by B. Love
Leigh’s head shook as she checked the time on her phone. “I don’t know why you keep fuckin’ with her ass anyway. You can’t play in her face, Drecco. That’s clear. Cut her off if you ain’t gon’ do right.”
“Look at the pot calling me black.”
Leigh rolled her eyes as she stood. The last thing she wanted to do was hear Drecco, of all people, compare her to himself. Yes, she fucked around on Ransom from time to time, but they weren’t in a committed relationship, and she was always honest with him. Drecco, on the other hand, committed just for the hell of it and lied as easily and quickly as he breathed.
“Fuck you.” Drecco chuckled as he stood and followed her out of the room. “Let me know if you want me to trail you home. I’ll get her out of your house with no problem.”
“I know. I was gon’ call you if she wasn’t gone by noon.”
Drecco wrapped his arm around her and placed a kiss to her cheek before dipping into the bathroom. Out of all of her brothers, Leigh was closest to Drecco. He was the same reckless wild child she was growing up back in the day. You never wanted those two to be angry at the same time. Period. But through their craziness, they understood each other in ways the rest of their siblings didn’t. They were each other’s protector, so Leigh had no problem getting Courtney out of his home if need be.
She would check him about his shit, too. He was moving too much like their father. Dealing with too many different women at the same time. It had been a blessing that none of them had gotten pregnant yet. But he was really trying his luck.
Back in the kitchen, Leigh began to play her Jhene Aiko playlist to mellow out her mood, then washed her hands and got started on breakfast. Her aunt came in and offered to help, but Leigh really just wanted to be alone. The only person she wanted to talk to was her grandmother until she got her mind right. It also didn’t help that her stomach was still so damn upset. Any time she was sick in any way, it put her in a grumpy mood.
Didn’t help that she hadn’t had sex in two weeks.
It was just… hard being with another man, knowing she would never have Ransom again.
Who could top him?
By the time she was done cooking, Ever had come out of her room. She called for Drecco and Evelyn, and they all ate in the dining room. Though she wasn’t really in the mood for small talk, she engaged her aunt and grandmother as she played over her food. The only thing she felt truly safe eating was the rice, so she ate all of that and drank a small glass of orange juice. When they were done, Evelyn offered to clean the plates, and Leigh agreed.
She went back to her grandmother’s room with her, smiling when she saw the TV on a Matlock marathon. As Leigh closed the door, Ever asked, “What’s going on with you, baby?” Her smile quickly turned into tears as her head shook.
“You couldn’t even let me get in the room good, Grandma?”
Ever chuckled as she sat in her recliner. “Not when your spirit is so troubled. Grab that oil and comb and come talk to me.”
Leigh’s mood instantly shot up. Ever was known for her amazing scalp scratches… and she was getting it oiled, too? Oh, hell yea. As Leigh walked over to her grandmother, Ever grabbed the white towel that was folded on the nightstand behind her. She put it on her left leg, and Leigh hurriedly sat down and rested her head there.
“I think I’m just sad because I need some love and attention. Maybe it’s affecting me physically. The fact that I’m not feeling well and…” She paused and inhaled a deep breath. “He used to always take care of me. Now he’s not here. I’m just sad, Grandma.”
Ever began to scratch Leigh’s scalp with the rattail comb.
“Start from the beginning. What happened with you and Ransom?”
Leigh considered telling her grandmother half of the truth, but it wouldn’t have done her any good. Ever would have seen straight through her.
“You know we’ve been together for a while. Well, talking for a while. He’s been pressuring me about committing, but I kept blowing it off and making excuses. A little while ago, he mentioned wanting to settle down and start his family. He told me that I basically had until his birthday to get my stuff together. I heard him, but I figured there would be a way for me to convince him that what we had was enough.
That didn’t really work. I ended up… doing something that I shouldn’t have done. So he cut me off.”
“You slept with another man?” Leigh nodded. “Then what?”
“I let some time pass before I reached out again. Finally told him I loved him. And I knew that it would still take some time, but I thought that would start the process of us getting back together. But he was basically like that didn’t change anything and he still didn’t want to be with me. Plus, he’s already moved on. The nigga went on a date right after I left. He rented a villa for us in Bora Bora for Valentine’s day, and his ass took that bitch.” Leigh gritted her teeth and inhaled a deep breath. “Sorry for cursing.”
“So you’re upset because the man you’ve spent years with, without really committing to, has finally moved on?”
“Well… it sounds bad when you say it like that. But yes.”
“That’s the problem with your generation. You don’t value your partners. You don’t honor them. You don’t respect family. Y’all aren’t the first generation to cheat and have outside kids and families, but y’all are the first generation that is so careless and reckless with it. There’s no honor and privacy. Y’all degrade yourselves and disrespect your spouses as if it’s a trend.
When men cheated back in my day, they were smart about it. They kept their side women in place. She never had the balls to approach his woman, and if she did, she was put in her place. And when women cheated back in the day, it was an upgrade. Jesus, child. Ransom was good for you. What on earth would possess you to cheat on him?”
“But I didn’t cheat, Grandma! We weren’t in a relationship.”
“Bullshit. I ain’t new to this shit. Why did you cheat?”
Leigh closed her eyes and came to grips with her truth. “Because that made it feel less serious. I confessed to him that day that it was so hard for me to tell him that I loved him because the men I loved hurt and left me. So I felt like my heart was safer if I kept it to myself.” She chuckled softly as tears slid down her nose and cheek. “But it left my possession the moment he came into my life. He still has it. And now I’m struggling, trying to figure out how to live without it and him.”
“You have to release him so you can move on as he has. Unfortunately, you lost a good-ass man, baby. But you needed this lesson. Now, you will know the value of love for yourself. You’ll put it before fear. Your future above your past. The next man that tries to love you will stand a decent chance. If Ransom is moving on, you let that man have what he deserves. Don’t disturb his peace. You hear me?” Leigh nodded as she wiped away more tears. “Y’all will just… have to find a way to co-parent that doesn’t include…”
“Wha—wait.” Leigh sat up and turned to look into her grandmother’s eyes. “Co-parent? I’m not pregnant.”
Ever gave Leigh a disbelieving look as she put her head back on her lap and began to oil her scalp. “Yes, you are.”
“Grandma…”
“How have you been feeling lately? You said you were sick. Sick how?”
Leigh thought about all of her symptoms before she replied. “I’ve been having a lot of headaches. At first, I was really constipated. Now my stomach is queasy, and I’ve been throwing up in the morning. I’ve been eating late in the evening, and that’s been okay. Spotting and cramping. My titties have been a little sore, but they are growing, so I figured that’s why.”
Ever chuckled. She leaned forward and placed a gentle kiss to Leigh’s temple. “You’re pregnant, baby.”
Sitting up, Leigh stared into her grandmother’s eyes. Truthfully, she hadn’t come on her period in at least a month. Her and Ransom never used protection. They alternated between him pulling out and busting on her body and h
er sucking and swallowing his seeds. Every once in a while, they would slip up and he would cum inside of her, but she usually got a plan B pill afterwards. The last time they had sex and he didn’t pull out was the night he told her about the plan he had for his life. That next morning, she got a call for a job, and she hadn’t thought about a plan B pill or anything else for that matter since.
Catching her tears, Leigh lowered her eyes and shook her head. “I can’t be pregnant. Not right now. I’m not ready, and he literally wants nothing to do with me. I don’t want my child to grow up the way I did. If I ever had children, I wanted to be married and in a healthy relationship first.” Leigh stood and began to pace. “This is all wrong.”
Ever grabbed her hand and patted it. “This could be all wrong, or it could be all God. It’s up to you to decide.”
Nodding softly, Leigh fought back more tears. She inhaled a deep breath as Ever released her hand.
“I… gotta… go, Grandma. I’ll call you later, okay?”
“Alright, baby. Remember what I said. Don’t disturb his peace. Co-parent and create your own. And once you have it… share it with someone else.”
Leigh smiled softly, praying no other tears would fall. “Yes, ma’am,” she agreed softly before giving Ever a kiss on the cheek.
Stopping by the guest room Drecco was currently occupying, she told him, “I’m ’bout to head out. She still there?”
Drecco checked the cameras on the security app Nash and Jax had installed at all of their homes. “Yep.”
“Let’s ride.”
On the entire ride to Drecco’s place, Leigh thought over the possibility of being pregnant. A very possible possibility. But she wasn’t ready. Ransom may have wanted a child, but she was sure he wouldn’t have wanted one with her. Hell, at this point, he would swear she was trying to trap him.
With the life she led, this was not the time for a baby. She was only twenty-five. If she decided to start a family one day, it wouldn’t be any time soon. How would she look showing up for a job with a protruding belly? The business was dangerous enough for her alone. Leigh absolutely refused to bring a baby into this world that would be a target. Her weakness. The main thing enemies would seek to use to destroy her in every way possible.
“Fuck!” she roared, slamming her hand against the steering wheel. Her speed accelerated so much, she had to abruptly hit the brakes before hitting the back of Drecco’s car. “This is the last thing I need right now,” she grumbled, accepted Drecco’s call on the Bluetooth in her car.
“You good back there?” Drecco checked.
Leigh nodded as if he could see her.
“Yea. Just got a lot on my mind.”
“I’m here if you need to talk. Or get fucked up. It’s whatever with me.”
Leigh smiled. “I know, and I appreciate that.”
“Aight.”
Disconnecting the call, Leigh inhaled a deep breath and tried to release those thoughts from her mind. There was no point in her worrying over something that hadn’t been confirmed yet. But as soon as she left Drecco’s place, she was going to get a pregnancy test. Or ten.
When they pulled up to Drecco’s compound, Courtney’s car was parked in the middle of his yard. She’d come when it was rainy and wet, so the print that her tires made were the first thing Leigh noticed. She’d even gone as far as to spin her wheels and dig deeper tire holes. Anybody that knew Drecco knew he didn’t play about his yard. It was his pride and joy. That was one of the lessons Ricky had taught him and his brothers before he left.
He instilled in them that the woman took care of the inside of the house, but the man took care of the trash, cars, and outside of the house. His lawn in the front and garden in the back looked good enough to be on the cover of any issue of Better Homes and Gardens. As soon as he swerved into his driveway, Leigh saw his head bobbing as he yelled in the car.
“Shit,” she groaned, cutting her car off quickly. It was a good thing she was there, otherwise, Drecco would have choked the shit out of Courtney.
Stepping out quickly, she followed closely behind Drecco, reminding him, “I’m here, bro.”
Drecco ignored her as he unlocked his door. The vein that popped out of his neck and forehead was a bad sign. A very bad sign.
“Courtney,” he roared, stalking down the hall. “Your ass got lucky last night, and I didn’t see that damage to my yard. You stupid or some shit?”
Leigh followed behind him as he took the stairs by two and three. Her shorter legs had to work twice as hard, but she stayed on him.
“Whew,” she released when they made it to the top of the stairs and she stepped in front of him, speed walking to his room where Courtney had Megan Thee Stallion blasting.
When Leigh first opened the door, Courtney was sitting in the middle of the floor, cutting up Drecco’s t-shirts, which would only upset him more. Most of his white t-shirts were Giorgio Armani. The basic white Hanes shirts he had were worn only for exercising and work, and there was no point in her cutting those. As soon as she saw Drecco standing behind Leigh, Courtney leaped up from her seat.
She started charging towards him, but when Leigh uncrossed her arms and took a step forward, Courtney paused.
“It’ll be in your best interest to get your shit and leave,” Leigh warned, keeping Drecco behind the door with her arm stretched.
Courtney looked from her to Drecco. “You’re a joke, Drecco. You had to bring your little pit bull to get me out of here?” She chuckled as she turned and sat back down on the carpeted floor. “I’m not going anywhere until you tell me why you thought it was cool to cheat on me.”
Leigh looked back at Drecco and asked him silently with her eyes what he wanted to do. If Courtney wanted an explanation, it was up to him. Drecco’s head shook.
“I’m too pissed to talk to her ass about shit right now. If she wanted an apology and for a nigga to care, she shouldn’t have fucked up my yard and my clothes. And that better be all your ass did, too!”
Courtney chuckled softly with a shake of her head. Leigh inhaled a deep breath. The smell of bleach was strong as hell. She didn’t want to say anything about it because her sense of smell was stronger than normal for some reason. It didn’t make sense for Courtney to have cleaned up the house if she was mad at him.
“You smell that?”
Drecco inhaled deeply and nodded. “Yeah.” Pushing past Leigh, Drecco went into his master bathroom. “Aw, you don’ lost yo’ mothafuckin’ mind!”
Before Leigh could stop him, Drecco had rushed over to her and backhanded her with such force, she flipped over as she grabbed her face. “You put my loafers in bleach, Courtney? All of my Ferragamos, bruh? I should beat your fuckin’ ass!”
“Leave her alone,” Leigh ordered, smacking Drecco with one hand and pushing him back by his neck with the other. “You don’t put your hands on no female. I don’t care how scandalous she is. Get her shit and take it downstairs before I tell Grandma on you!”
Drecco pushed Leigh’s hand down from his neck as his nostrils flared. He stared at Courtney for a few seconds before grabbing everything of hers that he could see and walking away. Leigh waited until she heard him charging down the stairs to walk over to Courtney. She tried to help her up since she was still on her knees, but as soon as she touched her arm, Courtney swung at her.
Leigh chuckled, causing Courtney’s eyes to widen from the realization of what she had just done. Thankfully, Leigh had enough time to block her hand, otherwise shit would have gotten bad and bloody.
“I’m sorry, it was a reflex,” Courtney muttered quickly.
“Get the fuck out before I beat your ass, girl.”
Courtney hopped onto her feet and quickly scurried out of the room. She hopped down the stairs, avoiding Drecco’s eyes as he stood at the door with his arms crossed over his chest. Since she didn’t have on shoes or a coat, Courtney ran to her car as quickly as she could before reversing out of the driveway, hitting Drecco’s car in the process
.
He tried to go after her, but Leigh stopped him with, “You put your hands on that girl. Let it ride. And don’t do that shit again, or I’ma beat both of y’all asses.”
Grumbling under his breath, Drecco slammed the front door and headed back up to his room.
As upset as Drecco was, there was no doubt in Leigh’s mind that he would be back with Courtney in a matter of days. Their relationship was toxic as hell. Though they seemed attached to each other and compatible on their good days, their bad days were really, really bad. If only Drecco could be faithful and Courtney wouldn’t react in such volatile ways. She knew Drecco wasn’t all the way there in the head, but she pushed his buttons to get a reaction out of him so she could play the victim.
And Drecco deserved it, too, for giving her the power to do so.
Leigh lounged around until she was sure Drecco was calm enough to not go after Courtney, then she left. She waited to go inside of the Walgreens that was down the street from her house to get a test. But when she got it, she was too anxious to even take the three-minute drive home. Instead, she went to the bathroom in the store and took the test. As she waited for the results, she weighed all of her options.
If she was pregnant, would she keep the baby? If she didn’t, could she handle giving him or her to Ransom to raise without her? Could she stomach him having the happy family he wanted with her baby and another woman?
If she wasn’t pregnant, would that mean something worse was going on within her body? Had there been so much dis-ease within her emotionally that it was affecting her physically?
When the timer went off on her phone, Leigh pushed herself off the wall and walked over to the sink. The moment she saw the word pregnant, she gasped before crying, “No.” Her head shook as she took steps back. “No.” Leigh growled before punching the door. “Why is this happening to me?” she whined as her tears began to fall.
It was hard enough knowing she would have to move on from Ransom. Now… she would have to carry his child and spend the rest of her life with a person that was half of the both of them?
