“What? That’s not at all what I said, baby, and you know that!” Devin shouted as he hurried after his sobbing fiancée.
“Now you’re saying I’m stupid!” She cried harder and quickly walked out of the kitchen with his daughter on his hip.
“You hurt her feelings, Daddy, now say sorry!” Devin’s daughter yelled over Giada’s shoulder defensively and hugged her tightly around her neck as they went up the stairs. When I heard a door slam I looked around the table confused.
“What the hell just happened? He didn’t say she was a bad mom or stupid.” I was genuinely confused and Anthony laughed.
“Giada has beenveryemotional the further in this pregnancy she gets. I saw her cry one day because she was out of mustard to go on her popcorn and Devin quickly went to Costco and bought her a bulk box of that shit,” he said, shaking his head.
“But fuck all that, what’s going on with you, Bailey, and what happened today? Specifically, the shit with Angelo Davis bitch ass. The shit they were saying about you and Titan I know is a lie because I was there after you signed him,” Dante said, abruptly changing the subject and I felt the light mood at the table slowly drain out like the air being let out of a balloon.
I felt Bailey go stiff beside me, and I reached out to squeeze her hand to reassure her. I was here to comfort and support her. She squeezed my hand back and when she let out a deep breath, she recounted the things she told me about why she left Davis Advertising and once again, I felt myself wanting to hurt Angelo’s ass with a passion. However, when I looked at Anthony and Dante’s faces when Bailey started crying and confessed that the reason she never told them the truth was because she was embarrassed, it made me think that whatever I wanted to do to Angelo would be mild compared to whatever they wanted to do if they got their hands on him.
I wiped Bailey’s tears with a clean napkin and wrapped my arm around her as she finished purging herself of a secret I’m sure she wanted to take to her grave. When she was finished, her brothers stood up and walked around the table, and whenthey stood in front of her I noticed they had tears in their eyes. When they held their arms open, Bailey immediately shot out of her seat and fell into the circle their arms created, and they embraced her tightly as she cried into Dante’s chest.
“I’m sorry you had to go through that, baby girl,” Anthony whispered, turning her toward him and squeezing her into his chest. “I love you so much. You’re so strong for carrying that weight on your soul.” He bent down to kiss the top of her head. “I’m going to kill his ass,” Anthony said, in an emotionless voice, and I believed him.
“Ooooohh can I join in when you do it!” I turned my head as Giada happily walked into the kitchen with Devin and his daughter. Looking at her now you wouldn’t have known she just ran from the kitchen ten minutes ago crying uncontrollably. Bailey shook her head as she chuckled looking between her brother and Giada.
“Stop joking like that. Angelo’s not worth his death being on y’all conscience.” Bailey was wiping her eyes, so she didn’t see the quick look of surprise on Giada and Anthony’s faces. I don’t know why they looked at each other like that, but my gut told me that they didn’t give a shit about having Angelo’s death or their conscience.
Bailey
Ifelt so raw. Emotionally, I felt and looked drained as I stared at my reflection in the bathroom mirror while cleaning my face. However, I felt so much lighter. If there was any good news that came from today, I guess it was finally telling my brothers what happened, and how they comforted me afterwards and didn’t look at me with pity. I took a deep breath after I rinsed my face because I knew my mom was going to be a different story, but now that my brothers knew, I felt in my heart that it would be easier to tell my mom.
When I finished in the bathroom, I went back into the kitchen and saw Kiara at the kitchen island filling a big ass container with mac and cheese. I almost didn’t recognize her because she was wearing makeup, a black and red motorcycle jumpsuit, and her hair was flowing down her back. In the short months that I’ve known her I never saw her with makeup, or her hair straightened. She looked amazing but the only thing that was throwing me off was the black bandana around her neck. Maybe it was a motorcycle thing.
“Ok, bitch, I see you!” I shouted across the kitchen, clapping with my middle finger and thumb, making my nails clicktogether. “Where you going?” I asked as she finished packing her food and putting it into a bag.
“Thanks boo! Oh, before I forget. I brought the clothes I said I was going to borrow,” she said.
“Not you still lying about borrowing her damn clothes,” Anthony said, shaking his head at Kiara but he was looking at her like she was the eighth wonder of the world, and I raised my eyebrow in surprise as I made a mental note to ask him about his feelings for Kiara later. Then I burst out laughing because when Giada said she would ask her cousin to get me some clothes, I asked what she would do if she ran into Titan or my brothers, she said she would say she was there to borrow clothes.
“Anyway,” she emphasized, rolling her eyes, and purposely ignoring my brother, “I came by here before I went toRed Linewith Fred because I knew Gigi was making mac and cheese and this shit got crack in it,” she said, packing another container. When she mentioned Fred’s name, I didn’t miss the scowl on Anthony’s face. I chuckled because he didn’t realize that the Fred she was referring to was my doorman, but I liked seeing him riled up, so I didn’t say anything. I saw he was about to say something but was interrupted when his phone rang.
“I gotta take this,” he mumbled as he quickly walked out of the kitchen and to the front door while answering his phone.
I went back to the table and Titan patted his lap. Once I sat down, he wrapped his arms around my waist, and I sighed as I relaxed against his big body. His arms made me feel safe, and when he kissed the side of my head before I laid on his shoulder, I wanted to go to sleep because I felt so comfortable.
“Oh, I almost forgot to tell you, I made a few calls to some news outlets and blogs I have a good relationship with to see who leaked this shit. Although I suspect it was Eva’s bitter ass, I want to be sure.” I smiled because I loved hearing him take charge and be so protective of me. Although I made the mistakeof not going to him earlier when I felt like my world was turned upside down, I knew at this moment I would not be making that mistake twice.
“Thank you, baby,” I muttered against his shoulder.
I heard the chime of the front door open and close, followed by the sound of heavy boots. When my brother walked back into the kitchen, he had a big smile on his face and was wiping his hand onto his dark pants.
“That was my tech guy, Gig. He hacked into some systems and did all kind of nerdy shit, and he said the person behind this shit was some hacker named Chocolate Bytes. Said their identity and the codes they used to leak the stories was well hidden, but once he noticed a pattern, he uncovered that it was Eva James.”
“He did some more digging and apparently her and Angelo’s hoe ass are best friends, so I’m assuming that’s how she knew about what happened to you and leaked that bullshit. Also, her father is friends with the Chief of Police. So, that explains how she knew Giada was a potential suspect in that bullshit with Devin’s baby mama. Eva and her husband are in mountains of debt because her husband loves to party. He’s had a few charges for drug possession and soliciting women that were dropped, and the records were sealed but Gig unsealed those bitches.”
Anthony continued speaking and I felt my anger rising with each word, because I wanted to beat the shit out of Eva’s jealous ass. All of this shit was being started because she was jealous and bitter about the divorce she caused. If she would have kept her legs closed to men other than her husband, maybe her and Titan would still be together. I pressed my fingers to my temples. I started to feel a headache coming on and I wanted to lay down.
“That bitch gotta go. She fucked up when she brought Giada and Devin’s shit into this,” Kiara retorted as she put her bags into the bookbag she had. “Let me know what y’all have planned and I’m there,” she said as she walked out.
“My head is starting to pound, and I need to lay down,” I whispered to Titan.
“Ok baby, you want to go home? Or stay here tonight?” Titan started massaging the nape of my neck and I almost moaned from how great it felt.
“Let’s go home,” I whispered. He held me tighter and stood up with me in his arms. I looked at the entryway of the kitchen as I heard Kiara yelling as she walked in shortly after leaving.
