Stay with Me (Strickland Sisters Book 1)

by Alexandria House

  I smiled. “And you got me.”

  “I damn sure do. And I’m not letting you go.”

  “That’s good to know.”

  “Hey, when do I get to meet your friends? You met KC, sort of, and he’s the only friend of mine that really counts. You gonna let me meet your BFF?”

  I set my fork down. “Uh…I don’t have any friends.”

  He frowned slightly. “None, baby?”

  I shook my head. “Other than Internet friends, no. I mean, I used to have some real-life friends, but after my best friend screwed my boyfriend of six years—the one you met at Coda—then married him less than a month after we broke up and had a whole nation of kids by him, I found it hard to trust anyone. So I just pushed everyone away.”

  “Baby, damn. I’m sorry.”

  “I actually miss having friends, too, just don’t know what to do about it. I mean, what do you do, call them up and say, ‘Hey, my bad for ignoring your calls for years’?”

  “Nah, you call and ask how they’re doing, tell them you were in a bad place, apologize. And what about your sisters? Aren’t y’all close?”

  “Not like we should be. Not like we used to be. I’m gonna fix that.”

  “Good. Hey, Angie?”

  “Yeah?”

  “If you need me to stay home today, I will.”

  “No, I’m fine. I don’t want you to get in trouble at work because of me.”

  “I won’t, and if I do?” He shrugged. “But if you need me, I’ll stay.”

  “No, I’m really fine. If I need you, I’ll call.”

  He stood and kissed me, grabbed his last piece of bacon, and left.

  I spent most of the morning thinking about my family. Called my mom, who sounded chipper and said things were great. I didn’t bother to ask about Lamar, but I was sure he or someone else was keeping her happy. She might have been wrong for sleeping with someone else while she was still married to my father, but it was also wrong for him to run over her and take her for granted like he did.

  I got no answer when I called Nicky, but received a text from her saying she was in the middle of class. Renee didn’t answer her cell, and when I called Genesis, they told me she was out sick, so I decided to be a good little sister, dug in my freezer for the homemade chicken noodle soup I tried to always keep in supply, and headed over to Renee’s house. The soup was our maternal grandmother’s recipe. Grandma Hannah was long gone, but I’d begged and pleaded with her to show me how to make that soup when I was twelve years old, so her legacy lived on, so to speak.

  I had to knock and ring the doorbell for five minutes before Renee appeared looking droopy-eyed and just plain worn-out.

  “Damn, Nay. What did you catch? You look like holy hell.”

  “It’s contagious. You better go,” was her response.

  “Okay, I just wanted to bring you some of Grandma’s soup.” I handed it to her, and she just stared down at it. When she lifted her eyes, they were full of tears.

  “Thanks, Angie. You didn’t have to do that.”

  “Yes, I did. What is it? A stomach thing or a head thing? You don’t sound congested; you got the trots?”

  She shook her head, opened her mouth to speak, and then I heard a sound that made me question my sanity—a baby crying. “You got a baby in there, Nay?”

  “It’s the TV.”

  “That ain’t no damn TV unless your ass has super surround sound.” I pushed past her and headed toward the sound. I didn’t have to travel far to find the baby in a car seat carrier thing on her living room floor. “Either you somehow managed to have a baby without me noticing or you called in sick to babysit?”

  She shook her head. “Neither.”

  “Are you even really sick?”

  “N-no.”

  I stared at the baby, and my stomach dropped. “Nay, whose baby is this?”

  “Robert’s.”

  40

  “I was heading out to work when the doorbell rang. When I answered it, there was a woman on the other side with an infant car seat hanging on her arm. I’d never seen her before in my life. But she said she knew Robert, that this was his baby, and she needed him to watch him so she could go to work because her babysitter canceled. I told her he’d already left for work. She shrugged and placed the car seat at my feet and left without another word.”

  “And your ass is just sitting up in here babysitting? The hell is wrong with you?!”

  “I tried to call Robert, but he’s in meetings all morning. He’s trying to get a promotion, so I didn’t want to keep calling and get him in trouble.”

  “A promotion? You are sitting here with a baby he produced with another woman while married to you and you’re worried about his promotion?”

  “Maybe it’s not his. Maybe she’s crazy.”

  “You know it’s his! It looks just like his ugly ass!”

  That’s when she broke down.

  “Nay, I’m sorry, but shit, this is ridiculous! You’re just going to sit here and take care of this baby until he decides to call you back or come home?”

  “What else can I do?” she wailed. “I tried texting him, but he didn’t respond.”

  “If it was me, I’d take this baby to his ass, right in the middle of the meeting.”

  “I can’t do that to him.”

  I released a frustrated groan. “Renee!”

  “I can’t!”

  I squeezed my eyes shut and then looked at her again. “You need to call the police, Renee. That woman left her baby with a complete stranger.”

  She shook her head.

  I sighed, finally realizing what was going on in her head. “Look, Nay, I know how badly you want a baby. I know how hard you tried to have one, but sweetie, this is not the answer. This…this is wrong. This is someone else’s child.”

  “It’s Robert’s child.”

  I stood from my seat on her sofa and began pacing the floor as Renee reached down and picked up the now sleeping baby. “Renee, he cheated on you, didn’t use protection, got another woman pregnant, and you’re babysitting for her. Do you not see the insanity in this?”

  “It’s not Robert Jr.’s fault.”

  “She named the baby after him?!”

  She just looked at me.

  “Text him right now and tell him you’re calling children’s services if he doesn’t bring his ass home. You’re not doing this. You want a baby? Adopt one after you divorce his ass, but I’ll be damned if I’m gonna let you be made a fool of on my watch!”

  She jumped a little because I was basically screaming at her, but I think I shocked her back into reality. Then that damn baby started hypnotizing her again and she shook her head.

  “You don’t have to actually call them, Renee. Just tell him you’re going to. I bet his ass will stop ignoring you then.

  After almost an hour of me trying to talk some sense into her, she texted him, and at the same time, I texted Nicky to let her know what was going on. She texted back that she’d be over as soon as she got out of class. I had planned to tell my sisters about Daddy’s little pop-up visit, but this baby thing had taken precedence.

  Not fifteen minutes after Renee sent the text, Robert came busting through the front door with a look of horror on his face. Renee asked me to leave, and although I didn’t want to, I did. I’d never known him to get physical with her, so I wasn’t worried about that. I was more concerned about her doing something dumb like agreeing to raise his baby, but even if she did, there was nothing I could do about it anyway.

  *****

  “You okay?” I asked, as he worked on my face. We were attempting to make the “Boyfriend Does My Make-up” video again, but he was being unusually quiet.

  “Yeah, I’m concentrating. Are you okay after the day you had? Your dad then your sister?”

  I nodded.

  “Hold your head still.”

  “Sorry. Yeah, I’m good. I needed this distraction, but I thought I’d be laughing more.”

  He
gave me a smirk. “Thought I’d be fucking up again, huh?”

  “You cursed.”

  “You said you were gonna speed it up and lay music over most of this video, right?”

  “What’d I tell you about those lip readers?”

  “Shit, I forgot.”

  I giggled.

  “Stop laughing at me. Hell, you know I got a problem. Now stop talking so I can hook your lips up.”

  I did, sitting patiently, waiting to see the end result.

  “Okay, check yourself out in the camera.”

  I turned and my mouth dropped open. I looked…beautiful. Even I didn’t do my make-up that well. “Wow, baby! This is incredible!” I gushed.

  Ryan smiled, his hazel eyes sparkling. “Thanks.”

  “But how? I mean…how?”

  “Today at work, I sat and tried to remember how you do your make-up. I channeled you, you know? I—”

  “You watched some tutorials on YouTube?”

  “Yep.”

  We both fell out laughing, and then I said, “I’m keeping that part in the video.”

  He shrugged. “Fine with me. I just didn’t wanna look like a chump.”

  “Ryan Boyé, you could never look like a chump.”

  We fell silent for a moment and I reached to turn the camera off. There was a heaviness between us that had been coming in waves over the past few days, because we both knew Ryan’s job here in town ended in less than a month. I was afraid to bring it up, and I knew he was avoiding the subject altogether, because I’d learned that was what he did. He avoided problems. And honestly, with my family losing its mind and how it felt to be in the middle of it, I couldn’t blame him.

  But still…

  “Angela.”

  I was taking the memory card out of the camera, but his voice made me turn to face him. He sounded…scared.

  “Yeah?” I replied.

  “You know I love you, right? More than anything?”

  I nodded. Shit, we’re breaking up. For real this time. “Yes, I feel the same about you. You know that, right?”

  He nodded. “Ang, will you—”

  The doorbell started ringing in rapid succession, tearing into our conversation, and making my rollicking heart nearly jump out of my chest. We looked at each other and both headed for the front door. When I opened it, Nicky was on the other side.

  “Nick—” I began, only to be quickly cut off.

  “Why haven’t you been answering your phone?! Or your texts?!” she screamed.

  “We were filming, and my phone was in another room. What—”

  “Robert has lost his mind. I went over there to check on Renee. I know it’s late, but I had to take care of some stuff after class. Girl, he wouldn’t let me in at first, and when he did, do you know that damn baby was still there? And he wouldn’t let me see Renee. I called for her and she didn’t answer. Her car was there so I tried to find her in the house and he threw me out. He literally picked me up and threw me outside! I think he might have done something to Nay!”

  My mouth dropped open, and my poor heart thumped around in my chest as I looked up at Ryan who was standing beside me.

  “Let’s go,” he said.

  Robert’s car was gone when we got to Renee’s house. Renee’s was still there, so we knocked and rang the doorbell over and over again. Just when Nicky suggested that Ryan kick the door in, it opened to reveal Renee with swollen eyes and her hair all over her head.

  “What did he do to you?!” I shrieked.

  “N-nothing. We argued and then I locked myself up in my room. I heard you earlier, Nicky. I just didn’t feel like talking to anyone. But then I heard all the commotion, came out and he was slamming the door shut and you were screaming about him putting his hands on you, so I told him to get out and take his baby with him.”

  “Oh, thank God,” I said.

  “Hi, Ryan. Y’all come on in,” she offered.

  We all sat down, and she apologized profusely for us having to come out at night for nothing. Just as all three of us were reassuring her that it was okay, Robert came through the front door, baby-less.

  “You called your whole damn family, Nay? And who is this red-ass nigga?!” he asked, stepping in front of Ryan.

  Ryan stood, held up both hands, and said, “Hold up, now. You don’t know me to be getting in my face like this. I’m here with Angela. She just wanted to check on her sister.”

  “Yeah, well, what we got going on over here ain’t none of Angela’s business. I already threw Nicky’s ass out. I can throw your ass out, too, Angela!”

  Now Robert was in my face. I opened my mouth to curse him out, but was preempted.

  “Okay, let’s get something straight,” Ryan said, stepping between me and him, towering over Robert who was an inch shorter than Renee. “I know this is your house, but if you put your hands on this one right here? I’ma have to put my motherfucking hands on you. Renee invited us in, so we’re here. If she wants us to leave, we’ll leave, but I promise on my dead mother, if you touch my woman, I will end your ass and I mean that shit. Don’t let the light skin fool you.”

  Robert backed up a little. “Uh…look, I just need to talk to my wife. Alone.”

  Renee shot to her feet. “We don’t have anything to talk about, Robert. You need to leave.”

  “This is my house, too, so I ain’t going nowhere!”

  “Fine, I’ll go.”

  “You can come with us,” I offered.

  “Or you can come home with me,” Nicky said.

  “I think I will, Nicky. I need my damn mother,” Renee said.

  “So you just gonna run home to your Mama? We need to talk!” Robert shouted.

  “About what, asshole?! You already admitted it was your baby! You think I’m gonna sit up in here with you after that? After your woman was bold enough to drop it off over here? I know what that means! It means you have talked so much shit about me to that woman that she has zero respect for my position as your wife! And so do you! So yeah, I’m going home to my mother, you piece of shit! And I’m doing something I should’ve done years ago. I’m filing for divorce.” Renee turned to me. “Angie, thanks for coming. Ryan, you can take her home now. Nicky can stay and help me pack some stuff. Nicky, dial nine-one-one so the police can be here in case this stupid-ass man tries to put his hands on either of us. Acting a damn fool when he’s the one in the wrong. Typical!”

  Renee flounced out of the room, leaving Robert standing there with a shocked look on his face.

  Ryan was quiet as we sat in his truck waiting for the police to arrive. A serious expression hovered over his handsome face as he squeezed the steering wheel and stared out the windshield at Robert, who was sitting on the hood of his car.

  “Ryan, you okay?”

  He nodded slowly as he turned and looked at me. “I’m good. You okay?”

  “Yeah…uh, did you mean what you said in there?” I asked, nodding toward my sister’s house.

  “What? That I’d end his ass? Yeah, baby, I meant it. I love you. I’m not about to let anybody put their hands on you.”

  “Okay…”

  He dropped his hands from the steering wheel. “Does that bother you?”

  “No, it actually turns me on, makes me wanna do all kinds of freaky, nasty shit to you.”

  With raised eyebrows, he said, “For real?”

  “Yeah…”

  “What kind of freaky, nasty shit?”

  “Absolutely anything your fine ass can think of.”

  When the police finally arrived, I was half-afraid they’d jump in behind us and pull Ryan over the way he screeched out of Renee’s driveway and sped home.

  41

  “Baby, you sleep?”

  It had been a few days since all of her family drama. The last time I tried to say what I needed to say, her sister interrupted me, but time was getting away from us. In two weeks, I’d have to leave to start my next assignment, which was already lined up for me.

  �
��No. Can’t sleep.”

  “Worried about your sister?”

  “No. I’ve talked to her, and she’s fine. I’m more proud of her than anything.”

  “Your parents?”

  “Not really. Mama’s good and I haven’t heard from Daddy. I tried to call his office like he asked me to, and he had them take a message.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be. I figured this was how it would play out. Can’t miss what you never had. I never had a relationship with him.”

  “Then what is it?”

  She rolled over, and even in the darkness, I could feel her eyes on me. “Us.”

  She’d been kind enough not to bring it up since our argument, but I guess she was over being kind.

  “Come with me,” I blurted.

  “Come with you?”

  “Yeah. They’re sending me to Arizona. It’s not a franchise this time. The company is actually building a huge resort there. I’ll be there for at least a year, maybe longer, and I want you to come with me.”

  “Come with you?” she repeated.

  “Yeah. I think that’s the best solution. You can still do your videos and rent out the other side of this place and manage it from there. Your sisters can keep watch over it.”

  She sat up. A second or two later, the bedside lamp popped on. When she turned to look at me, there was apprehension on her face. “So you want me to move to Arizona with you?”

  “Yeah, baby.”

  “As your girlfriend?”

  I chuckled. “Yes, isn’t that what you are?”

  She sighed. “You want me to leave my home and my family while it’s all in disarray and move to Arizona as your girlfriend? What If we break up? What then? I just hop on a plane and come home? Go on with my life?”

  I sat up. This was definitely not the reaction I expected. “That’s not going to happen. We won’t break up.”

  “You can guarantee that?”

  “Yes!”

  She stood and crossed her arms over her chest, causing her night shirt to bunch up under her breasts. “I love you, but I’m not doing that.”