Complicated 3

by Chenell Parker

  Mekhi stared at her with a straight face and listened while she told him what went down between her and Brandy. He would have loved to say that he was shocked, but Brandy was a hoe. He knew it, and so did everybody else. But China was right about one thing. He hated to get the short end of the stick. He could care less about any of the women that he slept with, but he wanted to be their only sex partner. It was the same when he was married to Rylee. He fucked anything with a split, but he wanted her to be with him and only him.

  “I still don’t understand why you’re here,” Mekhi said once China was done talking.

  “Brandy is in love with you. She told me so herself. Being a hoe is just in her blood, but she really wants to be with you. I’ve never heard her say that about any other man that she’s been with.”

  “Get to the point China,” Mekhi said impatiently.

  “I want to fuck you. Not for any other reason, but to get back at Brandy. One time and you’ll never hear from me again,” China promised.

  Mekhi probably would have thought it was a joke if not for the straight look on China’s face. If she were any other female, he would have had her bent over the desk as soon as the words left her mouth. But China couldn’t be trusted. For all she knew, that whole catch back thing could be a setup. After all, her brother threatened to kill him on more than on occasion. Even the one that he was best friends with now hated him. She had way too many strikes against her.

  “So, what’s your answer?” China asked him.

  “Get out,” Mekhi replied calmly.

  “What?” China asked in shock. The Mekhi she knew would have never turned down some free ass with no strings attached.

  “Big Moe,” Mekhi yelled. “Show China to the door.”

  “Seriously Mekhi,” she said looking at him sideways.

  “I’m dead ass. I don’t know what’s going on with you and Brandy, but you need to keep me out of it. You be cool China,” Mekhi said right before Big Moe escorted her out.

  He kept his poker face on in front of China, but he still wanted to know if what she said was true. Once he was alone again, Mekhi picked up his phone and dialed Brandy’s number. She kept begging him to spend some time with her, and he was about to make her day.

  Chapter 14

  Brandy danced around her house like a kid at Christmas as she put the finishing touches on her dinner. Her K. Michelle CD was blasting in the background as she waited for Mekhi to arrive. He’d been so busy with his new club that he never really had time to do anything else. She was shocked when he called and told her that he was coming over later that day. Brandy hurried over to the store and grabbed the ingredients needed to make some grilled chicken pasta with salad and garlic bread. She didn’t cook very often, but she put her all into her meals when she did.

  “Hey boo,” Brandy said when she answered the phone for Mekhi.

  “Open the door,” he ordered before hanging up.

  After spraying her body down with a little perfume, Brandy rushed to open the door for her man. She all but drooled when she saw Mekhi standing there in his Ralph Lauren shirt and Levi’s. She wanted to say forget dinner and hop on him right then and there.

  “What you got cooking in here?” He asked as he breezed by her without his usual hug or kiss on the cheek.

  Brandy didn’t think much of it. She told Mekhi what she was cooking and proceeded to fix them both a plate. They would usually sit at her dining room table and eat, but Mekhi went into the front room instead. He claimed he wanted to catch a basketball game, but Brandy felt like something else was wrong. She knew that Mekhi was an arrogant asshole most of the times, but he was more affectionate behind closed doors. Something was definitely up with him.

  “Are you okay?” Brandy asked him.

  “I’m good,” Mekhi said just as he finished the last of his food.

  He downed his beer and sat everything on the table. He kept his focus on the TV as if he was there alone. Brandy got up and cleaned her kitchen after she put the food away. When Brandy got back to the living room, Mekhi’s game had gone off. He just sat there looking at something on his phone instead of saying anything to her. Brandy got tired of him always asking her to pull up her Facebook page, so she gave him her password to do it himself.

  “You sure everything is alright?” Brandy asked him again.

  “I’m good, but what’s going on with you and China? She posting all kinds of shit on Facebook and tagging you in it. What y’all got beef for?” He questioned.

  “China is too petty for that. I don’t know what her problem is, but I’m about to unfriend her ass,” Brandy said as she pulled at the ends of her hair.

  “So she just calling you a hoe all over Facebook for nothing? Y’all were just best friends not too long ago.”

  “I don’t know what’s been up with her lately,” Brandy nervously lied.

  “It wouldn’t have anything to do with you fucking Kirk would it?” Mekhi asked.

  “What! That girl is trippin’. I never fucked Kirk. She’s just mad because me and Nicole danced for him at his party.”

  “You just said that you didn’t know why she was mad, though,” Mekhi said catching her in a lie.

  He didn’t know why it was bothering him, but it was. He didn’t have a loyal bone in his body, but he needed a loyal female by his side. He knew from day one that Brandy wasn’t the one. Janice would have been a good candidate if he was attracted to her.

  “I don’t. China knows that I dance for a living. They paid me to dance, and I did my job,” Brandy argued.

  “That’s fucked up. You sleeping with me was one thing because you and Rylee were never friends. But sleeping with Kirk was hitting below the belt. China was your girl. I thought she was lying when she first told me that shit,” Mekhi said shaking his head.

  “She is lying!” Brandy yelled.

  “Yeah alright,” Mekhi said like he didn’t believe her. “Come lock your door.”

  “You’re leaving?” Brandy wondered.

  “Yeah, I have some things that I need to take care of early in the morning. I’ll see you later,” Mekhi said right before he left.

  Brandy stood there with her mouth opened wide. She thought sure she was about to get her back blown out for a few hours, but she was sadly mistaken. As crazy as it sounded, Brandy was kind of turned on by the fact that Mekhi seemed to be jealous. He had more women than she could count, but he didn’t want her to be with anybody else. At least that’s how it seemed to Brandy. With a smirk on her face, she locked her door and went to her bedroom. Mekhi just needed a little time to calm down. After a few days, Brandy would cook him a hot meal and ride him into a coma, just like always.

  ***

  “Thank you so much,” Shay said excitedly.

  She was on her lunch break and decided to run to the deli not too far from her job. She had just gotten a call from her case worker about Mekhya’s child support case. They still hadn’t been able to get in contact with Mekhi, and they seemed to be tired of trying. They were now in the process of getting the judge to sign off on a wage garnishment. Mekhi was thousands of dollars behind, and they were going to force him to pay up. Shay was in a much better place financially, but she could still use the money. She was done chasing Mekhi about spending time with their daughter or anything else. She realized that she was just as much to blame as he was in creating Mekhya. But unlike him, she took care of her daughter’s every need. She’d recently started dating again and for a first time in a while, she was happy.

  “Here you go ma’am,” the lady behind the counter said when she handed Shay her sandwich.

  She thanked her and turned around to leave when she bumped into another customer.

  “I’m so sorry,” Shay said as she picked up the bottled water that had fallen to the floor.

  Her breath got caught in her throat when she looked up and locked eyes with Zyrian. She tried not to stare but damn it was hard. It really had to be a sin for a man to look that good. The deep waves
in his hair, the color of his skin, and bright white smile all worked perfectly to create the perfect man. His tall, muscular build and heavily tattooed arms gave him that edgy bad boy look. Shay could have kicked her own ass for letting him slip through her fingers the way that she did.

  “It’s cool,” Zyrian replied with a smile that made her weak in the knees.

  Shay had recently started dating a police officer that she met on her job at the courthouse. Things were going good with them, but she would gladly send him packing for another shot with Zyrian. She didn’t care that he was dating Rylee.

  “This must be a sign,” Shay smiled at him.

  “What must be a sign?” Zyrian questioned.

  “Me and you running into each other must be a sign.”

  “Nah, it just means that New Orleans is too damn small,” Zyrian chuckled.

  “I guess, but since you’re here, how about I buy you lunch?” Shay offered. “I don’t have to be back to my desk for another hour.”

  “I’ll pass on lunch. I don’t think my wife would appreciate that too much,” Zyrian replied with a smirk.

  Shay’s eyes instinctively moved down to his hands and saw the band around his finger.

  “Wow, I didn’t know that you were married,” Shay said trying hard to hide her disappointment.

  “Yeah, married with twins,” Zyrian said as he pulled out his phone and showed off the pictures of his kids.

  “Oh my God!” Shay exclaimed as her face fell to the floor from shock. “They look just like you.”

  She grabbed Zyrian’s phone from his hand and scrolled through his pictures. Jealousy took over her emotions as she saw Rylee’s smiling face in most of the pictures. She couldn’t believe that her ex-boyfriend was now married to her daughter’s former stepmother. The entire situation was complicated and unbelievable if she had to say so herself.

  “Yeah, they just turned two months,” Zyrian beamed proudly.

  “Congratulations Zyrian. You deserve it,” Shay said sincerely.

  She didn’t have a problem admitting that she still had love for her ex, but she was smart enough to know that it was time to let it go. Zyrian had a family, and so did she. Their time together had long ago come to an end, and Shay accepted that.

  “Thanks, Shay. I appreciate that. But let me get my wife’s food before she be calling me going off. I’ll see you around,” Zyrian said as he walked away.

  “Damn that nigga is fine,” Shay mumbled to herself as she walked away heading in the opposite direction. Rylee must have really been something serious for Zyrian to marry her in such a short period of time. Shay was with him for years, and the subject of marriage never came up. The best woman won, and Shay had no choice but to be okay with that.

  Chapter 15

  “Man, stop calling that damn girl and enjoy yourself,” Snake yelled at Zyrian.

  This was his first time being away from his wife and the twins since they were born. Rylee and the babies had gone shopping with Zyra and his mother, but he still called her at least two to three times every hour. He was even getting on his mama’s nerves. The last time he called Glenda answered the phone and told him to leave Rylee alone.

  “Nigga, mind your business and worry about that midget that you call a girlfriend, and her fat ass lil boy that’s eating up all the food,” Zyrian replied making everybody laugh.

  They were hosting a back to school event at their biker’s clubhouse just like they did every year. They gave away school supplies and vouchers to assist the kids with uniforms and shoes. This year was the biggest one ever, and they were able to help hundreds of less fortunate kids. Not many people knew it, but Zyrian funded the entire event and even paid for the food. He couldn’t do much while he was in jail, so that was his way of giving back to the community.

  “Nigga you can’t be talking about nobody being fat. Got them twins looking like they’re on steroids,” Snake shot back.

  “Fuck you boy. Don’t talk about my kids. You taking up for ole girl like you in love or something,” Zyrian replied.

  “That nigga ain’t in love. He was just laid up with his old flame last night. Lil bit alright, but her friend is fine as fuck,” Grim spoke up.

  “Her friend is trying to get at Zyrian. She keep asking me about him,” Snake smirked.

  “Go talk to her Zyrian,” Grim joked.

  “That nigga wouldn’t even tell the damn girl his name,” Snake interjected.

  “I did tell her my name. Married with twins is what she can call me,” Zyrian replied.

  “That ain’t your damn name, and you need to stop telling people that shit,” Snake fussed.

  “That’s the only name I’m telling,” Zyrian said right as Buck and his girl pulled up.

  Zyrian groaned inwardly when he saw Renata getting out of the back seat. Lately, she’d been showing up everywhere that he went thanks to Buck’s girlfriend Asia. Zyrian told Buck to tell his girl to chill, but her messy ass was still on that bullshit. Rylee ended up going off on her a few weeks ago when she showed up at her in-law’s house for a barbecue. She had Renata with her then too, but Rylee wasn’t having it.

  “Look at your boo,” Asia told her cousin the moment that Buck walked away.

  He would have gone off on her if she had said that in front of him. Buck kept telling her to leave that situation alone, but she couldn’t. Her cousin really cared for Zyrian, and that was evident by the way she always talked about him. Things with Renata and Zyrian were going good, and Asia just knew that they were going to be together. That was before Rylee decided that she wanted to step in and claim him for herself. Knowing her, she probably got pregnant just to trap him into marrying her. Asia never really had anything against Rylee before, but she couldn’t stand her now. They had an argument not too long ago at Zyrian’s parents’ house, and Asia didn’t like her ever since. Rylee’s insecure ass got mad because she invited her cousin to the barbecue. Of course, Zyrian had to have his wife’s back, so he made Asia and Renata leave. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Buck went berserk when they got home and threatened to leave her. Asia didn’t want that, so she chilled out for a while. Buck wasn’t known to bluff about stuff like that, and he’d left her once before. She got mixed up in some mess with his cousins, and he wasn’t with it.

  “I see him, but you know his pet is probably close by,” Renata answered.

  “Forget her. Ain’t no harm in talking. That’s all on him if he wanna do more than that,” Asia chuckled.

  “And you know I’m down,” Renata laughed with her as they proceeded to go towards the men.

  “Hey y’all,” Asia as Renata spoke when they walked up to the crowd.

  Everybody spoke back as both women looked around at the festivities. Renata was looking to see if Rylee was there, but she was pleased to know that she wasn’t. That was the first time in a while that she’d seen Zyrian go anywhere without her.

  “Where are your babies Zyrian?” Renata asked him.

  “They’re with my wife,” Zyrian said putting emphasis on the word ‘wife’.

  “What y’all got to drink around here?” Renata asked making small talk.

  “I don’t know. Go look in the house and see,” Zyrian snapped in irritation.

  Renata was really starting to get on his nerves. He was trying not to go off on her and Asia, but they were really asking for it. He tried to get Buck to get his girl to chill, but obviously, that wasn’t working. She was always on some matchmaking shit knowing that he was married. He had to stop his wife from beating Asia’s ass not too long ago, but he was going to let Rylee loose on her the next time.

  “She wants you to go with her,” Asia playfully chimed in.

  “Chill out Asia,” Buck warned sternly.

  Lately, Asia had been getting beside herself with the foolishness, and he didn’t have time for it. She was an entirely different person when he left her, and that was the only reason why he went back. It didn’t take very long for the old Asia to resurface, though.
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  “I’m just playing baby. Zyrian know I just be messing with him,” Asia replied innocently.

  “Don’t even play like that. You and Renata need to go sit with the other women or go inside,” Buck replied.

  “I heard that you’re about to open your bar up soon Zyrian. I hope I get an invite,” Renata said sexily.

  Zyrian was about to snap on her, but he never got the chance.

  “Excuse me sweetie, but I need you to back the fuck up off my husband,” Rylee calmly stated when she and Zyra walked up.

  There was nowhere to park around the clubhouse, so she and Zyra had to park around the corner and walk. Asia and Renata were the first two people that she spotted when they got close. They were standing in the crowd of men just like they always did. Renata back paddled her way next to Asia while Rylee went and stood next to Zyrian.

  “What’s up baby? Where the kids at?” Zyrian asked as he wrapped his arms around Rylee’s waist.

  “They’re with your mama and daddy. I wanted to come over here to see if you needed help with anything,” Rylee replied.

  “I’m happy that we did come over here. I see the thirst is real,” Zyra said looking at Renata and Asia.

  “I hope you ain’t directing that statement over here Zyra. I got a man, and my cousin is good too,” Asia spoke up.

  “Chill out Asia. Don’t start no bullshit out here,” Buck warned again.

  “You need to be telling that to your cousin. Ain’t nothing thirsty about me,” Asia yelled.

  By then, Snake’s girl and her friend had walked back over. Some of the other people in attendance had their eyes trained in their direction as well, waiting for something to pop off. Zyrian had a tight grip around Rylee’s waist just in case things got out of hand. It was sad that they couldn’t do anything positive without some kind of drama popping off.

  “Buck you better get your bitch under control before she gets her ass whipped out here,” Grim told his little brother. Most of the family weren’t too fond of Asia because she kept up so much mess.