The Wild Child

by Nicole Jackson

  I chuckled as I watched that girl do a slow twerk to the song. Sadly, my granny Trina was the main one pumping her up.

  “Look at my grandbaby,” granny Trina bragged, like Jhyrah was biologically hers. “Show ‘em how to work that ass!”

  Jhyrah’s silly ass wagged her tongue, before dropping low. She was rolling her hips nastily like there wasn’t a room full of people.

  “I know that’s right!” Granny Trina carried on.

  I remembered that Jhyrah was high when she fucked around a did a Chinese split, before wobbling her ass cheeks simultaneously.

  “Got damn!” Chubby exclaimed with his fist to his mouth. “I aint know Jhyrah was doing it like that, nigga!”

  I sucked my teeth, as I stomped over to her. “Alright, man.” I grabbed her hand, bringing her to her feet. “That’s enough of that shit.”

  Jhyrah laughed her head off, while I was thinking that it was good that she’d flushed the rest of that coke down the toilet. Cause she was really showing her ass today and I wasn’t for it. So, she definitely didn’t need something that had me ready to fuck her up and break my cousin’s jaw.

  Jhyrah

  I once thought that there was no bigger party scene than Hollywood’s, but now I just didn’t know. In Houston I had never been able to fully spread my wings with my daddy’s name following me everywhere. That always made me feel like I had some too tight cuffs around my wrist, but now I was free! Instead of the place I called home acting as my prison, it was now my oyster, where the doors were always open. Although under 21, I was still grown, and my daddy’s name meant something everywhere. Hell, so did mine as well as Jeremy’s. Not to mention Uncle Kevin, Keyasia, Little Jahrein…Jaylen. Big and little. Hell, the list was never ending. My family had pull in the city, period. Partying in L.A. had been lit, but now I always had my muthafuckin’ people with me and the shit was different. We partied on a different level, comfortably.

  This night in the club, there was a whole gang of us. Keyasia had come through with her girls Taraj and Jazel. Josairah came through with Daynah. Daynah had invited Roxy and Mya. Mya brought Cavalli, Jared’s situation. I didn’t know if they were committed or whatever, but they clearly had something consistently going. Anyway, the world was small as hell, because Cavalli had been introduced to the crew via Mya, although she’d been banging Jared for a while now. My aunt Rye was there with her girl Lea. Crazily, we’d met Rye about a year ago, when she came to Cali with her boyfriend, who was an agent and wanted to sign Jeremy. Ultimately, Jeremy didn’t sign with the dude, and my cousin Little Jaylen had somehow snatched Rye right from underneath the agent. From that point on shit got crazy. During a family function we found out that Rye was supposedly for my pawpaw Ray-Ray. Thank God Little Jaylen wasn’t biologically related to Ray-Ray. After DNA was established, we all embraced Rye. And now, a year later, Rye and Little Jaylen had a fresh baby boy together. Nevertheless, we were deep in the club, not to mention our niggas were all there as well. We occupied the biggest section in the club and had that bitch rocking. The guys were all laid back and chilling, while the girls were turning the fuck up. Me…I was the ring leader, going in.

  Admittedly, life was beautiful, as I already had no plans of retiring in until the sun was up.

  Jeremy

  “Bae, you sure? You really don’t wanna go with me?” Jhyrah questioned, as I sat in the driver’s seat of my newly purchased Ferrari with my feet planted on the ground. Signing a two-year 15-million-dollar contract had a nigga swimming in money. Shit, I was trust fund baby, so I had more money than I knew what to do with. Balling out in the malls and all that shit was nothing new to me, so honestly there hadn’t been many lifestyle changes, because I was used to having shit.

  “Nah, I’m good.” I shook my head. “You told me about this damn day party at the last minute. I don’t feel like going to look for nothing to wear. I aint sifting through my closet. None of the shit. I honestly don’t feel like being around a bunch of muthafuckas, putting on. My switch is off today, man.”

  She sucked her teeth, as she placed her hands on her hips. “Nothing is wrong with what you have on.” She said that as she stood there with her make-up professionally done, Dolce and Gabbana shades, shaped like the letters D and G, shielded her eyes. She had a black and white Dolce tee tied up, revealing most of her stomach. White booty shorts. Dolce belt. And tall gladiator stilettos. Everything about her screamed primped and prepped, but she wanted me to step out in a plain white tee along with some True shorts. Nah, it wasn’t happening, and she knew that shit.

  I yawned. Fuck, merely thinking about a party had me tired. Jhyrah wanted to go on and on. It was party after party, and I was exhausted. I was in training camp, so my body was going through the ringer. This was one of the few days I had for relaxation, and partying was the last thing on my mind.

  “Jhyrah, you know that I aint showing up on the scene like this. So, drop it. I mean, if you wanna spend some time, then speak up. I’m all for chilling. We can go to the movies or something laid back. That’s the vibe I’m on, right now.”

  Her head jerked back as if I’d asked her to lick my ass or some shit. “The movies? On a Saturday, Jeremy? Seriously?”

  I sighed. “Alright, say no more. Go ahead. Go out. I’ll be here when you get home.”

  She bit her bottom lip. “Don’t say it like that. I’m not leaving you. I’d rather you be right there with me, but you’re playing.”

  I smirked. “Girl, watch out. I aint say shit about you leaving me. But I see what you’re trying to do, but it’s cool. Seriously. This aint some type of test. I just don’t feel like going out today. That doesn’t mean that I’ma give you a hard time whenever you come home. You got my blessings. Just respect my mind and remember that you can’t do what some of them other hoes do. Aint no hanging in random niggas’ sections and bring your ass home at a decent hour. That’s it.”

  She exhaled. “Okay.” Leaning down, she kissed my lips. “I’m about to go. See you tonight.” she kissed me again. “Love you.”

  “Love you too,” I responded as she pulled back.

  I watched as she switched over to her drop top Lexus Sport and hopped in. I’d copped it for her when I bought my Ferrari, and now she loved zooming through the city in it. Big Jahrein was so pushy that I damn near had to twist his arm to get his blessings to buy Jhyrah a new whip. He made sure that I knew that his daughter didn’t need me or any other nigga financially. What was understood didn’t need to be explained. It was never about what she needed me to do or vice versa, but if I had it, then she had it too. It was that simple.

  I was always gonna spoil Jhyrah’s ass, because I’d learned that it was the thing to do. I watched my daddy go over and beyond for my mama and it paid off. My mama kept that nigga on his toes, and he always had a smile plastered on his face. Therefore, I believed the saying ‘Happy wife, happy life’ to be true.

  Yeah, Jhyrah deserved the best, although sometimes I wanted her to sit her ass down somewhere. The partying shit sometimes got on my nerves, but it had been manageable, thus far. I mean, she did everything else so well, so I didn’t want to rain on her little parade. We were young and I never wanted her to feel suffocated, therefore I was mindful of not putting my foot on her neck. She could breathe, even when I wanted to lock her ass away sometimes.

  I definitely had this selfishness to me, where I didn’t want to share my girl with the world. Our lives were playing out publicly, which I had no control over. However, the more my popularity soared, the more I wanted to pull back from the spotlight. Low key was good by me.

  I was considering going to my granny Trina’s restaurant to grab something to eat, when I received a facetime.

  “What’s popping?” I smiled into the camera.

  “Friend,” Vita sang cheerfully. “What are you doing?”

  “Shit. Trying to see what I’m about to eat.”

  “Oh, yeah? Where wifey at? She didn’t feed you?”

  I tapped
the tip of my nose. “Nah, wifey just left to hit up a day party. I gotta feed myself today.”

  “Aww,” she mockingly pouted. “Poor baby. That’s fucked up. But if you want, you’re more than welcome to swing through. I just fried some shrimp and fish. This shit is hitting too.”

  I smiled and nodded. “Shit, say no more. I’ll be there in twenty.”

  ***

  “Damn, you tore that shit up,” Vita commented, as I polished the last shrimp off my plate.

  I nodded, as I wiped my mouth with a napkin. “It was on point.”

  “I see,” she smiled, as she reclined in her couch.

  I was sitting next to her, as we caught up.

  For a year now, me and Vita had been cool. The allure of her not knowing the Jeremy that everyone else knew was still there. Yes, at this point, she knew that I played ball and all that shit, but it was still different. We didn’t run in the same circles and lived two completely different lives, but I liked that about her the most. This meant that we didn’t have the same humdrum conversations about the same shit over and over.

  “So, is camp everything you expected?” she questioned, as I placed my empty plate on her coffee table.

  “Hell, yeah,” I breathed, as I rested my head against the back of the couch. “A bunch of fucking work.”

  She sighed. “Hey, I feel you. My cousins look at me crazy when I say that I don’t wanna go out. After supervising a bunch of adults, I be needing a fucking break. Shit.”

  I chuckled. “Speaking of supervising adults, have you heard from Cavalli lately?”

  Vita rolled her eyes. “Fuck her.”

  “Well, damn.” I lifted my head. “That’s your cousin and it’s like that?”

  “Basically. I don’t pretend and I aint never been fake, so I’m cool on her.”

  I frowned. “What did she do?”

  Vita pursed her lips. “She rolls with whoever’s the most beneficial at the time. At first it was me. I was her favorite cousin. Blah, blah, blah. But then she starts running with my other little cousin, Mya. Me and Mya have never really seen eye to eye. It was just always something about her to me. And I was right. Who fucks their mama’s man and has a baby by him?”

  I furrowed my brows. “Don’t tell me that you’re like the rest of them nosy people on the internet. Buying into rumors.” I figured that she was just running her mouth, because Mya was with Gwaup, a well-known rapper from the city. Gwaup was doing his thing and Mya had millions of followers on Instagram. They were a famous couple, and hate came with the territory. People made fake pages, so-called blasting Mya left and right, but we all took it as hate and pure lies. Mya’s mama getting sentenced to fifteen years in prison had fueled most of the rumors, as people claimed that Mya had stolen Gwaup from her own mama.

  “No, nigga,” Vita contended. “I’m family. Damn what the internet has to say. Omari was with my cousin first,” she referred to Gwaup by his government name. “Mya must know some bad tech people, because they were able to make her mama’s social media pages disappear before anybody thought about screenshotting the shit. Most of the tea is gone, and when something did leak, the girl who leaked it ended up in the hospital. Somebody just randomly attacked her. So, now they got people too shook to speak up. Then my family is blinded by her fame. She was hoes and whatever else, but when Omari started touring and shit, they said fuck all that for a few damn tickets to a concert. Don’t get me wrong, Meeka was wrong for shooting Mya. Nothing excuses that. But come on, man. Who wouldn’t be ready to shoot somebody after all that shit? And Cavalli kills me, because she was the main one acting like Mya did nothing wrong. They’re the best of buddies and the shit is fake. You hanging with a hoe so loose that not even her mama’s nigga is off limits. So, now, I’m looking at Cavalli differently. I bet she wouldn’t be so cool about what Mya did if she wasn’t benefiting from it.”

  I digested everything Vita said and didn’t know what to think. I knew Mya personally, and the shit that Vita was alleging didn’t sound right. I mean, the girl was fine as fuck. Had one of the fattest asses I’d ever seen. Several niggas had her as their screensavers, wishing they could sample her in real life. She was a fucking fantasy, and Gwaup had her. You never heard or saw Mya entertaining other niggas, but Vita wanted me to believe that Mya was loose? Nah, I wasn’t buying it. I go by what I know to be true, and until something showed me otherwise, then my stance never changed. Then she’d basically called Cavalli an opportunist and I didn’t agree with that, either. Although my brother wasn’t playing football like me, he was still caked up. He’d moved back to Houston when me and Jhyrah did. Cavalli now attended college in Houston, so I’d been able to watch her with my brother. Jared might have all the money, but that didn’t dictate the flow of their relationship, and I respected that about her. She gave that nigga the blues every chance she got. Nonetheless, I couldn’t dispute Vita’s position, because in life we didn’t always get the same versions of people. Everything she was saying could be true as hell…from her perspective.

  “So, you and Cavalli don’t fuck with each other no more?” I questioned.

  “Nope. She wants to be wherever the limelight is at. I got bills, shit to accomplish, and don’t have time to sit around a bunch of fake ass people, fighting to keep up appearances. The shit is tiring, and I don’t have time. So, I be chilling and staying the fuck out of the way.”

  I nodded, as I listened intently. I wanted to say that I wished that Jhyrah had that same mentality, but I would never stoop that low. I didn’t talk to Vita about Jhyrah in depth, although we were just friends. I knew that revealing intimate details about my girl would leave me vulnerable. Mad day would never come while Vita held all the trump cards. I would never slip like that. Still, it was refreshing to hear Vita talk my language. Adding to the reasons why she was my girl, and I fucked with her heavy.

  Chapter 20

  Jeremy

  I was walking through the crib shirtless, after hopping out of the shower. I’d had a long day out on the field, and was wondering what I was going to eat. I was considering ordering something that could be delivered, when Jhyrah sent me a text, letting me know that she was outside.

  After traveling to the sliding door, I stepped outside onto the deck. Being that we were on the top floor, we had a full deck that stretched out to the length of our condo, which was over 2500 square feet. There was patio furniture set up, a built-in fire place, and a jacuzzi outside. It was spacious enough to throw small gatherings outside, which I loved. At night the shit was really something to see, as one side of our condo was all glass. That meant that sitting on the deck we had the perfect view of the city as well the front of our condo, including the kitchen.

  I narrowed my eyes, as I noticed the spread Jhyrah had on a table. There was a bucket of ice with Cristal chilling. Four blunts were neatly rolled up. There was a bottle of D’usse. And chicken wings and waffles.

  “You’re hungry?” she questioned as she sat in a chair near the table, wearing my football jersey.

  I greedily rubbed my hands together. “Hell, yeah.”

  She smiled. “Well, let’s eat.”

  I stopped and stared at her.

  “What?” her eyes wandered around confusingly.

  I lifted my chin. “What did you do? You wrecked my car or something?”

  She giggled. “Really, Jeremy?”

  “What?” I opened my arms. “I’m just saying.”

  She shook her head. “No, I had some time to think today. I didn’t have much to do, and I realized that it’s been a while since we’ve had a day of peace together. I felt disconnected with you and I didn’t like it,” she confessed. “I mean, I know that we haven’t argued or anything, but something has been off. Like you come in and eat, fuck me, and sleep. But I don’t know how your day has been going. What you’re thinking. What you’re feeling. You know what I mean?”

  I nodded with a smile. The fact that she could detect that something extra was needed made me feel goo
d. No matter what, she never became too complacent. She stopped to check to see if a nigga was alright, and I appreciated that shit like a muthafucka.

  “I feel you,” I bent over, kissing her lips. “And honestly, this shit was much needed. This NFL shit is intense.”

  “I understand,” she nodded, as I grabbed a chair, and sat next to her. “That’s why I want five years and then we’re out. I don’t want you to reach 40 and begin having every health problem known to man. You know how football destroys your body.”

  “Right,” I concurred. I definitely couldn’t argue there. My mama was constantly stressing the fact that we didn’t need the NFL to live swell. She told me that I could quit whenever I felt like I’d had enough. She swore that my daddy had hustled too hard for me to go play ball for the white man, end up with brain damage, then look stupid for the remainder of my life. I was set regardless, so the money wasn’t going to have me sacrificing my health. “Five years, it is.”

  Jhyrah nodded, as she grabbed a blunt and lit up.

  “So,” I licked my lips, as I poured syrup onto my chicken and waffles. “You eating with a nigga before you head out with the girls?”

  “Nah.” She shook her head. “I’m in for the night…unless there’s somewhere you want to go.”

  “Nah, I’m too tired,” I yawned. “But you’ve been home all day, so I know that you probably wanna go turn up.”

  “No, I’m trying to be wherever you are. I need some time with you. Going out is cool, but it’s been feeling weird as you come out with me less.”

  I bit into a chicken wing, which was seasoned to perfection. “I know it might sound crazy, but I’m getting tired of the clubs. I just wanna chill for a minute and prepare myself mentally for my first season in the big leagues,” I talked with my mouth full. “Damn, this chicken is good. You put your foot in this.”

  “Thanks. It was cooked with love,” she professed, kissing my cheek. “Are you nervous to go into the NFL?”

  I paused as I thought about it. “A little.”