by Lucinda John
“She found a condom in my car.”
WHAP!
My mother smacked me in the back of the head.
“What’s up with you women putting hands on me?” I sighed.
“Why was there a condom in your car, Mayhem?”
“I don’t know, I ain’t put it there. It probably fell out of Mindy’s bag the other night when I took her home,” I said, thinking back to that night when Mindy’s ‘hoe bag’ fell over.
“Why were you giving Mindy a ride home? Don’t she have a car?” Ma Dukes questioned.
“She do, but it broke down and I wasn’t about to leave her stranded. You ain’t raise me like that. I brought her home and offered to have her trade in her old car towards the down payment for a new one,” I truthfully replied.
“To make matters worse, Mindy texted me thanking me for the car. Now Tiny thinks I tricked off and got her the car,” I added.
“Oh Lord,” my mother said, tearing open an alcohol pad.
She cleaned my cut off, applied some anti-bacteria cream to it, then placed a small butterfly bandage over it.
“Ma, you didn’t have to do all that,” I chuckled.
“Boy hush. What are you going to do to fix this?” she asked.
“I’m going to give her room to cool off before we revisit this conversation. Ma, you know me better than anyone. You know cheating on a female I’m really rocking with isn’t my style.”
“Yes, I know you, baby, but that little girl is a firecracker.”
“She is. Do you mind if the kids spend the rest of the weekend with you?” I asked.
“Of course not, I missed my babies. Will you be staying here, too?”
“Nah, I’ll be at the new club. My office got this big pull out sofa, so I should be good for tonight.”
“Mmm. Make sure Mindy knows I’m Team Tiny and I have no problem cutting her for getting out of pocket,” my mother sassed.
“Chill out, Ma,” I replied, kissing her on the cheeks.
I walked in the playroom and played with the kids until it was time for bedtime. Once I got them settled in bed, I read them a story until they fell asleep. Since I had a few clothes at my mom’s house, I decided to take a shower before heading out to the club.
I sat at my desk with my phone in my hand, contemplating hitting Tiny up. I knew her ass was probably still mad at me; however, I still wanted to make sure she was good. After calling her and receiving the voicemail, I shot Elijah a text.
Me: Hey, E, how’s your mom?
E: She’s good Pops. She fell asleep while we were watching Suicide Squad.
Me: Y’all was supposed to wait for me before watching the movie (crying face emoji)
E: Sorry Pops, I couldn’t wait. When you coming home?
Me: In the morning.
E: Ok, goodnight Pops, love you.
Me: Love you too E. Look out for ya moms for me. Hit me up if she needs anything.
E: Bet.
The relationship I had with Elijah was a good one. I cherished being the father figure in his life since his father wasn’t good enough to do so. Since he’s been staying with us, I’ve grown to love him as if he came out of one of my nut sacks. I treated him like I did any of my kids, going equally hard for him as I did for them.
The knock on my office door pulled me away from my thoughts. I played with the computer screen until I had a visual of who was knocking at my door. I didn’t want to converse with Mindy at the moment, but since she was my club manager, I had no choice but to.
“Come in,” I yelled out.
“Hey, Boss, sorry to disturb you. I just wanted to let you know that Kya called out again and I have no one to cover Drea after her shift is up. I called in a few other bartenders, but no one is answering,” she said.
“How many bartenders do we have on rotation tonight?” I asked.
“Five.”
“And that’s not enough?”
“No. Do you see this crowd? We need our full staff of six. I have it that way because that’s what works for us. Everyone gets their drinks in a timely matter; everyone is happy, partying, and spending more money.
“Fuck. Ask Drea if she wants to do overtime. If she fights it, tell her boss man is willing to put in a tip. Kya is not to start work until she talks with me; that girl calls out more than she’s actually working,” I stressed.
“Got it, boss man.”
“Do you need me for anything else?” I asked.
“No,” she replied.
“Good, don’t knock on my door anymore,” I said in a dismissive tone.
Her mouth dropped open in an “O” as she looked at me with shock written on her face.
“You can go now,” I said, once I realized she wasn’t moving fast enough for me.
When Mindy was gone, I got up and locked my office door behind her. I returned to my desk to get some much-needed work done. Once I finished everything, I went to my closet, pulled out a pillow and blanket, then made my way over to my pullout sofa. I had this placed in my office for the nights I would spend in here grinding. Never did I think I would be using this spot to get away from Tiny’s crazy ass. I made sure I had a view of every angle of my club on my screen before laying down to respond to emails.
****
“Daddy, we don’t want to go home yet.” Maliah pouted, as we pulled up in front of my old house, which now belonged to Macy.
“I know, but you girls have to go to school in the morning. I’ll pick you up from school Friday,” I assured them.
“You promise?” they both asked.
“Daddy will always come through for you guys. Don’t ever worry about me not keeping my promises.” I smiled at them.
“Is Tiny still mad at you for being messy?” Mariah asked.
“What do you mean, baby girl?”
“Tiny said she was going to talk to you about being messy and leaving your noodle packet in the car,” she went on to say.
“Noodle packet?”
“Yes, daddy, the gold noodle packet that was under your seat. Mommy has a bunch of those in her dresser. I thought food belonged in the pantry. Why do she have them in her dresser?” she asked.
This girl is talking about the condom, I thought to myself as I racked my brain with ways to explain this noodle packet to her.
“Mommy likes to eat in her room. It’s a no-no, but she does it anyway. That’s why she has them in her dresser,” I replied, praying she would buy it.
“And you like to eat in your car?” she quizzed.
“Yup,” I replied.
“Food is supposed to be eaten at the table, ok, daddy?”
“Ok, baby girl,” I replied, reaching in the trunk for their bags.
“You girls shop entirely too much,” I fussed, as I carried all of their bags to the door.
Before I could knock on the door, Macy came out wearing some little ass boy shorts that had all her ass hanging out of them and a sports bra. Her body was on point; I even caught myself staring a second too hard. When she caught on, she licked her lips at me, causing me to roll my eyes at her.
“The school needs the aftercare payment,” she said, once the kids made their way inside.
“Why don’t you pay it out of the money I give you every month? I pay all the bills in this house and I give you more than I have to in child support, so why can’t you pay childcare?” I asked.
“In case you forgot, tuition is something you pay since you chose to put them in that fancy school. Aftercare is a part of the tuition,” she said.
“I’ll handle it,” I replied.
“Good. Do you want to come in for dinner? I made your favorite,” she flirtatiously asked.
“Nah, my future is at home standing in front of the stove, cooking booty butt naked for Daddy at the moment,” I smirked before walking away.
Instead of heading back home, I made my way to the office, where I was still staying since Tiny wanted to be on some bullshit.
Tiny
“How a
re you?” Mayhem’s mother asked, as we were seated for lunch.
“I’m good, you?” I said, taking a sip of my water.
“I wanted to talk to you about my son.”
I knew this was coming, I thought to myself. Mayhem hasn’t been home for the last few days and to be honest, I didn’t really care. I was now in a place in my life that I wasn’t taking shit from any nigga anymore. Yeah, it was hard, and I found myself crying at night, but I was going to show his ass that I wasn’t with that shit.
“What about him?”
“Listen, I know you found a condom in his car and I want to break this down for you a bit. I hate to overstep my boundaries, and it’s not my intention to, but my son is walking around like a zombie since you don’t want to talk to him. To my knowledge, he gave his club manager a ride home because her car broke down. He did offer her the chance to trade in her old car for a down payment for a new car, hence the text message you saw that day. I’m not trying to cover for my son, but ever since he started dating, he’s always been faithful to the girls he took seriously. Now, if it were Ramsey in question, I wouldn’t have been able to vouch for him without looking at him sideways, but Mayhem is a different story. He’s a family man,” she said.
“I understand, Ma. It’s just I been through so much with Elijah’s dad that I don’t know what to believe anymore,” I vented.
“Give him a chance and hear him out. Having him sleep at the club around that hussy ain’t the way to go,” she said.
“I thought he was staying with you.”
“Nope, he’s been sleeping at that club and if I were you, I wouldn’t let that bitch see that there’s trouble in my household. Go get your man.”
“I will,” I replied.
****
I stood in the mirror, fixing myself up. Elijah was with my grandmother for the night while I was on operation get my man back. Slipping a black bondage dress over my body, I admired my flat stomach. In a few weeks, I wasn’t going to be able to pull off wearing dresses like this, so I was going to enjoy it while I can.
Since I planned on wearing my black lace choker with the dress, I pulled all of my braids into a high bun. I placed the huge diamond studs Mayhem bought me in each ear, placing the matching diamond bracelet on my wrist and I was good to go. Due to my pregnancy glow, there was no need for me to apply any makeup, so I made sure my eyebrows were on fleek and applied red lipstick to my lips.
Spraying my body with Mayhem’s favorite perfume, I slipped my feet into a pair of four-inch heels and made my way out the door. The whole drive to the club I kept thinking of him rejecting me. Maybe he was sick of the temper tantrums I was throwing and decided it was best he moved on. The closer I got to the club, the more my palms started to sweat.
I pulled in front of the club, said a quick prayer, then handed my keys to the valet. Since the bouncer knew me, I was able to walk in without paying the entry charge. As I pushed through the crowd, I couldn’t help but be proud of Mayhem. He was putting his “get out the game alive” plan in motion, getting everything done that he said he would.
“He’s in his office, but he’s on an important business call,” Mindy said, as she made her way out of Mayhem’s office.
I sized her up and like always, she was wearing a business suit, but it was tight as hell. She wasn’t dressed to her liking unless her titties and ass were poking out of her clothes. I was sick and tired of her ass and if she continued to disrespect me, she’d find herself missing a few teeth and jobless.
Instead of replying to her hoe ass, I walked past her and made my way into his office. Just as she said, he was on the phone, so I decided to make myself comfortable. I kept eye contact with him as I kicked off my shoes and unzipped my dress. Once I was naked, I laid my body on the sofa and spread my legs wide open. Licking my fingers one by one, I dipped it into my honey pot and used my juices to lubricate my pearl.
“Yes, we’ll talk later. Thank you. Yes. Understood. Have a great day. Bye,” Mayhem said, ending his business call.
“What are you doing?” Mayhem asked, loosening his tie.
“I came to tell you to come back home,” I purred.
“Come back home, huh?”
“Yes, daddy. I’m sorry for flipping out on you without hearing you out first,” I apologized.
“So you think I’m supposed to come home just because you come in my office playing in ya pussy?” he asked.
“No, you’re supposed to come home because I’m sorry and I miss you,” I replied.
“Put your damn clothes on and take your ass home,” he said, flipping the script. I went from having the upper hand to him taking that shit from me.
“Really, Mayhem?”
“Yes, really. I’ll come home when I’m done working,” he dismissed me.
“Hmm, makes me think you want to sit up here and fuck with that bitch.” I went off as I slipped my dress back on.
“Here you go again. How you come to apologize, just to argue with me again?” he chuckled.
“I’m glad you find this shit funny.” I rolled my eyes.
“Nah, your ass is seriously bipolar. I don’t know if it’s the baby or if you are really this way and I just missed the signs.”
“Fuck you, Mayhem,” I snapped.
“You tried to, but I sent your ass home. See ya later, lil mama,” he smirked, throwing up the deuces at me.
I was so pissed that I knocked off all the papers on Mayhem’s desk.
“Bring yo’ ass back here!” he yelled at me, causing me to stop in my tracks.
“Don’t just stand there like you dumb. Bring your crazy ass here!”
“What?” I sucked my teeth.
“See, this little temper tantrum you been throwing is a fucking turn off. I ain’t going to baby your ass just because you’re pregnant. You can’t get mad when you don’t get your way; you ain’t a fucking child!” Mayhem snapped, putting me in my place.
“Now, pick up my damn papers, organize them shits how they were, and take yo’ ass home!” he yelled.
“I ain’t doing shit,” I lashed out.
“Tiny, it’s taking everything in me not to fuck you up. You come in here fucking up my business shit. I ain’t got time to baby you. Man, you need to act your age, for real,” he ranted.
“Whatever.” I rolled my eyes, as I picked up the papers.
I arranged them how they were, then walked out of his office without saying a word. I hated how Mayhem was treating me, but I wasn’t going to sweat it. As I was making my way towards the exit, I ran into the thottie.
“You leaving so soon?” Mindy asked.
“Get the fuck out of my face!” I snapped.
“Oh, someone is mad.”
Drawing my fist back, I punched her hard in the face. I was so sick and tired of her slick ass trying to play up under my man. Mayhem may have been blind to the signs, but I wasn’t. I was getting ready to punch her ass again, but security came and escorted me outside. I guess he was on the phone with Mayhem because instead of me driving home, he had one of the security guards drop me off.
I was sitting on the bed, watching Power and enjoying a tube of yogurt mixed with berries, when Mayhem stormed in.
“Tiny, I don’t know what the fuck you on, but I advise you to fix the shit. Do you know the shit I had to do to stop Mindy from pressing charges on your ass?” he vented.
“Did you have to fuck her?” I asked with the roll of my eyes.
“I need your due date to hurry the fuck up because I don’t know how much longer I can deal with the shit!” he yelled, knocking a few pictures down. I could tell he was starting to become aggravated with my behavior.
“I’m sorry,” I sobbed. “I just hate how you’re always around her. She’s so pretty and in a few months, I’m going to be fat and unattractive,” I continued to cry.
“Tiny, I ain’t some little ass boy that don’t know what he wants. I know I want a family with you and there ain’t a bitch in the world that coul
d come in between that. Pussy is pussy, a fat ass is a fat ass; all that shit don’t mean nothing to me if I ain’t feeling you. I love you, Tiny, and I ain’t checking for another bitch. I would rather leave you than to play little boy cheating games witcha. I’m a grown ass man. I’m fifty-four about mine and if I wasn’t ready to settle down, you wouldn’t have been standing in this house, getting ready to have my baby,” he said.
“I know. I just feel so insecure when it comes to you. With all the pretty women in the world, I feel like I have to be on my square so the next bitch won’t knock me off.”
