“Sis, get on her. I be wanting her to get on social media so bad and pop her shit. I hate when she get on that humble shit because it makes them hoes feel like they can keep trying her. I know my baby not scary, but she just don’t be trying to go at it with the trolls on social media,” I jumped in to let Alecia know.
“Steel, when we hang the phone up, I’m so serious, make her post something on social media. She gotta shut them bitches up that way. In the meantime, I’m getting ready to start sending out cease-and-desists. I need them big content creators to have those brands gone by tomorrow morning. I need them over there stressing, trying to find out how they going to pay their rent next month,” Alecia finished, and that shit had Toni cracking up, while I sat here, shaking my head, knowing that Alecia was a tough one.
“I got you sis. Ima make her pop it as soon as ya’ll get off the phone,” I let Alecia know.
“What you doing? We need to hang out,” Toni changed the subject, picking the phone up, so that she could talk to her girl. They talked on the phone for about five minutes before they eventually hung up.
I laid back on the bed, and she took that as her cue to lay on top of me. She put her entire body on top of me, and I used my hands to run them up, and down her soft ass. She placed kisses all over my face, and when she was done, she allowed her face to linger in front of mine, allowing our foreheads to touch.
“Lani would have been ready to beat your ass if she was up, and she saw you lying on me like this,” I voiced, and she chuckled, knowing that I was telling the truth.
“Ima come off my pills after we get married, in hopes that I’ll have a son,” she voiced, and I rolled my eyes up in my head, pulling one of her moves. I did that because I knew that her ass was lying.
She only said that shit because it sounded good. Toni had about five different alarms set for her to take her birth control. No lie, at one point, a nigga was a little offended because why you gotta set all those fuckin alarms to remind you not to get caught slipping and have another one of my babies? When Toni and I first got together, and started fuckin, she was sloppy as hell when it came to taking her pills, so I knew that it wouldn’t be long before we had a baby. This time, I couldn’t tell you the next time that we would have another child because she was so precautious, doing all the right things, trying to ensure that we didn’t have another one.
“Let’s go in the bathroom and have a quickie,” she voiced, and the second I was getting ready to lift her ass up, Zaylani started crying.
Toni groaned, and she rolled off me, so that I could sit up, reach for our daughter, and I laid her on top of me.
“I got you tonight when she goes back to sleep. In the meantime, hop on social media, and post your stuff like your girl told you. Pop it. If you don’t do it, Ima get on my page, post all your new shit, and pop it for you,” I threatened, and she laughed like it was the funniest thing in the world.
I was just glad to see her smiling and laughing. I was glad that she didn’t allow the trolls from social media to set the tone for the rest of the night.
Chapter 8
Toni McCall
THE STEEL EXAM
“Why you so quiet? Talk to me,” I said to my sister, as I sat at my vanity, doing the final touches on my make-up.
It was a little after eight at night, and I was getting ready to go out to eat with the women in my life. It was going to be a lot of us. My mom, my grandmother, my auntie, all my friends, and Brooklyn were coming from my side. On Steel’s side, his mom, grandmother, and even his god mother were all coming as well. Just a dinner out with the girls, in preparation of the wedding.
The beautiful women in my life planned this night for me, and the only thing that I had to do was show up. There was literally a black truck service that they had waiting out front for me, so when it was time for me to head over, I wouldn’t have to drive.
Steel took Zayne out, so that the two of them could have a little father/ son time. Zaylani was with her pop-pop, which was Steel’s dad, and Steel and I were going to need all the luck in the world to get her back because Steel’s dad lovedhis granddaughter, and she loved him just as much, and never wanted to leave him when it was time for her to come back home.
“I don’t know. I think I’m getting depressed in here. I feel like I’m missing out on so much shit. I know that’s my problem, and not yours, but damn. My baby graduating high school this year, and even though I knew this day would come, and that I wouldn’t be there to celebrate it with her, it’s hurting me more as we get closer to that day. Then, my big sister is getting ready to get married in a couple of weeks, and I won’t be free to be there for that. This shit is hurting me,” my sister shared, and I paused for a second, dropped the make-up brush that was in my hands, as I took in the things that she was saying to me.
It wasn’t like Temperance to be vulnerable like this. Even those moments when we were on the phone, and a conversation would come up that made her a little emotional, she would always mute the phone. Well, she would mute the phone when she was calling me from the burner phone that she had tucked away in her cell, like how she was doing right now. I liked that I was able to talk to my sister on the burner phone, but I was always scared that she was going to get caught with it, and more time was going to get added onto her sentence.
“Temp, pleaseeee. Like please don’t do this right now. This shit is hurting me too, but I’ve been trying so hard not to even think about it. Yes, I’m grateful that I have ma, grandma, and all the other women in my life, but this wedding experience would have been one hundred times better if I had my sister here in my corner. I wish it was you standing behind me, zipping up my wedding dress. I wish it was you holding a tissue to my eyes, trying to protect my make-up from ruining. So many ways that I’m longing to have you right now for my wedding, but I try not to think about it because it’ll depress me. What I do to make me feel better is knowing that you only have a few years left, and allthe new memories that I have to create with you. Don’t make me start crying, Temp. You know I’ll get in my feelings quickly, shut this entire dinner down, so that I can get in bed, and take my ass to sleep,” I finished, and she laughed, but through her laughs, I could hear her sniffling, so I knew that she was getting a little emotional.
“You just make sure that when those wedding pictures come in, that you mail me a few copies. I know you like to leave me out of the loop sometimes because you get in your head, thinking that it’ll make me sad that I’m not there, but I like to see updates like that. I like to sit in here, and brag to the other inmates, so they can see the bad ass bitch that I have for a sister. These hoes going to hate me when your reality show airs. That’s the only thing that I’m going to make sure we watch,” she expressed, and I laughed, while using the tissue to tab at my eyes because this conversation did make me just a little bit emotional.
“Where’s Brooklyn? I’m going to call her before ya’ll leave,” she said, changing the subject.
“She’s in her room, getting ready. Her little ass wasn’t even supposed to be going. This was for the adults, but girl, she called Karina begging, so they added her in,” I shared, and she laughed.
“She’s really happy for you, T. We were talking yesterday, and she was telling me that she’s never seen you this happy before. She speaks so highly of Steel, and I love that for her, you know? I love the fact that my daughter can be around a healthy kind of love. She needs that, so when it’s her turn to find love, and settle down, she’ll already have the blueprint, so she’ll know, and understand the way that a man is supposed to treat her,” Temperance shared with me, and I agreed with her, so as she was saying these things to me, I nodded my head, as if she was in front of me, and she could see me.
“Your daughter is going to like thugs though, Temp,” I voiced, and she laughed. She knew about Sergio because I told her.
“Hey, as long as he treats her good, that’s all I care about,” she shot, and I expected that kind of answer from her because thugs is what my sister loved as well.
We talked for about five minutes more because she wanted to call Brooklyn, and she knew that I had to finish getting ready. I let her know how much I loved her, and she said the same to me, letting me know that she would call me again tomorrow. From there, I finished with my make-up, and I pulled out the small curling iron, so that I could fix my pixie cut.
I had to literally pull myself away from the vanity because I couldn’t stop drooling over myself and witnessing the great job that I’d done on my hair, and make-up. My face was beat down, and you couldn’t tell me that I didn’t just get up out of a chair from one of those popular MUA’s in Miami that charged an arm and a leg, where you have to book them months in advance just to get an appointment. Something about this blonde hair, paired with a red lip that just always set it off for me.
