“What does she need done today that she didn’t need done yesterday?” I asked, and it came off as me being sarcastic, but I didn’t mean it that way. I was just asking.
“She needs help setting up the grill, tables, and chairs, and someone has to clean the pool,” he responded. I was pissed because that shit could have been done when he asked her yesterday.
“Did your brother and his wife get in yet?” I asked. I was wondering if his brother had got the call to come and help too.
“Yeah, they got in last night. He’s on his way to help us, and his wife is going to help Mom in the kitchen,” he said.
Someone knocked on the door, so he went to answer it. It was the guys and both Chanel and Desi. The women didn’t look too happy about the guys leaving, and again, I could bet money on what the reason was.
“Hey, Jakiyah. We came to stay here and keep you company and order breakfast, if that’s okay with you, Ms. Thang,” Chanel said.
“That’s fine, because I didn’t know I would be eating alone this morning,” I said, still salty.
Qua ignored my comment. He kissed me on the cheek and said he would see me later.
After they left, Chanel, Desi, and I decided to go down for breakfast, instead of sitting in the room, waiting on room service.
“You know that bitch is the one that probably told his mother to call Qua and ask for help,” Chanel barked, clearly upset, just as I was. This let me know that I wasn’t crazy for thinking Savannah was up to no damn good.
“Girl, I was thinking the same thing, because he asked his mother yesterday if she needed help, and she said no,” I said.
“Well, if that bitch even looks at German the wrong way, it’s going to be a problem,” Desi chimed in.
“I know she didn’t know that we were stopping by yesterday, or maybe she hoped we would. But did you notice how she put in an extra swish of her hips as she walked away, with those small-ass shorts on?” I said.
“I noticed, and so did German. His eyes followed, looking like his ass was about to drool from the mouth. That’s why his ass got popped in the back of his damn head,” Desi said, causing us all to laugh.
“I just hope no bullshit pop off, because I came to have a good time and to meet the rest of his family before the wedding actually takes place,” I mused.
“Speaking of the wedding, did you guys set a date yet?” Chanel asked.
“The baby is due in November, so I’m not sure if I want a winter or a fall wedding. Or maybe we’ll just wait for the summer to roll back in again. My baby shower is going to be in September—that I do know—so I might just choose a June date for the wedding.”
“I don’t know why you stuck on giving yourself a baby shower, when April and I wanted to do it,” Chanel whined.
“What’s so bad about us all doing it together?” I asked her.
“Your ass supposed to be chilling and letting us handle it, but your stubborn ass isn’t going to let the happen,” she responded.
“I just want to be involved with my first child’s everything,” I told her honestly.
Before stuffing a sausage link in her mouth, she said, “Yeah, whatever,” letting the conversation go, because she knew I wasn’t budging.
We sat in silence as we ate. But I was thinking that even though Chanel and Desi both agreed with me that Savannah looked as if she was up to no good, I needed to stop blaming Qua. I didn’t know if she did or she didn’t have anything up her sleeve, but it was not his fault that she pranced around like she wanted his ass. I trusted him—I really did—but these tricks make it hard for a dude to stay on track when they were enticing them with a big butt and a smile.
After we finished eating, we went to our separate rooms. I didn’t know what they were going to do, but I knew I was taking a nap. The barbecue didn’t start until 4:00 p.m., so I had time for a few hours of sleep before getting in the shower and getting dressed to head out.
Chapter Forty-Two
Qua
After introducing Jakiyah to just about all my family, I went to hang with the men, stopping along the way to get a Corona from the cooler. I joined them just as they were about to start a spades game, so I decided to partner with Ty, and my brother, Quinton, teamed up with Donavon’s brother, Roy. This was, like, my third time seeing my brother since I first met him, and it still felt bizarre, considering that his face looked exactly like my own.
At one point during the game, I looked over at Jakiyah and couldn’t read her facial expression. She was talking with Chanel and Desi. I just hoped that they weren’t hyping her ass up about Savannah, who was walking around in a two-piece bathing suit but hadn’t once got her ass in the water. I guessed she rubbed all women the wrong way, because Quinton’s wife wasn’t feeling her ass, either, and had no problem expressing it. Savannah had been extra touchy earlier in the day, but I had brushed that shit off, because I got that she was normally flirtatious. After Roy and Quinton whupped our asses at spades, they were clowning us, so I took my ass over to see if Jakiyah was ready to eat, since she hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast. She was ready to eat, so I went to fix her and myself a plate. Then I headed inside to get her some of the strawberry lemonade punch that my mom had made especially for Jakiyah, because she had mentioned that it was her favorite. When I walked inside, Savannah was leaning against the refrigerator, and German’s ass was a little too close. He was smiling up in her face as they talked. He was being a dumb ass right now, as he knew that Desi popped off at the drop of a dime.
“Yo, German. Let me holla at you real quick,” I told him.
“I already know what you’re going to say, man, but I was only talking,” he said.
“Listen, you already know how your girl is, and I don’t want no bullshit at my mom’s crib. So you need to take your ass back outside with your girl,” I told his ass.
I watched to make sure he took his ass outside. Trust me, if we were anywhere else, I would have minded my business, but him disrespecting his girl in my mom’s crib wasn’t going down.
“Let me find out you cock blocking,” Savannah whispered in my ear after walking up on me.
“Baby girl, trust when I say that what that man does with his cock is his business, but if he wants to step out on his girl and be disrespectful when she’s right outside, well, that is on him. But he’s not going to do it in my mom’s crib,” I told her.
Now I could have told her to have some damn respect for herself and stop acting thirsty for other women’s men, especially when she knew that man came here with his girl, but I didn’t. I was starting to see exactly what Jakiyah was seeing, and I didn’t think it had anything to do with the men. I just thought she had a thing for pissing off other females.
“So, you saying I’m being disrespectful when he came in here, talking to me?” she said, touching my arm. This caused me to move away from her ass.
“Now, you know those words didn’t come out of my mouth, but if I was you, I would steer clear of the men that are taken, shorty,” I told her ass.
“Whatever,” she said, with a roll of her eyes, as she put an extra swish in her walk, then turned back to look at me. I guessed she wanted to see if I was looking at her ass.
I knew what I just said to her had gone in one ear and right out the other, but that shit was going to catch up with her ass soon enough if she kept playing this game she got going on.
When I got back outside with Jakiyah, a glass of lemonade punch in my hand, she was wearing that face again, and I swore, I couldn’t wait until she had our baby, because ever since she’d got pregnant, everything had annoyed her ass.
“What took you so long to get me something to drink?” she said nastily, and I knew it had to do with me coming outside right behind Savannah.
“I had to break up the little flirt session that Savannah and German was having in my mother’s crib,” I whispered to her.
“What was they doing?” she asked me as she looked around for Desi, as if she was going to say
something about it to her. So I knew I couldn’t say the wrong thing.
“They were just talking, but I let them both know that the shit was disrespectful. Also, I told them to leave out of the house and go back outside,” I said, hoping that was enough to keep her mouth shut and prevent her from saying anything to Desi.
I started eating my food, and the shit was banging. I had some barbecued ribs, macaroni and cheese, baked beans, and two burgers on my plate, acting like I hadn’t eaten in months. I just wished the plates were bigger, as I wanted some of my mom’s lasagna and chopped barbecue, but I didn’t even have room for it. But trust, my ass was taking me a pan of food home when it was time to go. No way would I come all the way to Vermont and not eat all my mom’s favorites.
“That girl is a damn hot mess . . . and her stank-ass friends,” I heard Jakiyah say, causing me to look up from my plate. I watched as Savannah and her friends threw those asses in a circle as they danced.
To be honest, I was surprised that my mom and Donavon even allowed that type of music and dancing, being that they were always playing gospel music, but if they were cool, I was cool.
As quick as my head went up, it went back down, because I didn’t want to be accused of staring too damn hard. But shit, it was a sight to see, and I bet I wasn’t the only man whose shit was hard right now.
“Babe, eat your food and let that girl be,” I told her, but all she did was roll her eyes.
“Do you want to get in the pool later?” I asked her, hoping she said she did, because she probably wasn’t going to want my ass to get in if she wasn’t getting in.
“Nah, I’m good, but you can get in if you want,” she responded, knowing damn well if any other female besides Desi and Chanel got in the pool, she was going to have a problem with it.
My mom walked over to check on Jakiyah, and that was when I excused myself to dump my plate. Jakiyah was still eating, as she was picking over her food. Just as I was about to hop my ass in the pool with the rest of my dudes, I heard Desi’s ass going off on Savannah. This let me know that Jakiyah had opened her big-ass mouth. I saw Savannah’s friends getting hyped, so I hurried to the other side of the backyard, where they had gathered. Chanel had already made it over there, and Jakiyah was wobbling her ass across the yard like she was about to fight. She had done lost her damn mind for even getting up out of her seat. I didn’t give a fuck who was going to swing first at this point. I just needed to stop Jakiyah’s ass from making it over there before all hell broke loose and she ended up getting hurt. Ty and German were out of the pool by the time I made it over to Jakiyah, so hopefully they, along with my uncle Terrance, could get that shit under control.
“Yo, what are you doing?” I barked at her ass.
“Qua, if you think I’m about to let them jump Desi, you done lost your mind,” she said, trying to get around me, pissing me off even more.
“So, you really about to put our baby at risk over some bullshit right now? You can’t be serious. I’m going to need you to fall back now,” I said, my voice raised, letting her ass know I wasn’t playing.
She sucked her teeth and rolled her eyes, but she backed her ass up. Then I walked over to see if they had the situation under control. This was exactly what I had been trying to prevent, and if Jakiyah was going to say anything to Desi about Savannah and German flirting, she should have waited until we had left my mother’s crib. All day I had been saying the same bullshit about having no drama here. I had German take Desi inside to calm down, and within minutes Savannah was acting as if nothing had happened. I swear I wanted to ring her damn neck too.
“I’m ready to go now,” Jakiyah said as she stood with her arms folded against her chest and her lips poked out, daring me to say that I wasn’t ready. Little did she know, I was ready to go.
“Fine. We can go. Let me just go let my family know that I’m leaving,” I told her.
“Whatever. I’ll be out front,” she sassed before walking off.
I knew Jakiyah was probably pissed right now, but my mother wanted to give us some food to take with us, so I waited on her to fix the plates. I told Chanel and Desi, who were also ready to leave, that they could go out front and wait with Jakiyah, and I asked them to let her know that I would be coming out in a few minutes. I knew it wouldn’t matter, because she still was going to be pissed regardless.
I just wanted her to understand that she was pregnant now, and she needed to be mindful of that. She had been acting like she hadn’t been putting our baby in harm’s way. Same shit with her job. She had come home several times and had told me her patient’s son and his girlfriend had been up in there fighting. Still, when I told her that she needed to stop working there, she got upset. The only reason she had finally called the agency and asked for another case was that I had told her ass that I was going to that house to fuck that nigga up for putting her and my child in harm’s way.
When I finally made it to the car, Jakiyah was in her feelings, which I deduced from the shaking of her leg. For that reason, I didn’t say shit to her, and when I dropped her, Desi, and Chanel off at the hotel, I handed her the room key, but I didn’t go upstairs with them. I needed to clear my head before I said some things that I wasn’t going to be able to take back.
I parked the car and took my ass to the bar in the hotel and had me a few drinks, as I was stressing right about now. I hated to argue with Jakiyah, and it seemed like ever since she’d got pregnant, her mood swings were always on ten and I had to tell her all the time that I was not the enemy. If I said anything to her out of anger, it was because I loved her and didn’t want anything to happen to her or the baby. It was my job to protect them. I didn’t even know if I wanted a wedding, surrounded by family and friends, because shit was always popping off. Given that my son or daughter would be in attendance, I was really reconsidering it. Jakiyah had never wanted a big wedding, anyway, so maybe we would do something really intimate. Something with just a few family members and friends who are drama free, I thought as I downed another shot.
Chapter Forty-Three
Jakiyah
When Qua didn’t come up to the room when I got back to the hotel, I decided to call his mother to apologize for not saying good-bye to her. I explained that I’d been upset but that I still should have been polite about it. She said that she understood and that she hoped that she could see me again before we left to go back home. I told her that she would, though I really did not know if that was true.
I was just so pissed, because Qua had jumped to conclusions and had accused me of saying something to Desi. I had nothing to do with Desi flying off the handle. It was Savannah who had said some slick shit out of her mouth that had set Desi off. He had every right to be upset about me trying to fight in my condition, but it was a normal reaction when you saw some bitches trying to all come for your friend. Yes, I considered her a friend. Desi, Chanel, and I had become really close, so any one of us would have had the same reaction. To be honest, I had forgotten all about being pregnant. All I’d focused on was them surrounding Desi, and I’d been ready to get it popping, just as my girls would have done for me. But Qua didn’t see it that way.
I was done with this mini vacation, and I was now ready to go home. Coming here to meet his family had turned out to be the opposite of what I had thought it would be. There was a knock at the door just then, and it brought me out of my little vent about today’s events, which was a good thing, because all I was doing was hyping myself up.
“Hey, bighead. What do you want?” I asked Ty after I opened the door and found him standing there.
“I just came to ask you why you got my dude stressing the hell out,” he said, walking in.
“He stressing himself out,” I said, rolling my eyes before going to sit back on the bed.
“You know damn well your ass had no business trying to go nowhere near the area they were about to fight in,” he said, chastising me.
“That might be true, Ty, but I wasn’t thinking clearly at
the time. But his ass going off the way he did wasn’t called for,” I retorted, defending myself.
“It was called for. That’s his seed you carrying, in case you forgot.”
“No, I didn’t forget, but like I said, he just overreacted when speaking to me. I’m his fiancée, not his child,” I said, getting heated.
“Calm your ass down and make that shit right with your man. You were wrong, and you know that shit. I’m out,” he said, then left.
So, I was at fault, it seemed, according to Ty and Qua. So I guessed I was going to have to be the one to apologize, I thought as I got up go to the refrigerator. A smile spread on my face when I saw that Qua’s mother had sent me the rest of the strawberry lemonade punch. I grabbed me a glass to pour me some. My greedy ass warmed up some macaroni and cheese with chopped barbecue to go with my punch. Just as I sat down to eat, Qua walked in.
I could tell he’d been drinking, because I smelled it on his breath as he kissed me on my neck after whispering in my ear that he was sorry. I tried to eat, pretending to still be mad at him, but he was making it hard as he started massaging my breasts. My kitty tingled from his touch. I let out a small moan, not caring about the food sitting in front of me, as I allowed him to pull me into his arms. He kissed my lips, forced his tongue into my mouth, and I tasted the Hennessy that he’d consumed. It still lingered on his tongue, giving me a little taste of what I couldn’t have, since I was pregnant. His hands caressed my body until they reached between my legs, teased my clit through the shorts I was wearing. I couldn’t take it anymore, as my legs got weak.
“Fuck me, Qua,” I moaned as he undressed me. He pushed me down lightly on the bed, and then he dived between my legs.
I put one of my legs up on his shoulder and tried to find the perfect position, one where I wouldn’t be uncomfortable with my big-ass belly.
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