“And?” Frankee snaked her neck from side to side in a sassy joking way. “If my mutha fucking husband wants another baby, I’ma pop this coochie for him.” She giggled, but I knew she was talking shit ‘cause the first thing Frankee hollered was she wasn’t having any more babies for at least five years.
I will say, seeing her with her husband was seeing an entirely new side of Frankee. With Yaro, she was putty. Whatever that nigga asked her, she did. I never thought I’d see the day when a nigga had the power to tame Frankee. I guess when you came laying down the law the way Yaro did, you didn’t have any other option. Frankee definitely tried him, she thought she was finna use him as a way to get back at Mookie. Yaro shut that down before it could get started. Let Frankee tell it, he told her he was her nigga, and that anything she had going on with Mookie was dead. Frankee wouldn’t tell me everything that happened between them, but I know some stuff went down, especially since Mookie was confined to a wheelchair and paralyzed from the neck down. I minded my business though, Frankee was always smiling and happy. That was all that mattered.
“Girl bye, couldn’t be me.” Daelite rolled her eyes, waving Frankee off.
“You know why she mad, sis-in-law?” Frankee asked with a sneaky grin. “ ‘Cause she left Gee for a nigga who can’t even eat it right, and now she misses getting that bomb ass dick Gee used to give her. Why you think she always frowning?”
“Baby, I don’t miss them days. Koj-”
“Maaaamaa!” Ryver yelled at me, and I couldn’t do anything but shake my head as her little snitching ass raced over to Faheem.
His ass had Ryver convinced Kojo’s name was a cuss word. Anytime I mentioned Kojo around Ryver, she was telling Faheem on me like he was my damn daddy too. Ryver had turned into Faheem’s personal snitch.
“What is she doing?” Frankee asked with a frown on her face as she watched Faheem mug us.
“Girl, your brother got her thinking Kojo is a bad word. He be giving her candy whenever she calls herself snitching on me.” I shook my head, watching him followed by Jaquwell, Gee, and Yaro walking over to the kitchen where me and the girls were sitting at the bar top counter.
“That’s a hot ass mess. My daughter would never switch on me for a nigga,” Daelite, added her two cents, and I could honestly say I liked her better when she was with Gee. Her husband had been failing miserably at keeping his wife happy. Daelite wasn’t the same happy go-lucky female I met all of them years ago.
“ ‘Cause she don’t like her daddy. It’s different when you have a good ass dad,” Frankee spoke before I could say anything.
“Why you in here speakin’ about bitch made niggas?” Faheem asked, turning my chair around and getting in my personal space.
Licking my lips, I held back my smile. “You and your messy daughter can kick rocks. I can talk about who I want,” I jokingly sassed, looking up into Faheem’s cognac colored eyes.
“Talk yo shit.” Faheem kissed my lips then dropped his head to my ear. “But we gon’ run that shit back tonight.” His words had my pussy purring at the underlying meaning to his words.
“Jaquwell, come get yo brother,” I jokingly said, pushing Faheem back.
He’d become a part of the family. He was young at only twenty years old. When Faheem first met up with him, he wasreluctant about getting to know everyone. For years, Big Frank filled his head with lies about Faheem and Frankee hating him. It was sick to know the lengths Big Frank was willing to go to keep his secrets. Frankee took a few extra weeks to come to terms with her parents not getting back together and them having another sibling. Eventually she came around, finally meeting Jaquwell. She fell into the big sister role naturally. Frankee liked bossing her little brother around. Faheem really took Jaquwell under his wing after finding out how he grew up. In a similar but worse situation than mine, he had to fend for himself because his mom really didn’t give a damn about him. He was a little rough around the edges, that was expected with the way he grew up. He listened though, and you could tell he had a big amount of respect for Faheem. It was beautiful seeing the siblings build a relationship despite all the stuff surrounding them.
Mrs.Toi moved out recently and found her a nice two-bedroom condo by the waterfront. She was serious about being done with Big Frank; it was interesting seeing how true she was staying to her word. Big Frank had been a mess. Faheem had to step in for a few things business wise, but he said last month he wasn't getting involved with that shit any more. His words. I did overhear Faheem and Gee talking, Gee had taken over The Doll house, whatever that was, completely. He bought out Big Frank. His divorce was taking one hell of a toll on him. The only time Big Frank ever smiled was when he was around all his kids or his grandkids. I kind of felt bad for him, but he made his bed, it was time for him to lie in it.
“Nah, sis, you know we don’t fuck with bitch ass niggas,” Jaqwuell joked, going along with what Faheem said, as I should have known.
“Ion know about that,” Gee chimed in with his eyes locked on Daelite as she pretended like she didn’t see him muggingher. “Dae fuck with bitch ass niggas, and she be poppin’ babies out for them niggas too. But wanna kill a real nigga’s seed.” Gee mugged Daelite, and we all prepared for what happened every time the two of them were around each other, a fight.
“Fuck you, Geeston. You so jealous of a bitch nigga, you be more worried about my nigga than he do about you.” Daelite dramatically got up from her seat, storming out the room.
“Imagine me being jealous of a…” I couldn’t make out Gee’s word as he followed hot on Daelite’s trail.
“How much you wanna bet that nigga finna fuck?” Yaro chuckled, standing next to Frankee.
“On my mama, you know that nigga still fuckin’ that,” Jaquwell said with a knowing smirk.
“Ion give a fuck what they do as long as they not fuckin’ in my house.” Faheem snickered before stealing another kiss from me. I swear I loved everything about this man.
___________________________
The Next Day
“I was sad because I never got the chance to see you at your full potential. We never were able to fix our relationship. You didn’t get to meet your grandkids. Ryver, she looks at your pictures and smiles all the time. It’s the cutest thing ever. I wish you were here with me, not because you were some amazing mom, but I deserve to have a parent here to guide me and help me through life. I feel cheated, but I guess that’s how life is sometimes. You win some, you lose some.”
Dusting off the front of my pants, I smiled down at my mother's tombstone. It was bitter sweet knowing she’d been dead this entire time rather than thinking she abandoned me to run off with Clive. I couldn’t believe he took my mom’s lifebecause she wanted to leave him. His stupid ass was facing life in jail after Mixie turned against him saying he forced her to help. Mixie got her charges dropped to involuntary manslaughter for cooperating. Of course Faheem got full custody of Forrest. He let Mixie know he wasn’t bringing Forrest to the jail for visits. The best he did was send her pictures once a month. Mixie didn’t like it, but what did she expect from him? She was lucky Faheem even did that. How I felt about Mixie, I didn’t speak much about their co-parenting because if it was up to me, she would never see her child again. Like my mama couldn’t ever see her child again. As long as she didn’t talk about me, I acted like she didn’t exist.
“Ouch!” I winced. This little boy was kicking the hell out of my ribs. Being pregnant with Ryver was nothing like this pregnancy. I was five months and over it. This little boy needed to hurry up and vacate my body because he wasn’t welcome anymore at this point. Faheem was dead set on naming our son Forrest but spelling it with a y, I hated the idea. I could have been cranky from the constant heartburn, who knows, but I wasn’t naming this little boy Forryest. I didn’t care how you spelled it. The way this baby had me feeling, he was finna be named Chuckie. I could tell my son was finna be hell on wheels like his daddy.
“He know you be hatin’ on him, that’s why he always kicking you and shit.” Faheem snickered, palming my full belly.
