I blinked hard a couple of times as I tilted my head to the side with my mouth slightly hung open, just looking at him.
There’s something wrong with him, Mickey.
“Are you serious? You want to play my baby daddy while I play your what, surprise pregnant girlfriend?” I chuckled. “Yeah, no, you definitely are not right in the head. Thank you for your service, Burkeley, but I need you to go.”
“Wait a minute, McKay, just hear me out,” he said, but I was already pushing him toward the door.
“Uh uhn. I’ve already heard enough bullshit for the rest of the year. Again, thanks for everything, but yo’ crazy ass gotta go.”
He was talking and I ignored him all while continuing to guide him toward the front door and out, closing and locking it, including the deadbolt.
“God, this has to be a test from you, right? But don’t worry, I’m not falling for the criminally insane,” I said as I made my way back to the living room, now feeling completely over the whole situation. I grabbed my remote and turned off the video.
I went to sit down on the couch when I noticed the bills on the floor.
“Fuck, Mickey, he didn’t take the money.”
Chapter
Nine
McKay
“Heffa, do you want to tell me why it feels like I haven’t seen you or my Peanut all gotdamn week?” Hollis asked while Johnni snaked her neck around to add emphasis on her words. I wasn’t surprised that they were tag-teaming me right now. I knew it would be coming sooner or later. After Burkeley’s visit, I busied myself outside with shopping for the baby, especially now that I had the lump sum from Harlan’s bitch ass. I’d been trying to find natural remedies for Mackie to take now that I was officially out of business for the moment.
“Been shopping mostly and experimenting with some new herbs, since you know I can’t make my herbal remedies the way I used to for Mackie, I’ve been brushing up on other herbs that won’t be harmful for me and Peanut right now and finding a solid distributor for CBD oil since I can’t make my own. Mackie told me not to worry, but you already know when it comes to that man, I don’t listen to anything that doesn’t make sense,” I said while I sipped on my water.
The sound of the timer going off had her heading for the kitchen.
We were currently at Hollis’s condo. It was our monthly presentation night. Yes, presentation night. It started off with us all putting together slides to make a case for which activity we should do next as a trio when we were back in school. But over the years, we kept it going with random ass facts and information we learned over the month. We always made a night of it, matching pajamas and all.
“Oh yeah, I was thinking about your herbal remedies the other day, especially since my butter just ran out. Damn, so the shop is shut down. I was hoping you had a stash put up,” Johnni said while she made her way over to the TV to set up her presentation first. I was sure it was about something to do with weddings since that was always her topic even though she and Quincey were already married.
“No stash because this whole thing caught me off guard. But I might have found something.”
“Ooh, is that your presentation tonight? I can’t believe you’re finally putting that good degree to use beyond making edibles,” Hollis remarked, coming back into the room with two charcuterie boards filled with meats, cheeses, fruit, and a snack board.
“No. I’m still doing my homework on the topic since it’s only been a week. Plus, I have to test my theory out. And ma’am, I beg your pardon, it’s been used since before I walked across the stage, don’t play with me.” We took this way too seriously. If experiments needed to take place, we did them.
“Oh okay, well I can’t wait. Meanwhile, come on, Johnni, damn. I swear your ass is the slowest person but always wants to go first,” Hollis snapped at Johnni who was taking her time. She always had to find her playlist to sync with it.
“Heffa, you already know you can’t rush perfection. And besides, you weren’t in here. If y’all are ready, then so am I,”she squealed as she hit the remote that kicked off her topic of bridesmaid dresses.
I laughed while Hollis groaned. Even with Johnni already married, she loved everything about weddings and planned all these extra ones each month.
“Oh my fucking gosh. Johnni, baby I swear I love your whole world, but next month it better be a new topic and I’m not playing. I’m over this wedding talk. You’re not even a wedding planner for real. Heffa, you compete in beauty pageants. Talk about that shit next time,” Hollis said, then proceeded to take a long drink of her wine. She never mentioned her ex-husband Deacon or their short-lived marriage at all. By the time I’d met her, it was over and left a bitter taste in her mouth.
Johnni waved her off while she continued. I zoned out, agreeing with Hollis lowkey. It wasn’t that I had hardened to love or the concept of marriage. But knowing I had just gotten out of a relationship with a married man, I wasn’t in the mood to discuss future marriage plans.
I wiped a falling tear which had Hollis jumping up and cutting Johnni off.
“Yeah, not today. Johnni. You gotta read the room. Your baby mama just got ghosted by her ex-boyfriend. Ain’t nobody thinking about locking shit down with a muthafucka. Next month, come with a fresh topic. Come on, baby mama, you’re next while I go check the food.” Johnni grunted before she looked at me with a saddened expression.
“Oh shit, my bad, Mickey. I wasn’t even thinking. Fuck those dresses. Ooh, I hope this presentation is all things baby. I felt like I missed a month’s worth of information in a week’s time,” she said, trading places on the couch.
“Alright, now y’all dragging it. But no, we have time to talk about Peanut. I’ve got something else.” I cleared my throat while I got ready to tell them about Burkeley’s findings.
My first slide was a picture of a ghost with a bunch of question marks underneath it.
