Page 22 of Session 25

“Who jumped you?” Bear sounded confused. “Ashton? Nigga you named the kid?”

“He my kid, right? Yes, I named him, and Duke and Drew. Koi called them over, and they came in and fucked me up without warning. Shit, Koi had beat my ass with a belt right before they got here.”

Bear laughed loudly. “Nigga you got fucked up that bad. I mean shit, I know Koi was pissed, but damn.”

“Listen nigga, I ain’t got time for games and jokes. Are you going to come scoop me up or not? I’ll call Taj.”

“Pipe down, killer. Don’t get mad at me because all your shit coming back to bite you in the ass. Just be ready to come down when I get there.”

“Stop calling my fucking phone! If you didn’t learn today, I don’t fuck with you!” Marcel had been blowing up my phone for the past five minutes. I was outside Belinda’s building, waiting for her trifling ass to come out of the liquor store. If she thought the baby was gonna stay at my house all willingly, she had another thing coming. I didn’t care if Marcel was the father. Both of them better find some place else for him to go.

“Why you take my son? You really gonna hurt a baby, Koi?” I twisted up my lip in disgust.

“Hurt a baby? Do you know how stupid you sound? I’m taking his ass to his grandmother. You want him, come get him and take him someplace, but not in the house where my name is on the deed. That’s where you got me fucked up.”

“She obviously don’t want him, and I’m the father.”

“Bitch bye.” I ended the call. Hearing Marcel call the baby his son, and proudly, had me seeing red. I knew he was the father. This baby was the spitting image of the nigga I had been with for fifteen years. Rika had given him something that I couldn’t. The shit was eating me alive.

His tiny whimpers warmed my heart. I couldn’t stand either of his parents, but he was innocent. I got out of the driver's seat, sliding into the back seat where he was sucking his fingers. I smiled at him. “God, why couldn’t I carry a child to full term, but you give this girl a healthy baby by my man?” I sighed heavily as the tears welled up in my eyes. Right when I was in my feelings, I heard Belinda yapping on her phone.

I hopped out of the car. “Girl, you scared the shit out of me. What you doing over here?”

“You need to take him. Marcel got his ass beat, and I’m sure he can’t care for him. Plus, I’m not letting no child that’s not mine stay in my house.” I unsnapped the car seat, lifting him out of the car. “Here is a bag of some of his stuff. You can figure this out until ya’ trifling daughter wakes up.”

“Excuse me?” Listen, you better take him before I sit this car seat on the ground. I’m not trying to be disrespectful to this baby, but your daughter and Marcel can go suck a fat dick and choke on it.” I was tired of people for the day. I leaned down to set the car seat down when she held out her hands.

“Just give me him. You are something else. And since you feel that way about Rika and her child, you can get the fuck on.”

“Gladly bitch.” I didn’t bother helping her with anything else. I got in my car, drove off, making sure to skid the tires against the pavement for a dramatic exit.

All these muthafuckas could kiss my ass. They were bugging if they thought I was about to let them play around on my top. Nah, they had finally woken up the bitch in me.

Instead of going back to the house. I grabbed my small suitcase, purse, and tote that I had packed, and rolled them into The Marriott. A few nights here would be good for clearing my head. The crazy outs I’ve been experiencing were taking a toll on my mind. While I wanted to get everything off my chest, I knew that I couldn’t keep popping up on Rae and talking about my problems. The bill this month was gonna be the death of me, and Marli was a new mom. So, while I wanted to go on and tell her everything, I needed to respect her time with her family.

Duke had sent a text in the family group chat about the incident earlier, and that had immediately caused my family to start blowing up my phone. Over it all, I made sure I had my bottle of wine for my room. But for some reason, I didn’t want to order food from UberEATS.

I showered, changed into a pair of leggings and a crop top, slid my feet into my Versace slides, and grabbed my wallet and phone. The bar and restaurant downstairs was as close to going out as I was gonna get. Happy that I worked remotely tomorrow, I planned to lie up in my room, go over some files, and catch up on my true crime shows.

“Good evening,” an older white guy greeted me as soon as I stepped onto the elevator. I smiled, greeted him, and buried my face into my phone. I didn’t have anything against him, but I really wasn’t in the mood for small talk.

As soon as I got off the elevator, I rushed towards the restaurant to avoid anyone else trying to talk. I walked to the bar, sat down, and popped my AirPods in my ear. Happy they had the menu set up to be scanned on your phone; I ordered a lemon drop and sweet Thai wings.

My phone was propped up as I listened to the latest book I had brought by one of my fav black authors.

I was sucking on my chicken bone when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around swiftly, almost getting some of the sauce on the guy’s hand.

“I’m sorry, can I help you?” I tapped my phone to pause the audio.

“I was wondering if this seat was taken.” His salt and pepper beard gave him a distinguished look. I sized him up and slowly took all of him in.

“No.” I quickly caught myself before I looked like a fool. The wedding ring on his finger let me know he was off limits, but not enough that I couldn’t admire him.

“Good. I’ve been wanting to come over here for a minute, but I figured you were waiting on someone. There’s no reason you should be at a bar alone.” He stole a glance, smirked, showing off his deep dimple. His neatly twisted dreads were pulled up into a bun. The black button down shirt he wore was open just enough to show off his broad chest.

“Well, that’s life.” I turned around, squeezing my legs closed. For the first time in my life a dude had caught my eye. Since I was with Marcel all those years, I had never given a dude a second glance. Since I was now free of him, flirting didn’t sound so bad.

“What are you drinking?” He nodded towards my empty glass.