“Damn Brook, you really dressed up today,” Kevin said with an appreciative nod.
“Your brother better be happy he’s my boy,” Kyle said while lustfully licking his lip.
I looked at him and frowned before he walked away. Although Kevin was my friend, I didn’t care for his older brother too much. I hated the way he looked at me whenever he was around. Not only was he my brother’s best friend, but he was sleeping with my cousin Candace. They weren’t in a relationship, but they still messed around sometimes. He even stayed the night over at her house sometimes when I was there. He was walking proof that niggas couldn’t be trusted. By now the backyard was crowded and the party was in full swing. Bryce and my other brothers were entertaining the guests so they stayed off of my back for a while. Kevin and I walked around the yard eating everything that came off of the grill. That was until his brother Kyle called him to be his partner in a game of spades that they were about to play. Even Co-Co and Candace had a card game going so I didn’t have anyone to sit with. My other bestie, Tiana, was at a wedding with her boyfriend so she wasn’t even here to keep me company. Since I wasn’t a card player, I went to the front of the house and sat on the steps. I had my head down playing on my phone until I felt somebody standing behind me. I looked back and saw Kennedi’s boyfriend Dominic standing there. My heart started beating fast when he smiled at me. When he walked down the stairs, I smelled his cologne and almost melted. It was times like this that made me really want a boyfriend. I was missing out on too much.
“Why are you sitting out here all by yourself?” He asked looking at me. He looked even better up close.
“Nothing, just playing on my phone until they finish playing cards.”
Surprisingly I wasn’t as nervous as I thought I would be when I talked to him.
“Oh, I came out here to wait for my brother, but I’m surprised your boyfriend let you out of his sight.”
“Kevin is not my boyfriend, but I could say the same for you and Kennedi,” I replied.
“Her and my brother don’t really get along,” he shrugged. “So where is your boyfriend?”
“I don’t have one. If my brothers have anything to say about it, I never will,” I replied.
“I can’t say that I blame them,” he said staring at me.
“Why is that?”
“Look in the mirror,” he replied.
Right when the words left his mouth, a silver and black charger pulled up to the curb. A man, who I assumed was his brother hopped out and walked over to us. When he got closer, I saw the family resemblance.
“What’s up lil brother? Damn, who is this?” He asked while looking at me.
“This is Brooklyn, Tiffany’s boyfriend’s sister,” Dominic replied. “This is my brother David.”
I looked at him strange, wondering how he knew my name, but he just smiled and winked at me.
“You got a man Brooklyn?” David asked while grabbing my hand.
“Chill out bruh,” Dominic said while making eye contact with his brother.
“Oh, alright, I get it. It was nice to meet you Brooklyn,” he said while nodding his understanding to Dominic.
I didn’t know what he meant or what the eye contact was all about. They seemed to be speaking without any words being said.
“Nice to meet you too,” I replied.
“So what do you do, are you in school or something?” David pried.
“Yeah, I go to The University of New Orleans for early childhood education.”
“That’s what’s up, pretty and smart. I graduated from UNO too,” David informed me.
“Yeah, I’m always over there in the gym shooting hoops with some of my friends,” Dominic chimed in.
David looked at him strangely, but I didn’t know why. They exchanged a knowing glance before David and I continued talking.
“You live on campus Brooklyn?”
“No, but I want too. My brother doesn’t think it’s a good idea,” I replied slightly embarrassed.
“It’s not that bad. I lived on campus and I didn’t have any problems.”
Before we could finish talking Kennedi and Tiffany stepped outside onto the porch.
“Now you know your brothers don’t allow you to talk to boys,” Tiffany snickered.
“Well, that’s good because she’s talking to a grown ass man right now,” David replied quickly.
I’d just met him a few minutes ago, but I liked him already. He was outspoken and I loved his attitude.
“Baby are you ready to go yet? Your child is making me crave ice cream and Tiffany doesn’t have any,” Kennedi said rubbing her flat stomach.
“Girl, you only about two days pregnant so cut that shit out,” David said laughing.
“Mind your damn business David,” Kennedi snapped.
“Y’all chill with all that,” Dominic said.
“That’s your childish ass brother,” Kennedi huffed.
“Come show me where the food is at Brooklyn. I don’t have time to be arguing with the black Botox Barbie,” David said pulling me up from the steps.
“You see what I’m saying Dominic? He is so disrespectful and you don’t tell him anything.”
Dominic walked over to David and whispered in his ear before we retreated to the yard. David smiled and nodded his understanding. Kennedi was still standing on the porch going off, but I couldn’t make out what she was saying.
“I can’t stand that bitch,” David said once we walked off.
When we walked into the yard, I locked eyes with Bryce and I could tell he was pissed.
“You can sit down David. I’ll fix you something to eat and bring it to you.”
I walked into the house and Bryce got up and followed right behind me.
CHAPTER 7
BRYCE
I was heated when I looked up and saw Brook walking into the yard with a grown ass man. The nigga looked kind of familiar, but I was too pissed to try and figure it out. I was already feeling some kind of way about how she was dressed and seeing that didn’t make it any better. My brother Jaden had already checked a few niggas for trying to holler at her and I was about to check another one. She must have seen me coming because she damn near ran into the house. Instead of checking the nigga that she was with, I decided to check her first.
“Who is that Baby?” I yelled as soon as I walked into the house.
“His name is David. That’s Kennedi’s boyfriend’s brother,” she replied nervously.
That kind of explained where I knew him from, but it didn’t explain what Brook was doing with him.
“Well, how do you know the nigga?” I asked.
“I don’t know him. He’s here with his brother. He just asked me to fix him something to eat.”
“You can play with me if you want to Brooklyn. I’ll shut this fucking party down in a heartbeat,” I yelled. There were only a few things I played about, but my baby sister wasn’t one of them. Not to mention that nigga looked like he was around my age.
“I didn’t even do nothing wrong. I’m tired of y’all always treating me like a damn child. I wish I can leave and never look back. I’m sick of this shit,” Brooklyn said crying.
She dropped the plate and utensils on the counter and stormed off, bumping into Tiffany on her way out.
“Excuse you,” Tiffany said to Brook’s departing back.
“Fuck You!” Brook yelled.
Brook never really cursed so she had to be very pissed off right about now. I felt bad about going off and I needed to go apologize to her. It was going to take me some time to get used to her being a young woman.
“That lil bitch got me fucked up,” Tiffany snapped.
“Did you just call my sister a bitch?” I asked to make sure I heard her right.
“Did you see the way she almost knocked me down just now?” Tiffany asked.
“I don’t give a fuck what she did. You better not ever disrespect her again,” I said walking up on her.
“Oh, but s
he can disrespect me though? You better stop putting her ass on a pedestal. She’s going to make all y’all cry one day. You can’t watch her forever,” she spat angrily.
“Don’t worry about it. Whatever happens with Brooklyn does not concern you. And I don’t have to watch her, she already knows what’s up.”
“Yeah, like the way Kennedi kept catching her watching Dominic all day,” she replied sarcastically.
“Yeah, probably the same way Kennedi watched him when he was with Nadia,” I countered.
Kennedi knew what she did to get her man and she was very insecure because of it. I didn’t believe for a minute that Baby had any kind of interests in him. Hell, Kennedi played him so close; nobody could get next to him without her being around.
“Hey, is everything alright?” Kennedi asked when she walked into the kitchen.
“Yeah, it’s cool,” Tiffany said with her arms folded across her chest.
“Aye Kennedi, fix your brother-in-law something to eat,” I told her.
Baby was supposed to be fixing the dude something to eat before I pissed her off. Even though I didn’t know him, I didn’t want to be rude and not feed one of my guests.
“I’ll fix it if that’s cool with you,” Dominic hurriedly offered.
I could tell by the frown on Kennedi’s face that there was some bad blood between them.
“Yeah, that’s cool,” I replied before walking away.
I wanted to find Baby and apologize for how I behaved earlier. She never gave me any reason to think she was doing anything wrong. My sister was a beautiful young lady and I had to get used to the fact that she was growing up. It was only a matter of time before she was going to start dating and I had to prepare myself for that. I knew her friend Kevin had a crush on her so he was probably going to be the first one to take her out. He was scared to death of me and my brothers so I wasn’t worried too much. The time was coming for me to loosen up the grip I had on Brooklyn. It wasn’t going to happen overnight, but I had to at least give it a try.
CHAPTER 8
KENNEDI
It was after midnight and we were just now leaving Tiffany and Bryce’s house. I’d been ready to go since eight so I was pissed right about now. Dominic’s ghetto ass brother was there playing cards so he decided to stay and join him. For some reason, they seemed to click with Bryce and his brothers, but I hoped it was a one-time thing. I couldn’t have my man hanging out with Bryce for obvious reasons. Being here so late wasn’t the only reason why I was pissed. For most of the day, I noticed how Dominic kept watching Bryce’s sister Brooklyn. I told Tiffany that she was watching him, but it was actually the other way around. Brooklyn is a beautiful girl with a nice figure, but Dominic is off limits. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a bit insecure when it came to my man, but who wouldn’t be. Dominic was definitely a catch, which is why I pursued him in the first place. Aside from being pleasing to the eyes, he was paid out the ass. As hard as it was to please my mother, Dominic passed with flying colors. It wasn’t him that she liked, it was his bank account. She really loved the fact that he could afford to keep me with the finer things in life that I was used to.
When I first expressed my interest in him, it was my mother who encouraged me to do whatever I had to do to get him. It was because of her that I was obsessed with giving Dominic, a baby. She believed in keeping a wealthy man around by any means necessary. I was her only child, but that was only because medical reasons stopped her from having anymore. My father, Richard, has two more kids by his current wife, but he still takes very good care of me. He’s also financially set for life which is probably why my mother married him in the first place. Unfortunately, they never got along and he ended up divorcing her when I was only five-years-old. They still hated each other to this day and I heard about it every time I was with one of them. That never stopped my mother though. She got married three more times after that and they all ended in divorce as well. She didn’t care because she always walked away from the marriage with a little more than she came in with and that was her goal. She was currently dating a younger man, hoping that he would become husband number five. As bad as I wanted to be married, I only wanted to do it once. I wanted Dominic to be the first and only man to take my hand in marriage. The only thing that would make our union complete was starting a family. I just prayed that I carried this baby full term this time. I would hate for my past to keep me from giving my future husband the family that he so desperately wanted.
“Did you tell your parents about the baby yet?” I asked Dominic.
“Nah, I’ll probably go see them tomorrow,” he replied.
“It’s no, not nah,” I said correcting his grammar.
As much as I loved Dominic, I hated some of his ways. His broken English and street swagger were the hardest habits to break. After a year of begging and complaining, I was finally able to get him to take the gold that covered his entire top row out of his mouth. That was just about the only thing he’d change. His brother David still had a mouth full of gold and that was another reason I couldn’t stand him. They both smoked weed like it was home grown and drinking was considered a hobby. And let’s not talk about the tattoos that covered most of his body. I was going to lose my mind if he came home with anymore. Dominic also had habits in the bedroom that I couldn’t get with. I wasn’t a big fan of oral sex, but he loved that more than anything. I gave it to him a few times, but not nearly as much as he wanted me to. He also likes a bunch of different positions that I hated. I was trying my best to change some things about him, but his resistance was making it almost impossible to do.
“Man I told you to stop trying to tell me how to talk. This is me, take it or leave it,” he said angrily.
“And I keep telling you that no respectable businessman talks that way.”
“Well, I must be doing something right. My business is doing better than ever.”
I couldn’t argue with that. His business was indeed thriving in ways that it hadn’t before. In the beginning, Dominic had to actually make drop-offs and pick-ups because they didn’t have any employees. Now, he only had to map out the routes for the other drivers to follow. He was always able to be home at night and on the weekends. That made me happy if nothing else did. I decided to change the subject and ask the question that I’ve been dying to ask all day.
“Why were you looking at Bryce’s little sister like that today?” I asked.
“Oh Lord, here we go with this again. You always think I’m looking at somebody or somebody is looking at me. I wasn’t worrying about that girl and she didn’t seem to be worrying about me either,” he replied.
“Okay, I was just asking,” I said as I turned away from him.
“We’re good so stop stressing yourself over nothing.” He grabbed my hand and kissed it, making me feel much better.
“And you need to check your brother about the way he talks to me,” I said starting up again.
“That goes both ways Kennedi. Both of y’all say shit to piss the other one off. If I check David then, I have to check you too,” he replied.
“But I’m your fiancé and soon to be the mother of your first child,” I said defensively.
“And that’s my brother,” he replied nonchalantly.
“I really can’t believe you right now,” I said as we pulled up to our house.
I hopped out of the truck and briskly walked up to our front door. When I got inside, I headed straight upstairs without saying another word. After rummaging through my dresser, I found something to sleep in and prepared to go take a shower.
“I don’t know what’s been up with you lately. It’s like you find any little reason to start an argument,” Dominic said.
“I’m not trying to start an argument. I’m simply asking you to tell your brother to show me some respect. Honestly, I shouldn’t even have to tell you that because you should insist it.”
“Alright ma, you got that. I’ll do anything to have some peace in here,” he said giv
ing me my way like always.
“Thank you baby,” I said sitting down on his lap.
I gave my man a long deep kiss to show him how much I love and appreciate him. Dominic had a sex drive that was through the roof, so of course, he wanted more than a kiss. After laying me down and removing all of my clothing, I watched lustfully as he repeated the process on himself. When he walked over to the bed, I laid back like I always did and waited for him to get on top of me. He stopped walking and looked down at me thoughtfully.
“Get up,” he ordered in his sexy baritone.
“What, why?” I asked caught off guard by his request.
“Just get up and come here,” he ordered again.
I did as I was told and stood to my feet. When I got closer to him, he pulled me into him and lifted me off of my feet. I hurriedly wrapped my arms around his neck, scared that he was going to drop me.
“Dominic wait, what are you doing?” I asked nervously.
Instead of answering, he lifted me slightly and lowered me down onto his erection. Before he even entered me all the way, I lifted up and jumped out of his arms.
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