The Best Part of Me 2

by A'zayler

  “I want to stay with you. We’re not breaking up.”

  His lips on the bare skin of her shoulder made her shiver. When she pulled away, he was smiling again. Goody returned the gesture and faced the circle of people.

  “We’ll do it, but I’m about to let y’all know, my sister will sue any tabloid or gossip person who tries to slander us. I’m not having that shit, and I mean it.”

  “Sure will,” Forever cosigned.

  Maxwell held his hands up in surrender. “That definitely won’t happen with myself or Essence. You have my word.”

  Goody nodded. “Jerrico is private, very private, so don’t expect a host of videos and a picture of everything we do. A few here and there. Cool?”

  “For now.” Jacorey smiled and stood still holding the baby. “I can’t speak for the people.”

  “Summer, that’s your baby girl?” Jerrico’s voice held a large level of interest.

  Summer’s beauty shined brighter when she nodded. “Yes, that’s my little honey bun.”

  “She’s beautiful. What’s her name? You mind if I hold her?”

  Goody moved out of Jerrico’s lap so he could grab the little girl from Jacorey. She was chocolate like Summer, with the fattest legs and arms. Her cheeks sagged from her chubbiness while she showed nothing but gums with her smile.

  “Jacari,” Jacorey stated proudly. “That’s daddy’s baby right there.”

  Summer rolled her eyes while Goody and Forever smiled. His love for the baby was adorable, and she matched it with hers. As soon as Jacorey passed her off, she began to kick and scream.

  “Look at her showing her ass. She’s out of control, just like her damn mama.” Jacorey grabbed the kicking baby and held her up so he could look at her face. “Cut that shit out, you li’l pudgy rugrat.”

  “Jacorey, stop talking to my child like that, stupid ass.”

  Goody couldn’t hold her laughter in anymore. She and Forever both fell over laughing. The two of them were hilarious. Every time Goody thought she was about to stop laughing, Summer or Jacorey would say something else that would tickle her to death. They were clearly best friends before anything, and Goody craved that. She’d wanted that with Kayson, but it never came.

  In the beginning, they had been pretty tight, but it all died over the years, and she ended up feeling more like a responsibility than a wife. Jerrico was silly, but not like Jacorey, so they could potentially have that type of relationship as well, but only time would tell.

  Sometimes he was calm, and sometimes he was a clown. Goody always had to feel his mood out. To make matters worse, she was the exact same way. Some days she would be good for a laugh, and others, she wouldn’t crack a smile. They were a match made in Heaven.

  “Well, if that’s all, I have to get back to work.” Jerrico stood to his feet. “I’ll see you all later.”

  Summer stood and hugged him again while Goody stood to walk him out. They were in the hallway alone when Goody finally looked at him. He was right next to her, staring her down. She’d felt him looking but hadn’t given him any inkling that she had.

  “What?”

  “Nothing,” he lied.

  “Summer is pretty.” Goody watched him look off before looking back at her. He tried his hardest to fight the smile, but it came anyway. “Imagine my shock when I found out she was your ex boo.”

  “It ain’t no thing. That’s old.”

  “Sure, it ain’t.”

  “For real, did it look like I was worried about her?”

  “I don’t know. You sure did a lot of smiling and hugging. I started to slap you.”

  Jerrico’s smile grew when he looked at her. “Slap me? For what? I was just being polite.”

  Goody shook her head. “Being polite gets people hit.”

  They finally reached the exit.

  Goody stopped, and he followed, stepping closer to her and running his hand through the purple weave hanging down her shoulders.

  “I don’t know what colors I like more, the purple or the orange and pink.” Jerrico admired her hair. “The purple is sick, but that orange and pink makes me want to fuck.”

  “Get your ass away from me, man.” Goody playfully pushed his face. “I don’t have time to be playing with you.”

  Jerrico snatched her to him and got in her face. “Who you got time for, then?”

  Goody stuck her tongue out and licked his lips. “Nobody.”

  “Bet.” He smiled and pinched her butt. “Where you going when you leave here?”

  “Back home. What’s up?”

  “I want to see you. Can you come by the restaurant?”

  “Sure will.”

  Jerrico kissed her mouth quickly before turning to leave. “Call me when you’re on the way.”

  Goody nodded and watched him leave. His legs, walk, and everything else about him looked damn good as he retreated. Her eyes didn’t leave him until he’d gotten into his car and left.

  “Li’l short, fine ass.” She snickered to herself and headed back down the hallway.

  Chapter 3

  You Can’t Control Me

  “Man, nigga, you’re crashing out. You really came over here like that?” Messiah asked Kayson as they sat in Goody’s living room playing the game.

  It had been a few hours since he’d been there, and Goody hadn’t come back yet. According to Messiah, he’d arrived at her house not even ten minutes after she’d left, and he’d been kicking himself ever since. Though Kayson missed his best friend and didn’t mind playing the game with him, right then, he had other stuff on his mind. All he wanted to do was see Goody and talk about that li’l nigga she called herself in a relationship with.

  “Hell yeah, I did. That nigga had the nerve to answer the door too. I was mad as shit.”

  Messiah looked at him with his nose turned up. “She should have shot your ass.”

  “Shid, so?” Kayson shrugged not caring about anything Messiah was saying. “That’s my wife.”

  “Bruh, no, she ain’t.”

  “Yes, she is. She gon’ always be mine. She doesn’t love that fool no way. His li’l short ass.”

  Messiah laughed and took a swig from his beer. The way he shook his head showed his disapproval, and Kayson didn’t care one bit. All he cared about was Goody, and she needed to get her ass back to that house. His eyes focused on his watch again.

  “She ain’t tell you where she was going?”

  Messiah shook his head.

  “I know she better not bring that nigga back up in here with her. I’m stealing off on his ass today.”

  Messiah paused the game and set the controller down. He turned dramatically in his seat and shook his head.

  “No, you ain’t either. Leave my damn sister alone and let her be happy. You did your shit, and she left your ass. Leave it at that.”

  “Nah, cuz, she shouldn’t have left. I was gon’ get back right and come home to her. That was her being all fast.”

  Messiah laughed and picked up the controller. He resumed his game while Kayson sat drinking beer after beer. When they were no longer strong enough for him, he stood and grabbed the bottle of brown liquor that Goody had on her counter. He looked in all her drawers for a shot glass. When he couldn’t find one, he twisted the cap off and drank straight from it.

  Kayson cleared his throat as his eyes frowned from the burn. After another long swallow, he walked back to her living room and took his seat. The alcohol already had his head swimming, so he lay back on the sofa and closed his eyes. Pictures of Goody popped into his head. She’d been his baby for a long time, even when he was out doing her dirty.

  Never in a million years did he think he would regret the affair he’d had. In his mind, Goody would still be there if and when his chick on the side got old. The day he got those divorce papers felt like a slap in the face. His emotions were so far off base that he didn’t know if he wanted to smile or cry. Then, he’d still been with his li’l girlfriend, so he was happy to be free, but a pa
rt of him—the part that loved Goody—felt broken.

  All the secret trips and visits he’d had with his hoe, Ithicka, no longer felt fun. It was like all the excitement left the moment he was free to be with her. She no longer looked as appetizing, all her calls and texts felt more like nagging, and he didn’t even want to get on her bugging him to be with her full time. That shit almost ran him crazy.

  It was weird because it felt like everything that he’d liked before annoyed him once Goody left him. In the beginning of his affair, Ithicka, with her dumb ass, ghetto ass, made up ass name, felt good. Too good. So good that he felt like Goody had been his problem. Like she’d been the hold up on his happiness, only to find out that wasn’t the case at all. Without her, his life had been hell.

  Ithicka worked his last nerve with her whining and daddy’s girl antics. He’d been dodging her calls and visits more and more. He couldn’t take that crybaby shit. On top of that, he missed his wife. Goody had been the best part of him. Since she’d been gone, Kayson didn’t even recognize himself anymore. He needed his good thing back, and he wasn’t about to let some random, cooking ass nigga steal that from him.

  “Oh shit, get your ass up. There goes Goody,” Messiah told him.

  Kayson sat up when he heard the door slam. The only thing that stopped him from jumping up and getting into her face was the fact that he was darn near drunk. The way his head floated was a clear sign that a hangover was on the rise. Kayson grabbed his forehead with one hand and pushed himself from the sofa with the other. Almost prepared to get into her face, he cleared his throat and walked toward the walkway leading from her front door.

  “Messiah, you hungry?” Goody rounded the corner with her head down.

  She was tapping on her phone but stopped when Kayson snatched it out of her hand. Goody’s head popped up with the quickness. Her entire face frowned when she noticed it was him.

  “What the fuck you doing in my house? Get your ass out!”

  “Nope.” Kayson shook his head. “We finna talk about this.”

  “Talk? So, now you want to talk?”

  “Yep.”

  “Well, fuck you. You should have had all that talking energy when you were cheating on me. I couldn’t pay you for a conversation back then.”

  “I did talk to you.”

  “Yeah, you did. You talked about how you weren’t attracted to me, how your girlfriend’s house was more peaceful than mine, how you’d never seen anything like her in your life. Oh, wait, and my favorite one. How you didn’t know who you wanted to be with, her or me.” Goody laughed at nothing. “Get your clown ass out of my face.” She looked at Messiah. “I should throw you out for even letting him come over here. You knew better than that.”

  “I ain’t know this fool was gon’ pop up on you like that.”

  “He should have never known where I lived in the first place, Siah! You ain’t crazy. You knew that was messed up.”

  “Aye, don’t holla at him. I’m your husband. I can know where you live.”

  Goody looked at him like he couldn’t be serious. “My husband? Since when you remembered that? Because if I recall correctly, you forgot all about that little detail when you were running around town with your girlfriend like you were single. Paying for haircuts, getting windows tinted, having keys to her house and shit. Nigga, if you don’t get out of here playing with me right now.” Goody walked toward her room, shaking her head. “Get out, Kayson,” she yelled over her shoulder.

  If she thought he was done, she was sadly mistaken. Kayson walked right into her room behind her and even slammed her bedroom door behind them. Goody spun around, ready to chop his head off. He knew that look. He’d seen it a thousand times before.

  “I see you don’t follow directions well.” She placed her hands on her hips. “I guess I should have known that, though. You couldn’t even abide by your damn vows. Cheating ass.”

  Kayson took a deep breath and leaned on her dresser. “You gon’ hold that against me forever? You know how many niggas have cheated and did way worse shit than what I did to you?” He spoke a little louder. Her stern attitude was starting to irritate him.

  “I wasn’t married to them, so I don’t care what they did. Hell, I would have left their asses too had they done me the way you did.”

  “How I do you?” Kayson stood to his full height and yelled.

  “Like a damn dog. Like I hadn’t been down with you since we were kids without a penny to either of our names, like that… you did me just like that. Like I didn’t mean shit to you. You ran off on me for a hoe you barely even knew. Bitch could have robbed and killed your ass, but because you thought she was pretty, that was all it took for you.” Goody kicked her shoes off. “Fuck out of here, weak ass boy.”

  “Aight with all that damn name calling. That was your problem right there.”

  “My problem! My problem? Nigga, please. The only problem I had was loving and putting my faith in a lying ass nigga. Any other problem that came after that, you caused it. I was just fine while we were together. It was you! You wouldn’t just leave me alone. You had to practically run me crazy before you carried your stupid ass on about your business. Fuck you, Kayson!”

  “Paradise, damn! I said I was sorry.” He walked up on her, trying to hug her, but she stepped out of his reach. “I’m sorry, bae. I swear, I am. I don’t even want her!”

  Goody raised her eyebrows at him and snaked her neck. “Is that supposed to mean something to me? Am I supposed to just take you back now because you tried another woman and figured out that she wasn’t me? I guess I’m just supposed to be okay with being second best?” Goody released that fake laugh again. “You’re really tripping right now.”

  “I am, for real. I’m tripping bad without you. Just tell me what I have to do to get us back right, and I promise I’ll do it.”

  “Nah, I’m straight. I’m happy where I’m at.”

  That angered Kayson. He stepped to her again, this time grabbed her with a little more force. “You really gon’ throw up another nigga in my face?”

  “At least I waited until I was no longer your wife to do it. You rubbed your hoe all up and through my face while you were married to me.” She shrugged nonchalantly.

  “Fuck her.”

  “You did. Multiple times, I’m sure. In your car, at her house, in her car, and wherever else y’all nasty asses found each other.”

  Kayson’s head fell forward as he listened to Goody continuously bring up his infidelity. He knew he’d hurt her, angered her even, but from the sounds of it, she was scarred. All the pain and resentment that she’d obviously been building was front and center in every word she spoke.

  “I’m sorry, Paradise.”

  “Sure, you are. Sorry as hell, now get out of my house and do not come back. I don’t want you here, and you don’t have the right to invade my privacy.”

  Kayson stepped away from her, still drunk, and ran his hand over his head. “You’re not about to be with this man.”

  Goody’s scowl was just as deep as her attitude. “You watch me and see.”

  Kayson ran up on her again. This time, he was met with the remote. Where she’d gotten it from that fast was a mystery, but she’d clocked the hell out of him with it.

  “Stop running up on me before I bust you in your mouth.”

  “Ain’t nobody gon’ hit your ass.” He sneered at her while rubbing his head.

  “Oh, I know.” She walked past him and opened her bedroom door. “You’ll be a dead ass if you do. Now, get out.”

  Kayson looked from her to the door and laughed before falling back onto her bed. He even kicked his shoes off for emphasis.

  “Put me out.”

  “Kayson, get out for real. I’m not playing with you. I’ll call the police.”

  “Call them.” He smiled with his eyes closed.

  Goody sucked her teeth and continued trying to make him leave. When nothing helped, she went into the living room, calling for Messiah, but he
never answered. Well, Kayson didn’t hear him respond.

  “Messiah!” she yelled again. “Where did this nigga go?” she mumbled while walking back into her room.

  Drunk as hell, Kayson lay on her bed, smiling.

  “Get out, Kayson, for real. Stop being dumb. We are not together, and I don’t have time for this mess!”

  “Just handle your business. After I take me a nap, I’ll leave.”

  He could hear her mumbling and fussing under her breath, but he lay there smiling, still paying her no mind. Before he knew it, he’d fallen asleep. Dresser drawers slamming snapped him out of his sleep. Kayson sat up, rubbing his eyes and caught sight of Goody pulling clothes from her drawer. She had a small bag on the floor next to her and was dropping things into it.

  “Where you going?”

  “To my man’s house. If you want to stay here, that’s your business, but I’m not staying with you.”

  Kayson scooted to the edge of the bed. “You trying to get knocked the fuck out. I see that now.”

  “Boy, fuck you.” Goody grabbed her bag and threw it over her shoulder.

  Kayson stood to his feet as he watched her moving around her room and grabbing things. He wasn’t sure exactly what he wanted to say, but he sure as hell wasn’t about to stand and allow her to disrespect him.

  “You not going to another nigga’s house.”

  Goody stopped in her tracks and looked at him. “Kayson, where was all of this energy when I was trying to work on our marriage? We were all up in counseling, and you couldn’t find not one word to say, but now that I’m single and you are too, you want to annoy the fuck out of me because of your own issues. Just gone. You’re really playing yourself right now.”

  “I’m here now! Why ain’t that good enough for you?”

  “Because I don’t want you no more! I’m over you, Kayson, I’ve moved on. You should do the same.”

  Kayson stood in place, trying to make sense of it all. His wife, his lover, the one person who had been a constant in his life, was no longer there. Even with her being physically in front of him, she still wasn’t there. It was all over her face and in every single word she’d spoken since he’d been there.