Nobody Can Love You Like Them Roughnecks Do 3

by Shvonne Latrice

  “Oh wow. I think your job is so cool. It makes mine seem so boring.” Nandy added more syrup to her waffles.

  She was a model, mainly doing photo shoots for clothing lines and things of that nature. Her frame was fairly small, so she wasn’t one of them video hoes. When I first saw her, I gave her a pass on her body lacking the assets I was into simply because her face was so damn pretty. Every female couldn’t have both like Alivia. Fuck Alivia though.

  “Nah, your job is dope. And it makes the clothes look better when you’re in ’em.” I smirked, liking the fact that I’d made her blush.

  Squinting my eyes, I licked my lips, giving her that light-skinned nigga stare, and when I saw the lust in her eyes, I grinned. I hadn’t been fucking with Nandy long, but I had a feeling I would be.

  We finished breakfast, and I let her take a shower before I drove her home.

  I made sure to update Jasmine’s wannabe Hitler ass on my whereabouts, because I was about ten minutes late by the time I pulled up to her new spot. It was fly, so I guess Siggy was really fucking with her ass. I was surely off him.

  “Thank you for ringing the doorbell like you have sense.” Jasmine answered the door, letting me in.

  “New house, so the doorbell is more visible. Rude ass.” I damn near broke my neck trying to see everything in her new spot.

  “I packed his bag already so—”

  “Wait, wait, hold up. The fuck does he need a bag for, Jasmine? We’re going to the park, maybe to get some food, and then he’s coming back.”

  Turning to face me, Jasmine frowned. “No. I told you that you are going to take him two and a half days out of the week. It’s either that, plus you paying more, or you need to sign your rights over.”

  “Wait, you want me to take him and pay?”

  “Yes, nigga! I told you that the last time we went to lunch! I take care of him for the majority of the week, and even more than that for the last four years of his life. So yes, you still need to increase the amount you pay and take him with you for a few days.”

  I had shit planned tonight. I wanted to pick Nandy up and take her to Belly’s strip club appearance. How the fuck was I gon’ do that with Jasiel on my fucking leg?

  “Hurry up and get his little ass!” I barked, plopping down onto the couch. I wanted to wring Jasmine’s fucking neck. I see why niggas killed their baby mamas.

  “You need to calm down and change your tune before he comes in here. You shouldn’t be this angry about having to spend time with your own child.”

  “I’m angry because I have shit to do!”

  “He can come to the gym or to whatever job you have to perform.”

  “It’s not a job. I planned to fucking go out. Now I can’t do that shit!”

  “Yes, well welcome to the parental club, Manny. I haven’t been able to do a damn thing I’ve wanted to with my friends because I had a baby daddy who didn’t help me with shit.”

  “Just ’cause I got a kid don’t mean I have to put my life on the back burner.”

  “Yeah,” she snickered while nodding, “you do. Jasiel needs to come first, so sometimes you can’t hang out with your friends all night. That’s just what being a parent is. And I know you still think you’re not one, but you are. Have your face together by the time I bring my son in here.”

  She went upstairs, giving me time to cool off.

  “Daddy!” my son yelled when he got to the bottom of the stairs.

  I instantly wiped the frown off of my face, then went to scoop him up.

  “Sup, man? You ready to go to the park?” I cheesed, taking his bag from Jasmine.

  “Yes, to play basketball?”

  “Nah, we gon’ play something called football. It’s way better than basketball. Basketball is for chumps.”

  I didn’t have a preference when it came to either sport, but since Siggy had my son playing basketball, I ain’t wanna do that shit.

  “Okay!” Jasiel hugged my neck, so I cuddled him closely to me.

  Leaving the house, I buckled my son in and then we drove to Target so I could buy him a football. We got there about fifteen minutes later since I chose to go to one closer to the park we’d be playing at, in Jasmine’s old neighborhood.

  “Aight, man. Let’s go find you a football.” I held his hand and started toward the entrance.

  I found the section that carried the balls, then began looking for a small one that would be better for Jasiel’s hands.

  “Siggy!” he shouted, and when I turned to look down at him, he shot off.

  “Jasiel! Jasiel!” I hollered his name as I chased him down. He ran right to Siggy, hugging his legs before that nigga picked him up.

  I slowed down in order to come to a stop, and then gave a look to the niggas he was with since they were staring me down. I’d seen them around the way, so I knew they were from the hood.

  “You’re getting a new toy, Jasiel?” Siggy grinned, holding my fucking son like he was his.

  “Yes, a ball! Are you coming back today?”

  “I am, but I heard you won’t be there. You left me?” Siggy tickled him, making Jasiel laugh loudly.

  “I didn’t leave! Daddy, take me back!” He looked to me.

  “Aight, let him go,” I told Siggy. He turned to me, so I said it again. “Let him go, my nigga. Put him down right now.”

  “I’ll see you later, okay?” Siggy kissed my son’s face before placing him to his feet.

  “I didn’t know you had a son, Manny,” one of the niggas Siggy was with commented.

  Ignoring him, I grabbed Jasiel’s hand and started leading him off. But before I got out of earshot, I heard one of them say, “He ain’t never with the little nigga. Shit, I thought he was yours.”

  I ignored it and proceeded back to the ball section with Jasiel to find what we needed. There was a bit of a line as usual with this Target, so Jasiel and I went to self-checkout where the wait was there but shorter.

  Squatting down into Jasiel’s face since it wasn’t our turn yet, I whispered, “Don’t ever run off like that again, okay?”

  “But—”

  “Jasiel. I’m your dad, not him. If I tell you not to run off, don’t do it. It doesn’t matter who you see.”

  He said nothing, dropping his head sadly as his small hands fidgeted.

  “I don’t want to play anymore. You’re mean,” he whined.

  I closed my eyes, inhaling sharply before reopening them.

  “That’s too bad. We’re going to the park to play, and then you’re spending the weekend at my spot.”

  Just as I said that, I heard a flock of girls clamoring about and realized they’d surrounded Siggy’s attention whore ass. That nigga’s songs weren’t even that good. And if it weren’t for Belly, he’d still be a bum ass corner boy.

  “No! No! I don’t wanna stay with you!” Jasiel screamed, catching Siggy’s attention as he took pictures with them thirsty ass females.

  “Listen, you better shut yo’ little ass up before I—”

  “Y’all good?” Siggy approached, making me stop mid-sentence and look up at his ass. His homies were right behind him.

  “Yeah, we’re good, muthafucka. Go get yo’ own damn kid to worry about.”

  “It ain’t even like that, Manny. I’m just checking on—”

  WHAM!

  I punched that nigga right in his face, making everyone gasp and whisper.

  “And you got shit to say too, huh?” I punched one of his homeboys, assuming he was the one who’d made the rude ass remark earlier. My back was to them niggas, so I ain’t know, but that voice matched his ugly ass face. Plus, the other nigga had spoken to me and it didn’t sound the same.

  Next thing I knew, Siggy was coming back at me, so we began fighting hard as hell, bumping into shit. The other one I punched joined in, clocking me so hard in the back of the head that my head began pounding.

  “Call the police!” someone hollered, and those three words made Siggy and his accomplices stop swi
nging and rush off out of the store.

  I wanted to pass the fuck out, but when I saw my son hugging some random woman’s leg, crying, I limped over to him.

  “Come on, Jasiel,” I groaned.

  Hesitantly, he reached his hand out, so I took it. I picked him up and hobbled out to the car as fast as I could, buckling him in the front seat after I got in to save time. Just as the police pulled in from one side, I sped out of the other, pulling onto the street.

  Angrily, I drove straight to Jasmine’s new spot, and once I got there, I snatched Jasiel out of the car. Holding him on one side, I banged on her door like the police until she came rushing to answer it.

  “Manny, what the fu—what happened to your eye?”

  “Yo’ gang banging ass boyfriend is what happened!”

  I wasn’t about to admit that I’d hit his ass first.

  “Siggy? Where did you see Siggy?” she inquired as I slipped into her crib, walking past her.

  “At the fucking Target!” I placed Jasiel down. “Nigga saw me with Jasiel, got mad because I guess he was high on that shit, and he hit me.”

  “High on that shit? What shit?”

  “Cocaine, dummy. You think that nigga only smokes weed? Nah, he fucks with that nose candy every time he comes out,” I fabricated.

  “Siggy does not snort coke. And you need to clean yourself up then go. Don’t think this will get you out of spending your days with Jasiel.” She took our son and sat down with him in her lap to check him out.

  “You don’t give a fuck about shit but that nigga! But wait until I let the right people know you got a damn cokehead around our son.”

  The slight horror in Jasmine’s face made me feel good, so I left her with that to hit the bathroom and clean up, before taking Jasiel and bouncing.

  Today, Belly was doing one of his giving back shits, so I decided to show up, but a little late so I wouldn’t be inclined to help. When I walked in, I saw some female trying to converse with him, but he wasn’t paying her any mind.

  “Excuse me, sexy.” I grinned at her, hoping to get her number once I was finished talking with my brother.

  “Can I help you?” she snapped, looking me up and down as if I wasn’t taller than her ass.

  I surveyed her for a few, then stressed, “Aye Cortez, man, I need to talk to you outside for a second.”

  “About what, nigga?” He frowned. This muthafucka wasn’t gon’ budge on that bullshit with Jasiel and Jasmine.

  “It’s important. It’s about my kid.” I made sure to throw out the last part, and like I expected, he was now paying attention.

  I started walking, so he began to follow me, just as old girl tried to grab his arm to stop him.

  “Bitch, did you scratch me?” Belly began surveying his forearm. “I feel like you did. I’m about to slap the shit out yo’ ass. Yo’ hands rough and big as a muthafucka too.” He looked her over suspiciously, thinking she was a nigga, I guess. She was fine, but them hands were kind of large now that I was looking.

  Laughing at this crazy ass nigga, I reminded him that I needed him to talk before he punched old girl, so he started back trailing me again.

  “You about to hit her ass?” I chuckled some more once we got outside.

  “That ain’t no damn her. Bitch can grip a whole ass basketball. Fuck did you call me out here for?”

  “She probably could, I ain’t gon’ lie. And I need you to talk to ya boy Siggy. He’s doing too much when it comes to my son.”

  “So now he’s ya fucking son?” Belly chuckled, nodding. “Siggy told me he, Fred, and Bo fucked you up inside of Target.”

  “Anyway, tell his ass to back the fuck off.”

  “You mean now that you wanna do right, you want him to stop. He was handling yo’ fucking business when you weren’t ready to.”

  “Are you gon’ do it or nah?”

  “Nah. I’m not. You figure that shit out.” He turned around and went back inside with me following him. Just as I gave up, the girl walked back up on him with her thirsty ass. “Get yo’ ass up out of here ’fore I karate chop you in yo’ fucking Adam’s apple.”

  I didn’t want to, but right along with everyone else, I cackled.

  Once I got back outside, I just shook my head. I ain’t know what I was gon’ do, but Siggy’s ass had to go.

  Blaise

  Today, Belly and I were going to find out the sex of the baby. We could have found out months ago, but couldn’t decide on if we wanted to wait or not.

  But now I was anxious to know what was in here, and so was he since it was his first child. He swore it was a baby boy, and I really didn’t know. My mom only had one child, and so did I, so I couldn’t really play the guessing game based off of history.

  “Good morning, Miss Cansino.”

  “Good morning. This is Cortez, my fiancé.” I introduced him.

  “I’m the baby’s dad too,” he added, just as they shook hands with one another.

  “I think she guessed that when I told her you were my fiancé, Cortez.”

  “Never know. These hoes be getting nutted in by one muthafucka, but engaged to another nigga. I wanted her to know you ain’t getting down like that.”

  I stared Belly in the face for a tiny moment as the doctor giggled, and then I looked away, shaking my head.

  “Alright, well now that we got that out of the way,” the doctor chuckled, “are we ready to find out what’s growing in here?” She touched my stomach. It was so round now that I couldn’t wear tight or revealing clothes without letting my little secret out.

  “Yes,” Belly and I replied simultaneously.

  “What do you want it to be?” she quizzed as she turned everything she needed on and then washed her hands.

  “I don’t care what it is, as long as all fingers and toes are present.”

  “His dick and balls too, baby,” Belly corrected me, but I ignored his crazy ass.

  Snickering, the doctor asked, “And what do you want, Mr. Khalil?”

  “I ain’t tripping either way, but a boy would be nice since we got a daughter already.”

  His response caught me off guard, namely the part where he referred to Island as if she were both of our baby. I didn’t know what to say right away, so I just smiled softly at my doctor as she got ready to work. I could barely concentrate as she moved that thing around my tummy.

  “Looks like we got a little boy on the way.” Dr. Jordin smiled, pointing to an area of the screen to show us how she knew.

  I stared at the screen excitedly, before glancing at Belly who was so captivated by the baby.

  “Aww, he’s so cute already,” I cooed.

  “He’s got some good-looking parents. And maybe he will be a boxer too!” She laughed.

  “No, that’s too rough for my baby,” I replied, giggling. “He can be an actor like me, and play a boxer.”

  “He gon’ be a hood nigga with money, whatever he does,” Belly’s foolish ass had to interject, making Dr. Jordin and I titter.

  After the appointment was over and my stomach was cleaned off, Dr. Jordin left out of the patient room. I’d taken my shoes off before getting on the examination table, but as I was about to get down to put them on, Belly stopped me.

  “I got you.” He grabbed my sandal heels from behind himself and grabbed one foot to help me. I simpered for a little bit, just watching him.

  “You told the doctor that we have a daughter already.”

  “And?” He kept his attention on the small buckle of my shoe.

  “And, I don’t know… I was just surprised to hear you basically insinuate that Island was yours.”

  As he put my other shoe on, he replied, “I feel like she is. I didn’t say it on purpose, it just came out. She lives with me, I see her every morning and night; I love her.” He shrugged. “I can’t say what a dad is supposed to be like because I didn’t really have a good one, but I think I’m close.” He finished buckling my shoe and rose up, wedging between my legs. “You ain�
�t like what I said?”

  I tossed my arms around his neck.

  “I did. I just feel bad sometimes because of who her real dad is. I let her down by choosing him, when I should’ve known what he was like by the way he was with his previous kids.”

  Rubbing up the sides of my thighs until his hands were on my ass, Belly kissed my lips.

  “You’re a good ass mother though, so she’ll be good. She could’ve ended up with him as a father, and a bitch like his other baby mama for a mother.”

  “Hell, which one?” I laughed.

  “The one that’s always chasing his ass. I don’t know her name, but her lips stay chapped. She thick though.”

  I threw my head back in laughter as he pecked my neck before helping me down.

  “Tahani. Damn, I’m glad I keep myself up. You see everything!” I stepped back as he opened the door for me.

  “You keep all yo’ shit intact. That’s why I was machine gun nutting in you when we fucked.” He hugged me from behind, not talking lowly, so all the nurses in the hallway heard him.

  I usually would be embarrassed, and I was slightly, but not as much as usual because I was used to his mouth by now.

  “Yes, I know. That’s how we got him.” I placed my hand on top of his since he was rubbing my stomach from behind.

  “Him.” Belly grinned, moving to the side of me and taking my hand in his as we walked out. I cheesed seeing how happy he was. Last time I had this type of appointment, I was alone, so this was nice. “Now we gotta go get our daughter so we can celebrate our little nigga.”

  “Don’t call him that!”

  “That’s gon’ be his nickname. Now come on.”

  I shook my head, tightening my grip on his hand as we tread to the car.

  “So you like the role, right? It’s slightly comical, which is good because you’ve been playing serious characters.”

  “Yeah, I do. It’s very Regina George like, minus the high school. But my schedule is already crazy with filming Streets.”