“A’ight,” she said. “Thank you.”
“Always.”
Then we hung up. Before I could take a step forward, I felt somebody walk up behind me.
I turned around expecting Pressure or Renza, but it was Kay’Lo.
He stopped dead in the middle of the kitchen and looked at me like he was focused.
“Pluto,” he said low, “you told Toni about me leavin’ with ol’ girl that night we linked for my birthday?”
My stomach dropped.
“Kay’Lo… what are you talking about?” I said, even though I already knew.
“You know exactly what the fuck I’m talkin’ about,” he said, his eyes cuttin’ through me like he been waitin’ to snap. “You ran ya mouth and you made shit worse. When I left with ol’ girl on my birthday, Toni knew the next damn day. Only place she could’ve got that from was you. Don’t nobody else out here know Toni like that, but you.”
The hurt hit immediately because he had never talked to me like this. Me and Kay’Lo always been tight. He was my kids’ godfather.
I turned fully toward him and held the counter behind me, because the way he was looking at me didn’t even look like the same Kay’Lo I been around for years. “Kay’Lo, you need to calm the hell down.”
“Nah,” he snapped. “You made shit worse. You should’ve minded yo’ fuckin’ business.”
I felt my heartbeat climb, but I kept my voice even. “You can be mad, but you not gon’ talk to me crazy. My husband don’t even raise his damn voice at me.”
“I ain’t Pressure,” he said, stepping in closer, his voice low and sharp, “and you should’ve stayed out of married folks’ shit.”
“We all married, Kay’Lo,” I shot back. “And Toni is my sister. I wasn’t about to sit on some shit like that and pretend it wasn’t happenin’. You left with another woman. What the hell you expect me to do with that?”
His nostrils flared and he leaned in even more. “I expected you to mind yo’ fuckin’ place.”
That hit something in me. My eyes stung but I didn’t back up. “Mind my place? Kay’Lo, you the one that walked out with her, not me. You made that choice. So, whatever happened after that? That’s on YOU.”
He pointed at me like he wanted to break his finger doing it. “Nah, Pluto. If you would’ve just kept yo’ mouth shut, none of this shit would be happenin’. I got months of bullshit in my house ‘cause you couldn’t stay neutral.”
I blinked slow because the audacity alone could’ve slapped me. “Kay’Lo, this ain’t got a damn thing to do with me being neutral. You stepping outside your marriage and fucking around is why your house flipped upside down. I didn’t make you do none of that.”
He stepped so close I could feel the heat rolling off him. “But you helped it blow up.”
“No,” I said, standing my ground, “you helped it blow up when you took yo’ damn private parts somewhere it wasn’t supposed to be. I didn’t make you cheat. I didn’t make you lie. I didn’t make you have sex with another woman. That’s ALL you, Kay’Lo. So don’t walk in here tryna dump your sins at my feet like I created ’em.”
His chest rose with a slow, furious breath. “This shit been goin’ on for months, Pluto. MONTHS of me and Toni bein’ fucked up. And you really think you ain’t part of why it went down?”
“Kay’Lo, be serious,” I said, shaking my head. “Echo or whatever her fucking name is, been doin’ weird shit every day. Toni been complaining every day. YOU the reason she stuck in this mess. YOU the one she trying to figure it out with. Not me.”
Kay’Lo stared at me, his chest heaving and anger in every line of his face.
Before either one of us could clap back, Pressure’s voice cut through the room.
“What the fuck goin’ on in here?”
Kay’Lo turned but didn’t step back. Pressure was walking in from the hallway, wiping his hands on a towel. His eyes flicked from me to Kay’Lo and back, and his whole energy changed.
“Kay’Lo,” Pressure said slowly, “why you got your voice raised at my wife like you done lost your damn mind?”
Kay’Lo didn’t even blink. “She told Toni some shit she ain’t have no business tellin.”
Pressure looked at me and I saw the disappointment hit him like a truck. Months ago, he had told me to stay out of it. He warned me. His face wasn’t angry, but that quiet “Pluto… why?” look hurt worse than if he yelled. I dropped my gaze because I couldn’t hold it.
