SCARLETT 4: A Hood Romance Novel

by Tiece

  Sheila frowned with her lips tooted up. “Hell, it baffles me too.”

  Jay glanced over at the worried look that she’d all of a sudden gotten on her face. “Babe, don’t be looking like that. We’re good here. April can’t mess that up.”

  “I don’t know. Bitches like April are relentless and didn’t you already have a relationship with this trick before?” She questioned. “And before you answer, I’m not talking about a fuck session that y’all had here or there. I’m talking about an actual relationship.”

  Jay got quiet for a moment while feeling some type of way as he approached this question as carefully as he could. “Well-

  “Well what?” Sheila quickly questioned.

  “We were in a relationship,” he admitted. “We were in a serious relationship at one point, at least to her.” He added. “I wasn’t fully into it, so I cheated on her. She knew that I’d been doggish in the streets, but she stayed while claiming that she loved the kid.” He said trying to make light of the situation, but Sheila didn’t see any humor in it at all. “I guess what I’m trying to say is that we were in a serious relationship, but it was never that serious to me.”

  “I don’t know if I quite understand that, but okaaaay.” Sheila said still looking perplexed like she needed to conduct a relationship background check for more information on their past status.

  “Babe, please don’t concern yourself with none of this. There is nothing there anymore. April proved to be a very conniving woman that I have no respect for. I can’t see myself being with her. At all,” he added.

  “Well, that’s always good to know.” Sheila said. “I just don’t like how dirty she plays.” She said thinking that she was a dirty player, but April definitely took the cake. “I still wanna beat that bitch ass for fucking with my car. I don’t care what nobody says. She did that shit.”

  “I wouldn’t put it past her,” Jay commented while stirring the scrambled eggs with cheese inside the skillet on the stovetop. “I just want you to calm down. There is nothing with us. I promise and now that the baby isn’t mine. We’re in the clear from that psycho woman.”

  “You meant psycho bitch,” Sheila stated with a slick roll of the eyes.

  “I don’t know what happened to her, but I never imagined her turning out like this.” Jay said, thinking that April used to be one of the sweetest women he’d ever met, but then she changed. When she changed it was definitely for the worse.

  “She’s evil. I’ve seen evil,” Sheila said speaking of herself. “But, that bitch is good and evil.”

  “Well evil or not, I don’t wanna be with her. So, I don’t know why she’s calling but we’re not traveling down that road again. What we had is over. I hope that she and her baby daddy can work this out, but that’s if he doesn’t choose Scarlett then she’ll be fucked all over again.”

  Sheila sat quiet as she thought about Scarlett and Luke. They did have a promising relationship and since April wasn’t a direct threat to what she had going on, she decided at that moment to make sure that April didn’t come between Scarlett and Luke. That would be one of the ways that she’d prove her loyalty and love for her best friend.

  “As long as that bitch is outta our hair then I’m good. Don’t call her ass back. Y’all have nothing to discuss. Just let it go.”

  “Trust me. You don’t have to worry about that.” He said just as Sheila’s phone rang. She reached over on the table beside her and picked it up to answer it.

  “Hey Ma,” she spoke.

  “Unlock the door, Sweetie.” Mrs. Grand said. “I left my keys to the house.”

  “Gracious Ma,” Sheila grunted. “I’m gonna need for you to stop being so forgetful.”

  “I know, baby.” Mrs. Grand laughed. “Unlock the door for me. I’ll be in and out. You can leave my purse right there on the end table in the living room.” She said figuring that Jay and Sheila were still in bed on that relaxed, cloudy Saturday.

  “Nonsense,” Sheila said sliding her butt off of the kitchen table and heading towards the front door. “Jay and I are up and cooking breakfast.”

  “No, I’m cooking breakfast.” Jay yelled out loud in the background joking around with them. “Your daughter is just relaxing.”

  “Hush boy,” Sheila lightly chuckled.

  “Ma, I’m unlocking the door. Where are you?” she asked as she peeped out the window. “What the fuck?!” she’d blurted out before she realized.

  “What Sweetheart?” Mrs. Grand pondered.

  “I’m sorry Mom,” she quickly said as she opened up the front door. “I’ll talk to you when you get here.”

  “Well, that’ll be in about fifteen minutes,” she responded but Sheila had already hung up since she was now standing face to face with April who was standing on her front porch about to knock when she’d gone to the door to unlock it for her mom.

  Sheila frowned as she took the phone down from her ear. “Why are you here?” She asked as calmly as she could.

  “I need to see Jay.” April just straight out said.

  Sheila smugly grinned at the crazy bitch. “What the fuck is your problem? You don’t come to my house looking for Jay. If you want to see Jay, see him on your own terms. Make sure that you don’t come to my house any more with that foolishness or I’m going to have your psycho ass locked up. Now, you can leave.” Sheila attempted to close the door in her face, but April stuck her foot inside the door.

  “I’m not going anywhere until I talk to my child’s father.” She said rubbing on her stomach.

  Sheila laughed out loud. “Are you serious right now? Bitch, that is not Jay’s baby. You are very desperate aren’t you?”

  Jay could hear Sheila’s voice in an apparent disagreement or argument of some sort as he made his way to the living room where she was standing to the front door. Once he walked up behind her the only thing he could say was, “What the fuck?” as he saw April standing there looking like a very confused individual. “Why are you here? Didn’t I tell you to stay away from this house?!”

  Sheila cut in before April could say anything. “This trick says that you’re her baby’s father. What is her problem?” She said having to stop herself from laughing again and truly embarrassing April.

  Jay looked over at April. “You said what?” he pondered. “What is wrong with you? Is Luke not man enough?” He carried on.

  “Luke was more than man enough,” April shot his way as she straightened his ass with a slick roll of her eyes. “But, that doesn’t change the fact that this baby is yours.”

  “How the fuck you figure?” Sheila questioned not giving Jay time to say anything. “Didn’t Luke’s father do the DNA tests to make sure we all knew the truth about your baby’s paternity?”

  “Yeah, he did.” Jay cut in. “So, why are you here making yourself look like a fool? What we have is over.”

  “Not for another eighteen years it ain’t.” April coolly stated while digging inside of her purse and pulling out the correct paternity test showing that Jay was indeed the father of her child. Jay snatched the papers out of her hand and just stared at it for a moment. True enough it said that he was 99.98 percent the baby’s father. Sheila looked at Jay as his whole facial expression changed.

  “Why are you following this Looney tune up?” She pondered. “Let me see that.” She snatched the paper from Jay as her eyes widened. “Okay bitch,” she said. “Who tampered with the test? Let me guess. Hmmm, I’d put my money on you.”

  “I didn’t tamper with the test, but someone else did.” April said. “I only came by to ask that Jay take another paternity test as soon as possible to ensure that these results are absolutely correct. That’s all I want.”

  “Maaaaaan, what the fuck is going on here?” Jay said with a frown on his face. “So, you’re saying that Luke isn’t the father?”

  “That’s what I’m saying.” She said like she was certain of it.

  “And, I am?”

  “Yes, you are.” She responded. />
  Jay and Sheila just looked at each other. They didn’t know what to believe and April didn’t care how they felt. She simply smiled at Sheila and walked off, but then she stopped in her tracks right before she made it to her car which was parked on the side of the curb in front of Sheila’s house.

  “This is a sign, Jay. We lost one baby, but now we have a chance at having another one. Just come to the doctor’s office on Monday and re-take the test. You’ll see.” She said then turned like it was all good and got inside of her car and left.

  Sheila closed the front door, and then she looked back at Jay with tears in her eyes. “So, she was pregnant by you before and you don’t’ think that y’all’s relationship was serious?”

  “Babe, I don’t’ even wanna go there.”

  “FUCK THAT! WE’RE GOING THERE!” Sheila shouted.

  Jay irritably shook his head. “I just can’t believe it. The woman is crazy for one. I’ll call Luke and see what I can verify from him.” He said walking back into the kitchen and grabbing his cell phone off of the island top counter.

  “Yes, by all means let’s get to verifying.” Sheila said refusing to put up with any of April’s shenanigans.

  “My God, do you realize that if April is pregnant by me that we’ll never be able to get rid of her?” Jay pondered out loud as he listened to Luke’s phone ringing.

  Sheila swiftly rolled her eyes with a jerk of the neck. “NO,” she said with an attitude. “YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO GET RID OF HER, BECAUSE I BE DAMNED IF I DEAL WITH THE BITCH!” She angrily stated. “That shit ain’t gonna happen!”

  “Babe, please don’t act like that.” He said. “Just let me get the word first and then we can go from there.” He said. Finally Luke answered. Jay didn’t waste any time as he asked, “Aye man, what the fuck is going on with April showing up over here to Sheila’s house talking about I’m her baby’s father?”

  ***

  Nina walked up to Scarlett’s front door and knocked lightly followed by turning the unlocked doorknob and walking in. “Coming in,” she called out.

  “I’m in my room, Nina.” Scarlett yelled. No later than a few seconds, Nina was walking into Scarlett’s bedroom.

  “WOW,” she said looking at all the dozens of roses that filled up the open spaces in Scarlett’s room. “I didn’t know that you’d become a florist.” She teased causing Scarlett to grin a little in hopes of lessoning her load, whatever it was.

  “Girrrl, Troy did all of this yesterday. He was waiting here to surprise me with all of these goodies by the time I got home from work.”

  Nina sat down on the bed beside Scarlett, who had been her best friend since they’d been kids. The puzzled look on her face said it all. “So, wait a minute. What happened? I thought he wasn’t speaking to you anymore.”

  “He wasn’t, but he came around. He told me that he had forgiven me and that he truly wanted to be with me. Girl, he said he was lost without me. I can tell in my heart that he was truly sincere about it.”

  “Aww, what a guy, Nina responded with smile. “I think that he really loves you.”

  “You think?” Scarlett sarcastically asked while holding out her hand to show Nina the rock.

  “OMG! Red, is that what I think it is?”

  “Yes, it is!” Scarlett responded with a smile on her face, but deep down she was definitely confused in her feelings as her thoughts went from Troy to Luke then back to Troy then back to Luke.

  “OMG! This bitch is engaged!” Nina screamed out then hugged Scarlett tightly. “I’m so happy for you! I knew that Troy was the one since Luke had started acting like an ass and shit. Ain’t nobody got time for that.” She added. “Hell, with all this excitement going on ‘round here why are you crying?”

  Scarlett smiled, but needed to get a lot of things off of her chest. “You’re right about that, but guess who showed up to my house this morning while Troy was still here?”

  “You better not say Luke.”

  “Luke,” she said anyway.

  “What the hell? Why would he even come to your house uninvited? Y’all ain’t like that anymore.”

  “I know, but when you hear the reason for his pop up visit you’re gonna faint.” Scarlett said with a look of uncertainty.

  “Girl, first off I wanna know what Troy had to say about that hot shit.”

  “He handled himself like a real G and left me here with Luke like he wasn’t the least bit threatened by him showing up the way he did.”

  Nina shook her head, but was feeling impressed with Troy. “He did what now?”

  “You heard me,” Scarlett said. “If anybody felt some kinda way it was Luke, because he was visibly hurt. Not to mention when he saw my ring.”

  “Damn, I forgot about the ring just that fast.”

  “Hell, I had forgotten about it too as we stood in the doorway talking.” Scarlett said. “But, when he saw it the shit hit the fan. He was really upset. He cried, Nina.” She said almost feeling like she wanted to cry again.

  “That’s why your weak ass is down here crying. Red, you can’t let Luke get under your skin. You’ve come too far to get over him. It was a reason why y’all didn’t make it. Just take that as a sign and let April have her baby daddy. You just need to focus on being happy for once.”

  “Well, that’s the thing.” Scarlett said while fiddling with her fingers. “He says that the baby isn’t his.”

  Nina frowned. “He said what now?”

  “He says that it was some kind of mix up at his father’s private practice. Something happened and the DNA samples were switched or something like that. He wanted me to go to his house so that his father could explain it to me.”

  “But,” Nina said since Scarlett hadn’t made any attempts to make it over to Luke’s house as she sat there still in her silk night gown and robe.

  “But, I didn’t wanna go. I don’t wanna hear what happened to be honest.”

  “Good for you,” Nina said like she was proud of her.

  “However, this ring on my finger is driving him crazy. He just can’t believe that I’m engaged.”

  “Hell, I can’t believe that you’re engaged either, but why are you crying? I mean what is this about, Red? Are you regretting this engagement? If it’s true that April’s baby isn’t Luke’s, do you wanna actually take him back? Are you willing to travel back down that road?”

  Scarlett sat quietly for a moment. Troy, without a doubt, hadn’t done anything to let her down yet, even after all of the shit that he’d found out that she was hiding. On the other hand, Luke had said and done things that had broken her heart and bruised her ego. With careful thought she finally looked over at Nina and said, “I guess not.”

  Chapter 3

  After about thirty more minutes of talking about Scarlett’s wonderful night, Nina decided to come clean about her unpleasant visit to Rick’s mom’s house the day prior. She was full of misery and wanted nothing more than to lessen her load of sharing this information with her best friend.

  “What’s wrong?” Scarlett asked realizing that Nina had gone off into space again. She’d been tuning in and out of their conversation for the past twenty minutes.

  “Rick drugged me.” She blurted out and as soon as she said that she cried.

  “Huh?” Scarlett said reaching over to hug her. “Don’t cry. What’d you say?”

  “I said that Rick drugged me that day when you found me out of it.”

  “Aww,” Scarlett said not knowing where any of this was coming from. “You’re just coming to terms that his lying ass did something to you that day? Don’t cry about. I tried to tell you, but I’m glad that you’ve finally accepted it.”

  Nina pushed back from Scarlett, because she didn’t realize the severity of what she was trying to say. “Listen Red,” she said to help her clueless best friend understand. “There was a camcorder that was returned back to Rick’s mom after his death. Apparently it was in the car that he’d gotten killed in. Anyway, she decided to look at som
e of the footage on the video and what she saw was the unimaginable.”

  Scarlett frowned. “What?”

  “It was recorded footage showing Rick in the act of taking full advantage of me while I was clearly out of it,” she said as the tears fell from her eyes.

  “Hold up,” Scarlett said feeling bad for her best friend. “He recorded the shit?”

  “He sure did and left the fucking video recorder in the car. Luckily it was returned to his mama and nobody else got their hands on it. My ass would probably be all over the fucking web.”

  Scarlett disappointedly shook her head. “That nigga is so scandalous. Where the fuck they do that shit at?”