My head jerked as her hand made contact with my face. My mother and I weren’t the closest, but things were never violent between us. It caught me off guard, and I was incredibly hurt.
“You’ve got a lot of nerve to disrespect me in my own damn house. I sacrificed a lot to make sure your ungrateful ass had everything you needed, even when your sorry ass daddy no longer wanted to contribute. I see that boy still has a toxic hold on you, so I won’t bother voicing my opinion. Just know, I won’t be here to pick up the pieces when he breaks your heart again. Maybe it’s exactly what you need.”
Tears filled my eyes, but I refused to cry over this situation. I spent so many years letting others’ actions affect me. If she wanted to be that way, I would give her the space she needed.
“Kiaya! Keyaire! Grab your backpacks so we can go.” I retrieved my keys from my purse and headed out the door. After I got the twins situated, I peeled out of her driveway and never looked back.
Itook a deep breath as I pulled up to Tiana’s house. After our last conversation, I knew things could go either way. She had been blowing my phone up for weeks, calling me all types of fuck niggas, and I let her. Even though we weren’t together, I understood why she was so upset. My problem was with the way she approached our issues.
“You got me fucked up, Key!”
“What are you yelling about?”
“Mothafucka, you know why. Why the fuck is my daughter coming home telling me about a brother and a sister? I thought she was talking about one of your jump-offs’ kids, but she claims they look like her. What the hell is going on? You and I both know you don’t eat pussy or fuck raw, so how did this happen? Hell, the only reason I got pregnant with Keyami was because you slipped up on a drunk night and I poked—I mean, the condom broke, so I need you to make this make sense,” Tiana fussed into the phone.
Her slipup wasn’t surprising to me, because I always suspected some foul play when Tiana turned up pregnant. As mad as I should have been, it was too late. My daughter was here, and I loved her more than anything.
“You ain’t slick, and that’s exactly why I’ll never trust your grimy ass,” I spat.
“You’re being dramatic. I didn’t mean to say that. Anyways, why have you been hiding your kids? If you didn’t think you did anything wrong, why the secrecy?” She continued to press me as if I was her man.
“I wasn’t keeping it a secret. I just found out about them myself.” I scratched the back of my neck, knowing this conversation would only get worse.
“Who the fuck is the bitch, and what do you mean you just found out? What kind of bitches are you fucking with that would keep a daddy from their children? Only a bird brain, if you ask me.”
My jaw clenched, but I was trying to let her make it.
“You’re doing too much right now. All of this is new for me, and I’m adjusting as best as I can.”
“You’re saying a whole bunch of nothing, Key. Who is the bitch?”
“It’s Naiari. She ain’t gon’ be too many more bitches, though. She has never called you out of your name, so show her the same respect, at least when you’re talking to me.”
“What! I fucking knew it. You tried to play in my face and make it seem like I was crazy, and the whole time you were fucking that ugly ass bitch!” Tiana shouted, breathing heavily on the other end. Luckily, my phone was on speakerphone and not directly up to my ear.
“Look, you need to calm down with all of that. I don’t yell at you, so you aren’t about to sit here and scream at me like you’ve lost your mind.”
The line went quiet for a moment, and then I heard what sounded like sniffing on the other end. Dragging my hand over my face, I sank down further into my seat to prepare for the bullshit I knew was coming.
“I can’t believe you, Key. After everything I did for you, you went and fucked the one bitch you swore I never had to worry about. Then you got her pregnant, which means you were fucking her raw, something we both know you aren’t comfortable with. You didn’t even want to touch me after I gave birth to Keyami, because I was too fertile, so I’m trying to understand how you managed to get that hoe pregnant.”
We were going around in circles, and I was ready for the conversation to end, so I decided to give her all the answers she was looking for.
“You want the truth?”
“Yeah, nigga!”
“I was in love with her. My kids weren’t an accident because I was bussin’ my seed in her pussy with hopes of getting her pregnant. She was my first love, and I wanted a family with her. If I hadn’t gotten jammed up, things would have went differently, but life fucked us over.”
Silence.
“Hello?” I checked the phone to see if she was still on the line. She was but hadn’t said anything.
“I can’t believe this bullshit. The fact that you can sit on this phone and say some shit like this to me is crazy. Where was she when you were locked up, Key? I don’t recall her being at any of the visits or putting money on your books! I’m the one who dragged my child up there to see you and made sure to answer every single one of your calls. Then you get out of prison, and I find out that you’re a fucking rapper and you’ve got all this money put up. I never thought I would see the day where you would be a fraud ass nigga, but damn. I held you on a pedestalwhen I should have put your ass on child support and found me a real nigga,” Tiana vented.
“You got it, Tiana. I’m not in the mood to argue with you. While I appreciate the visits and the calls, I’ve already compensated you for everything you’ve done for me. I bought you a brand-new car, a house, and I send you twenty thousand dollars every month. Let’s not forget, the money you put on my books belonged to me, and I made sure you and Keyami were taken care of when I was locked up.
“You’re sitting on this phone acting as if I sold you a dream and left you hanging. I never once promised we would be anything more than what we are. I appreciate you picking up the phone so I could speak to my daughter, but I never forced you to stay on those calls. True enough, you helped me get through some tough moments, but I never gave you that jail house talk. Hell, once I started talking about my music and you started shitting on my dreams, I decided to keep my shit to myself. You obviously weren’t supporting it, so why would I waste my time telling you anything?”
