by Nikki Brown
She shook her head back and forth quickly, “No! No! She stole---” she flew into a fit of coughing. The cough was so deep and harsh that it caused alarm with everyone in the room. Mega jumped up and opened the door to yell for the nurse who was already in a full fledge run because of the machines going off. The doctor wasn’t far behind.
All three brothers stood back with tears in their eyes as they watched the nurse and doctor work on Siya. They all had the same thing running through their minds, and they couldn’t wait to act on it.
Connected
Cassidy sat in the car in front of Key’s house for what felt like forever, she was right by his side rubbing his thigh. He would glance at her every now and then but then focus back straight ahead at nothing in particular. She wanted to pick his brain on where his thoughts were, but she felt like he just needed to get lost in them and find his own way back out.
“Thank you,” he simply said.
“For?” Key turned her body, so that she was facing him. She didn’t need or want an apology from him, she was there for him because she wanted to be. He had come in her life and breathed a little life into her boring life, and she was grateful. Being there for him was the least she could do.
“You didn’t have to stay; you could have left and for that I’m thankful.” He leaned his head back on the headrest and turned to look at her. His eyes explored the story that whirled around hers, she was a mystery to him. That both scared and intrigued him at the same time.
“Would you have left me?” Her eyes bounced around his as he pondered her question. “If that were me and it was my brother or my son, would you have left me?”
“Hell no, I ain’t built like that.”
“So you’re insinuating that I am?” She raised her brows.
That was one of the things that drew Cassidy to Key, she was always challenging him. She had a way of making him see things through her point of view, even if he didn’t want to. He couldn’t figure out how she did, but he liked how she made him think about things.
“Did I say that, smart ass?” He smirked at her. She was trying her best to mug him but when the corners of her mouth turned up into a smile, she quickly turned away. “That’s what yo ass get trying to be hard, soft as a damn crème puff.”
“Yo, you can go to hell with that one.” She laughed. “I love that you bring out the silly side of me. I thought I lost that all those years ago.” She shook her head and sighed, not wanting to think about the past. “No but seriously, I like you Cassidy even though we’ve only been on half a date,” she giggled, and he released a chuckle. “I feel connected to you for some reason and when you hurt I do too. I’ve only met your mother a couple of times when she’s come to the shop, but she seems like good people and didn’t deserve that.”
Cassidy grinded his teeth thinking about what his mother was going through right now. It was like his family just couldn’t catch a break, and it was driving them all crazy. They just wanted to be happy and now after meeting Key, he just wanted to run his farm and be happy, but life had other plans for him, and he didn’t know why.
“I’m sorry for that too, I didn’t know none of that shit was gone go down.”
“Stop apologizing for shit you couldn’t control. I’ve lived this life, so I know how it goes.”
“Shut the hell up Key, you square as your fucking head.” Cassidy laughed, and she mushed him in the head and giggled at his insult.
“Nigga, did you forget who my brother was? I been dealing with this lifestyle since before he could get a damn license.” She shook her head and Cassidy nodded his. “You want to come in?”
Cassidy looked in his rearview mirror, he wanted to go in and hang with Key a little more, but he didn’t want Jayla to try and start no shit. Even though she was there with Vinny, he also knew that she could be messy as hell when she wanted to be. He couldn’t believe that she was still here after he told Vinny he fucked with her but that wasn’t his concern. He was completely done with her now and had every intention on figuring out what was up with Key.
Key followed his eyes and smacked her lips. She turned to get out of the car, she didn’t know why she felt so jealous all of a sudden when they weren’t together but the thought of him caring about someone else’s feelings pissed her off and she wasn’t about to pretend like she wasn’t.
“Chill man.” Cassidy grabbed her arm and forced her to look at him. “You know I used to fuck with her, ain’t shit no more because I’m trying to see what’s up with you.” He told her honestly. “I just want to make it clear that if she starts some shit, that you know how to curve it.”
“I’m grown Cassidy, we good. Plus, my brother’s mouth ain’t something that she wants to deal with if she tries something stupid like coming for me on the strength of you.” She smirked.
“None of that has anything to do with me, I just want to make sure that this ain’t gone interfere with this.” He motioned between the two of them. “I’m not in the right head space to be arguing with you over some shit that you already know.” He gave her a warning look and she rolled her eyes.
“Get out of the car, I’ll make you some breakfast.” The sun had risen and set its bright self in the sky. They spent the entire night at the hospital and their dinner was ruined so neither of them had ate or slept.
Cassidy followed her out and went into the house. It was quiet, everyone seemed to be still sleep. He took a seat on the sofa at Key’s request while she walked in the kitchen and began to prepare breakfast for everyone. Reaching for his phone, he had a missed call from Kahleno that he didn’t notice so he decided to call him back.
“Sup bro,” he said the minute Kahleno’s tired voice came over the phone.
“Not shit, where you at?”
“Nigga you nosey, why you worried about where I’m at?” Cassidy said laying his head back on the couch. Tired was an understatement and he would do anything to just climb in the bed and close his eyes, preferable Akiya’s bed but her son was home and he would never disrespect him like that.
“You at Key crib nigga,” Kahleno chuckled and then said something to Sutton. “What time you going back to the hospital?”
“Well, we can’t see her until she gets done with that therapy shit so when she come out of that, I’m going up there.” Cassidy closed his eyes for a second but opened them when he felt someone in his space. When his eyes opened a grimace covered his face as he came face to face with Jayla.
“Yeah me too but I need to holla at you about some shit, it’s real fucked up and we need to go to the farm house and meet the insurance people and check on our other shit,” Kahleno said referring to the other barns in the back of the house.
“Oh fuck!” Cassidy said, the barn hadn’t even crossed his mind. He knew for a fact if anything was wrong or missing at his farm that he was gone tear some shit up. “I didn’t even think about that shit.”
“Nah yo shit good, and AD’s lab is straight. Connects at the station shot a text after they checked on everything for me.” Kahleno said and then yawned. “I’ll hit you up when I head over there. Have you talked to AD?”
“Nah,” was all Cassidy said as Jayla stood in front of him with her arms crossed across her chest and a mug on her pretty face. She was acting as if she had any reason to be mad. “I’ll hit you back when I leave here.”
“Aight tell sis we appreciate her for being there for us.” The sarcasm in his voice caused Cassidy to hang up the phone in his face.
Running his hands down his face, he wasn’t in the mood to deal with Jayla and her shit. So he decided to ignore her. Closing his eyes, he leaned his back on the couch and crossed his arms across his chest. He figured he would get a few minutes of sleep while Key cooked and then he needed to get to the farm house.
Feeling the couch dip in beside him, he thought that she was sitting down so she could talk with her nagging voice; but when he felt her straddle him, his eyes popped open and he pushed her to the ground.
“The fuc
k yo stupid ass doing Jayla?” He stood up and brushed his pants down because he was sure that she didn’t have anything under that robe she had on. “Nasty bitch, didn’t you just lay up with my nigga and you sit yo dirty pussy on my lap? Fuck wrong with you.” His eyebrows were dented in and his lip was turned up, he was truly disgusted.
If looks could kill, Jayla would be chopped up in a million pieces. All she wanted was for Cassidy to acknowledge her, the only reason that she was even here was because he refused to be with her the way she wanted him to be with her. She knew that he told her from the beginning that it would never be anything, but she thought that if she gave enough that he would meet her half way but it never happened.
When she met Vinny, she didn’t know that he was connected to the Maler men but when she saw Cassidy’s car at his house the night before, she could have crawled out of her skin right then and there and died. She couldn’t get out of the car, and when she saw Vinny address her and then Cassidy, she knew that she was caught.
The envy that burned within her seeing him be affectionate with another woman had her mad as hell and even more determined to get with Vinny. What she didn’t know was that Cassidy could care less and it made it that much easier for him to close the door completely on what little they did have.
“You really gone treat me like that?” She asked as if she was hurt by what was going on. Like she wasn’t just sexing Vinny merely minutes ago.
“What the fuck is going on?” Key walked slowly in the living room with a bowl that she was mixing the pancakes up in. She looked from Cassidy, who seemed to be aggravated, to Jayla who looked on with envy in her eyes. “Cassidy.”
“I already told you what was up.” Was all he said as he laid his head back on the couch.
“Jayla, where yo funny looking ass go?” Vinny came through the house rubbing his eyes with nothing but a pair of ball shorts on. Jayla had just got through riding the hell out of his dick and was supposed to be heading to the bathroom to clean off, but she never returned.
After Cassidy told him that he fucked with her, he came in the house and shut the door. About twenty minutes later, he heard a knock on the door, and she walked in, dropped to her knees, pulled his shit out, and started sucking the hell out of his dick. He had almost forgot he was babysitting, thank goodness that Kane was in his room playing Fortnite.
The two of them spent the majority of the night in the room exploring and lusting over each other because that’s all it was for either of them. When Vinny’s eyes met Cassidy’s, the both of them burst out laughing making Jayla feel as small as the amount of respect that either of them had for her.
“It wasn’t funny about a little while ago when I was riding your dick and you were ignoring her calls. I take it she’s pretty girl, right?” Jealousy dripped from every word she spoke, and she didn’t care, she had already made a fool of herself so she may as well let it all out.
Key could feel her temperature rising, she was about to snap but she was trying her hardest not to. He told her in the car what could happen, so she really couldn’t trip, but the fact that he didn’t call her back because he was fucking another chick bothered her and it was hard to hide that.
“Yep, a little while ago we were just friends,” he pointed back and forth between himself and Key. He could feel her staring a hole through him and he knew that he would have to answer to that but right now wasn’t the time. “And just a while ago you was fucking my nigga.” Cassidy shrugged.
“Whoa, the fuck going on?” Vinny looked at Jayla who was in the process of rolling her eyes at Cassidy. “Yo, you on some real hoe type shit my nigga. Get yo dumb ass in there and put ya clothes on and get the fuck out. Pussy was a little dank anyway. Get the fuck out of here.” Vinny shook his head and then turned to Cassidy. “Nigga wasn’t no disrespect; I just wanted some pussy. After you said you smashed, I had already called me another little thang-thang, but she burst through the door and swallowed my shit and I couldn’t even think straight my nigga, you know how it is.” Vinny pointed at Cassidy and he nodded his head and laughed at Vinny.
“Alright! Alright! That’s enough.” Key stepped in. She was starting to feel a little disrespected and she actually felt bad for Jayla. “That was disrespectful.”
“Yeah tell me about it.” Jayla said and then mumbled something else.
“My love, you need to give them something to respect, but for now you can get dressed and get the hell out.” Key felt bad for her until she remembered what she walked in on. She was actually happy that Cassidy reacted the way that he did.
“The fuck yo goofy ass still sitting there for, get the fuck up.” Vinny grilled Jayla as she got up and ran back to the room with him following close behind. “Yo you can suck my dick before you go though, for giving me a fucking headache.” Vinny stopped mid-way and turned around, all this made him forget what was going on. “How’s ya mom doing? Is she good? AD text me but he didn’t really say much.”
“I don’t know man. They got her in some kind of Oxygen therapy or some shit like that, that’s supposed to help. I just needed to get out of that place for a hot minute. But we going back later,” Cassidy said feeling slightly bad about leaving but there wasn’t anything that they could do, and he knew Mega was there so that made him feel a little better.
“Let me know when y’all go up, I’m going too.” Cassidy nodded. “I’m about to make this bitch swallow my shit again before I put her out.” Vinny walked to the back where Jayla was and slammed the door. They argued for a minute and then everything went quiet.
“I swear something is wrong with him.” Key shook her head and headed back in the kitchen. She was low key pissed about the revelation from Jayla, she didn’t want to be around him at the moment. She needed a chance to calm down, but Cassidy couldn’t give her that.
He smoothly walked his way into the kitchen and leaned against the door frame. He watched as she moved around the kitchen purposely trying to ignore him. At this point, he didn’t mind because the way her thick ass filled out the leggings that she changed into made his dick hard.
The soft curls that framed her round face made her look innocent. Her pouty lips were a turn on in themselves, even though they were sticking out a mile long right now because she was mad. Taking a few steps to close the gap, he pressed his semi hard on against her ass. She froze against the sink and took a deep breath.
Leaning down his lips connected with her neck and he kissed it lightly causing her to shudder. He moved up a little and then kissed her again, and then again until she escaped his hold, but he grabbed her before she got too far.
Cassidy pulled her back to him and positioned her so that she was looking up at him. He leaned down and pressed his lips against hers. When his tongue invaded her mouth, she released a soft moan that had Cassidy’s dick ready to burst through his pants.
“I’m mad at you,” Key said when she regained possession of her lips again.
“I know that shit was fucked up but I ain’t gone lie to you, a nigga fucked up.” He shrugged like it was no big deal and Key smacked her lips. “I’m not saying it like it was nothing, I’m just saying that I wasn’t thinking, I just wanted my dick wet.”
“Well I’m not dealing with shit like that. I been through a lot and it taught me my worth. I like you but I’m not lowering my standards to be with you either. So if you want to fuck what you know then that’s fine, we can be friends. If you trying to know me then that’s what it’s got to be period!”
All the shit that her ex put her through, she wouldn’t dare enter into anything else and end up the same way. She promised herself that she would never hold anyone else’s needs over her, and her son’s and she meant it. She didn’t care how fine he was.
“I know that shit and that’s why I’m here.” Cassidy said looking down at her light skin glowing under the kitchen lights. Her eyes searched his for any indication that what he was saying wasn’t true, but she didn’t find any. All she saw was everything that she ever
wanted in a man, now she just prayed that he was everything that her heart thought he was. “I’m feeling the shit out of you Akiya, and you got my attention. All of it, you won’t have to ever worry about a bitch coming to tell you anything about me and that’s my word.”
“I hear you, just so we’re on the same page because a bitch all out of chances.” She pointed at him and he smirked.
“Yo short ass don’t scare nobody,” he said against her lips that he had connected with once again.
Cassidy’s hands wrapped around and pulled her closer to him and he deepened the kiss. Key snaked her arms around his neck and relished in the essence of him. She didn’t expect to get as turned on as she did. When he grabbed her ass, she jumped up and wrapped her legs around his waist. He pulled away from her and looked down at her warning her to stop grinding against him before she started something that she wasn’t prepared for.
“I want you so fucking bad right now,” Key revealed, and it made Cassidy smile, he loved a woman that could express what she wanted and when she wanted it. Key was exactly what he wanted in a woman. She was driven, she had her own, and most of all, she wasn’t gone take his shit.
Normally, Cassidy would take time and evaluate the situation before he started thinking about the future, but he felt so connected to her. Cassidy was picky in who he spent his time with, but she didn’t even have to ask for his time, he wanted her to have it and that’s how he knew this was something worth pursuing. It was like he couldn’t stop himself from wanting her, and he was low key trying to find something wrong with her to make him take a step back but there was nothing there. Her vibe was infectious and had him throwing caution to the wind. He was invested, his feelings were invested, and he was moving forward with her beside him.
