by Andrea Sad'e
“Who the fuck you talkin’ to, nigga?”
“Go get dressed. Damn. I’ll get Kenyah dressed.”
“You don’t even know what I want her to wear,” I said, rolling my eyes.
“I bought her an outfit that matches the colors I’m wearing,” he said, picking up a bag that he left by the door. He pulled out the outfit; he got her a royal blue and white Polo shirt to match his, True Religion jeans identical to the ones he had one, and white 11’s that him and I both got before Kenyah was born. He also got her a royal blue bow to go in her head.
“How cute,” I said sarcastically. “How you know I didn’t want her to match me today?”
“She still can,” he said, handing me a Polo shirt the same as theirs.
“Oh hell no,” I said, walking towards my room and hearing him chuckle.
I picked up my phone and saw that I had a text from Kay asking me what I was doing today. I told him that I was doing something with Kenyah and her dad. He never replied, so I started getting ready since I had already taken a shower earlier. I decided to put on the shirt Slick bought me with my True Religion jeans similar to theirs and my white 11’s. I put a few curls in my foreign inches just to add a slight wave, and turned off my bathroom light. I walked out of my room and saw Slick feeding Kenyah a bottle.
“I already packed her bag,” he said, admiring me. “Let’s take a picture,” he said.
“Ugh,” I growled, grabbing his phone and setting the timer, and sitting it on my shelf. We stood not too far away from the camera and posed.
“One more,” he said, and I reset the camera. The phone clicked, indicating that it was counting down, and I felt his lips on my cheek and the camera snap.
“I hate you,” I said lowly.
“Girl, you don’t even believe that shit,” he said, heading to the door. I walked outside and hopped into his Tahoe while he was still strapping Kenyah in. She had fallen asleep since she just had a bottle.
We got to the zoo, and Slick snapped Kenyah’s car seat onto her stroller. We paid and went into the zoo. We walked around, admiring all of the animals until I started to get hungry, so we sat down and had some of the burger and fries that were offered at one of the food stands.
“This shit good,” Slick said between bites, and I agreed. I looked up from my plate and saw two familiar faces. They came close.
“Kay?” but I looked over and saw that he was with a pregnant China. Slick looked up, looking just as surprised as I was. China cleared her throat.
“Ya’ll look cute.”
“Shut the fuck up,” I spat at her. Kay looked confused for a second.
“What am I missing?”
“This is the bitch claiming that Slick is her baby’s father.”
“Say what?” he said, looking surprised/ I looked over at Slick, who was observing the whole situation, something he usually did before he got mad.
“Okay, this family reunion is fucking done. Ya’ll can get to fucking stepping,” Slick said, looking Kay right in his eyes.
“Whatever nigga. I’ll come by tonight, Gena,” he said, smirking at me.
“The fuck you won’t,” Slick said, looking like he was ready to bump in the middle of this fucking zoo.
“Calm down,” I said, tapping him. Key and Gena decided to keep walking throughout the zoo. “Ain’t this some shit,” I said under my breath.
“Let’s go,” Slick said, getting up from the table. We got back to the car and Slick started driving home. It was quiet for a few minutes. I was so thankful for the silence, but of course that didn’t last long at all.
“So you fucked him?”
“What?”
“Don’t what me, Gena. Did you fuck him?” I contemplated what I should tell him at this very moment. I was not about to fight this nigga while he was driving, ‘cause I’m beyond sure that if I said yes it would come to blows.
“Nah,” I said, looking at him.
“You lying to me?”
“Slick, we’re not together. I can do what the fuck I want to do. I have zero reason to lie to you. If I fucked him I’d tell you, but I didn’t. You worry ‘bout that bitch who’s about to have your fucking baby.”
“Yeah, what the fuck ever, girl.”
“I see you ain’t deny the shit,” I said, rolling my eyes.
“Cause I don’t fucking know Gena, okay? I’m telling the truth, and telling you that I really don’t know what the outcome will be with this whole baby thing. I don’t want her to have my kid, but I just can’t call it right now.”
“So you fucked her without a condom and brought that dirty dick back to me? Knowing you didn’t protect yourself? What if you would have caught HIV? Then what? You’re a nasty fuckin’ dog, and I really need you to get me home before I go upside your fuckin head.” He took a turn in the direction of his mother’s house. “What are you doing?”
“I’m dropping Kenyah off at my mother's house so we can finish this discussion.”
“I have no desire to finish this dumb ass conversation,” I answered. “Oh well,” he said, getting out of the car, grabbing Kenyah’s bags, and taking her into his mother’s house. I rubbed my hands over my face, feeling like this wasn’t going to end well.
Chapter 12:
Enrico
I walked into my house.
“Wassup everybody,” I said, picking up Christian, kissing his cheek, and kissing Jayla on the forehead.
“Hey Daddy,” she said, smiling and making my heart melt.
“Hey princess,” I said, walking in the kitchen. “Hey Tati,” I said, giving her a hug and a kiss on the forehead. “Where’s Layla?” I asked her, looking around.
“She’s in there,” Tati said, pointing to Layla’s office. I walked into the office and she was working on a dress.
“What’s up,” I said, looking at Layla. She looked up from her glasses.
“Hey Rico.”
“How you doing today?” I asked her, concerned.
“I’m doing well,” she answered.
“I can tell,” I said, looking at her appearance. She actually looked nice today, she had done her hair in a messy bun with light makeup on her face, with jeans and a half shirt.
“Well, I’m going to go lay down. I’m kind of tired, didn’t get much rest. The alarm system kept going off throughout the house,” I said to Layla. She looked up at me and smiled.
“Okay. I was thinking we could go out to eat tonight.”
“That’s fine. I just need a nap,” I said, surprised that she actually wanted to get out of the house. I walked back into our room, took off my clothes, and laid down. As soon as my head hit the pillow, it was lights out.
Layla
Something seemed a little off about Rico today. It was like he was glowing. Maybe him having an entire house to himself for a couple days allowed him to do some soul searching. I was feeling a lot better today after I finally decided to go see a doctor about my depression, and they put me on some medication. I was weary about taking it, but I finally decided to take some yesterday, and I was feeling a lot better so I decided that I would stay on them for the better good of keeping my family together, and keeping my kids and husband happy. I could finally get back to myself and start traveling again, doing fashion shows, and modeling. It felt good to finally have that weight off of my shoulders a little. I was currently designing a dress with a low V neck and a low back for Ciara, and it was coming along quite nicely. This would have to wait though. I needed to go take a nap myself before telling Tati the plans for tonight and taking a nap myself before getting ready.
My alarm had just gone off. I looked over, and Rico was still fast asleep, but he gets ready pretty quickly so I got up and went to the bathroom cutting on the shower. I took a fifteen-minute shower, got out, and went to my closet. I picked out a dress I had just designed a few months back, and a nice button down shirt and pants for Rico that I designed to match it. Both of us were wearing red bottom shoes tonight, so I picked those out as
well. We would have on all black.
I went back in the bathroom and lotioned my body, put on some Coco Chanel perfume, and slipped on my dress. I put my robe on over my dress and did my make-up. It came out flawless, with a beautiful smokey eye. I applied my red lipstick, took my scarf off of my head, and brushed my hair to the top of my head. I decided to wear it in a classy bun, and it looked gorgeous. I put on my diamond tennis bracelet, necklace, and earrings Rico had gotten me as a push present when I went into labor with Christian. I slipped on my red bottoms, and my outfit was complete.
I stood in the doorway and looked at Rico sleeping. He didn’t even kiss me when I came in, is what I thought to myself. I walked over to the bed and sat down. I shook him.
“Rico.” He rolled over.
“Enrico Christian Martinez Sr., get yo ass up!” I said loudly. I could hear him chuckling before he rolled back over.
“Wow, you’re really acting like your old self,” he said smiling.
“Get ya ass up,” I said, smacking his butt.
“Watch it,” he said in a warning tone.
“Whatever,” I said, getting up and walking to our room door. “You have twenty minutes!” I yelled.
We ended up going to Chops, one of the best steakhouses in Atlanta. If you wanted to save money, this was not the place for you, but with us money was never a problem so we just lived it up. We walked in.
“Hello Mr. Martinez, Mrs. Martinez, it has been a while. Come this way.” The host seated us at our table, and the waiter followed soon after.
“What can I get you all to drink?”
“I’ll just have your signature strawberry lemonade,” I answered quickly. I didn’t want any alcohol because my doctor told me to stay clear of it. He said it was a depressant, and I didn’t need any of that while I was trying to get out of my funk.
“I’ll have a glass of Hennessey straight.”
“Yes sir, do you all know what you want to eat yet?” the waiter asked us.
“Yes, we will both have your steak, shrimp, and lobster dinner,” Rico answered.
The waiter asked for our sides, and then left.
“So, how is your new security job?” I asked him, folding my hands and placing them under my chin.
“It’s cool. Pretty laid back. I pretty much just oversee, and most of the time I’m the first person to notice when something seems off.”
“So you da man?” I said, using the most ghetto voice I could muster up. He started laughing.
“Yea, you can say that.”
“This lemonade is amazing,” I said, drinking from my straw.
“This brown hitting the spot too,” he commented. Our food finally came out; it looked bomb.com, and the smell was immaculate. I was just ready to dig in.
“This shit hittin,” Rico said as he wasted no time digging into his platter.
“Oh my God, yes it is,” I said, tasting my steak that melted in my mouth. We started making small talk until a couple walked up. They seemed fairly young; legal, but young. The girl was very beautiful with bone straight hair that fell right under her breast with a layered cut; she had a banging body with a beautiful dress on. The male was handsome too, but because I’m married I didn’t pay as much attention to anything but his face.
“Layla, this is Ace. I work for him, and this is his girlfriend Rayna. This is my wife, Layla.” I was shocked, but only because I expected him to be much older.
“Nice to meet you Ace, Rayna.” For some reason, it seemed as if Rayna stiffened with him mentioning that I was his wife. I pay attention to vibes, and I was getting a weird one.
“I want to thank you for allowing your husband to stay over a few days and watch after Rayna while I was gone. He’s the only person I trust to do the job.” The alarms in my head instantly started going off. First off, he never told me that he was staying to watch after a beautiful ass woman, but I held it together.
“Oh, it’s no problem. My husband loves what he does.”
“Well, it was nice meeting you,” Rayna said before they both walked out of the restaurant.
“Oh hell nah,” I said, getting up from the table and walking out of the restaurant. Rico came following after me.
“What’s wrong!” he asked when he caught up with me.
“So you don’t think I noticed the way you two were looking at each other after you two were alone with each other for days!”
“Layla, what are you talking about?”
“You fucked her!”
“You sound crazy Layla, because I never had sex with her. We barely even talked unless I had to drive her somewhere,” he stressed.
“Whatever nigga, cause I’m dumb huh? I ain’t got no proof right now, so I’m going to let it go but let me find out I’m right, gon’ body you and that bitch!”
We got to the car.
“Here. I gotta go back, get our food, packed up and pay,” he said, handing me the keys.
Chapter 13:
1 month later….
Slick
I was sitting in the clinic waiting to do this DNA swab. I had it set up so we could do the DNA test while she was pregnant, so we could get this shit over with.
“Kendrick McNeil,” the nurse called. I walked into the room, and they sat me down and swabbed my mouth.
“You will have the results back in about three days since you put a rush on it. Miss Brown has already been in, and we got the sample we needed from her,” the nurse said.
“Okay, thank you,” I said, getting up and walking out of the room. I walked out of the clinic and headed over to Gena’s house.
I knocked on the door a couple times before she opened the door.
“What do you want, Slick?” she said, standing at the door.
“Damn, I can’t come check on you?”
“Hell no, not without calling first. Don’t just pop up at my crib.” I looked on the side of her condo and saw a Bentley parked on the side.
“That nigga here?”
“What Nigg-” I cut her off, pushing past her into the condo and seeing this nigga laying across the sofa I bought, watching the television the I bought as well. My blood instantly started boiling. He noticed I was looking at him and started smirking. That just set something off in my mind. I charged at him.
Gena
“Oh fuck no,” I said as Slick pushed past me. Before I could do anything, Slick had charged at Kay. I’m so happy my baby was at my mom’s house, because this shit was about to get ugly. I ran in the room and called Rayna. She answered on the second ring.
“Rayna! These niggas fighting in my fucking house!” I said.
“What the fuck!” I heard Ace yell in the background.
“Oh shit,” I said as my stomach dropped. I didn’t know what to say to deescalate the situation, so I just hung up the phone. I walked out of the room, and these niggas were in my house fucking shit up. I wanted to stop it, but I knew that I wouldn’t be able to. Slick was hitting Kay repeatedly in the mouth, causing it to bleed, then Kay finally flipped Slick and started sending him blows to the head.
“Ya’ll stop!” I yelled, but it was to no avail. Five minutes had passed, and they were still going at it. “I gotta stop fucking with hood ass niggas man,” and as soon as those words left my lips, my front door burst open and Ace ran through. Rayna ran in behind him and ran over to me. Ace ran over to Kay and punched him in the face. I knew it was really on and popping then, because Ace was a real dog when it came to fighting.
“Ya’ll pleeease stop!” I said as I saw blood coming from everywhere on Kay’s face. Rayna and I went over to both of them, pushing them off of Kay. I grabbed Slick by his face, causing him to look at me. “You have got to stop!”
“Get the fuck away from me! I know I’ve fucked up in the past, but I’m fighting for my fucking family and this is what your ass continues to do?! Something ain’t right ‘bout that nigga Gena, and I don’t want him in a house that my daughter lays her head in! Just don’t call me when shit pops o
ff, ‘cause I’m out! Where my fucking baby at?!” he yelled with so much rage.
“My mom's house,” I said lowly.
“Fuck all this,” he said, walking out of my house with Ace following.
“I’m so sorry, girl. You okay?”
“Yeah,” I said with no emotion, picking up the phone and calling the ambulance for a passed out Kay. “This shit getting out of hand,” I sighed to myself.
Chapter 14:
Kay
I woke up to machines beeping.
“What the fuck,” I said, trying to rip the cords off of me.
“No! No! Don’t touch those, Kay!” I heard a female voice say. I looked over and saw that it was China.
“Why am I here?” I asked her, looking around in curiosity.
“You got into a fight with Slick, and when Ace came to help him, it all ended up bad for you. When the ambulance got there, you were passed out with this swelling in your face. Your ribs on your left side are also broken,” she explained, I instantly felt embarrassed but within seconds, my embarrassment turned into rage.
“I’m going to kill them both,” I said, looking at her seriously.
“Let’s just change the subject,” she said, trying to get my mind on something else. I could tell the seriousness in my expression and voice made her feel a little uneasy, but she wasn’t the one sitting in this hospital bed. I was. If Ace would have minded his damn business, nothing would have ended up this way.
“Key, we need to talk about something else that I’ve been meaning to bring up.
“Wassup?” I said, touching her hand.
“I need you to pay somebody to tamper with the DNA results for Slick.”
“So the baby isn’t his?”
“No, I had a threesome with my best friend and this guy a couple months before I slept with Slick. I was already two months pregnant when I had sex with Slick.”
“I’m already only sticking with Gena to help you break them up. Now you want me to do this too?” I asked, looking at her intently.
“Yes, this will be the icing on the cake, Kay.” I thought about it for a second. What could I lose?