“Girls, he wants girls over so he can smooch them,” Sanaa snitched. In return, Andrew pushed her away from him. “Hey, I was sitting there!”
“Sanaa,” Q buzzed, earning her a look from Jahlil.
“I got it, Q,” Jahlil assured. “Sanaa, leave Drew alone.”
“He’s mine and I don’t want to,” Sanaa sassed back, climbing on Andrew’s back and he let her. Just like everyone else allowed her to have her way. No one could say no to the pint-sized terrorist.
“Is it just girls?” Jahlil quizzed.
“Just two. But Fahad and Garrett, from school, are going to be there too. It’s too hot for the courts,” Andrew spoke, repositioning Sanaa comfortably on his shoulders.
“Imagine you hound me about finding a neighborhood with all the amenities and kids and you’d rather stay at home,” Jahlil huffed. “I mean, I guess it’s better than you being on the game all day and all night. Make sure y’all stay where Aunt Violet can see you.”
Andrew and Sanaa shared a twin frown. But all three asked, “where are you going?”
“First of all,” Jahlil corrected, looking at all three. “I’m a grown ass man. I don’t have to share shit about shit with none of y’all.”
“Shit you say!” Sanaa huffed, sounding just like Aunt Violet. “You’re my daddy and you tell me everything. Where going?”
“I have a team dinner to go to. It won’t be long,” Jahlil stated.
Q groaned. “I didn’t bring anything over for that.”
“You weren’t going,” he stated plainly. He never saw a reason for a personal assistant. Aunt Violet handled Andrew, Sanaa and his day to day along with the team of people he kept close. Q was a contracted hired he couldn’t get rid of due to the employment contract Carson worked up. A visible pain in his ass but for the sake of being the good guy he’d keep her on for the next six months and then forgo bringing her back. There had to be an actual reason to fire her and getting on his nerves wasn’t a valid reason. However he was confident that she’d do something to seal the deal.
A smile wiggled over Andrew’s face showing the glimmer of the braces he was self-conscious about months ago. Now, they were his magnet. “So they can come?”
“Yes, but no bullshit, little nigga. I swear you embarrass me, I’m going dish it back,” Jahlil assured. “I still want these boxes unpacked.”
“Alright bet,” Andrew spoke, dropping Sanaa on the couch cushions and hopping up.
The day that Jahlil could transition from father-figure to brother to Andrew caused him stress and excitement. It meant that he’d successfully raised him and Andrew was a responsible adult and an honorable man. While becoming a guardian to his brother was a rollercoaster, he’d get on the ride over and over again to make sure he honored his mother’s request before she was too far gone. As a child, he’d always noticed his mother wasn’t completely there. Some months were good; others, he was left figuring it out. After she’d had Andrew, her mental state declined significantly. Unable to afford real treatment, she self-medicated, sending her mental illness into a spiral. She fought Jahlil like he was a man off the streets but everything came to a drastic halt when she tried to kill Andrew, mistaking him for one of the demons she was battling.
He navigated college life and the league with his brother at his hem. It was the two of them and their crew, until it was just them. In hindsight, that year with Andrew and Aunt Violet was the closest joy he’d felt since leaving school. He searched for something close. When he did find something, infatuation blinded him. Aunt Violet called it the dumbest shit he’d ever done. He still hadn’t named the last seven years.
Marrying his ex-wife yielded something he now couldn’t go a day without - Sanaa. For a while they worked. There was Aunt Violet, and a nanny who disguised the silent fact that laid between them. She never wanted to be a mother, and being a wife to Jahlil Savage came with too many guidelines. Too much red tape. Too much compromise because she didn’t see the dream. Though he told her, she couldn’t comprehend it past the glimmer and gleam of all the shiny things he could provide. He allowed her to leave with a payment and no rights to the child she didn’t want. Jahlil could handle the heartbreak, he’d had several. Allowing his child to suffer would never be something he subjected her to. It was all about forward motion now.
Los Oceania came with stability – with family. The one he’d created.
“Daddy,” Sanaa spoke up from her spot laid out on the couch. “Can we go to the candy shop?”
“Hell nah,” Jahlil and Andrew chimed.
“I said DADDY. Not Drewy,” Sanaa sassed, rolling her little eyes. “How about the doll store?”
“All that cussin’ you’ve been doing?” Jahlil posed.
“I won’t cuss no more. Promise.”
“She’s about to cuss right now,” Andrew muttered.
Sanaa cut her eyes again, and mouthed, “shut your ass up.”
Jahlil watched her turn her attention back to him. Sanaa batted her eyes again and poked out her lip. “You know I can see you right?”
“I didn’t do nothing,” Sanaa defended.
Jahlil ignored her and looked up at Q, briefly. “Q…why you still here?”
