15. Malik
MALIK
Detroit acted differently when the weather broke.
One good day after too much cold and everybody came outside like they’d been released from prison.
Cars were clean, music playing loud with the windows down.
Niggas had grills smoking before five. Women had already pulled the shorts and sundresses out like it was ninety degrees instead of barely seventy five.
I was at one of my car washes on the west side with Troy and my boy Dre, posted near the front while my employees handled the steady line of cars coming through.
I owned three locations around the city, but this one had always been my favorite.
It stayed busy, especially on days like this.
Troy leaned against his truck eating sunflower seeds while Dre sat on the hood of mine talking shit about everybody who pulled in.
I was halfway listening. My attention was on the Charger that had just pulled up.
Well…the woman getting out of it. She was brown skin and thick with a pretty smile.
She wore a little two piece outfit hugging everything it was supposed to hug.
She caught me looking and I didn’t look away. I was single and hopefully she was too.
Apparently the whole damn west side knew I was single. Word traveled fast as hell in Detroit. Since me and Shante split, women who hadn’t said two words to me in years suddenly remembered my number. Old situations started liking pictures. Women I didn’t even know were sending messages.
And the ones who came through the car wash had gotten bold as hell.
“Malik!” The woman by the Charger smiled. “You ain’t gonna make sure they get my rims right?”
I pushed away from my truck. “I got people for that.”
“So you don’t do nothing?”
“I own the shit that’s the point.”
She laughed. Troy made some stupid noise behind me and I ignored his ass.
She walked closer. “I heard you single now.”
I smiled. “Who told you that?”
“Detroit.” She smirked.
“Detroit need to mind its business.” I smirked.
“That mean it’s true.”
I looked her up and down. “It mean Detroit talk too much.”
She smiled and tucked some hair behind her ear. “Well, since Detroit already talking…”
I knew exactly where that sentence was headed.
And for once, I wasn’t against hearing the rest. She was cute with no baggage that I knew about.
No secret bullshit, just a pretty woman flirting with me on a nice day.
Maybe I needed that. Then tires came screeching into the parking lot.
Everybody turned and looked. A truck swung into an open space so fast Troy stood up straight.
“What the fuck?”
I knew that truck. “Oh, hell.” I said.
Alisha jumped out and slammed the door. She didn’t walk toward me, she marched. Big purse on her shoulder. Sunglasses pushed on top of her head and face twisted. And from halfway across the lot, I could already hear her.
“MALIK!”
Dre looked at me.“What you do?”
“Apparently I’m about to find out.”
Troy started laughing. “Boy, you having a rough week with women pulling up on you.”
“Shut the fuck up.”
The woman I’d been flirting with looked between me and Alisha. “That’s your ex?”
“Nah.”
Alisha got close enough to hear her. “His ex? Bitch, please. I wouldn’t fuck this trifling ass nigga with somebody else’s pussy.”
The whole lot went quiet for about two seconds. Troy damn near choked on his sunflower seeds.
I looked at Alisha. “Watch how you talking to me.”
“Oh, fuck you.” She came right up on me. “You foul as hell.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I snapped.
“My best friend!” She snapped.
Behind her, Troy and Dre suddenly got real interested in everything except us. Alisha didn’t give a damn who was listening. “You cheated on Shante while she’s pregnant with your twins?”
My eyebrows went up. Oh so that’s what Shante told her. I rubbed my hand across my beard. This fucking girl was a compulsive ass liar.
“And then you packed up everything in the apartment and left her with damn near nothing?”
I looked around the parking lot. Employees were pretending not to listen.
Customers were definitely listening. The woman I’d been flirting with had taken a few steps back.
Now my irritation was turning into something else, embarrassment.
And I didn’t do embarrassment. Especially not at one of my own businesses.
“Alisha, lower your voice.”
“Fuck lowering my voice.”
She pointed at me. “You got my best friend sitting in an empty ass apartment a month away from having your babies while you out here flirting with bitches?”
The woman beside me frowned. “Wait, babies?”
I closed my eyes for a second, not this shit again.
Alisha looked at her. “Twins.”
The woman looked at me. “You got twins coming?”
“Man—”
“Don’t ‘man’ me. Why you ain’t say nothing?”
Alisha folded her arms like she’d just proved her whole case. I looked from the woman to Alisha. Then around my own damn parking lot.
Shante had lied to me and Alisha, and somehow I kept ending up looking like a fucked up ass nigga because I was trying to keep her secret.
First Target now my own fucking car wash.
I was done looking like a fuck boy. The woman shook her head.
“I’m good on this.” She turned toward her Charger and walked off and I didn’t stop her.
At this point, I didn’t give a fuck. Alisha looked satisfied. I mugged her. “You done?”
“No.”
“Well, I am.” Something in my voice finally made her pause. I stepped closer. “You came flying into my shit disrespecting me over something you don’t know a fucking thing about.”
“I know what Shante told me.” She replied.
“And that’s your problem.”
Her face changed. “What?”
“You keep believing everything Shante tells you.”
“Because that’s my best friend.”
I laughed. “Yeah.” I nodded. “Your best friend.”
She narrowed her eyes. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
I looked around again. Fuck it she wanted the truth? “I didn’t cheat on Shante.”
Alisha rolled her eyes. “Boy, please.”
“And them twins ain’t mine.”
Alisha went completely still. “What?”
I held her stare. “Them babies ain’t mine.”
Her eyebrows pulled together. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
“Exactly what I said.” She stared at me like she was waiting for me to laugh or tell her I was fucking with her.
I wasn’t.
“Malik…”
“I found out at the hospital.”
Her face changed. “Found out what?”
I could’ve softened it could’ve pulled her to the side. Could’ve tried to find some pretty way to say it but there wasn’t one and I was tired of carrying shit that wasn’t mine. “Shante is a surrogate.”
Alisha blinked. “A what?”
“A surrogate.”
Her mouth opened, but nothing came out. I kept going. “That’s why I left.”
She shook her head slowly. “No.”
“Yeah.”
“No, because—” She stopped. I watched her trying to make the pieces fit. Her face lost a little color. “Who babies is she carrying?”
For the first time since she pulled into my parking lot, I didn’t feel angry anymore. I actually felt bad for her. I looked her dead in her face. “Deuce and Kim’s.”
Alisha stumbled back like I’d physically pushed her. Troy stopped chewing his sunflower seeds and Dre looked away.
“You’re lying.”
“I wish the fuck I was.”
“No.” She shook her head harder. “No, because Shante wouldn’t—” Her voice broke off.
I stayed quiet. She didn’t need me explaining anything. Her own mind was doing enough. I watched disbelief turn into confusion. Confusion into realization. Then realization turned into something that looked a whole lot like pain.
“How long you known?”
“Since the hospital.”
“And you ain’t tell me?”
“I tried staying out of it.”
“Everybody always stays out of shit when I’m the one looking stupid!” Her voice cracked.
People were still watching and this time, I didn’t care.“I told Shante she needed to tell you, but she didn’t. And apparently Deuce ain’t told you shit either.”
Her eyes started watering. She looked toward her truck, then back at me. “So when I saw you at Somerset you knew then?”
I hated answering. “Yeah.”
Her lips parted and she turned her face away. I could see her breathing change. That was when I realized just how bad this shit was from her side. This woman had been buying gifts and checking on Shante even defending her. And the whole time she was being played.
“I wasn’t trying to play in your face, Alisha.”
She looked back at me. “But you did.”
I couldn’t argue with that. “I should’ve told you.”
“Yeah.” She nodded slowly. “You should’ve.”
I let her have that then her face hardened again. “Wait.” She looked at me. “At the baby shower Kim came in there talking about her and Deuce having twins.”
I nodded and her eyes widened. “Oh my fucking God.” She covered her mouth. “Shante knew.”
I didn’t say anything.
“That bitch was standing right there!” Her voice rose again. “She let me beat Kim’s ass! She stood there and let me think Kim was pregnant!” Her hand dropped from her mouth. “And she was carrying the fucking babies the whole time?”
“Yeah.”
“That dirty bitch.”
I stayed out of that one. Alisha started pacing. Now she wasn’t even looking at me. She was putting everything together out loud. Every lie and every weird moment. Every time Shante had sat in her face, then she stopped. “Grandma Lorraine.”
I looked at her.
“She knows?”
I hesitated, that was enough because Alisha laughed. “Of course, of fucking course she knows.”
“She found out after I did.”
“Don’t matter.” She grabbed her purse tighter. “Everybody knows but the wife.”
I didn’t know what to say to that.
She looked at me one last time. “You still fucked up for not telling me.”
“I’ll take that.”
“But I owe you an apology for coming up here accusing you of cheating.”
I nodded.
“Accepted.”
She pointed at me. “Don’t get comfortable, I'm still pissed at your ass.”
I smirked because she could still be pissed but I wasn’t the one she should be mad at.
“Fuck you, Malik.” She said before she headed toward her truck.
I looked at her face. Whatever hurt had been there was gone, now she looked dangerous.
“Don’t do no shit that’s gonna have you sitting beside Deuce.”