Sister-in-law Duties.
As soon as I pulled up to Starlight Lounge, I saw police cars and an ambulance.
My heart was pounding against my chest as I parked and practically ran towards the crowd of people.
I’d called Yari and Peanut while I was on the way, and they met me at the entrance.
We squeezed our way through the crowd until we were inside, and I was taken aback at the state of the room.
Glass was smashed, tables and chairs were flipped, and the smell of liquor was rising from the carpet where a big puddle of it took up residence at the edge of the bar.
“Hey, nobody enters,” a guy who I could only assume was a security guard states, holding his hand out to stop us from moving forward.
“They’re with me, Jerome,” I hear Morgan say as she motions for us to come over.
He lets us through, and we rush over to where she is being tended to by a paramedic. Her arm was in a sling, and her face was slightly bruised. The woman sitting beside her got up and offered her seat to me, but I shook my head.
“Morgan, what happened?” I question as I watch her wince when the paramedic tightens the sling a little more.
“What happened is that crazy ass bitch and her friend thought they could badmouth Zee around me and that I wouldn’t rock their shit,” she replies, motioning over to where Sasha sat with a woman I didn’t recognize.
“I was minding my business, about to go on stage and perform, when I overheard her and that other hoe talking about Zee and laughing at the fact that she was taking Zee to court just for the hell of it.”
“The hell?”
“Exactly what I said,” she huffs, shaking her head.
“So, you know me. I ain’t no punk ass bitch, so I confronted them.
I told Sasha to repeat what she said, but of course, she hesitated when she realized who I was.
She tried to back track, but that other chick jumped in, calling Zee all kinds of bitches and naive sluts, and we got to arguing because who the fuck gave her the right to run her mouth about someone they don’t know? ”
“And you beat her ass, I assume?” Peanut questions with an amused expression, and Morgan nods. “Shit, well, we ain’t even need to come here. Young Mo done handled it.”
“Thank you for standing up for Zee,” I say, and she nods.
“It’s nothing. Truly,” she assures me. “Zee and Princess are family, and I’ll go to bat behind mine every time. Believe that.”
I pat her on the shoulder, and she winces since it’s the one that’s wrapped up.
I quickly apologize before chuckling. I turned my attention to where Sasha and the other woman were sitting, and we made eye contact before she quickly looked away.
I tried to calm myself, but with every step I took towards them, I felt my body temperature rise.
“You can look away all you want, Sasha, but you already know I ain’t going anywhere til I get some damn answers from you,” I say, stopping a few feet away from them. Within seconds, the other woman is on her feet, closing the distance between us.
“Don’t even come over here starting!” She yelled.
“Who are you?” I ask, eyebrows raised in confusion.
Right as she opens her mouth, I raise my hand to stop her.
“You know what? Don’t care.” I turn my attention to Sasha.
“You wanna tell me why you in here beefing with my sister? Matter of fact, explain to me why y’all were running y’all mouth about my girlfriend in the first place? ”
“Man, Jakayla, miss me with that,” Sasha scoffed as she got up from her seat. “We were just playing, and your sister is the one who inserted herself into our conversation.”
“You must get off on running your mouth about Zee or something, because she’s always on your mind,” I replied.
“Further proof that you’re jealous that she moved on and is happy now.
Every time we run into each other, you prove my theory more and more.
So, stop fucking denying it and be a woman. Own it.”
“Okay, yeah! Fuck! I’ve always hated how close you two were, and the fact that she’s raising a child with you now actually irks me,” she admitted, and I was taken aback, but only slightly.
“You’re damn right I don’t give a shit about that kid, but I hate you so much that I knew draggin' her into it would hurt you as well.”
“So, you're jealous of me, is what you’re saying?” I ask with a knowing smile. She rolled her eyes.
“I don’t have time for this shit,” she shakes her head, attempting to walk away, but Ash and Peanut block her path. She whips around to glare at me. “The fuck do you want now, Jakayla?”
“I want you to go down to the courthouse tomorrow and drop the petition you have for custody,” I say calmly, and she continues to glare at me. “Oh, and I also want you to lose Zee’s number and never contact her again.”
“And why in the hell would I do that?”
“Because everyone here heard you say that you don’t even care about Sera. We all heard you admit that you were only doing this to make Zee and me miserable.”
“And don’t even deny it, because I’ve been rolling since we walked in,” Yari adds, flipping her phone around to show that she’s been recording everything.
Sasha looked terrified and glanced over at her friend, who threw up her hands in defeat.
An officer comes over to say that he needed to collect statements, and we agree to cooperate.
Sasha doesn’t say anything as she reclaims her seat, regret and annoyance written all over her face.
I felt a small bout of accomplishment as we walked away from her and back over to where Morgan and her friend were.
They gave their statements and were then released to go on with their nights.
As we were heading back to our cars, I caught a glimpse of Sasha walking to the opposite side of the parking lot with her friend.
She glanced up at me but didn’t say a word.
I lifted an eyebrow, and she sighed before nodding and turning away.
Hopefully, she’d do what I told her to do, but only time would tell.
All I knew was that she was dead to me after tonight.
God, with the way she’d been popping up around me, people would have thought that she was my ex…
“I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced,” Morgan’s friend says as she falls in step beside me. I glance over at her and nod. She holds her hand out, and I shake it. “Hi, I’m Cassiopeia. Cassie for short. I’m Morgan’s girlfriend.”
I stop in my tracks as my jaw drops. The others stop as well and ask me if I’m okay.
I look from Cassie to Morgan, then back to Cassie again.
Don’t get me wrong, I’d been introduced to women she talked to before, but never once were they introduced as her girlfriends.
This was a first, and she was smiling at Cassie like she was the only woman in the world, so I could tell that the feelings they shared were deeper than anything I’d ever seen my sister experience.
“Wait, girlfriend?” I ask, and Cassie nods with a smile. I turn to Morgan. “SINCE WHEN DID YOU HAVE A GIRLFRIEND?!”
“Damn, Mom, calm down,” she chuckles, shaking her head. She reaches her free hand out to Cassie, and she takes it. Morgan then brings it to her lips to kiss softly and then winks at her. “Yes, I have a girlfriend, and she’s beyond amazing. I love her so damn much.”
“And I love you too, sweetheart,” Cassie giggles.
Yari and I share a look, not believing our ears or eyes. “This is weird, right?” she whispers to me, and I nod. “Okay, I thought I was trippin’.”
“Chill outtt,” Morgan laughs, shaking her head. “Is it that hard to believe that I’m in love?”
“Yes,” the rest of us, except Cassie, reply. She waves us off, but joins in when we share a laugh.
“Whatever,” she shakes her head, smiling at her girlfriend.
Morgan pulled Cassie closer so they could share a kiss.
It felt surreal to see how in love my sister was with someone, given how she’d never been for romance and relationships in the past, but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t make me smile as well.
I was happy for them. I wished them nothing but happiness.
It was almost midnight when I finally made it back to the house, and I saw that all the lights were off aside from the porch light.
Zee texted me about an hour ago to ask if everything was okay, and I informed her that it was.
She told me she’d wait up for me, but I told her she didn’t have to since I wasn’t sure how long everything would take.
After entering the house, I locked the door, then removed my shoes and coat.
I tossed my keys into the dish and headed to the kitchen, ready to put the dinner away, but I saw that Zee had already done so.
There was even a plate wrapped up and waiting for me on the counter, with a note saying the food was delicious.
My stomach growled at the thought of finally eating, but I needed to check on Zee first.
I found her stretched out on the couch, snoring lightly as the TV played softly across from her.
I slid onto the couch beside her, lifting her head so I could rest it on my lap.
She stirred a bit before slowly opening her eyes to look at me.
Upon seeing me, she sat up, closing the space between us.
I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her into my embrace, kissing her forehead.
“Hey, baby,” she says, her voice laced with sleep. “Did you get things straight with Morgan?”
“Yeah, everything is good,” I assure her. “I’ll tell you about it in the morning, okay?”
“Okay,” she nods, resting her head against my chest. “I’m just happy you're home.”
“I’ll always come back to you, too,” I assure her.
She nods, slowly drifting back off to sleep. I let the stillness of the room engulf me. Tomorrow would hopefully bring good news. News that would finally let her rest easily.
November 22nd, 2023 - 11:43 AM - A Few Days Later
“Mama Kayyy!” Serenity yelled as she ran into my outstretched arms.
“Hey, my baby,” I greeted her, hugging her tightly as I peppered her cheeks with kisses. She giggled, squirming in my arms.
Since Sera was out of school this week for fall break, we’d let her stay in Lafayette a few days longer. She loved hanging out with her cousins and grandpa, and neither Zee nor I minded. The quiet gave us plenty of time to relax and have quality time with one another, both of which we enjoyed.
She would’ve stayed with them longer and joined them to go visit Zee’s brother for Thanksgiving, but we were missing her here. So, Zaiyre had dropped her off on their way out of town. We were on our way to Thibodaux to spend the rest of the week with my family.
“Miss you,” Sera says as she moves her hand in front of her face as if she catches something, and then points at me.
“Almost, baby girl,” I tell her with a smile. “Like this.”
I take the pointer finger of my right hand and tap it against my chin. She watched intently, then got it right on the first try. I nod with the smile of a proud mother as I sign “good job” back at her.
“You’re so smart, Princess,” I complimented, as I helped her put her things away. “Did you have fun with Auntie Zaiyre and your cousins?”
“Yes, we had lots of fun,” she informed me.
She then proceeded to run down all the things she’d done while with her cousins as best as she could.
Even at the age of two, she was so animated and expressive, and since we’d been teaching her ASL as long as we’d been teaching her English, both vocabularies were more advanced than those of the average toddler.
I wouldn’t be surprised if she were reading soon.
“Sounds like the best time,” I chuckled once she’d finally gotten everything out of her system. “You ready to go visit Mama Liz and Giselle?”
“And Auntie Mo!” She replies, excitedly.
“Yes, and Auntie Mo,” I chuckled. She nodded. “Awesome! Now, let’s go see if Mommy is ready to head out.”
She nods as we head back down the hall to see where Zee had gone off to.
Just as we make it back to the main hallway, she’s coming from down the hall.
She’d excused herself to take a phone call after bringing Sera inside.
When she spots us, she comes over and wraps her arms around us.
My heart was full as I stood there with these two whom I loved more than life itself.
Literally nothing could make this day better.
“I have some amazing news that I think you’ll love,” Zee says, excitedly as we broke apart. I put Sera down so she could go play while we talked. Zee guided me over to the couch, waves of excitement rolling off her.
“What’s got you so excited, Zee?” I chuckled as she bounced up and down. I hoped that this was the news I’d been waiting to hear these last few days.
“I just got off the phone with my lawyer, and he told me that Sasha dropped the petition for custody,” she squealed, and a smile immediately stretched across my face. I pulled her into my arms and kissed her repeatedly.
“Baby, are you serious?!” I exclaim, excited for her.
Even though I knew this would happen soon, there had still been a small part of me that worried that Sasha would keep trying to drag this on.
I was happy that she’d come to her senses and stopped this madness once and for all.
I wanted to believe that she’d had a change of heart and that it wasn’t because of what I told her, but I knew better than that.
Whatever the case may be, I was just glad that she’d kept her word.
“Yes!” She nodded. “Apparently, her lawyer finally got in touch with her, and she told him that she wanted to drop it. He said that she felt that Serenity was being well taken care of by us and that she stood by her original decision not to be part of her life.”
“How do you feel?” I ask because I knew that it was nothing short of bittersweet.
“I mean, of course, I’m happy that this seems to be all over, but I can’t push away that sadness that bubbled up after realizing that all of this really was just so she could stir up more chaos in my life,” she sighed.
“Serenity is surrounded by so much love, so I’m glad she doesn’t have to deal with someone like Sasha, but I do kind of feel like it’s 2021 all over again, and that hurts.
” I wiped away the few tears that fell. “Why couldn’t she just leave me alone?
Why did she have to put me through weeks of panic and anxiety for no damn reason at all? It’s not fair.”
“It’s not,” I shake my head, holding her tighter in my arms. I kiss her forehead lightly. “But we’re gonna be okay, love. As long as I’m here, that’ll never change, understand.”
“Understood,” she nods, looking up at me with a smile.
Her hand reaches up to cup my cheek, and she pulls my face down until our lips connect.
I savor the taste of her for a full minute until Sera runs back in, asking for a snack.
We chuckled before breaking apart to handle everything we needed to do before we had to head out later tonight. Everything was once again looking up.