COMPLICATED

by Chenell Parker

  “We’ve already talked to Kendrick about it. He won’t say anything to Rylee. I would rather her think he’s the father than you. I didn’t know that your wife was coming over. I would have had Mekhya in the room if I did,” Carolyn promised.

  “I didn’t know that she was even here. You think I would have sent my wife over here if I did? Y’all let Shay spit that bullshit about child support, but that hoe ain’t stupid,” Mekhi yelled.

  “You need to call her and make some kind of arrangements. Maybe if you put Mekhya back in daycare she’ll back off,” Kendra suggested.

  “I’m not calling that bitch. I’m going to her house. Pack Mekhya’s shit, I’m taking her back home. And y’all need to do something about this nasty ass house. I can be renting this bitch out to somebody who’s going to take care of it if y’all can’t,” Mekhi fussed.

  “We’re about to clean up,” Carolyn replied.

  “You always say that, but it never happens. And why is there bags of trash sitting in the middle of the floor?” Mekhi asked pointing to three big black garbage bags.

  “That’s not trash. That’s Kendrick’s stuff. That girl put him out again,” Mena spoke up while going to retrieve Mekhya’s belongings.

  “Broke ass nigga,” Mekhi mumbled under his breath.

  Aside from a car, Kendrick didn’t have shit to show for himself. He worked for six months at a construction site to buy it but quit as soon as he had the car title in his hands. He always found a woman with her own house for him to lay up on, but it never did last long. Once his female companion saw that he was another bill and mouth to feed, they usually kicked him out. He always ran back home to his mother until he found his next victim, which usually didn’t take very long.

  “What’s up baby daddy?” Kendrick smirked when he walked into the living room and saw his little brother.

  “Nigga you got a lot of jokes to say that you’re depending on me to take care of your ass?” Mekhi snapped.

  “Boy, you got me fucked up. You might take of mama and the rest of them, but you don’t do shit for me,” Kendrick hissed.

  “It’s mighty funny you can say that when you’re living in my house that I pay the bills in. I don’t see nobody else footing the bill for nothing up in here.”

  “Don’t get shit twisted. I’m here right now, but I won’t be here long. You always trying to throw your money in a nigga face and shit. You up there now, but it’s only a matter of time before you come back down here with the rest of us. Even balloons lose helium.”

  “Yeah, I know that’s what you want to see happen, but it ain’t. Even if I don’t work for the next two years, I’m straight nigga,” Mekhi bragged. “And unlike you, I’m smart with mine.”

  Mekhi didn’t have as much as Kendrick thought he had, but he loved to piss his brother off. He and Rylee were financially comfortable, but they weren’t rich. She still worked and saved all of her money, so they had a little cushion if they needed it. Rylee had her own savings account that her checks went to, but Mekhi never asked her for anything. That was her play money, but he still made sure that he took care of all of her needs.

  “Kendrick stop wishing bad luck on your brother. I don’t know what’s wrong with you,” Carolyn said interrupting Mekhi’s thoughts.

  “Still taking his side I see,” Kendrick replied with a shake of his head.

  That was nothing new, though. Mekhi could do no wrong in their mother’s eyes. She would go to her grave defending him, even if it meant going against her other kids.

  “Here is her stuff. Come on Mekhya,” Carolyn said while handing her son his daughter’s bag.

  Mekhya hung on to Carolyn’s leg and looked at her father with tears in her eyes. She didn’t see Mekhi as much as she saw the rest of his family and she was scared. It didn’t help that he was yelling at her mother most of the time that she did see him.

  “I hope she don’t start that bullshit ass crying,” Mekhi said with a frown. “I already got a headache.”

  Kendrick looked at his brother in disgust before calling out to his niece. “Come on lil mama,” he said with his arms extended out to her. Mekhya ran and jumped in his arms right before they walked out the front door with Mekhi following close behind.

  “You got a car seat?” Kendrick asked Mekhi. He snickered when he saw the murderous look that his brother was giving him. “Oh shit, never mind.”

  “Just strap her in the back seat,” Mekhi instructed.

  No sooner than Kendrick sat her down, Mekhya started screaming to the top of her little lungs. She was pulling on his shirt, but he still managed to get her secured in her seat belt.

  “Stop crying baby girl. Your daddy is going to bring you to see your mommy. You want to see your mommy?” Kendrick asked trying to comfort her.

  Mekhya nodded her head when he said what she wanted to hear. Kendrick wiped her face with the tail of his shirt and gave her a dollar just like he always did. Mekhya was still sniffling, but she was no longer crying loudly. Mekhi was grateful for that much.

  “Thanks, man,” Mekhi said to his brother.

  “Thanks my ass. I’ll be at MJ’s tonight and drinks are on you. I’m your daughter’s daddy nigga, don’t forget,” Kendrick taunted.

  Mekhi ignored him and backed out of the driveway. He sent Shay a text telling her that he was on his way. He didn’t tell her that he had Mekhya because she probably wouldn’t have opened the door for him if he did.

  ***

  Shay was just waking up when she heard someone banging on her door like they were crazy. She had gone out the night before, and it felt damn good. She hadn’t been out in years, and she was long overdue. Her mother agreed to keep her oldest daughters, and she left Mekhya with Carolyn over the weekend. She was about to pick her up that Friday when she got off, but her sister convinced her to go out for a night on the town the following day. Deidra tried to get her to go to MJ’s, but she flat out refused. She wasn’t trying to play games with Mekhi. Taking care of their daughter was all that she wanted from him.

  “Who is it?” Shay yelled.

  “Open the damn door,” Mekhi yelled back.

  “Speaking of the devil himself,” Shay muttered as she unlocked the door and pulled it open.

  As soon as the door was opened Mekhya came running in followed by Mekhi. Shay was happy to see her baby girl, but she was wondering how she ended up with Mekhi. She didn’t have to wonder for long when he opened his mouth to speak.

  “Stop dropping her off at my mama’s house without getting her permission first. My mama and my sisters are not obligated to keep her. And you don’t even work weekends, so why was she still there?” Mekhi questioned.

  “If you had paid her daycare bill she wouldn’t have been at your mama’s house. I’m with Mekhya around the clock, and I need a break sometimes too. It’s not like I can drop her off to you, so Carolyn is the next best thing. It ain’t like she clocking in at somebody’s job anyway. All she do is sit inside and watch TV,” Shay replied.

  Mekhi dropped Mekhya’s bag to the floor and got up in Shay’s face.

  “Don’t worry about what the fuck my mama do. She didn’t sign up to be your personal babysitter. If you need a break, take her to your own mama. Last time I checked her ass ain’t have a job either.”

  “Just like your mama didn’t sign up to be a babysitter, neither did mine. I’m putting your daughter off on everybody, but you, and that’s unfair. I didn’t do this on my own Mekhi,” Shay yelled.

  “But you did, though. I gave you the money to get an abortion. You decided that you wanted to keep her without consulting me about it. Why should I be obligated to take care of something that I didn’t want? You took away my choices and now you’re pissed because I’m not there like you want me to be. As bad as I wanted a dog I never got one because I didn’t want to be responsible for it. That’s the same way I felt about you having my baby.”

  “Are you seriously standing here comparing your daughter to a fucking dog?” Shay
growled angrily. “So I didn’t get the abortion like you wanted me to, big fucking deal. She’s here now Mekhi.”

  “Yeah, because of you. No matter what you say, all of this is still on you. When we first met you told me yourself that you couldn’t afford to have another baby, so why did you? I’ll tell you why,” Mekhi said as he asked then answered his own question. “You thought she was going to be your meal ticket. You saw how my wife was living, and you wanted the same thing for yourself. But tell me, where are your sister and your cousins? They were the ones who convinced you to do it. Do they help you out with her?”

  “They don’t have to, she’s not their daughter,” Shay shot back.

  “I’ll take that as a no,” Mekhi smirked.

  “Look, all of this arguing is beside the point. Are you going to pay her daycare bill or not? I’m really getting tired of the back and forth. We can settle this like adults or we can get a judge to settle it for us. And honestly, we need to discuss you doing a little more for her than just daycare,” Shay said seriously.

  “You must be out of your fucking mind!” Mekhi objected.

  “No, I’m actually coming to my senses. Rylee is not the only woman in your life who deserves nice things.”

  “I’m not giving you a fucking dime! As a matter of fact, I need the info for the nursery. I’m about to start paying them myself. I’ll be damned if you use my money to take care of them other niggas kids. You better fill out a missing person’s report to find their asses to take care of their own kids,” Mekhi replied angrily.

  “Okay, but don’t say I didn’t give you a chance to do the right thing,” Shay answered.

  “I don’t blame them niggas for bouncing on you. Don’t nobody want your thirsty ass for a baby mama. Shit, you probably trapped them too,” Mekhi said hurting her feelings.

  Shay was done talking. It was time to let her actions show more than her words ever could. She wrote down the info to Mekhya’s daycare and handed it over to him right before he left. She slammed the door behind him and grabbed her iPad from her room. Shay was done playing games with Mekhi. She’d been letting him get by with doing the bare minimum for far too long. She was about to show him just how serious she was. Shit was definitely about to get real.

  Chapter 12

  Against his better judgment, Zyrian let Buck talk him into going on a double date with him and his girl Asia. Of course, they didn’t tell him that Asia’s cousin Renata was who he was going on the date with. He was heated when he first got there, but he ended up having a good time. It turned out that Renata was just getting out of a bad relationship, and that was why she came at Zyrian wrong the first time. She apologized to him and promised him a good time. He was happy to know that she’d kept her word. That was a little over two months ago, and they were still kicking it regularly. The sex was still garbage, but he had other females who looked out for him with that.

  “Congratulations boo, I’m so happy for you,” Renata smiled brightly.

  “Thanks, Ma, I appreciate that,” Zyrian replied.

  It took a few months, but Zyrian was finally able to sell his house at full market value. The couple that made the purchase went to their closing earlier that day and he had the check deposited in his account soon after. He didn’t have anything planned for the day, so he took Renata up on her offer to take him to lunch. They went to Deanie’s Seafood in the French Quarters, and Zyrian was enjoying himself.

  “You want anything else?” Renata asked once she and Zyrian were done eating.

  “Nah, I’m full. You can call for the check,” he replied while rubbing his flat stomach.

  He pulled out his wallet to take out some cash, but Renata stopped him. “This is your celebration dinner, so it’s my treat,” she smiled sweetly.

  Zyrian held his hands up in surrender and put his wallet back in his pocket. It was rare that you found a woman willing to foot the bill on anything, so her kind gesture was appreciated. Zyrian’s father Zach used to always preach to him and his older brother, Junior, about selfish women. He always told them that they should always be the provider and never depend on their women to take care of them. But the flip side to that was to also make sure that they chose a woman who has their backs if they ever needed it. He used to encourage them to test women by asking for something small and work their way up to bigger items. Whenever Zyrian would get with a chick, he would start out doing everything at the beginning of the courtship. After a while he would say that he wanted something, but didn’t have the money for it, hoping that they would offer to get it for him. He soon found out that a broke man, no matter how good he looked, was a huge turn-off. Out of all of the females that he had showed loved to when they went out, not one of them offered to show him the same, not that he really needed them to. He quickly got the picture and he started seeing things differently after that. Whenever Zyrian spent money on a female, he did so with the intention of getting something back at the end of the night, and he always did. That was until he met Dedy. She was the first woman to make him rethink his ways. Zyrian met her at a parade that his biker club was asked to ride in on Mardi Gras day. They kicked it on and on for a few months before they decided to make it official. By the time Zyrian met her, he was done with the whole testing females to see how they would react thing. Dedy’s test was actually the real thing. She and Zyrian were going to a party, and they ran into the mall to get something to wear. As soon as they got in the mall they went their separate ways, agreeing to meet up in a certain place when they were done. Everything was going good until Zyrian realized that he didn’t have his wallet with him. He had everything picked out down to the socks with not a penny or a credit card anywhere on him. When he called and told Dedy that they had to leave she told him to stay where he was until she got there. Once she got to him, she didn’t hesitate to pull out her debit card and pay for his entire purchase. It was a little over three hundred dollars, and she didn’t blink an eye when she did it. Dedy was only seventeen years old at the time, but she had a job working in a hair salon. She didn’t do hair, but her brother’s girlfriend let her wash hair and take appointments in her shop just to keep money in her pockets. To say that her actions surprised Zyrian was an understatement. He was truly amazed, mainly because no one had ever come close to doing something like that for him. What was even crazier is that Dedy never asked to be repaid. Of course, he gave her the money back with more added, but the point was that she never asked for it. It was then that he knew that she was the one. Or he thought she was at that time. Her true colors came out a few years later when he got locked up.

  “You want to go catch a movie after this?” Renata asked bringing Zyrian back to the present.

  “That’s cool, just let me run to the bathroom right quick,” Zyrian said standing to his feet.

  He walked away towards the back of the restaurant to the where the bathrooms were located. After emptying his bladder, Zyrian washed and dried his hands before walking out.

  “I thought that was you, but I just had to be sure,” A familiar voice said from behind him.

  When he turned around and came face to face with Dedy, he couldn’t help the frown that appeared on his face. Zyrian looked her up and down and had to admit that she still looked good. Her hair had grown out a bit or maybe she was rocking a weave now. She was a little thicker than he remembered but having a million kids did shit like that to you.

  “Why would you need to be sure it’s me? I thought you didn’t have time for niggas in jail. Or at least, that’s what you told everybody.”

  “Really Zyrian? Since when did you start listening to other people? That was never your style.”

  “And it’s still not my style. You showed me what it was, so obviously the rumors were on point.”

  “You don’t think I thought about you while you were in there? That shit was just as hard on me as it was on you.”

  “I can tell by all the letters and visits I got from you,” Zyrian remarked sarcastically.

  �
��Oh, so that’s why you’re upset?” Dedy asked.

  “Nah, I’m not upset at all. I should be thanking you if anything.”

  “Thanking me for what?” She questioned

  “For showing me that you weren’t the one. Some niggas get in too deep before they realize that kind of stuff. You saved me a lot of time and money by showing me early on, and I appreciate you for that shit.”

  “Okay, now you’re just trying to be funny. I know that you’ve moved on and everything. I saw you sitting over there with your lil girlfriend. I’m not trying to cause any trouble. I just wanted to say hello. We don’t have to be together, but we can, at least, be friends. We’ve known each other too long not to,” Dedy smiled.

  “Girl you ain’t looking for no damn friends,” Zyrian laughed. “You probably need help with them, twenty kids, you got at home. You still fine as fuck, but I’ll pass.”

  “So you’re willing to pass on all of this,” Dedy said as she made a sweeping gesture over her body.

  “Hell yeah, I’m passing. I was only gone for five years, and you had thirty kids during that short time. Your ass is fertile, and I can’t deal. I fuck you today, and you’ll be pregnant tomorrow. So once again, I’ll pass,” Zyrian replied.

  “Is me having kids that big of a deal Zyrian? You act like it’s the end of the world or something.”

  “It’s a not big deal for me at all. For your baby daddy, it might be, but I’m good. I’m just happy that I strapped up every time, so I don’t have to deal with you like. But you be good Dedy, I’ll see you around,” Zyrian said as he walked away and went back to his table with his ex-girlfriend’s eyes on him the entire time.

  She felt stupid for even approaching him, but she couldn’t let him leave without saying something. She knew that he wouldn’t be too happy to see her, but he was downright insulting. Zyrian was always outspoken, and nothing about that had changed. Dedy wished she would have made better decisions while he was in jail, but it was too late for what ifs now.