Chapter Six
Jayliah sat and listened to her gynecologist give her the details of how the procedure for getting her tubes tied would go. When she said she didn’t want any more kids, she meant that. Even though she and Tariq weren’t even having sex right now and hadn’t been lately, she didn’t want them to have a slip up when they made up. Tariq didn’t like wearing condoms and her body didn’t do too good on birth control, so this was the next best option for her to make sure she didn’t get pregnant.
“So are you a hundred percent sure this is something you are considering? This procedure cannot be reversed or undone.”
Just as Jayliah was about to respond, there was a ruckus in the hall outside their door. A few seconds later, Tariq bust through the door looking pissed off. He ice grilled Jayliah before sitting in the seat next to her. He was so cold towards her that she started shivering. She didn’t know if she was actually cold or if she was just scared as hell.
“So you’re getting your tubes burnt, huh?”
“Riq, I—”
“Shut the fuck up and let the doctor talk,” he said harshly, cutting her off. “Now where were we?”
Dr. James was frozen with fear for a minute so she had to regain herself. “I, uhh…I was just letting her know that the procedure cannot be undone or reversed so I was making sure this is what she really wanted.”
Tariq moved his glare from the doctor to Jayliah. She was so scared that she was looking straight ahead at the wall. She could feel him burning a hole in the side of her face but she refused to look at him.
“Well?” Tariq yelled, making both of the women jump.
“Y…yes,” she finally answered.
“You heard her, doctor. She wants them bitches burned so it’s fuck me and how I feel. Gone head and set up that appointment for her ass. I’m out,” he said before getting up.
Tariq had to get away from Jayliah before he choked her ass in there. He didn’t give a damn about choking her, he just didn’t want to do it in front of the doctor and end up going to jail. This was it for him, he couldn’t be with Jayliah anymore. The fact that she set up a consultation about getting her tubes tied without letting him know pissed him off but the fact that she sat there and told the doctor that she wanted to continue with it without even speaking to him about it first hurt him.
He had tried plenty of times to make it work with her but this was the final straw. He was wiping his hands clean of her at this point. Making it to the house before she did, he went straight to her bedroom and began to pack his clothes. He didn’t have time to make sure the shit was nice and neat so he was just snatching clothes off the hangers and throwing them in the three duffle bags he had out. Just as he had finished packing the last bag, Jayliah walked in the room.
“Riq, please?” she begged.
“Fuck you, I’m out,” he spat, picking the bags up.
“You can’t leave me. We’re getting married!”
“Ain’t no fucking marriage! I’m done with you and this bullshit. You’re too fucking selfish for me and I can’t be with a bitch like you,” his voice roared as he tried to walk out the door.
“Tariq! Just let me—”
Jayliah’s words were cut off when he wrapped his large hand around her throat and slammed her into the wall. “The only thing you need to do is stay the fuck away from me. Go ahead and do what the fuck you want. I hope the shit is worth losing the only nigga that ever loved your stupid ass,” he said through gritted teeth.
Just when Jayliah thought she was about to pass out, he let her go. She fell to the ground gasping for air while he picked up the bags he’d dropped and walked out of the door. Jayliah was so hurt that she didn’t know what to do. She was more hurt about him leaving her than she was about him choking her. Sure, this wasn’t the first time that he had left her but this time was different. She had really crossed the line and pissed him off.
Jayliah didn’t understand how they went from being happy and planning a wedding to this point. She didn’t think her wanting her tubes tied was that big of a deal but obviously it was for Tariq.
___
Coco sat in a rocking chair in what was going to be her son’s room watching Zeek as he hung up baby clothes in the closet. They had just gotten in from doing some shopping and Zeek spared no expense when it came to his son. Anything he saw that he wanted the baby to have or thought he might need, he got it. He wouldn’t even let Coco cash the check he had sent her to buy the baby stuff. He told her to put it in her bank account.
“Don’t hang it up like that, Zeek,” she fussed.
“There’s no rules for hanging up clothes, Jacole,” Zeek told her. “Besides, you sure have a lot to say for someone who’s just sitting on her ass. I thought we were supposed to be doing this together.”
“We were but I got tired.” She smiled. “Your mom and Payton should be here in a few. She said she has some words for you.”
“I bet she does,” Zeek mumbled.
Coco hadn’t told Joyce or Zeek’s sisters about him being married so when the three main women in his life walked into that courtroom and found out Zeek was married, all hell was about to break loose. Joyce was wondering when the hell Zeek had time to get married when he was supposed to be in hiding and didn’t even find the time to call her and let her know that he was alright. She wouldn’t dare act a fool in court so now that he was in her neck of the woods, she was going to let him have it.
Zeek pulled his vibrating phone out of his pocket and sighed in frustration. It was Nina calling him once again. She had called him a total of three times while he was out shopping with Coco and here she was calling him again.
“Don’t ignore your wife on the strength of me, Ezekiel.” Coco rolled her eyes.
“Shut up,” he told her before answering it. “Yo?”
“Yo? Really, Zeek? I’ve been calling you all day!” Nina yelled.
“Okay, and? I’ve been busy all day.”
“Busy my ass, you are a piece of work. When are you coming home?” she asked.
“I won’t be back that way until after my son is born. He’s the only thing I’m worried about right now,” Zeek told Nina as he continued to hang up clothes.
Coco rolled her eyes as she continued to rock in the rocking chair. She thought this was the most pitiful thing ever. Coco was far from the insecure type but if it were her, there would be no way in hell that her so-called husband would be all the way across the country with another woman. Baby mama or not. That’s one trip they would have had to make together.
“Alright, I’ll talk to you later,” Zeek said, snapping Coco out of her thoughts.
“You love her?” Coco asked out of nowhere.
“Not today, Co, alright?”
“Then when? I know you are grown and don’t owe me any explanations but—”
“I said not today, Coco! Damn!” Zeek yelled.
Immediately, she stopped rocking in her rocking chair and glared at him. Even though it took a little effort, she got out of the chair and quickly made her way to her own room, making sure to slam and lock her bedroom door. Here she was trying to be civil and get along with Zeek but he had the nerve to snap on her like she was the one who had done something wrong.
Fuck him, Coco thought. She was done trying to be nice to him. Zeek had just pushed her last button and unleashed the bitch in her that he was going to wish he never had. Coco couldn’t wait to drop her load so he could take his black ass back to Detroit.
Chapter Seven
Jayliah and Quaid got off the airplane looking for their ride. Jayliah had so much going on in her life that she needed to just get away for a little while.
“Babiessss!” Coco yelled with her head out of her car.
“Hey, Auntie!” Quaid yelled as he ran to her car.
“What up, nephew?” Zeek greeted him with a fist pound.
“What up, unc?” Quaid laughed.
“Look at you two,” Jayliah told Coco and Zeek. “If I didn’t k
now any better, I would say you two look like a happy couple.”
“I’m happy you do know better, though.” Coco rolled her eyes at Zeek.
“Man, just shut the hell up and get in the damn car so we can go,” Zeek told Coco.
Ever since his blow up a few days ago, Coco and Zeek were once again at odds. Zeek didn’t have anyone to be mad at but himself because he was the one who had put himself in that predicament.
“So you know I want all the tea, right?” Coco said once they were all in the car.
“Oh, it’s definitely some tea to be spilled,” Jayliah said through a sigh.
This whole situation between her and Tariq was so draining. She could understand him being mad but he had a habit of taking things to the extreme whenever he couldn’t get his way. Once again Tariq had taken it upon himself to block her number from calling his phone and would only talk to Quaid on the phone he had bought him.
Coco looked in the mirror and could tell that whatever was going on with Tariq and Jayliah really had her sister stressed out. She hadn’t seen Jayliah looking so down and out since before they found out Quaid was alive. She couldn’t wait to get to the house so she could get the rundown on what was going on between the two of them.
When they got to the house, Coco gave her sister a minute to get herself together while Zeek and Quaid hopped on the video game he’d bought just for him. Coco was laying on her bed when she got the sudden urge to call Ishmael. She hasn’t heard from him since Zeek popped up and she couldn’t front like she didn’t miss him any more. Scrolling to his name in her contacts, she stopped on it and called him up.
“Hello?” he answered in his sexy smooth voice Coco loved.
“I miss you.”
“Whatever. You not out having family time and buying baby clothes and shit?” Ishmael asked.
“Can you come over later?” she asked, ignoring him. “My sister and nephew are in town and I want to introduce you to them. Plus, Ms. Joyce and the girls are coming over so we can make this a family affair.”
“So I’m family now?” he asked sarcastically.
“Be here at six, Ishy. Bye,” Coco said before hanging up.
She was not about to put up with these grown ass men and their attitudes. The only male she was worried about was the one that would be making an appearance in less than a month. At this point, she couldn’t care less if Zeek or Ishmael never talked to her again as long as she brought a healthy baby boy into this world.
“I brought my baby some stuff,” Jayliah gushed as she walked in Coco’s room.
“Really, Jay? This little boy is already spoiled and he’s not even here yet,” Coco whined.
“Oh hush,” Jayliah told her as she handed her the bag of baby items.
“So what’s going on, Jay? Give it to me straight up, no chaser because when I left, wedding bells were ringing.”
“Well, apparently there’s not going to be a wedding anymore,” Jayliah told her sister.
“What? What happened?”
“I fucked up, Co. I fucked up real bad and I don’t think I’m going to be able to fix this one.”
Jayliah explained to Coco how before they’d gotten Quaid back, Tariq started hinting at the fact that he wanted another baby and how she straight up told him she wasn’t having one while her son was missing. He left it alone and never spoke on it again until after he proposed. “That’s when things started to get rocky for us. It seemed like ever since he gave me the ring, he wanted to have another baby but I don’t want to, Coco. Then we literally started arguing about everything. Then one day Tanae asked me was I going to give her a little brother or sister and I felt like he put her up to the shit.” She told her sister how she tried talking to Tariq about it but he ignored her and blew her off so she made an appointment to see about getting her tubes tied.
“Jay, please tell you didn’t do no stupid shit like that,” Coco told her.
“But that’s not the worst part though, Co. I’m sitting in my appointment then all of a sudden he bursts into the room. Me and the doctor both look like we’re about to shit bricks because that nigga looked so crazy. He told the doctor if I want them bitches burnt then burn them and walked out. My dumb ass set up an appointment for the procedure then went home to find this nigga packing his bags. He choked me out and said he was done for good this time,” Jayliah said through tears. No matter how hard she tried to fight it, she cried every time she thought about the situation. She had said it plenty of times but Tariq was really the best thing that had happened to her since Quaid was born but she just couldn’t seem to get it right with him.
“Jay, look, as your sister it is my job to keep it real with you. I’m not trying to kick you when you’re down but I’m trying to help you realize something. But you’re selfish as hell, Jay. You don’t have any real good solid reason as to why you don’t want any more kids besides the fact that you just don’t want one. That man wants to spend the rest of his life with you and wants to make his family complete by planting a seed in you but you won’t be happy until you lose him for good. Yes, the first time he left it was because of a misunderstanding but this one is all you, Jayliah. Get your shit together before he gets tired of you and finds somebody else to give him what you refuse to,” Coco told her straight up.
Jayliah put her head down in shame because she knew Coco was right. She was doing all this talk about how she loved Tariq and wanted to be with him, yet she had pushed him away. She knew a talk with Coco was exactly what she needed to help her get her mind right and hopefully by time she made it back to Detroit, Tariq had cooled off enough to talk to her.
___
Later on that evening, the house was filled with joy and laughter as everyone prepared for the meal they were about to receive. Zeek’s sisters had completely fallen in love with Quaid and were gushing over him every chance they got. Even Megan’s husband had come over to join them. At five fifty-nine, Coco’s phone rang.
“Hello?”
“I’m outside,” Ishmael told her.
“Come on. I’ll open the door for you,” she told him before hanging up.
Everyone was so preoccupied that they didn’t even notice her slipping off. She walked to the front door and opened it just as Ishmael was walking up. Coco smiled brightly as his smooth cinnamon toned skin glistened in the California heat.
“Don’t you look sexy?” she complemented.
“You do too,” he kissed her cheek.
“Come on so you can meet my sister. Everyone is already here,” Coco said as she took his hand and led him into the house.
Everyone was gathered around the kitchen and the dining room. When they walked in, Megan and her husband Amir were the first ones to notice them.
“What up, boy?” Amir greeted Ishmael.
“Ain’t shit,” he told his best friend while giving him a brotherly hug.
“Uhn uhn, Jacole. Who is this?” Jayliah asked as she eyed Ishmael up and down.
It was no secret that Jayliah was very overprotective of her sister when it came to her being with men. Especially after everything she had been through with Trae’s no good ass and her situationship with Zeek wasn’t any better.
“Calm down, I’m getting to that,” Coco told her sister as she led Ishmael over to her. “Jay, this is Ishmael. Ishy, this is my sister Jayliah.”
Before Jayliah or Ishmael could open their mouths to say anything, Zeek stormed over to Coco looking pissed off.
“Let me holler at you,” he damn near growled as he grabbed her arm.
“Ouch, Ezekiel!” Coco cried out.
Zeek ignored her as he led her to the spare bedroom she had downstairs. Zeek almost forgot she was pregnant as he damn near shoved her into the room before slamming the door behind him.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?! I’m pregnant, you son of a bitch!” Coco yelled at the top of her lungs.
“Why the fuck is that nigga here?!” Zeek’s voice boomed.
“This is my house! I can
bring any damn body I want to here. You just better be glad I’m letting your bitch ass stay here! Don’t question me about shit.”
Zeek walked up on Coco and pushed her back into the dresser.
“Get out!” Coco yelled with tears in her eyes.
“Ezekiel Armond Clay Jr., if you don’t get your black ass off her, I’m going to fuck you up!” Ms. Joyce yelled as she burst into the room. “Have you lost your damn mind?!” she yelled as she yanked him back by his shirt.
“Chill out, ma. We’re just talking,” Zeek huffed, never taking his glare from Coco.
Joyce looked from her only son then to Coco who was standing there breathing hard while rubbing her stomach. Messaging her temples, she had to calm herself down before she got mad. “Jacole, sweetie, go in there and calm yourself down. If something happens to my grandson, I would hate to have to hurry either one of you.”
“Yes ma’am,” Coco said as she made her way out of the room.
Zeek tried to leave out as well but his mother put a stop to that. “Bring your ass back in here.”
Knowing she was serious, Zeek shut the door and walked back in the room.
“Now Zeek, I know I haven’t been the best mother in the world—”
“Come on, ma,” Zeek cut her off as he waved off whatever she was about to say. Zeek hated when she brought up when she lived with depression as if he or his sisters were holding it against her. Even though they were young, they understood the situation. They all had their moments of depression when their father was senselessly and wrongfully killed by Detroit PD, so Zeek felt like she didn’t have to apologize for it every time she thought about it.
“Just listen, Ezekiel. I may not have been the best mother in the world and I can admit that but I love you unconditionally. I sit back and don’t say anything most of the time because it’s your life and you don’t tell me what the hell is going on until it’s too late anyway. But this one, Zeek, this one is your fault. You left that girl here for months at a time wondering where you were and what was going to happen between the two of you just to pop up with another bitch on your arm that nobody knew about. Now the situation is different than it was because there is a baby that is about to be involved real soon.”
The Wrong Side Of Love 3: A Hood Love Story Page 3