Secretly #3
“Who the fuck did you have that girl looking into? Did they do something to her?”
“Why are you assuming I had that girl doing any fucking thing? How bout I was helping her ass, not the other way around.”
“Helping her with what?”
“Respectfully that ain’t your business.”
“You better make it my business, so I have something to take back to her worried mother. I don’t have to tell you that Domonique don’t play when it comes to her children.
If you had something to do with her disappearance or know who did, you better speak the fuck up because if she finds out later, I might not be there to save you. ”
“I told you what I could. The shit Cassidy got herself into don’t have shit to do with me.”
“And Prissy?”
“Ask Prissy, the fuck?” Hussein stood from his seat, knocking on the door to go back to his cell.
He needed to call his lawyer to get Prissy’s number. If he didn’t talk to her before Tina did, every lie he just told to Tina would come out.
JAKIA’S APARTMENT |2:18 P.M.
“Congratulations!!” Henni and Khyell yelled when Jakia walked into the house.
“This is supposed to be a birthday party for Carmell. Why do the decorations say congratulations, Henni?”
“Well, since Tina is throwing a big party, Khyell and I figured that we could celebrate you today.”
Khyell blew into the party blowers that were originally for Carmell’s party.
“Congratulations, TT.”
“Thank you.” Jakia finally gave in to the smile that she’d been fighting against.
She left the last parenting class with a certificate of completion. She didn’t need cookies for doing what she was supposed to do. It wasn’t hard, she wanted to be there. Still, it felt good for it to be acknowledged.
“This means you get to keep us, right?”
“Not exactly,” Jakia admitted despite how much it hurt her to disappoint him.
“But it looks really good in front of the judge,” Henni added.
“Why that ain’t enough?” He huffed. Henni pulled him into her chest.
“Because they want to make sure that you and your brother go where you’ll be well taken care of. I’m doing everything I can to make sure they know that I’m the best option.”
“And I’m going to be right there with her in the court room to vouch for her,” Henni assured him, smoothing out his eyebrows.
A soft knock at the door made the three of them pull themselves together.
“That’s my homegirl from parenting class.” Jakia rushed to the door, opening it to let Fatima in. “Apparently, I invited you to the wrong party. They decided to throw me a congratulations party for completing parenting class.”
“Oh, so it’s a party for the both of us, then.” Fatima laughed, stepping inside. “This is my daughter, Peyton.”
Jakia introduced everyone and it quickly turned into a good time. Khyell and Peyton made TikToks in the living room. Carmell had a ball interrupting them. Henni, Fatima and Jakia sat out on the balcony with a bottle of Henny, Jakia’s water and an unethical game of this or that.
“Drugs or money?” Henni asked.
“Drugs.” Fatima and Jakia said at the same time.
“Jah, I think you may have found a real friend.” Henni laughed. “Ain’t no way, y’all rather have drugs than money.”
“Drugs always make you feel good. Sometime money can hurt your feelings worse than a trifling ass nigga.”
“That part,” Jah agreed. “But the way I see it, drugs can get you money. It don’t even matter the kind of drugs.
I have these Lidocaine patches for my pain now.
These motherfuckers are magic. I know I can get an easy fifty for one.
A nigga might want a hundred in cash for some shit but will take one of these patches because drugs are worth more than their actual value to a motherfucker that can’t go without it. ”
“I’m still going with money,” Henni defended her point. “I don’t know what the fuck you bitches talking about.”
“Ard, ard. Um, Dildos or vibrators?”
“I want the vibrating dildo,” Henni answered. “Please and thank you.”
“I don’t know.” Fatima scrunched her face. “Neither, I prefer my fingers. A lil quick one, two on my hood always gets me where I need to be.”
“I’m going to say vibrator.” Jakia answered her own question. “Everything else seems like too much work. I can place the vibrator where it needs to be and ain’t got to do shit else.” She shrugged.
“Ooh, I got a good one. Would you rather watch porn or use your imagination?” Fatima asked then answered her own question. “I’ma say imagination. I might start off with a flick, but I always end with the shit I picture in my head.”
“The less work I have to do the better. Porno,” Jakia reasoned.
“The only right answer is both. I let the Porno play in the background, so I can get the sounds and let my imagination roam around the moans and groans and boom! Waterfall.”
“You babysitting the hell out of that water. It’s cause you don’t really want that shit.” Fatima snickered. “Go on and have you a shot, just one. You deserve it.”
“She would if she could.” Henni laughed.
“Wait, you pregnant, bitch?” Fatima asked. “Oh shit. Congratulations!”
“Bitch.” Jakia stared Henni down until she was forced to apologize.
“My bad, it’s the liquor.”
“Is it not a congratulations? Is it a clinic?”
Henni and Jakia burst into laughter. “No, it’s not a clinic. I’m keeping it.”
“Then what you fussing about?” Fatima asked.
“She don’t know who the daddy is,” Henni blurted out again.
“Henni!” Jakia yelled at her.
“You know what, I’ma just put this down because I don’t need no more.” She pulled an already rolled Backwood from the pack sitting on the table. “I’ma just spark this blunt.”
“Girl, that still ain’t shit to trip about.” Fatima waved her off. “It happens to the best of us.”
“Speak for yourself,” Henni argued. “I know who my kids’ daddy is.”
“Bitch, me too. I’m just trying to make her feel better.”
“Girl!” Jakia snapped. “No need. I don’t feel bad. It is what it is. I’m not the first and I won’t be the last.”
The doctor confirmed the she wasn’t that far into her trimester.
Before her sister passed, Jakia and twin had been up most nights fucking.
A lot had happened and fast. It only took a few days for Hussein to talk her out of her panties.
They didn’t have so much as a pregnancy scare but that was birth control doing what it was supposed to do.
With the throwing up from withdrawal and her abandoning the pill completely, there was no way to be sure that the baby growing inside of her was Twon’s or Hussein’s.
Khyell and Peyton convinced the ladies to make a few TikTok’s with them. Jakia was the camera man refusing to partake in anything that was going on the internet. Just her luck, it’d go viral and she’d never have another moment of peace.
After cake and ice cream, Jakia walked her friends to the door. With them gone, she got the boys ready for bed. Khyell was worn out from the day and fell asleep first. Carmell fought hard to keep his eyes open but ended up losing the battle. Jakia laid him down then got herself ready for bed.
She took a long, hot shower and immediately placed a Lidocaine patch on her back. It was instant relief. She crept into the kitchen for another piece of cake and a few scoops of ice cream that she could eat in bed with her legs crossed at the ankles. A light knock at the door made her jump.
“Who is it?” she asked from the kitchen, frozen trying to decide if she needed to grab her gun or not.
“Twon.”
Jakia sucked her teeth, rolling her eyes as if he could see her.
A nigga that couldn’t take a “get the fuck out my face” at face value got under her skin so bad.
She’d been mean as fuck and he hadn’t given up.
It wasn’t romantic or honorable. It was a fucking nuisance and a turn off.
It was only cute for the nigga you wanted to be sick about you.
She hoped Hussein was crying himself to sleep every night.
Jakia opened the door with a strong eye roll. “What you want Twon?”
“My mama sick,” he blurted out, lips trembling, face wet with tears.
She should’ve shut the door in his face. The audacity to run to her at the first sound of grief when he had abandoned her in her own moment of despair. She could’ve said exactly that and continued with her evening plans. She would’ve if her cultural beliefs had been something different.
One soul leaving the world and one entering had her thinking the tears in Twon’s eyes were confirmation that she’d be pushing out a baby for him, and not Hussein. That is what led her to invite him in and move her nighttime plans to the living room.