Chapter 9
As work and our personal life, Dos and I were tied together at the hip. It was an adjustment that we both needed to get used to. We were joint owners of Mystic which was thriving. There was no reason we couldn’t make this shit with Ivy work. Most importantly we were brothers, our relationship didn’t have to falter because of this situation. Dos and I set up a schedule that we both could agree on. It divided the work week equally between the both of us. The club didn’t require either of us to be there every day. He took the beginning of the week, and I took the second half. The days I was working, he would take care of Nana and see Ivy, and I would do the same on the days he worked. It had been a full month of adjustments to make this work. However, Dos and I rarely talked.
Before heading to the club, I asked Dos to meet me at my place alone for breakfast. He agreed. My alarm went off at four thirty. I had plans to head to the gym. Rolling out of bed, I got dressed, grabbed my water bottle, keys, and wallet, and made my way down to the parking garage. The ride to the gym was smooth and the ten-minute ride was relaxing. I parked and made my way into the fitness chain. I walked in, scanned my member card, and went right in. The gym was empty. I had my pick of the equipment and got right to work warming up and lifting weights. As I made my way through my sets and switched up the machinery, I noticed a female had joined me in the space. She was struggling with one of the machines. I paused my set and went over to ask if I could show her something.
“Excuse me, I noticed you having some trouble with the machine. Mind if I show you how to use it so you don’t get hurt?”
“Sure. It’s hard figuring out some of this stuff, especially when there isn’t really anyone in here this early in the morning.
“No worries, I gotchu.” I smiled and proceeded to show her how to properly use the equipment. She did a few reps to make sure she had her form corrected and was comfortable doing it on her own.
“You got it.”
“Thank you so much. My name is Crystal.”
“I’m Umar, but everyone calls me Uno.”
“If it’s alright with you, I’d like to call you Umar.” She smiled.
“That’s fine.” I smiled. “I gotta get back to my workout, but if you need help on anything else, let me know.”
“Will do, Umar.”
Crystal smiled back as I walked away. I finished my sets and rotations on the equipment. I had worked up a good sweat when my alarm went off. I had been at the gym for two hours and the gym was now starting to fill up. I looked back in the direction I last saw Crystal and she was nowhere to be seen.
I showered and got dressed. Dos was heading my way. I had the bacon in the oven, the pancakes were done and in the warmer and all I needed to do was make the eggs. I had some cut-up fruit and coffee ready to go as well. Dos had a key to my apartment. Not that he used it, but he could come and go as he needed. I knew he would be here any minute. Before I could check all my messages there was a light tap at the door before it opened.
“Yo Uno!”
“What up, Dos?”
We gave each other dap and brotherly hug. It felt good, it felt normal even though things between us were not normal.
“Awe shit, you been in the kitchen,” he joked.
“You know just a lil sumthin sumthing.” We both laughed. “Sit, dig in,” I instructed.
We both grabbed a plate and filled it high with food. Making ourselves comfortable at the kitchen island we dug in.
“Damn bro, you still make pancakes like mom. Dem shits were bomb.”
“That’s a compliment coming from you. I’ll take it.”
The room was quiet. The only noise was the sound of forks scraping against our plates and the occasional lips smacking. When we were done. I broke the ice “So, how are you?”
Dos finished chewing his last bite of fruit and then spoke, “Nigga how do you think I’m doing?” We laughed at his response. “I can’t believe I’m in a relationship with my brother. If this ain’t some white shit.”
“Right. Who would have ever thought we’d be sharing the same bitch?”
“Out of all the girls in the world, we gotta be fucking the same one,” he said, shaking his head.
“But seriously, how you holding up?”
“Shidd, I’mma need something more than coffee to talk about this shit.” Dos walked over to the bar, opened the bottle of Hennessy, and poured two glasses full. “Here,” he said, handing me a glass.
“Thanks.”
He took a sip and continued, “To be honest, I spend my day worried about what the fuck y’all be doing. I can’t sleep, I can’t focus and it’s fucking exhausting. I wouldn’t allow any bitch to drive me crazy like this and here I am allowing Ivy to do it. The problem is I can’t walk away.”
“I know the feeling. That was me when she first brought it to me. I was pissed. Like how you gonna play me against my brother. But I couldn’t stop loving her.”
“This is so fucked up.”
“It’s only fucked up if we make it fucked up. Let me ask you this; Are you happy with this arrangement?”
“Yeah. I guess.”
“Then what is the problem?”
“Nigga, we brothers sliding in the same pussy.”
Laughing, I responded, “So you rather I be a stranger and be fucking ya gurl?”
“Hell naw. I’d have to kill that bitch and him.”
“Well, I trust you and you trust me. Together we make the perfect man for her. She gets the best of both of us. I know you won’t hurt her, and you know I’ll do the same.”
“Yeah, you right, but…”
“But what. So, she fucking both of us. We hold all the cards. It’s our relationship that’ll make or break this situation with Ivy. So, what do you need from me so you’re comfortable fucking her?”
“What da fuck you mean?”
“For me, it would be bringing her by the club. It’s a hard no for me. I don’t want to see her there. Too many people would be in our business and not that I give a fuck, I just think we don’t need that drama at work.”
“Ok, I can respect that. I guess for me it would be the day we’re all together. It should be on neutral ground. I don’t wanna be here with you two, and I don’t wanna be at my crib.”
“Alright. Neutral ground. I agree to that. Anything else?”
“Uno, we will always be brothers. No lying to each other while we are in this shit with Ivy. You and her fucking before I knew about this really fucked me up. She had me thinking she was really into me. Had me looking like a simp. Whole time she was fucking you.”
“Man, I only fucked her to punish her. I took out my anger on her. Wasn’t nothing loving about it.”
“Yeah, but you still fucked her.”
“I get it. From here on out we will be honest with each other. Even if it means we discuss it first before we take it to Ivy. Deal?”
“Deal.”
We dabbed on that arrangement. It felt good to clear the air and finally feel free to commit to this situation with Ivy.