Lani was still fussing for me to pick her up out of her highchair, so I walked over to her, and I pulled her out of it.
“Let me talk to you upstairs, Zion. Brooklyn, and Zayne, just stay down here and finish with your homework. The food is almost ready,” Toni said, turning the eye’s down on the stove, and without giving me an option to agree, she went ahead, and headed up the stairs, making it clear that a talk wasn’t up for debate.
The crew that was in here filming, I told them to stay downstairs, and I went up the stairs, following Toni.
By the time I made it to our bedroom, I could hear her moving around in the bathroom. She came out, and she was holding a first aid kit in her hands. I took a seat on the ottoman, keeping Lani in my lap, who was quiet because she was just happy to be in my arms.
“What happened to your hands?” she immediately asked me, coming over, and she stood in the middle of my legs, looking up at me, waiting for the real answer from me.
The first aid kit was in the bed, and she was able to reach over, and open it, while she waited for me to speak.
“Bryson’s daddy pulled up to the gym. Drunk, causing problems out front, looking for me. Anthony came up to my office to get me, so that I could see what the nigga wanted. He was questioning me, wanting to know why I killed his son. Nigga pulled up toting a .380, as if the plan was to come down, and kill me. Slammed him on his head, and I beat his ass,” I told her. I could tell that she was shocked.
We haven’t had to bring up Bryson’s name in a long time. I knew that those were hard times for us in our relationship, and that Toni was damn near depressed when all that shit was going on. That crazy ass student of hers managed to sneak into her condo, get into the back of her car, where he strangled her, had video access of her while she was at home, and just a bunch of other crazy shit. Knowing the trauma that he caused, and hearing his name all over again, it caused her to become quiet, as she cleaned off the blood that was on my knuckles, and she used one of the cotton clothes to apply just a little bit of pressure to it.
“Don’t start overthinking this shit, please. His bitch ass daddy not going to do anything. Not after the way he got his ass beat. He’s a drunk, Toni. I wouldn’t be surprised if his drunk ass just found out today that his son is no longer here, and that’s why he came to the gym looking for me,” I voiced, knowing her, and knowing that she would allow this shit to take over her happiness, and come up with a bunch of scenarios that she thought would come out of this.
“I just hate that he had to come and do this now. Our wedding will literally be here in just a few days,” she whined to me.
“And our wedding will continue to be here in a few days. This don’t change shit, Toni. I just had to beat a nigga ass. We goingto be okay. What you cooked for dinner?” I asked, changing the subject, not wanting to talk about this anymore.
Her ass pretended that she didn’t hear me, as she pulled out bandages from the kit, and she applied them to my knuckles. Her pettiness and stubbornness had me laughing, and I pulled her closer to me once my left hand was cleaned and bandaged up.
In the gray tank top that she was wearing, I kissed her exposed cleavage, neck, and I started planting kisses on her face, which had my daughter reaching her hand up, and she pushed my head out of the way.
“Lani, you gotta learn how to share. I gotta give mommy some love too,” I said, and she started fussing, gurgling a bunch of shit that neither one of us could understand.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Your butt needs to learn to share me,” I told her, trying to shut down all the fuss that she was giving me.
“So, what’s up? You going to be in your feelings about this all night? I was thinking after dinner, and we get the kids squared away, that we could take a bubble bath together. Don’t that sound better than walking around, being pissed about some shit that happened at the gym?” I asked, now that she was finished with cleaning both hands.
“We can,” she told me, and that made me smile because at least we were getting some kind of progress.
“Aight then. That’s what I’m talking about. T, nothing is going to get in the way of you becoming Mrs. Perkins. Shit can continue popping up out of the woodworks, and trying to throw us off our square, but I’m still going to marry you. Can’t nothing stop that, aight?” I asked her, and with a smile on her face, she eventually dropped that shit, and she leaned her head in, quickly placing kisses on my face, having to do that shit swiftly before Lani and her strict ass started fussing again.
Like nothing ever happened, we were able to head back downstairs with the kids, and finish filming. Brooklyn and Zayne finished with homework, dinner was ready, and we ate at the table like a family.
The production team eventually left for the night, and Toni and I were able to get Zayne, and Lani in bed at a decent time. That bubble bath that I suggested to her back in the bedroom, we were able to make that happen, and we accomplished some good fuckin in there too. All this nasty ass sex that we’ve been having lately, I was confused on the tricks that I was supposed to bring out on our wedding night. Shit, I was giving her ass all the tricks already.
Chapter 11
Toni McCall
BONUS MOM
“Why you stopped? You got tired? How you let me get through these burpees before you?” I panted, with my hands on my hips, looking down at Zayne, who had his hands on his hips as well, and he was trying to catch his breath.
I was outside in the backyard with him, and the two of us were doing drills. I was conditioning with him, and so far, we’ve been out here for almost an hour. I was sweaty, just as he was, but I felt good because we were able to get through a great workout. I tried to have Brooklyn come out here with us, but to know my niece is to know that that girl didn’t like doing anything that involved being out in the sun.
Steel was out front, washing all the cars, and my mom came by earlier, and kidnapped Zaylani.
“I’m tired. I feel like the workouts with you are much more intense from when I work out with my dad. How you know how to do all this stuff, and you’re a girl?” he asked, sitting down on the grass, looking at me like he was confused out of his mind.
Before I answered his question, I went ahead, and I finished the last five burpees, and then I sat down on the grass next to him. I had a big, gallon sized water that was to my right, that I quickly opened, and I guzzled a lot of it down. I have been doing a water cleanse this week because my bachelorette party was in two days, and I knew that I was going to get tore up with my girls, so I just wanted as much water in my system as possible.
“So, what you saying? You don’t think that girls can do stuff that boys can?” I asked him, my knees pulled up in front of me, while I placed the palms of my hands behind me, leaning back a little bit.
I was sitting next to him in a Nike sports bra, with matching shorts. I was proud of the work that I’ve been putting in with my body. I truly believed that I was in the best shape of my life. Because we were outside, and it was a little warm out today, I was wearing a Nike hat over my head, that covered my entire pixie cut. Once I was back in the room, and I showered, I planned to wash my hair as well.
