“I want juice, mommy.” Jahrae rubbed his eye.
“Okay.” Raven nodded, before her eyes traveled to me. “Jahrein, you heard your kids.”
“Iheard them?” I laughed, while pointing at my bare chest.
“Yep.” She laid back in bed. “I’m a pregnant lady and my back hurts. So, I aint gon be able to do it. So, you gotta feed your kids.”
“Damn, it’s like that?” I rocked the baby in my arms, even though I wasn’t mad. That was one thing that I couldn’t deny her. If she was going to keep popping out my babies, then I had to be there, and do my part. “You aint even gon come help?”
“Nope. I’m tired. Maybe if you stayed off me, then I wouldn’t be full of baby, and I could do something around here.” She messily rubbed her belly. “But that’s not the case. Now, you go feed these chirren that you justhadto have.”
“Man, you got me fucked up.” I yanked the cover off her, before grabbing her hand. “At least come hold the baby.”
Rolling her eyes, she eased out of bed. “Now, see, you doing too much,” she grumbled, while taking the baby out of my arms.
“Yeah, you funny, lil’ mama.” I smirked, before kissing her lips. “Now, come watch superman in action.”
>>>>>
“Say, nigga, how long are we just gonna sit out here?” Jared questioned, as he sat on the passenger’s side of my Escalade.
Staring at the apartment building, I sighed. “Mannn,” I drawled. “Let me make it, dawg. Cause you just don’t understand. A nigga got to hit the blunt or something. Gotta mellow out, before going in there to deal with that broad.”
Jared lightly chuckled. “Man, ole Tyra aint that damn bad.”
I sucked my teeth. “Shit, easy for you to say. She aint your BM. Wanna trade places?”
He scratched his head. “Hell, nawl.”
I smirked. “Exactly.”
“Look, I’m just saying. You know that we got a lot of shit to handle, and we can’t forget that you basically on a fucking time clock. So, go up there, and do what you gotta do, nigga.”
“Fuck you,” I laughed, as him and my other partners often teased me about some of my daily practices.
I treated hustling like it was a legitimate job. I had quitting hours, and they were almost nonnegotiable, outside of extreme circumstances. I had structure in my life, and most niggas couldn’t understand it. They also never stopped to ask how or why I’d surpassed them in the game.
I ran a tight ship, and I always considered my wife and kids, as I made any moves. Ultimately, they were who I did it for, and I knew that as a man I had to prioritize them, if I wanted my home front to be copasetic. Plus, Raven wasn’t the clingy type, and one of her only rules was that I came home at a decent hour, outside of the weekends, when I’d occasionally club. So, I headed in around midnight during the week, at the latest.
“But look, I’m finna run in, real quick. I’ma leave you in the truck. That way, when she gets to whining about time, I’ma point how you out here waiting.”
Jared shook his head. “You aint shit.”
“I know.” I agreed, before finally sliding out of the truck.
Strolling up the sidewalk, I exhaled, now hating the sight of that apartment complex. It was a fairly nice spot, and was once my duck-off spot, but had taken on a different shape, as Tyra now took up space there.
Looking around, I was peeping that the elements in the area were changing. The complex was probably accepting too many housing vouchers, which were bringing in the ghetto muthafuckas who didn’t take pride in their residence.
If I was being honest with myself, no child that had my blood flowing through their veins should’ve been living there…but this shit with Tyra was complicated.
At this point, I had touched a couple of million on the streets. So, one would naturally assume that any woman who’d pushed out a seed a mine would naturally be living in the lap of luxury. And that had been the plan. I wanted to give my kids the world and never subject them to a broken home. However, Tyra had thrown a serious monkey wrench into my plans.
She was supposed to have never been more than a fuck and business associate. Not to say that when I’d occasionally fucked around that I didn’t encounter women that I genuinely liked. Had any of them made me think twice about my life with Raven? Absolutely not. But there were some that I’d enjoyed, for whatever it was.
Keeping it real, a girl that was fine as fuck, with a fire personality, and good pussy, was usually somebody who knew their worth. So, when I’d come across one of those types, they never stuck around for long. They usually had options and weren’t comfortable with not being put first. So, they’d go where the relationship served them, and the next man would gladly snatch them up.
It had been my observation that the ones who stayed around, trying to convince me to choose them, were usually broads that looked good outwardly, but struggled with internal issues. And Tyra was the poster child for that.
