“I understand.”
I signaled to the guards that I was ready to be escorted back to my cell. The sight of Naiari crying tore my heart into shreds, but it was for the best. She needed to let me go so she could become the best version of herself.
“Hello! Did you hear what I said?”
Lyric interrupted my thoughts, making me realize I had zoned out.
“My bad. I told you this shit has my head gone. The last time I talked to her, she told me she was pregnant. At the time, I was locked up and looking at a heavy sentence. I told her to get rid of it, and I ended things with her. It never dawned on me to follow up with her about it.”
“Keynauri! What the hell? Don’t you think that was something the two of you needed to discuss?” Lyric hissed.
“Honestly, it was the furthest thing from my mind. Logic told me he gave her money, so I assumed she took care of things as I asked. Then, when you told me she moved away, I figured she must have listened and decided to go off to college and make something of herself.” I shrugged, taking a sip of the strong liquor.
“Both of you are idiots if you ask me. She should have said something. She blocked me from her social media a few months after you were locked up. I assumed she was trying to cut everyone off due to our association with you, but now I’m starting to think she didn’t want me to see pictures of my niece and nephew. Bitches are weird.” Lyric grumbled while taking a shot to the head and chasing it with orange juice.
“She isn’t a bitch. Now, I do agree with everything else, but she’s still the twins’ momma.”
“And? She’s still a weird bitch for trying to keep them a secret. The moment she decided to keep them, she should have made it clear. Even if the two of you decided not to be together, it was no excuse to keep the kids away. You may not have wanted a relationship with her, but she took the option away from me, too.”
“You’re right. I’m not even gonna argue with you on that, because it’s true. She could have let you or Logic know what the deal was. She wanted to be petty because I hurt her feelings, and that shit was selfish as fuck. I didn’t want her to bring a child into a fucked-up situation, but I never would have abandoned my kids had I known they existed.”
I poured another drink as the thoughts in my head became too strong for me to ignore. My mind kept replaying certain moments, and it was making me even more upset. I missed out on so much time with my kids, and the saddest part was that I couldn’t blame it all on Ari. While I would have wanted to know about my kids from the beginning, it wouldn’t have changed the fact that I would have missed all of their milestones. One moment of anger cost me more than money could ever replace.
We spent the rest of the night drinking until Lyric tapped out and ended up passing out in the room she had in my spot. The liquor mellowed me out, but it did nothing to stop my mind from racing. After I fed the kids and made sure they took their baths, I spent the majority of the night playing video games. It was one of those things I rarely got to do because of my schedule, so I decided to take advantage of my free time. According to my manager, Knox, I was about to be doing shows and interviews almost every day for the next couple of weeks. There were also numerous shows and meet-and-greets scheduled. I already knew I would need a few pre-rolled blunts to get me through thenext month, because I hated being around so many people. This was the dream, though, so I couldn’t afford to mess things up.
Istill couldn’t get over what happened between Keynauri and me. After I ate dinner with Nova, I went home to take a nap. I tried my best to calm down, but nothing helped. After a few hours, I decided to stop by the studio to visit my man.
Que had been working since the night of the show, so he had no idea what was going on. I tried to sit down and talk to him about Keynauri and the twins, but he was at the studio more than he was home.
We argued about his time at work often, but he always made me feel guilty for nagging him. In his mind, I should be grateful that he went to work instead of running the streets. He made some valid points, but I still hated how much time he spent away from home.
I decided to pick up his favorite meal and head toward the studio. The male ego could be fragile, and I wasn’t sure how he would take the news about the twins’ father making a return, especially since it was someone he worked with. I wanted tomake sure that he understood that it would not change our relationship.
It took forty minutes to get to the studio, and by the time I pulled into the parking lot, it was dark outside. I attempted to call Que multiple times, but of course, his phone was off. He told me he turned it off to focus on his creativity. At first, I thought it was a bunch of bullshit, but I also knew nothing about making music. Since the debut of Keynauri’s album, Que had been booked for several other artists.
While I loved the lifestyle he provided for me, it was hard to trust him. Most men in the spotlight fell victim to temptation, and while I had never seen any proof of infidelity, there was still doubt in my mind. Although I had very little experience with dating, I knew enough about men to know that they often grew comfortable in relationships. Men thought that if they took care of the house and paid the bills, then they were free to do whatever they wanted outside. It was one of the reasons I remained single for as long as I did. Being a single mother was hard enough, and I didn’t have time to be chasing behind a man.
I sat in the car for a few minutes, then decided to finally get out. When I got to the door, I was frustrated to see that it was locked. Once again, I tried to call, but his phone went straight to voicemail. It was then that I remembered him mentioning how they often smoked in the back of the building, so I decided to try my luck. I almost did a happy dance once I got to the back door and it opened right up.
As soon as I stepped inside, I was met with the strong aroma of marijuana and incense. After the day I had, I prayed that they had a blunt in rotation. It had been years since I smoked, but I needed something to calm my nerves.
The music was loud, and it sounded as if they were listening to the playback of a recording. When I opened the studio door, a cloud of smoke hit me. I fanned my hand in front of my faceto clear my view. As I stepped further inside, I smirked when I saw Que resting his head in a large office chair. His back was facing me, but I could tell his head was laid back, and his eyes appeared to be closed. He always swore that they were hard at work whenever they were at the studio, but clearly, there wasn’t any work going on.
I decided to sneak up on him as a joke, but I got the surprise of my life when I stepped closer and realized that he wasn’t asleep at all.
“What the fuck?” I shrieked, tossing his food and drink on the floor.
Que jumped to his feet, attempting to fix his pants. I was horrified at the sight in front of me, and there were no words to express my emotions. While Que was scrambling to get himself together, Stunna remained on his knees as if he hadn’t just been deep throating my man’s dick.
My stomach began to twist as I raced out of the room and front door. The moment the cool air hit me, I threw up right there in the parking lot. I didn’t know if I was more upset about the fact that Que cheated on me or the fact that I was right about Stunna. He always gave me weird vibes as if we were in competition with each other. I rarely went through Que’s phone, but there had been a few times that I noticed conversations between the two of them where Stunna would tell him that he needed to be single so that he could fuck all the hos. Apparently, he must have been included in that group as well.
“Baby, wait!” Que yelled after me, but I didn’t turn around. When I got to my car, I fumbled with my purse to find the keys.
“Get off me! Don’t ever touch me again!” I shouted when he grabbed my arm. I wanted to beat his ass right there in the parking lot, so I was trying to get out of there as soon as possible.
“Baby, I know that looked bad, but I promise it’s not what you think,” Q pleaded. I scoffed at the nerve of him trying to gaslight me into believing that I’d misunderstood what I saw.
“Are you kidding me? Are you trying to deny that I just caught you getting your dick sucked by your business partner and friend? I may not have perfect vision, but I know what the fuck I saw. You don’t need to explain anything to me. Just know that we are done.”
