19. Vani #2
Maybe Dymand was what Darius needed when I was down.
I was ready to tuck that hurt away and let it go.
The fact that I loathed Bree but almost instantly fell in love with an extension of her was crazy.
Gently, I rocked Dymand from side to side until she was asleep.
As gently as I could, I eased her onto the couch and got up to find a blanket to place over her.
Darius was going to be tickled when I told him that less than twenty minutes after being alone with Dymand, I had baby fever.
Of course, I wanted to wait a little before I got pregnant.
Maybe we could start trying after the wedding.
Which I still had to plan. The thought made me groan, and I knew right then and there that I didn’t want anything huge and overly complicated.
Just family and real friends. I wasn’t putting on a spectacle for all the hood to talk about.
Fuck them folks and their opinions. Darius could spend thousands upon thousands, and people would throw salt and hate just because.
I had just laid the blanket over Dymand when someone started banging loudly on the door.
I didn’t want whoever it was waking Dymand up but unless it was the police, I was ready to put a bullet in somebody’s ass for having the nerve to beat on my door like that.
I yanked the door open and damn near started foaming at the mouth when I saw Bree standing there wide eyed and red faced. That hoe obviously wanted smoke and despite what my man said, I wasn’t ducking it. She had the right one.
“Um why the fuck are you banging on this door like you’re crazy?” I asked looking her up and down.
“Where is my fucking daughter?” she snaked her neck and attempted to walk into the house.
Her daughter was most definitely inside, and Bree was her mother. But I wasn’t letting her inside with the way she was acting. I pushed her forcefully causing her to stagger back. Taking the opportunity to step outside myself, I closed the door behind me.
“You got the right one. Darius gave you a pass, but I will beat the fuck out you. Like I did the last time,” I smirked.
Bree’s chest heaved up and down, and she glared at me like a rabid dog. I was actually surprised that shorty wasn’t drooling and growling like a person possessed. All this because Darius proposed to me was the definition of insanity.
“If Darius wants to choose you over his child that’s his business, but I will never have mine around a hoe that doesn’t like me.”
“And why don’t I like you, Bree?” I took a step forward.
“Don’t act like you’re innocent. You are a goofy ass hoe.
I would never, ever mistreat a child because their parent was an idiot.
If you don’t want your daughter around me, that’s your right as her mother, but Darius is her father, and he’s a damn good one.
You’re really that bitter that you’d hurt your daughter by keeping her from her father?
Darius loves me for sure, but I know that if he even caught me looking at that little girl wrong, he’d drop my ass like a hot potato.
Stop being goofy.” Once again, I looked her up and down with a slight curl in my lip.
Going out this sad over a man was a shame.
“Save the speeches, bitch. Darius has two minutes to bring my daughter to me, or I’m calling the police. We both know how he makes his money. Unless you want to be a prison wife, I suggest you tell your man to bring me my daughter. Jail bird ass bitch. I guess birds of a feather flock together.”
All the growing, maturing, and healing I’d accomplished over the past year went out the window when I balled my fist up and popped Bree in the face so hard her head snapped back.
She was too comfortable standing in my face disrespecting me.
I would just have to apologize to Darius later.
I made every effort to have some self-restraint, but Bree was a bold one.
Running up on her, I pummeled her face a few more times while she screamed and tried to get away.
Her scary behind wasn’t even fighting back, so I eased up off her.
“Girl, beating you is too easy,” I eyed her with disgust. “Whooping you isn’t even fun with yo’ weak ass. Leave this house, and I’d advise you not to come back.”
“I got a trick for you and Darius. Just watch,” Bree seethed while back peddling to her car.
“Yeah, yeah, abra cadabra, bitch. I’m trying to spare you. On God I am. You aren’t making it easy, either.”
Bree finally got her dumb ass in the car.
She backed out of the driveway so fast, she ran up on the curb behind her and almost hit our neighbor’s mailbox.
All I could do was shake my head as I watched her drive away.
My heart lurched when I recalled her talking about how Darius made his money.
Bree couldn’t have been that heartbroken and out her mind that she would play police games with Darius.
The entire thing was a certified mess. Remembering Dymand, I rushed back inside the house praying that she wasn’t crying and scared.
When I pushed the door open and saw that she was still sound asleep, a sigh of relief made my shoulders loosen.
Biting my bottom lip, I stared at her and hoped when she was old enough to understand she’d never have to witness her mother crashing out over a man.
I was still standing in the living room staring at the sleeping beauty when I heard Darius punching his code in the door.
Whirling around, I was prepared for him to be pissed off when I told him what went down.
When he opened the door and his gaze landed on me, he shook his head. “Bro, what the fuck?”
“Huh?”
“I saw the whole thing on the camera. I heard it too. Bree is really trying to get on my bad side, Vani. Swear to God I’m not even that kind of nigga, but she talking about police and shit.
I’m not even that kind of nigga for real, but she’ll lay down before I will.
” The threat in his tone and the malice in his orbs made it perfectly clear what he meant.
“She’s just talking,” I attempted to calm him down, but I wasn’t even sure I believed that she wouldn’t do what she said.
“She doesn’t have too many more times to just talk.
I take all threats seriously. Especially when the person threatening me isn’t playing with a full deck.
Vani, I have not led that girl on. Not one time when you were away or recently have I ever gave her half of an indication that I wanted her. The crash out is not valid.”
“I believe you, Darius. Anybody with clear vision can see that Bree is gone over you. I could always see it clearly, and the fact that she always managed to be in your life for some small reason made me feel like she did hold some kind of weight in your life. I’m a woman and at that time, I couldn’t fathom a woman being that consistent with a person that wasn’t entertaining her.
If today didn’t show me anything else, it showed me that shorty is coo coo for cocoa puffs. ”
Darius’ gaze landed on Dymand. “I never keep shit in the crib, but she has me wanting to chill for a minute when it comes to riding dirty.”
I couldn’t stop the sigh that escaped me. “Darius, I know you have a plan in place. I know being robbed set you back a bit, but you don’t think it might be time to exit stage left? Baby, we have too many plans and too much stuff to do for something bad to happen.”
“Vani, I get what you’re saying, but it doesn’t quite work like that, ma. I have bricks to move. I have classes to pay for. I’m mad close to getting my degree. I’ll start moving smarter. But I can’t leave this money on the table, ma.”
No matter what I said, Darius wasn’t going to leave the game until he wanted to.
“I’m going to keep Dymand for the night and take her to Bree’s mom in the morning.”
I simply nodded. Having to walk on eggshells and hold my breath waiting to see what Bree’s simple behind would do next wasn’t the way I wanted to live.
Prayerfully, she would come to her senses and stop playing childish games.
It wouldn’t matter if she sent the police to the house because there wasn’t anything there but money and if I had to lie and say it was mine from braiding hair that was what I’d do.
They couldn’t tell my ass that I wasn’t saving money over the years from working for myself.
The fact that I might even have to do that was sick.
Darius took a shower and just as he was getting settled on the couch Dymand woke up I fixed them both something to eat.
Never in life would I try to take Bree’s place or act like Dymand’s mother, but I was going to be her stepmother.
And being there with her and Darius gave me an indication of what it would be like when we had a child, and I was digging it for sure.
I was cleaning the kitchen when I heard Darius on the phone.
The questions he was asking with slight panic in his tone made me turn the faucet off and walk over to him.
There was a look of disbelief in his eyes that made my heart drop.
“Okay. Keep me posted.” Darius ended the call with a shake of his head.
He looked up at me and just stared for a bit.
I was anxious to know what happened because I could tell he was spooked.
“Bree was in an accident. She was driving drunk. Drunk as shit, and it’s not looking good. Shorty is on life support.”