***
“Ma, what you cooking?”
Konya lifted her head, as Rye sauntered into the kitchen. “Well, look who we have here.”
Rye sighed. “I know, I know. But I’m here now, and I came to talk.”
“And you conveniently decide to do that, while your daddy is at work, huh?” Konya placed a hand on her hip.
“Ma, please don’t start. I figured it would be easier to talk to you first,” Rye groaned.
“Talk about what? How you’re irresponsible. Selfish? Inconsiderate?”
Rye frowned. “What? Where is this coming from?”
“You know exactly where this is coming from. You knew that your drama with Tori would trickle down to us, but you didn’t give a damn.”
Rye disappointedly shook her head. “This is crazy, but I’m beginning to see that everything happens for a reason. My trip to L.A. really opened my eyes.”
Konya pursed her lips. “Opened your eyes to what, little girl?”
Rye gulped. “To the fact that you stopped being my mama, and lending a listening ear after I met Tori.”
“What?” Konya scowled.
“You heard exactly what I said. For years, you’d preach about me finding somebody who knew how to treat me. Somebody who respected me, but then Tori came along, and I was suddenly by myself. Then I couldn’t talk to you without you jumping to conclusions. I couldn’t vent to you without you telling me that it was all my fault. And I guess that’s why I stayed with him after the first time he put his hands on me.”
Konya gasped. “Wait, what do you mean by the first time he put his hands on you?”
“Tori likes to fight, ma. That was one of the biggest reasons I wanted to break up with him early on. Way before dad got caught up with his father, but you made that impossible. Remember how I ran here one weekend, but you went behind my back and told Tori that I was here?”
Konya took a deep breath. “Yeah.”
“Well, he’d just slapped me in the car earlier that day,” Rye revealed.
Konya became choked up. “Baby, I didn’t know.”
Rye rolled her eyes. “Well, there was plenty you didn’t know. I’ve been dealing with this for years. Then to have my own family try to force me to stay with him…gave him this sense that he could do whatever he wanted to me. He had no respect, and that showed when he spat on me yesterday.”
“He spat on you? Please tell me that you’re fucking playing,” Konya fumed.
“I’m not. He actually hocked up and spat on me, after he’d damn near choked me to death. And now imagine how it felt driving over here, knowing that I’d I have to defend my reasons for being done with him.”
Konya shook her head. “Baby, I had no clue. I honestly thought that you were thinking like me at your age. You know, liking and chasing after the wrong kind. I thought that you just wanted a dude from the streets, and was thinking of any excuse not to be with Tori. I swear to God had I known---”
“The hell are you doing here?” DeWayne snarled, as he stomped into the kitchen.
“Daddy, I was just telling mama---” Rye began.
“I don’t give a damn what you were doing,” DeWayne snapped. “I just got off the phone with Terry,” her referred to Tori’s father. “And now he’s claiming that he had to end my contracts because some Mexican came along with cheaper prices. And now I have to scramble to secure jobs, before this house goes into foreclosure.”
“That’s messed up, but that’s not my fault,” Rye responded.
“Not your fault?” Dewayne repeated incredulously. “You knew that your little stunt in California would have us here. You just costed Tori a multi-million-dollar contract. Hell, I don’t blame Terry for being pissed. Your self-entitled ass don’t give a damn about nobody but yourself!”
“Self-entitled?! I’ve carried you and that damn company on my back, and you wanna talk about self-entitlement?! Me being your daughter doesn’t make me your slave!”
Without thinking, DeWayne reached back, before slapping the taste of out her mouth. “Who the fuck do you think you’re talking to?!”
“DeWayne!” Konya shrieked, as she barged between the two. “You’ve lost your rabid ass mind. Keep your fucking hands off her! She’s your daughter!”
Rye stood holding her face in shock. Her daddy had actually hit her.
“Nah,” DeWayne shook his head. “That selfish bitch didn’t come from me. You can stop telling that lie now!”
“What?” Rye narrowed her eyes, after hearing him disclaim her.
DeWayne gave her a look of disgust, much like the one Tori had given her, after he’d spat on her. “You heard me---”
“DeWayne!” Konya gazed into his eyes pleadingly.
“No, don’t Dewayne me! Something as lazy, trifling, and stupid as her could never come from me! That shit aint in my blood! Do you see DeAndra doing stupid shit like this? Hell, no, because she knows better. And I’ve been good to this girl. Treated her like my own, since the day you pushed her out. And this is how she repays me. You need to tell your daughter about biting the hand that feeds her!”
Rye’s lips quivered, as her heart silently broke. Now, it was all making sense to her. This was why Dewayne was okay with her staying in an unhappy relationship. This was why she’d always get her younger sister to ask for things, growing up. DeAndra was always his clear favorite and could get whatever she wanted out of him. When Rye would ask for things, he’d always think of a reason it wasn’t needed. And now she knew why. He was more accommodating to his biological child.
Konya lost it, whaling on him. “You dirty muthafucka! How could you wait all these years and tell her like this?! It was you who wanted her to believe that she was yours! And now you wanna use that shit to tear her down?! What kind of man are you?!”
Rye was so devastated that she did nothing to stop her mother. In a matter of minutes, her life had been flipped upside down, and she literally didn’t know who she was anymore.
Eventually, Konya got a grip, and stepped away from Dewayne. “Let’s go, Rye,” she demanded as her chest heaved up and down.
Dewayne frowned, as he felt his busted lip. “Where the hell are you going?”
Konya snatched her purse off the counter top. “Away from your bitch ass!”
Feeling distraught, Rye obediently followed her mama, as she stormed out of the house. Climbing into her car, she realized that she would forever remember this day, as her whole life changed.
Chapter 10
For two hours, Rye and Konya had been back at her apartment, sitting in the living room, allowing the silence to consume them. It was clear that they were both deep in thought, until Rye decided that she needed some answers.
“So, are you gonna tell me what’s what?” she finally spoke up. “Or are we just gonna ignore the elephant in the room?”
Konya sighed heavily, as she scooted back into the couch. “What do you want to know?”
“Why did you lie to me. Who’s my dad. Everything.”
Konya nodded, as she cracked her knuckles. “I guess, I’ll start from the beginning.”
Rye sat listening intently.
“Sometimes I think that I ride your back so tough because I see so much of myself in you. Like you, I didn’t want to go to school and eventually decided to do my own thing. That led me to one dead-end job after another. But I was young and living, so it didn’t matter. In between little bullshit jobs, I chased street niggas. That was what I liked. If the guy wasn’t hustling, then I didn’t want him. That was why I never gave your daddy…Dewayne any play. Anyway, I kind of dated around and had fun, until I met this one dude. The man was the finest dude I had ever seen. So, I went out of my way to get his attention. And excuse my French, but he fucked me so good that I couldn’t tell night from day for a little while,” Konya explicitly recalled. “He had my head up in the clouds, until reality kicked in. I found out that he already had a woman, and a couple of baby mamas. I saw him with his live-in girlfriend one
day, and ended up with my feelings hurt. Right after that, I found out that I was pregnant with you. I was devastated. Even wanted to get an abortion,” she admitted. “But that’s how I learned that everything happens for a reason. I kept having morning sickness and kept calling in at work, which caused me to get fired. Then I didn’t have money to get an abortion. Thank God, because you ended up being my blessing. Mine.” she pointed at her chest. “Anyway, while I was going through it, Dewayne kept pushing up on me. Eventually, I decided to give him some play. After dealing with him, I felt so stupid. I had been wasting time chasing men like your biological father, when Dewayne had been around, and treated me a thousand times better. But I couldn’t play Dewayne, so I told him that I was pregnant with you. I thought for sure that he’d back up. Instead, he told me that he wanted us to be together, and that he’d take care of me and you. Then he took a step further and told me that we could just allow people to think that he was your daddy. At the time, I thought that he was the realest man walking the earth, and that made me fall in love. Of course, now, I’m beginning to see that situation differently. I think Dewayne was physically attracted to me and infatuated. He didn’t know me well enough after a month to love me. We barely knew each other like that. He probably wanted people to think that you were his, because he didn’t want to look like a sucker. Hell, ‘til this day, his own mama don’t know that you aint his biological child. The only other person who knows the truth is my friend, who I haven’t seen in years.”
“So, that’s it?” Rye questioned. “You never tried to tell my…real dad about me?”
Konya swallowed. “Initially, no, I didn’t tell him. But when you were about three or four I changed my mind. Me and Dewayne were having problems. I felt like he’d tried to get me settle to down too early in life. I had you and your sister, and he wanted to keep me in the house all damn day. So, I told myself that if I could get your real daddy to help with you and get support from Dewayne with your sister, then I could move out, and get a little job. So, I tracked your biological daddy down. I had you and your sister with me at a block party. I approached him, while my friends looked after yall. He was posted up with his baby mama. Come to find out, the nigga had multiple women, and although he lived with one chick, his baby mama was his woman too. I didn’t know any of this, until the bitch cussed me out for approaching her man. Next thing I knew, me and her were rolling around on the ground. I tried to get with her, but that strong bitch kicked my ass.”
Even though this was a serious matter, Rye found herself laughing hard.
“Girl, that shit aint funny. That crazy hoe snatched a patch out of my head. And your raggedy ass daddy stood right there, cheering her on. I never did get around to addressing the reason I’d approached him in the first place. And after that shit, I realized that we were better off with Dewayne’s ass. Since then, I’ve seen your daddy around here and there, but I never told him shit. The last time I saw him, he was still knee deep in the game, telling me that shit hadn’t changed about his sorry ass.”
“So, I take it that you don’t have his contact information or anything like that?”
Konya solemnly shook her head.
“Do you even know his name?”
“Well, they used to call him Ray-Ray. That’s all I know.”
Rye was blown away. “That’s it, ma? You had a child with a man, and don’t even know his government name?”
A tear slipped from Konya’s eye. “I was young, Rye.”
“Yeah, whatever,” Rye scoffed, as she eased off the couch. “I can’t do this, right now. I’m going to bed.”
Konya sniveled, hating that her past had finally caught up with her.
Rye stepped into her room and closed the door behind her. Feeling emotional, she lied across her bed. Before she could become lost in her thoughts her cell rang. Checking the screen, she saw that it was Lea. Deciding that she didn’t want to talk, she rejected the call. Too much was going on, and Rye only had a surface relationship with Lea. In fact, Rye had several associates, but no one she shared intimate details with. Sure, she and Lea would discuss men, and gossip, but when it came to family or deep seeded issues they’d never go that deep. Truthfully, the most she’d ever opened up to someone outside of her family was when talking to Jaylen.
Feeling like he could possibly make her feel better, she decided to give him a call. So, she rolled over onto her back, and dialed him up.
“Hello?”
Rye frowned, as she heard a female’s voice on the other end of the phone. Checking the screen, she made sure that she hadn’t accidentally called the wrong person. And no, it was definitely Jaylen’s phone.
“Uh, can I speak to Jaylen please?”
“Umm, this is Jaylen’s girlfriend. He’s in the shower, right now. Is there anything I could help you with?”
“His girlfriend?”
“Yes, his girlfriend.”
Rye licked his lips. “You know what, that’s okay. You be good,” she offered, ending the call. Ordinarily, she would’ve made it her business to piss the chick off, but her spirit had taken a beating, and she just didn’t have it in her.
***
“Who were you just talking to?” Jaylen questioned, as he stepped into his bedroom with water from the shower still dripping down his body. He used the towel that was dangling around his neck to wipe his face.
Alicia sat at the foot of his bed, taking in his cut body, and the bulge in his briefs. “Huh?”
“If you can huh you can hear. Who were you talking to?” he pressed.
“Some chick.” She shrugged.
He stomped over to the bed and snatched his cell up. Scrolling through his call log, a scowl covered his face. “You answered my fucking phone?”
Alicia nodded. “You damn right.”
He snarled. “Have you lost your fucking mind?”
“No, have you?!” she countered. “That’s that same bitch from Instagram. The one you was posing with in all them pictures. The same one you was hanging around, when you wouldn’t answer my calls in L.A.”
“And?” he snapped. “I keep telling you. You aint my gal. I can do whatever the fuck I want. So, you completely out of line for fucking with my shit.”
Alicia growled. “Are you serious, right now? After you just finished pounding on me, you wanna tell me that you can do whatever you want?”
“Basically.”
A lump formed in her throat. He’d really hurt her feelings. “Is that really how it is?”
He nodded. “That’s how you made it…and I think that it’s time for you to go.”
“Wow,” she gasped, as she stood. “Are you serious?”
He nodded again. “Dead ass serious. But I’m cool, so you can still wash your ass here, before you go.”
***
“Dewayne, I can’t believe you, right now.”
Rye stepped into her living room to find her mama on the phone with the guy formerly known as her father. It had been a week since the showdown, and she felt no better about anything. She’d spent the entire time sulking, and Konya wasn’t much help. She was ridden with guilt and cried most days, so Rye was hesitant to readdress the topic of her biological father.
Rye watched her mother pace back and forth, wearing a silk nightie. The thin material clung to her round ass, and it jiggled a bit, as she argued on the phone. Undoubtedly, it was her looks that had hooked Dewayne’s lame ass, Rye concluded.
“Since when do you think that turning off all my credit cards, and closing out the joint accounts is gonna get some act-right out of me? You haven’t pulled that shit in years, and I thought that it was because you knew better. At least knew me better. You can’t control me through your wallet!”
Rye shook her head, as she grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge.
“Like I said, I aint coming home!” Konya shouted. “You lost your mind the other day, and bullying me aint gon get you what you want. So, fuck you!” she ended the call.
“What
’s going on now?” Rye questioned, as she leaned over her kitchen’s island.
“That bastard cut off all my financial resources. Talking about I won’t eat until I come back home.”
Rye shook her head. “That’s crazy. Did he at least apologize for anything he’d said?”
“Nope. That’s what pisses me off the most. He haven’t acknowledged his behavior at all, which leads to believe that he thinks that he’s justified.”
Rye rolled her eyes. “Well, fuck him.”
Konya paused. “Hey, he’s still your father---”
“No, actually he’s not. So, don’t give me that speech. And I don’t care about him taking care of me my whole life. All that was thrown out of the window when he blurted that bullshit out of his mouth. Because if he fully accepted me, he would’ve died with that secret. But he didn’t. So, like I said, fuck him.”
Konya nodded. “Okay, I can understand where you’re coming from, and I agree with some of it. But regardless of it all, I know for a fact that that man loves you.”
Rye sucked her teeth. “After everything that has happened, I can’t believe that this is your stance. If anything, he probably loves me that way people love their pets. Not the way a man loves his child. If you disagree, look me in my eyes and tell me that he loves me and DeAndra equally the same.”
Konya swallowed hard, as she faced some hard truths. Even she’d noticed the difference in how Dwayne carried the girls. In fact, privately, they’d fussed about it on numerous occasions, but he’d always make her feel stupid for even bringing it up. He’d swear that it was all in her head, and now here they were.
When Konya didn’t have an immediate answer, Rye knew exactly what it was. “Don’t worry, mama. You aint gotta say nothing. This is just a learning situation for me. This is teaching me to be more cautious about who I give myself to. Otherwise, I’ll end up with a child that the next man will resent and walk all over.”
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