by J Peach
Jerome stood up and came over to me. “Y’all niggas ain’t shit. Stop fuckin’ with her.
“Hold up, what the fuck we miss?” Ashaun asked.
Jerome started laughing. “Shit.” He told him before turning his attention to me. “Come on.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the living room and into the kitchen.
Groaning, my head fell against his back. “That wasn’t embarrassing at all,” I mumbled.
“Ain’t shit to be embarrassed about. Shid, you wanted what you wanted,” he teased, and I laughed. “Real shit, though. You ain’t got to be embarrassed. Yo’ ass let loose and had fun, that’s part of it.”
I knew he was right, but that still didn’t change anything. I just wasn’t used to acting like that, especially not in front of anyone. The phone in my hand pinged, bringing the device back to my attention. “Oh, your phone rang when I was upstairs.” I held it out for him, and he took it.
He looked at the screen then put the phone in his pocket. “You hungry?” Although he asked the question, he pulled out two plates from the cabinet and then went to the food warmers, raising the tops.
“Starving. Whose house is this?” I asked, looking around the spacious kitchen.
“Akil and Nya’s crib,” he replied as he continued to make our plates.
“Ooh, I’m starving, make me one,” Sha said, coming into the kitchen.
Jerome looked over his shoulder at her. “No, the fuck I ain’t. You better make yo’ own shit,” he snapped at her, and it was so out of the blue. He then turned around and kept fixing our plates like he hadn’t said a thing to her.
Sha glared hard at his back. “You’re a rude ass mothafucka,” she snapped at him.
“And you’re an irritating ass bitch, so we’re even. Now shut the fuck up talking to me,” Jerome shot back, not once sparing her a glance. He kept making our plates like he wasn’t bothered.
Sha shot a glance at me. “How the hell can you like his rude ass?”
My lips pressed together so that I wouldn’t laugh right out. My head shook, and I looked over at Jerome. I shrugged. “I don’t know for sure… he’s different.”
Sha snorted loudly. “A different type of asshole, yeah.”
Again, I laughed. “Not to me.” Her mouth opened to say something else, and my head shook. “Sha’yonna, shut up,” I told her as Jerome set my plate in front of me. “Thanks.” I gave him a smile before I looked at the breakfast food. Everything looked so damn good.
Sha’s eyes rolled. “Fine, take up for your little mans or whatever.” Her shoulder hit mine as she gave me a slight smile. “He’s still an asshole.”
Yonni walked into the kitchen with Snoop and Ashaun right behind her. Seconds later, Nya and Akil came in.
“We’re going back to the club after we leave the studio tonight, right?” Yonni asked, looking from her sister to Nya.
“I’m down. I mean, I don’t have shit else to do. Nya?” Sha stared hopefully at her friend.
Titanya exchanged a look with Akil and then shrugged. “I don’t know yet. It depends on how I feel, but even if I don’t go, y’all can still enjoy the night.”
Sha rolled her eyes and groaned. “You’re no fun, Nya. It’s not gonna be the same without you.” She pouted, but the look quickly went away as her eyes landed on Akil. She slid up behind him, and he glanced at her while shaking his head.
“What the fuck do you want, Sha?” There was a bit of irritation and humor in his tone.
“If Nya don’t go, is it still an open bar for your favorite twins?” She smiled.
He shot Nya a look. She simply laughed and shrugged. “Yeah, Sha, but only because of Yonni.”
“Asshole!” Sha hit Akil’s arm before hugging him. “But I’mma take it, thank you!” She kissed his cheek.
“Yo, what the fuck?” Akil pushed her off him and wiped his face. “I know yo’ ass ain’t just put those fuckin’ dick suckers on me, yo?” The playfulness in his voice was gone, he was pissed off.
Sha mugged him hard. “Nigga, don’t do that. Yo’ ass act like Nya don’t suck dick—”
“Bitch, yeah, my fuckin’ dick! Yo’ ass suck any nigga off that talks to you. Damn! I should knock the fuck out of yo’ dumb ass.” He pushed past Jerome and Snoop, then went to the sink and started washing his face off with dish detergent.
“Damn, that was hurtful,” Jerome announced before he broke out laughing. “Why the fuck would you kiss that nigga, when yo’ ass know yo’ damn mouth sinful as fuck?”
Sha whirled around on him. “Nigga, don’t make me knock yo’ shit in. Y’all dirty dick niggas gonna stop playing with me,” she snapped, which made all of them laugh.
“What y’all not gonna do is gang up on my sister. Akil, don’t play her like that. Yo’ ass knows she don’t suck any nigga off. You know of one mothafucka she ever fucked with. So, calm all that bullshit down,” Yonni snapped at him before glaring at Jerome.
Jerome’s hands went up. “I ain’t fuckin’ with you. Yo’ little ass too quiet for me. I don’t fuck with you silent mothafuckas.” He ended it with that and said nothing else to her.
I broke out laughing at them. That group of friends was crazy as shit, and they were all humorous as hell. They fought nonstop, but I could see how close they all were.
“Anyway!” Sha said loudly with a hard roll of her eyes. “Janessa, you coming out too—”
“No, the hell she ain’t.” Jerome cut her off as he set a glass of pineapple juice in front of me. “Y’all mothafuckas ain’t about to corrupt her ass. She’s good. One night with y’all, and she’s out there fighting and shit. Hell no! You mothafuckas a bad influence on her life.”
Again, I broke out laughing. “Shut up, Jerome. No, they’re not. The fight wasn’t even their fault at all.”
“It really wasn’t, though, and believe it or not, Nessa really tried to avoid the whole damn thing, but those bitches kept pushing, and she snapped. I’m glad she did because I was about to start snatching bitches up if she hadn’t. Those hoes were so fuckin’ disrespectful,” Nya chimed in as Akil set a plate in front of her. She thanked and kissed him.
“Like dead ass,” Sha’yonna agreed. “Oh! And a heads up, Jerome. If that woman tells you she doesn’t feel like it, just leave her the hell alone. Shorty clicked the fuck out and became savage as fuck. Baby got some fire in them bones. It just takes the right mothafucka to bring that shit out,” Sha announced with Nya and Yonni agreeing with her.
My face was once again flushed as they spoke. They didn’t seem bothered in the least that I had lost control and snapped. It was as if what happened was completely normal to them.
“Shid, she better be able to whoop some ass with how hard Jolly be working her ass at the gym,” Ashaun stated.
“No!” Yonni shook her head. “This wasn’t no boxing type of shit. That was some straight savage street shit for real,” she told them, and I groaned.
“Can we please change the subject? I really wanna forget about all that. I feel bad, actually, and I hope she’s okay.” Even though at that moment, I wanted to hurt Carrie for what she said and wanted her to feel my pain, I felt terrible for how I reacted. I should’ve controlled myself better. I didn’t want her to lose her baby, especially not in the way I had.
“I think this sweet girl act is just a façade, for real,” Ashaun claimed as he stared at me through suspicious, hooded eyes.
I rolled mine at him and took a drink from my juice. I didn’t know what he wanted me to say in response to that. I felt it would’ve been pointless to tell him anything when his mind seemed to be made up already.
“She really is sweet, though,” Jonell stated as he walked by Ashaun and slapped him on the back of his head.
“Get fucked up, Nelly. Hit me again, and I’mma lay yo’ ass out.” He pushed his cousin away from him, which made Jonell laugh. “Jolly, is that an act?” he asked, motioning toward me with his head.
I glanced at Jerome, and he had a thoughtful look
on his face. “Shid, after last night, I don’t know. Shorty was aggressive as fuck—”
I hit his arm. “Jerome! Don’t do that, seriously.” My face was hot as hell. I knew at that moment he wasn’t going to let me live that down. I felt their eyes on me, and I turned away from their prying eyes, laying my face on Jerome’s shoulder.
“I’ight, I’m convinced she’s a good girl. Shorty face done turned bright red as fuck.” Ashaun picked at me and laughed.
I groaned while chuckling lightly.
“Shaun, shut the fuck up and leave her alone.” Jerome’s arm moved over my shoulder so that I was cradled against his side. Even so, I felt his body moving as he laughed. “Come on, ain’t no need for all that. He gon’ leave you alone. You a good girl, we know. Corrupted a bit, but you sweet.” From his tone, I knew he was trying hard not to laugh.
I sucked up my embarrassment and shrugged him off me. “You’re really an asshole, like seriously.” I tried to glare at him, but I couldn’t hold it and whined out a laugh. “You get on my nerves.”
“That’s what I’m supposed to do.” His smirk was on full display, and I couldn’t do anything but laugh at him. Leaning into him, I pressed my lips against his.
“Aww…” Sha cooed. “He really is different with you. He’s playful and sweet.” She gushed at us.
“Shut the fuck up. Why the fuck you watching us? Eat your damn food,” Jerome snapped at her. And just like that, her dreamy expression was gone, and that glare returned.
“Man, leave Sha’s ass alone. You ain’t even got to talk to her like that,” Snoop told him.
Jerome’s face screwed up as he stared at the other male. “Nigga, fuck you, and yo’ ass can shut the fuck up too.”
Seeing Jerome in his own element, what I saw was really what I got. It wasn’t an act at all. That was his true demeanor; he said what he wanted and how he wanted, regardless of who he spoke to.
It was sad that I found that refreshing. His aggressive ways should’ve had me running away, but it didn’t. From the beginning, he had been showing me who he was and not pretending to be something or someone else. Maybe that was what I found so relaxing. I knew there wasn’t going to be a sudden flip of a switch that would show me a whole other side to him. That was Jerome in all of his rude, menacing, sweet glory.
My arm laced with his, and I entwined our fingers under the table. The action caused him to look down at me. His brows rose as his eyes stared into mine. “You getting that look again.”
“Shut up.” I chuckled lightly as I kissed his chin.
It was crazy how I just wanted to be under him. I was pushing myself to tell him, let’s get out of there and go somewhere alone, whether it was to the room we shared or outside, it didn’t matter. I just wanted to be alone with him.
“She tryna be on some cake shit,” Akil accused, which caused me to look at him.
“No, I’m not,” I lied, and Nya laughed.
“Don’t fall for that damn look. It’s a fuckin’ trap, Jolly, trust me,” Akil told his cousin.
“Akilious, leave that gotdamn woman alone. Damn, y’all done picked on her ass enough for the morning, shit.” Nya came to my defense but still chuckled. “I’m sorry, Nessa, you have to excuse these damn fools. You’ll learn to ignore them once you get to know them,” she stated and stood up. “Y’all let’s go in the living room while the men clean up the mess.”
Akil stared at her funny, and she leaned down and kissed him before whispering in his ear.
“Fuck you, Nya. Yo’ ass ain’t right for that shit.” He laughed before smacking her on the ass.
She simply laughed, waving him off. “Come on, y’all. Janessa, you too. Jerome gonna help them out,” she announced, and I looked at him.
I didn’t want to leave him. It was at that moment, I realized how I was being. I was in that new relationship bliss, so I knew I had to get my ass up and go with the girls. Giving his hand a slight squeeze, I got up. I started following the girls out but was stopped as Ashaun grabbed my wrist.
“What?” I asked, jerking out of his hold.
“So, let me ask you this, and be straight up with me,” he started off by saying. My brows furrowed, wondering what he wanted to ask me. “When you and Jolly get ready to fuck, do y’all role play? You know the whole teacher/student fantasy thing since you’re his real teacher and shit?”
“Nigga, what the fuck is wrong with you? Why the fuck would you ask her some shit like that?” Jerome snapped at him. “Man, you an ignorant mothafucka. Janessa, gon’ get out of here.”
Yonni grabbed my arm. “Girl, ignore him. He’s retarded in real life.”
Once again, I was embarrassed and flushed.
“Why the fuck you ask her that shit? You an ignorant mothafucka, man.” Akil laughed as did the others.
“Shid, I wanted to know. That’s some sexy shit. Jolly, y’all be fuckin’ in the classroom?” Ashaun was saying as we moved further away until their voices faded into the distance.
“I can’t believe him.” I groaned, and Yonni laughed as we made it to the living room.
“Momma, you about to come get us?” Kaeden asked from the end of the line. He didn’t sound excited at all.
“Yeah, in a bit. What’s wrong? You not having fun?” I asked, concerned.
“No, I am. I just wasn’t ready to leave. Ms. Ada got a huge pool in the backyard with a slide and a basketball rim inside it. We’re having so much fun. Oh, and thanks for the bikes and cellphone.” The tone in his voice changed drastically.
Since I knew his sadness only came from him not wanting to leave, I relaxed a bit. However, what he thanked me for confused me. “What bike and cellphone, Kae?”
“The dude with the long hair, Rome’s friend came over yesterday and said you told him to bring us the bikes and to use the phone to call you if we needed to. Wasn’t nothing wrong, so we didn’t call,” he explained.
“Hey, Momma!” Kierra yelled in the background.
“Hey, Keke,” I responded, still confused.
“She can’t hear you, she just jumped in the pool. I took a lot of pictures on the phone. I’ll send them to you later,” he stated.
Part of me felt like I should’ve been a little upset that they were having so much fun without me. On top of that, they had a cellphone the entire time and hadn’t thought about calling me. I had to dial Ada directly just to speak with them. Hell, I didn’t have the cellphone’s number at that.
“Momma, Ms. Ada just brought AJ out. I’m about to get in the pool with him. I’ll call you back, okay?” he said, once again excited.
“Um… okay, love you. Tell Keke I said I love her,” I mumbled, definitely feeling some type of way.
“Okay, love you too. Bye!”
The line clicked off, and I stared at the phone. “Well, bye to you too,” I mumbled in disbelief.
“What’s wrong with you?” Jerome asked from the room door.
I waved my phone at him. “Just talked to my kids; it seems like they aren’t missing me. They’re having too much fun and not ready to leave.” I tossed my phone on the bed as I focused on him.
“Yeah, my aunt’s cool like that. Shid, they’ll probably never wanna leave after being with her for a few hours.” He chuckled while walking fully into the room.
“Yeah, maybe…” I pointed to my phone. “When I was talking to Kae, he mentioned Snoop had brought some bikes over and a cellphone.”
His hand rubbed over the back of his head. “Yeah. I asked Snoop to drop them off over there, and the phone was a just in case type of thing. I thought it would make you feel better if they had a direct way to call you.” He shrugged as if it was nothing. “It ain’t shit, though.”
That proved my thoughts exactly. “It is, though, Jerome. You didn’t have to do that for them.” I didn’t know how to feel about him getting them those things. I knew for sure I wasn’t mad exactly… I was thankful he thought that much into them, about me, to go out and do that. However… I didn’t wan
t him doing it, spending his money on them, on me, for stuff like that. I didn’t want him to feel obligated to do so because we were messing around.
Also, I didn’t want things to change. Once money really got involved, it changed everything, including people.
“I know I didn’t. I wanted to. Yo, don’t stare at me like that, Nessa. From how I see it, I owe you. When I started fuckin’ with you, I didn’t realize how much I had fucked up for you, so I’m trying to make shit right. I’m pretty sure the kids had bikes before they were forced to move into a hotel behind my actions and shit.” His eyes stared deep into mine, and he looked so sincere. “This ain’t got shit to do with us fuckin’ around. Even if we weren’t, I still would’ve done the same shit just to make it right. It’s my own fucked up conscience.”
I honestly believed it had nothing to do with us messing around. I believed him only because I knew Jerome didn’t say anything he didn’t mean. He wasn’t the type to try and impress a person, so I knew he did this for the reasons he gave.
The kids had phones, but I had taken them because Montrell kept blowing them up with calls and text messages. Since the kids' line was on his phone plan, I took them and tossed the devices in the drawer. I did plan to get them new ones, I just hadn’t gotten around to doing it.
“They didn’t need a cellphone, and you didn’t have to get them bikes. I do appreciate you wanting to make things right, for real.” Jerome laughed at that. “Seriously, Jerome, you don’t owe me anything. Trell was going to react that way whether you said something to him or not.” I doubt he would’ve thrown us out of the house, but the fight was definitely going to happen, no matter what.
“Maybe, but I’m the reason y’all had to move into the hotel. Look, ain’t no point in going back and forth on this. I know what I don’t have to do, but I’mma do what I want regardless. Now just say thank you and kiss me,” he ordered, glaring at me.
I laughed and did as commanded. “Thank you, Rome.” I kissed him. “But no more gifts,” I mumbled against his lips. I pecked him once more and sat back. He didn’t say anything to what I said. In fact, his face had formed into a guilty look that a child would give when he was caught doing something he had no business doing. “What did you do?”