the time,” I threw out, unbothered by the news now. It was crazy to think about since when it happened, I was pissed. Now, I couldn’t find a fuck to give.
“Oh my gosh! Are you serious?” Kasia’s eyes widened.
“Very.” I bobbed my head as Téa kept looking between Morgin and me.
“I can tell from looking at her, her only goal in life is to find a rich man,” Shardaya said, pegging Morgin correctly that easily.
“Yet he cheated on a whole CEO and beautiful woman for her.” Téa scoffed, looking severely disappointed.
“Yep, but she wouldn’t have been with Rah if he hadn’t. That’s the bright side,” Kasia reasoned.
“I don’t know about that. True enough, I had asked for a break, but he’d been sleeping with the bitch well before that. And by the time I found out, I was planning to break things off anyway.”
“Niggas.” Shardaya sucked her teeth before glancing across the party at her husband, conversing and laughing with Rakim. I loved seeing them so happy together. You could tell they were close. “Glad I met my man in high school and didn’t have to kiss any frogs to get him.”
We slapped her hand in agreement.
“Looks like she’s trying to sink her claws into Ayan though,” Téa got back on topic.
“Girl, please. Trying being the operative word. That man introduced her to us as the homie when Talid mistakenly called her his girl,” Shardaya informed, causing us to giggle while shaking our heads.
Morgin would never learn, but she was no longer my associate to attempt to steer or advise.
“Aye, Divine said she gotta use the bathroom.” Josias walked up, and I tried to suppress my laughter at the sight of Kasia rolling her eyes, because I kind of felt bad for him. The man was trying, but he deserved everything Kasia was doing to him.
“Okay? You’re her father. What do you do when she’s at your house and I’m not there, Josias?” Kasia’s lip curled as she turned to stare up at him.
“She said she want you.” He pushed his dreads back only for them to come right back swinging in his face again.
“Too bad. I’m eating.” Kasia turned around, and Josias stared down at the back of her head for a while.
“Keep popping shit and watch me punch ya ass in the back of that big ass head,” he said, swaggering off.
“Fu—” Kasia caught herself from yelling obscenities across a child’s party. “I cannot stand him.”
“Sure.” Shardaya lifted her brows.
“It’s like he cannot understand that I don’t want his stupid ass. He’s been following me and finding dumb ass reasons to speak with me since I got here. This man has Divine on his own for weeks on end but wants me to believe she only wants me to take her to the bathroom?” She scoffed as we laughed.
“It’s not funny, but it is at the same time,” I admitted. “So you really are done, or is this just to give him a hard time?”
“Both.” She ate some of her barbecue meatballs. “I was miserable in that circus with him, and it feels good to be out of it. Also, I like seeing him suffer. Now he knows how it feels to want someone who is paying attention to someone else.”
“I know that’s right.” Téa bobbed her head. “I know Shaun is a popular name, but I been hearing about a Shaun that’s planning to apparently pull the rug from under Rah. I didn’t wanna say anything myself because I just got cool with the Godfreys. Can’t have them suspicious of me again.”
“I get it, girl.” I giggled. “I hope that’s not my ex, and I also hope it’s a lie,” I said, all kinds of shit journeying through my mind.
If it was Shaun, he was a fool, but at the same time, punks, fools, and pussies had successfully killed some great people.
We continued talking about almost everything until we finished our meals. By that time, AJ was out of the jumper, so I was able to tell him happy birthday and that his uncle and I had bought him more than a few gifts.
For the next hour or so, we played games, sang happy birthday to AJ, and watched him open what seemed like hundreds of gifts.
I noticed Morgin was laden with jealousy watching LaMia, Ayan, AJ, and Ayanna laugh and enjoy the gift opening portion of the event, but what the fuck did she expect?
She loved being a side chick but hated being in a side chick’s place.
Sure, LaMia and Ayan were no longer a thing, but the nigga was calling her ass the homie, a far cry from girlfriend and especially wife.
“Téa told me there is a Shaun that’s supposedly about to like . . . take you out or trying to.”
Rakim snickered, severing some cake with the green plastic fork. “I know. One of my grocers Freddie told me. Been fun watching ya lil ex think he doing something.”
“Huh?”
“Just know I got that shit under control, so we can discuss something else.”
I was gonna probe more but decided against it. Rakim’s morbid smile and relaxed demeanor told me I didn’t need to worry or stick my nose in some shit I didn’t even know about before this afternoon.
“How do you feel about that?” I jutted my chin out toward Mylo and Téa clearly flirting over a game of dominoes.
“I’m straight.” Rakim ate a forkful of cake. “They grown, and Zaire never mentioned her to me nor were they in some long-term shit. Can’t really enforce some shit I ain’t know about.”
“Yeah.” I agreed before catching wind of him taking even more big ass bites of my cake. “I told you to get your own, Rah!” I stared down in mortification at my cake that had dropped several sizes after only two bites from him.
“I ain’t expect that lil shit to hit the way it did.” He ascended from the table that only we’d been seated at while everyone else sat elsewhere or mingled. “Reminds me of yo’ pussy.” He spoke against the shell of my ear before kissing it and swaggering off to fetch me another piece.