Love & War

by Ashley Antoinette

  “King, who is it at the door?” Parker’s voice called out from inside the suite. When she appeared at the door YaYa immediately noticed the shock in her face. She stepped in front of her son as if she had to protect him and YaYa held on to Skylar a bit tighter. The faceoff. Woman to woman. Lioness against lioness, both fighting for the king of the game and protecting their cub. That’s what this was. They were both after the same thing and the tension was so thick that both women forgot to breathe. They were stuck in the moment, neither realizing how draining this moment would be when they were finally face to face. YaYa surveyed Parker and immediately felt disgust. She was pretty but plain and after what she had pulled YaYa was almost sure that on the inside she was horrific. YaYa hated her in that moment. She became so many “bitches” in YaYa’s mind. The only thing that stopped YaYa from popping off and telling her exactly how she felt was the children who were standing in their presence.

  “What are you doing here?” Parker asked.

  “You don’t have the right to ask me that question after the episode you pulled on my wedding day,” YaYa said. YaYa picked Skylar up and pushed past Parker as she entered the suite.

  “What are you doing?” Parker said.

  “I’m making myself comfortable. Sit down. You and I are going to get a few things straight,” YaYa demanded.

  Parker hesitated but YaYa persisted. “I’m not leaving, so you may as well sit and start talking. We can do this the civil way or I can drop my daughter off and come back to do it the way I want to. Things can get real very quickly. You don’t know me but I can tell you that you definitely don’t want that,” YaYa said.

  Parker sighed as she turned to her son. “King, please take . . .” She looked at Skylar, realizing that she didn’t know her name.

  “Skylar. Her name is Skylar,” YaYa said.

  “Why don’t you and Skylar go into the bedroom and turn on cartoons, baby,” she said.

  “Okay, Ma,” he said. He walked over to YaYa and extended his hand to Skylar. YaYa’s heart fluttered because he reminded her so much of Indie. A mixture of love and resentment swelled in her chest.

  “Can I go, Mommy?” Skylar asked.

  “Yeah, Sky, you can go, baby,” YaYa replied.

  “I’ll take care of her,” King said and YaYa smiled slightly because she believed him. She watched the kids disappear into the bedroom. They had no clue that they were even related, let alone siblings.

  “Well this is awkward,” Parker quipped as she folded her arms across her chest as she took a seat in the chair across from the sofa where YaYa was seated.

  “What do you want?” YaYa asked.

  Parker sighed. There was no simple answer to that question. She wanted it all. The man, the house, the family, the future children. When Parker looked at Skylar she saw a seed of the man that she loved that had been planted somewhere else. What she wanted was too complicated to explain. She wanted to rewind time and go back to before she ever left NYC. She wanted to fix the broken heart that she had left Indie with. She certainly didn’t want to tear apart another woman’s family but if that’s what she had to do in order to reclaim her spot in Indie’s life then yes, she would.

  “I want what has always belonged to me. I want a father for my child. I want Indie,” Parker whispered truthfully.

  “That won’t happen,” YaYa replied. “You have the audacity to come into our lives talking about some bullshit high school fantasy that you had of y’all living happily ever after. You ruined our wedding day! You make a spectacle of our union. I have every resource at my disposal to make your ass a memory, but I’m trying to see your side of this. I’m trying to be the bigger person here, but this ‘I want Indie’ shit is testing me.”

  Parker scoffed and replied, “You should feel threatened. What Indie and I have is incomparable. I would hate me too if I was you.”

  YaYa tightened her jaw and she responded through gritted teeth. “Hate you? Sweetheart, you’re cute. You really are. You’re irrelevant. You can stroll down memory lane all you want but in the end Indie is going to still be with me. If you thought I was going to just let him go, you’re mistaken. I’m not the type of enemy you want to make. The last bitch who thought she could beat me took her last breaths in front of me.” YaYa reached into her purse and pulled out a large manila envelope filled with cash.

  “This is $150,000. It’s all I had lying around the house. When the banks open Monday morning I’ll withdraw $350,000 more. It’s yours. Tax free, but there is one stipulation.”

  Parker interjected, “Let me guess, stay away from Indie?”

  “Forget you ever knew Indie and leave New York,” YaYa said.

  Parker felt the flicker of fear in her heart as she stared YaYa in the eyes. She had definitely underestimated the amount of fight YaYa had. “What is this? A gangster movie?” Parker asked. “You can keep your money because me and my son aren’t going anywhere. I don’t take too kindly to threats either. In your world women probably jump at the opportunity to make that kind of money. They will do anything for it. Fuck, suck, probably even kill. I’m sure you’ve done a lot more for a lot less, but a real woman can’t be bought. A real woman has self-respect, but you wouldn’t know anything about that,” Parker said slyly. “I don’t need a hook-up because I know how to come up all on my own through hard work. My son deserves a father and after Indie meets him there is no way he is going to turn his back on us. So get real used to seeing me. YaYa is it? Because me and that little boy in there are going to be around whether you like it or not. Now take your dirty money and get out.”

  YaYa grabbed the money off of the table. “Suit yourself,” she said. She stood to her feet and adjusted her clothing slowly. “You’re wasting your time. That plain Jane, independent woman, good girl act might have worked eight years ago, but Indie don’t want that now. He got a thing for bad bitches that you’ll never understand and from what I’m looking at you’re not even equipped to compete. Your entire vibe is just too”—she paused for a beat and then scoffed—“boring. Indie being responsible for his son . . . I have no problem with that. It’s you who doesn’t fit. My man has never been and will never be accountable to another woman. He sleeps next to me every night and he will continue to do so. You can hang on with your side chick tendencies for as long as you want, but you will never have him. He will never be yours. Every holiday, every birthday, every reason to celebrate will be done with his family . . . every accomplishment shared with me . . . and it will be me to ease his tensions after a hard day of work. It will always be me. Skylar and I. You will never be apart of that. King, maybe, but you never. You better tread lightly because if I wake up on the wrong side of the bed one day I might send somebody over here to get that ass, just for payback for the stunt you pulled at my wedding. Indie is my man, my soon-to-be husband. Whatever the two of you had is dead. You respect that and we won’t have problems. You disrespect that and you’re going to find your son calling me Mommy, while you’re on the outside looking in. I’ll cut you so far out of Indie’s life that you will regret ever coming back. Don’t believe me? Try me,” she said.

  As if on cue Skylar came running out of the bedroom and grabbed YaYa’s leg.

  “Come on, baby, Mommy’s done here,” YaYa said.

  “Bye, Skylar,” King said as he came running out of the room as well.

  The toddler waved and YaYa smiled as she held her hand out to the child. “Good-bye, King. It was very nice to meet you,” she said. She turned on her Loubs and stormed past Parker, knowing that this was the first battle of many to come.

  Chapter 13

  Parker pinched the bridge of her nose as she exhaled sharply. YaYa had come through her suite like a hurricane, disrupting her peace and now her mind was wrapped up in a mental storm. She had wanted to say so many things, but instead she held her tongue because she knew that in the end she was wrong for interrupting another woman’s wedding the way that she had. She had known that she would be making a new enemy when
she came back to town. YaYa had good reason to hate her. No sane woman would have done what Parker had, but love was on the line and when dealing with matters of the heart it was always insane.

  “What’s wrong, Ma?” King asked.

  “Nothing, baby boy,” Parker responded. “I’m fine. I need to talk to you.”

  She kneeled so that she was speaking to him at eye level and she rubbed the sides of his arms lovingly. Maybe I shouldn’t have come back here, Parker thought. We were doing just fine without Indie. Parker wanted to believe that she had the independent woman role down but she was simply using it as a mask to hide the emptiness she felt. She needed a man, but not just any man would do. She had dismissed so many guys, some of them excellent candidates for a husband and father, all because she had never let go of her first love. Indie was it for her, but now she wondered if she had come back to NYC for the wrong reasons. She had told herself that she was coming because King needed a father and a part of that was true, but she also needed Indie. She never thought of the family she was destroying in the pursuit of restoring her own. Maybe it was best if she stayed in DC. The type of beef that YaYa was bringing to her doorstep was more than she had been prepared to handle. YaYa had practically threatened her life.

  “King, I know you want to meet your father but—”

  Before Parker could even finish her sentence her son interjected, “But what? You promised, Ma. All of my friends have their dads at the games. I just want mine there too.” He tried to keep his voice steady but Parker heard the tremble in his tone.

  She looked at him with sympathy. His hurt was her hurt and it was great. A boy needed his father. If she had given birth to a girl she may have been able to pull off raising a child alone. She knew how to teach a girl how to become a young woman. She knew how to guide a girl into adolescence. Had King been a queen, this would have been much easier for her to do without help, but she was raising a boy. She had the fate of a young black man in the palm of her hands. She didn’t know the first thing about being a man. She knew nothing of a black man’s struggles, of his strengths, of his inner fears. A boy needed a man to look up to. King needed Indie. She truly believed that a lack of fatherhood was the reason why so many black boys became black slaves to the prison system. She would do everything in her power to reunite her family. Fuck YaYa and her family, she thought harshly. As she looked in her son’s eyes she blinked away her tears and gave him a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, baby. I’m going to make sure you meet him. I promise.”

  The Day Parker Fell in Love with Indie Perkins

  Knock! Knock! Knock!

  3:00 a.m.

  The red numbers that flashed on her digital alarm clock reminded her that she only had three more hours until she had to wake up for school. These late-night visits always threw her off, but like clockwork she rose out of her bed and walked to the front door. She placed her fingers on the security chain and said, “Is that you?”

  “Open up,” he replied.

  She released the chain and flipped the lock then twisted the knob to welcome Indie into her home. Well technically it was his home. The apartment he rented for her was in his name. He only came by to drop off his money and check on her to make sure things were all right.

  “Why don’t you just use the key?” she asked groggily as she wiped her eyes and locked the door once he was inside.

  “This is your house, ma. I got it for you. Just because I can get a key doesn’t mean I deserve one. I want this to be your space. Your rules. You had enough of niggas running in and out of your mama’s crib without your permission. You don’t have to worry about that here, even with me,” he said sincerely. “I want you to trust me.”

  “I do trust you,” she replied honestly. “Where’s the package?” she asked.

  Indie reached in waistband and pulled out two thick bands bills of various faces. He tossed them her way and she caught them out of midair.

  “What’s this? Twenty?” she asked. She could practically look at a stack of money and tell how much it was. That’s how accustomed she had come to handling it. Indie kept his safe at her house. He had her ducked off so that he didn’t have to fear anyone running up in the spot. Parker disappeared into the bedroom and popped open Indie’s safe. For some reason that she didn’t even understand, he trusted her with his combination. Rightfully so, because she had never lifted a dollar of the $80,000 that he had saved so far. She was like his accountant and kept track of every dollar.

  At first glance Parker had thought Indie was your average dope boy. He was attractive and flashy with an ego that was on ten. Indie symbolized everything that turned Parker off, but for some reason she couldn’t help but find herself falling for him. The fact that he had seen a need and fulfilled it for her without hesitation had endeared him to her. Once they had actually begun to get to know one another she immediately recognized the intellectual within. Indie was highly intelligent and had the charisma of a man twice his age. He came from nothing but wanted everything, which was why he stayed in the streets with his older brother Nanzi. He was just chasing the American dream, or at least his version of it. She counted out $22,000 and added it to the contents in the safe, before securing it and returning to the living room.

  “What’s the count?” Indie asked.

  “102,” she replied.

  “You bring your books?” Parker asked.

  Indie’s head fell back as he sighed. “It’s three a.m., shorty, can’t we do this tomorrow?” he asked.

  “No, we can’t. You have a test tomorrow,” she said. “That was the deal. I’d let you keep your product here if you went to school every day and let me help you study. You want to graduate don’t you?”

  “You want me to graduate,” Indie mumbled. Parker cocked her head to the side and looked at him incredulously. She went over to the front door and held it open as she propped a hand on her hip.

  “Well since we’re not going to study I guess you don’t need to stay the night,” she said with her brows raised in a challenge.

  Indie conceded as he nodded his head. “A’ight, ma, crack open the books.”

  At first Indie had aligned himself next to Parker to guarantee her silence. She was the only person who could ID him as the second shooter in the motel robbery and he needed to insure his freedom. What had started as an ulterior motive had quickly developed into a powerful friendship and a growing attraction that he couldn’t ignore. Parker was different from all of the other girls their age. The chicks around the way hopped on his dick without second thought. He had run through more than a few simply because he was gaining a heavy reputation in the game. They were impressed by things . . . cars, clothes, jewelry and they had nothing inside of their small heads. Indie could literally have his pick of the litter and he wanted none of them, at least not for anything more than a night. Parker, however, she possessed a depth that kept him on his toes and intrigued the hell out of him. She was smart and she believed in him so much that Indie believed that he was smart too. He had always known that he was slick, but smart? He spent most of his time in the streets and only went to school enough to keep his mother off his back. Since meeting Parker and seeing how focused she was on her studies made him respect her. He had a hustle plan to get rich before he was twenty-five, but she had one of her own. She was dead set on a college scholarship and for some reason she made him think that there was more than one way to make it out of the hood. Indie was completely infatuated with her. He was digging her, which was more than he could say about any other girl. No one else had ever been able to hold his attention this long and he hadn’t even hit yet. The last thing he was trying to do was leave her presence. After a long night on the block, around her was exactly where he wanted to be. He made his way to the small kitchenette that he had purchased for her.

  “You just gon’ stand there or we gon’ get started, Einstein?” Indie asked jokingly with a small smirk.

  She relaxed and closed her door before walking back over to Indie. She
pulled a chair next to him and opened the books that were already sitting on the table. She opened them up and said, “We’ve got a test tomorrow that I’m sure you haven’t even attempted to study for. So it looks like we will be pulling an all-nighter.”

  Hours passed as they quizzed one another, laughing and getting to know one another as they conversed. This was a nightly ritual for them. He’d hustle and show up on her doorstep at unspeakable hours. Most niggas associated a drive-by after midnight as a booty call, but Indie knew that she would stimulate so much more than his loins. He passed his mother’s house every night and drove an extra thirty minutes just to see Parker. He needed the mental stimulation she provided and on top of that her smile . . . it was the most radiant he had ever seen. As they closed their books after a long night, Parker asked, “Why don’t you apply yourself more?”

  “School ain’t for everybody, P,” Indie replied.

  “That’s true, but it is for you. You’re stupid smart, Indie. I’ve checked your transcript—”

  “You what?” Indie asked, defensively. He wasn’t a report card type of kid. He hadn’t opened his since sophomore year, when his older brother had introduced him to ounces.

  “Don’t get mad. You know I have service for my last hour so I pulled your file. Your grades are decent. You’re not a dummy. If you actually tried, you could graduate with a decent GPA. You could go to college. You’re smart, Indie. You don’t have to hide your money in safes and sell drugs to your own people. You can be so much more,” she said whimsically as if she had dreamt of his future before.

  “What I am isn’t enough?” he asked.