“I just…” I paused, choosing my words. “Did you see the girl he was talking to?”
Pressure frowned slightly and shrugged. “I was lit. I don’t remember shit like that.”
It was crazy how this man could get blackout drunk and still protect me, but he couldn’t remember a damn face unless he focused.
“Well, I saw her,” I said softly. “And I don’t think it’s cool. Kay’Lo stepping out on Toni like that.”
Pressure didn’t answer right away. He just smoked slow, letting the smoke curl around him while his mind worked. Pressure never gossiped, especially not about his cousins. He didn’t insert himself in drama unless he needed to fix it.
He nodded once.
To him, that was a whole statement, but to me it wasn’t enough.
“How do you feel about it?” I asked, looking him in the eye because Toni mattered. “Knowing Toni is family?”
Pressure finally looked over at me, his expression calm but serious. “Of course, I don’t wanna see Toni hurt. I’m always gon’be there for her. But Kay’Lo and Toni gotta handle they own shit. They always do.”
I swallowed that. It wasn’t wrong, but it wasn’t comforting either.
Silence moved between us while the kids kept running around.
Finally, the question pushed itself out.
“Do you think I should tell her?” I asked.
Pressure looked at me like I had lost my damn mind. He didn’t say it, but the stare said everything.
“Pluto,” he muttered, his voice low. “Stay out that shit.”
“It’s gon’ feel like I’m betraying her,” I said, crossing my arms. “I saw him hugged up with another girl. Then they left together.”
He raised a brow. “If Toni was out with another nigga, you gon’ run tell Kay’Lo?”
I opened my mouth, but no words came out because I knew the answer. And Pressure saw that too. He didn’t drag it out.
“I know Toni your girl,” he said. “But let that shit play out.”
I nodded, but it wasn’t conviction. It was hesitation dressed up as agreement. I kissed his cheek when he stood to leave and watched him disappear down the hallway, still smelling faintly like last night.
When the house quieted, something settled heavy in my mind. Toni would tell me. If she saw Pressure out with a woman, she wouldn’t even blink before calling and she would do it because she loved me.
That truth alone washed over me like a wave.
I went upstairs, grabbed my phone from the nightstand, and sat at the edge of the bed. My thumb hovered for a moment, but the decision had already been made in my heart.
I clicked Toni’s name.
As the phone started ringing, I took a breath and told myself the truth I had been trying to ignore.
If Pressure was out with somebody else, I would expect Toni to call me.
And that was the very thing that pushed me forward.
Trill-Land, ‘LoLux Estate
I had been layin’ in bed all weekend, smokin’ my damn life away and pretendin’ I ain’t care about my situation even though the truth was sittin’ right on my chest like a fat bitch.
I missed my husband, and I hated that I missed him. I hated that I still loved him, and I hated that last night was the first birthday of his I missed since we been rockin’. That shit did not feel right in my spirit. Me and Kay’Lo don’t do that. Birthdays always been our thing.
