I wiped the few tears that were still falling.
“Ima stop talking. We both just going to watch the way this shit plays out. You’ll see I’m not going to hurt you, though. Get Twinkle out yo’ fuckin’ head. Damn, I already got her out of mine,” I said and tapped her on her head for emphasis.
Every time I came around Trinity, it was always “Twinkle this,” and “Twinkle that.” It was me who had brought out all these insecurities in Trinity, though, so the same way I had put those insecurities there, I had to help remove them bitches. I said some fucked up shit to Trinity while she was pregnant, so the shit she just said about me wishing that Trinity was carrying my baby was just something that she’d heard me say. The day she had the gender reveal, that I didn’t go to, she said some fucked up shit out of anger. In turn, I did the same thing.
We were discussing a woman who was sprung off the next man. I wouldn’t even want no female who’s looking at the next nigga, all dickmatized. Fuck no! He can have her.
Two months later
“Baby, I hope it’s a boyyyy. I’m going to cry if it’s not,” I said, coming up to my husband and wrapping my arms around his neck.
I had revealed my hopes for the sex of our baby to him about ten times, and that was just for today. I can’t even give a solid number on how often I’d admitted to him how bad I wanted a son since I discovered that I was pregnant. If I had to guess, I would say over five hundred because I literally said it all the time. I wanted a chunky, handsome, hairy little boy, who looked just like my husband, but of course, I wanted him to have features like me as well.
Today was our gender reveal, and we were holding it in the backyard of our new home. The same beautiful home that my husband had shown me a couple of months ago on my birthday. I expressed to him every chance I could how much I adored the home and how much I wanted to raise our family there. This house had everything we could possibly need. It was an eight-bedroom home, and no, we didn’t need all this space, but I knew that in the coming years, our family would continue to grow. Who knows if all eight of these bedrooms would ever be occupied?
This house reminded me of something out of a magazine. Everything inside the home was new, top of the line, with a modern look that many people were going for these days. The driveway was huge enough to fit the three cars I had and the three that my husband had. Plus, there was still enough room to add more cars. This wasn’t even counting the extra garage space.
The front of our house reminded me of pulling up to a fancy restaurant where the valet would be standing outside, waiting to park my car. I never really envisioned that I would be living in a house this size because Lord knows I didn’t think I would find my mate, so I’ve always kind of been content with the townhouse that I used to own. Yes, I said used to own because my husband was so serious about getting my house put on the market and selling it.
Because Billionaire worked with houses and numbers for a living, and he knew his way around the market, my home was under a contract for a new buyer in less than a week, and I made a very pretty penny on the sale. I was fine financially because Billionaire handled all the bills. Once I was paid, my money was just pocketed. Since I had extra money to splurge, I was in the process of remodeling a church for my mother.
The divorce battle between her and my father was nasty. Things could have been settled, but he was being cruel with his demands. The man was sick; he wanted my mother to no longer have the Davidson last name. And because he was the breadwinner, he didn’t want my mother to take anything from the house, not even her damn toothbrush. I wanted God to make such a big example out of him because he was such a hypocrite.
I couldn’t believe that after Billionaire went to the church and exposed my father for the monster he is, people still supported that clown. I had logged onto the church website last Sunday because I wanted to see what his congregation looked like these days, and I was ashamed when I saw on the live video that he still had so many people supporting him. I hadn’t seen my father in months. To be more specific, I hadn’t seen him since my mother’s birthday, and that was months ago. I didn’t miss him or anything like that. I had no respect left for that man after the crooked plan he set out for my husband to be killed. I thought it was best that the two of us weren’t around each other because I knew for a fact that I would lose all the self-control I had and try to physically harm him.
Anyway, back to this beautiful home… one of my favorite things about the house was the huge pool in the backyard. This pool was added, and the job was just completed a couple of weeks ago. When we purchased the home, it was just a bunch of empty land in the backyard. I had known how to swim since I was a toddler, but Billionaire’s kids didn’t, so every weekend, someone came out to give the two of them lessons. With me being five months pregnant, I’ve now been introduced to doing aquatic yoga, so that’s how I spend my Saturday and my Sunday mornings.
The lower level of the home was a basement with a lot of open space. For the past month, Billionaire had been getting that area remodeled because, of course, he wanted a man cave. He was even putting a bedroom and a full bathroom down there as well. I laughed because he said that was going to be his escape for when I started working his nerves as if he didn’t work my nerves just as bad.
Speaking of my husband, he was slowly getting back to his old self after he had to endure the pain of losing his uncle. The state that Billionaire was in after he lost his uncle was the worst that I’ve ever seen him, which was shocking because I just knew that the lowest I would ever see him was the state he was in after the truth was revealed about Khari. I could hardly get him to eat, talk, and you could forget about sleeping because he’d turned into a zombie overnight.
I’ve never seen my husband shed a tear, but at his uncle’s funeral, I think everyone heard his cry. There are still days when I’ll walk up and catch him somewhere by himself, and he’ll be crying over his uncle’s death. It broke my heart to see my husband crying because he was easily the strongest man I knew. I’ve learned to be there for Billionaire, but I’ve also learned to give him some space whenever he requested it because we all had those moments when we just needed to be left alone with our thoughts.
Although he’s been trying to get over his uncle’s death, he was still going so hard with his business of flipping houses. Just last month alone, he flipped about six or seven houses, and I was so proud of him because he was turning into a beast with his business. He hadn’t missed one of my doctors’ appointments, and mentally, physically, and emotionally, he hasn’t checked out on me, so I was happy about that. Today, I had caught him laughing and joking several times, so that made me feel good because these days, he didn’t do too much of that.
Our gender reveal had a water theme, so we were going with sharks for a boy or mermaids for a girl. I’d contacted some party decorators that I found on Instagram, and they decorated the entire outside area of the house. Everything came out so beautiful. The gift table was filled with so many things, and as much as I wanted to have a baby shower, with all the gifts that we’d already received, I didn’t even think it was necessary. I had already counted two car seats, a crib, a stroller, all types of clothes, and other furniture gifts when the only thing we asked for on the invitations were wipes and diapers.
I laughed because those were my husband’s homeboys who didn’t follow any of my damn directions. My husband wore a pair of pink swimming trunks, and he was shirtless, showing off his big muscles along with his eight pack. Billionaire wanted a daughter. He went from not caring the gender to suddenly wanting a daughter who, in his words, “looks just like me.”
He was in the house, sitting on one of the barstools, talking to his homies, when I walked up. I was coming from upstairs after yet another bathroom break. All I ever did these days was complain about having heartburn and pee every other minute. Aside from that, pregnancy had been good for me. I never had any morning sickness, and only a handful of times had I complained about feeling nauseated. I now
was sporting a round stomach, so my secret was out of the bag for everyone because only my family knew about me being pregnant initially. I hadn’t announced it yet at work, but now it was out, and everyone was so excited.
While my husband was sporting pink because he was team girl, I wore a beautiful, custom, sky-blue bathing suit with a silver sarong around my waist and thong sandals on my feet. My hair was growing by the second, and today, it was in its curly state, hanging loosely. The sun would set in just a few short moments, and that’s when we planned to do our firework gender reveal.
“You going to cry if it’s a boy too. Normani, you don’t know what you want, shorty. You just told me last night that you changed your mind, and you wanted a girl,” Billionaire said as he put his beer on the island and squeezed my behind.
“Stop, because my mom is lurking around somewhere,” I said while reaching back and gently brushing his hands off my butt.
Not only was my mom there, but so was my sister, her husband, and even some nurses from the office who I had invited out to celebrate this moment with us. I didn’t want them to see my husband trying to freak me, all out in the open.
Billionaire laughed and put his hands back on my butt, not giving a damn about what I just said. He was so handsome. His face was such a good sight to look at. My hands went for his beard, and I gave it a gentle tug like I always did.
“You walking around, looking like you just swallowed a mini watermelon, yet you worried about your mama seeing me squeeze yo’ ass? The same ass I help put on you. Everybody in this motha fucka knows that we fuck. Your swollen stomach tells it all,” he shot at me.
I was just about to respond, but my eyes fell to who was walking into the backyard. It was Monterius, his baby mama, Trinity, and their daughter. I bit my lip and sighed because Twinkle was there with Truth, and I didn’t want anything to go down, especially not at our gender reveal. I knew they both had moved on, but from my understanding, this was the first time that both couples had been around each other, and I just didn’t know how that would go down.
I didn’t know if Monterius and Trinity were together, but a few days ago, he was at the house, chilling in the den with my husband. I walked into the room, and he was talking about doing something nice for Trinity. When I walked in, he asked for my input. Later that night, I asked Billionaire what was going on between Monterius and Trinity, and he told me to stay out of people’s business. I knew he was only telling me that because he thought I would report back to Twinkle. But when Twinkle and I spoke on the phone, she never even brought up Monterius, and neither did I.
Twinkle was on the verge of getting married and planning a wedding that was the price of this home we were living in, plus she was pregnant. Shit! I wasn’t supposed to say that. She told me a week ago that she found out and she told me not to tell anyone about the pregnancy yet. Well, she was mainly talking about Billionaire because she knew that if he knew, he would run his mouth about it, and she was just trying to keep it on the hush for now.
My husband turned around to see what had my attention because I guess he could see the look of concern on my face. Monterius came in, holding his beautiful, sleeping daughter in his arms, and with the other hand, he was holding Trinity’s hand. Ugh, I hated to say it, but the two actually looked really nice together. Truth and Twinkle were just as adorable. You know what, let me just shut up.
“Baby, you told Monterius to bring her? Billionaire, it’s going to be drama,” I whined.
His hands went to my back, which was exposed in my swimsuit, and he ran his cool hands up and down my back.
“Because you told Twink to bring her nigga. I wanted to see my niece too, so I told Monterius that they could come. It ain’t going to be no drama. Come on. Fix your pretty ass face,” he said, and then he stood up from his chair. He turned me around, so my back was facing him, and he walked with me in a bear hug all the way to the backyard.
The kids were in the water, splashing around and having a good time. The adults were either drinking, dancing, or looking after their children. The games we had been playing ended about fifteen minutes ago, so now, everyone was just chilling. The sun was now down, and it was time to get the fireworks ready. The lights had come on in the backyard, and my husband went right into daddy mode, telling the kids to get out of the pool.
“I’m going over there with Twinkle, baby. Let me know when you’re ready,” I said and then stood on my tiptoes to kiss his lips.
“Aight. Tell my cousin that I said not to start no shit,” he told me.
“Tell your boy the same thing,” I said, and then I walked away.
Twinkle was sitting at one of the tables, and when I walked over, Truth was walking away. I took the seat he had just vacated.
“I didn’t know Monterius was coming with her and the baby. I knew he would be here, though,” I told her as we both looked across the backyard, staring at Monterius and Trinity.
People had walked up, wanting to see the baby. I wouldn’t tell this to Twinkle because I knew that talking about Monterius’s baby was a touchy subject, but that little girl that Monterius had was drop-dead gorgeous. He’d been on daddy duty a few times, and he’d come to the house with little Tegan. On one occasion, I was on the phone with Twinkle, and she heard Tegan downstairs crying with Billionaire and Monterius.
Twinkle said nothing; she just laughed, and then she shook her head. Her laugh was sarcastic, and I could tell that she was pissed.
“Normani, life is just so fuckin’ crazy, you know? I get it, I’m engaged to the next man, I have a baby on the way with the next man, but I can’t help but look at this shit and be fuckin’ disgusted. For months, this nigga told me that bitch was just a fuck. I remember one time, I went through his phone, and I found some messages between them. He swore up and down that he didn’t give a fuck about her and that she was just somebody he entertained whenever he and I were going through our little things. Lied to me until he was fuckin’ blue in the face and told me that baby wasn’t his, and now look.
“The same baby he said wasn’t his… look. He’s walking around here, holding onto a little girl who looks just like his ass. Doing that shit proudly too, after lying about that shit for fuckin’ months! Holding hands with a bitch who he swore he didn’t care about. I’m not going to ruin you and my cousin’s day, so Ima just chill, but Normani, I’m pissed because this shit ain’t right. Let me have been the one who cheated on him with another nigga, got pregnant, and lied about who my baby daddy was the whollleeee nine months, only for the truth to come out that my baby wasn’t even his. Monterius would have fuckin’ killed me.
“I could take him moving on with any other bitch, but for it to be the same bitch that he lied to me about for so long, that shit just annoys the fuck out of me. The shit with them happened too fast, which makes me think that he beeeen fuckin’ that bitch, and he been had feelings for her. He was just waiting for the perfect time to act on his feelings,” Twinkle said, and I could hear the hurt in her voice.
In the beginning, a lot of things that Twinkle used to go through relationship-wise, I could never understand. I’d never had a relationship where I loved a man so much and would give him all of me. Now that I was with Billionaire, I understood. I loved my husband in a way that’s hard for me to even understand. I loved him like this when we were just boyfriend and girlfriend.
Putting myself in Twinkle’s shoes, I can imagine that I got pregnant with Billionaire’s baby, and within a matter of weeks, I have a gruesome miscarriage. Add on to this, a couple of weeks before my miscarriage, I find out that Billionaire could possibly have another baby on the way. Boom, we break up, but I still love him deeply. Now, the same woman that he’s lied to me about for years, the same baby he swore wasn’t his for months, turns out to be the two people that he’s now starting a family with. Yes, I’ve moved on, but still, that shit has to hurt.
Monterius and Twinkle have years’ worth of history, so that’s years’ worth of love. I felt where she was
coming from. Although I felt her, and I felt like she had the right to be angry, hurt, and even bitter if she wanted, she had to look at this from a perspective that this wasn’t a loss. It was an opportunity to start over fresh with Truth.
“Twink, I get it, but sis, please look at the man you have across the room,” I said, then sat up in my chair, put both of my hands on either side of her head, and turned it toward Truth.
Billionaire had some of his homeboys there, and Truth was from Miami too, so he knew a lot of people in attendance. Truth was laughing with a few of the men, and when he laughed, his handsome face showed the dimples on each cheek.
“Girl, with all due respect, that man is too fine. Twinkle, he loves you. Are we going to act like we don’t see the interviews that he does on TV? When your name is brought up, that man is smiling from ear to ear each time. You even said it out of your own mouth that Monterius has never treated you this way. He has a game tomorrow, but he flew down here with you, so you could attend my gender reveal. I’ve never seen you this happy before.
“I feel like you are more motivated than I’ve ever seen you before. You have your boutique here, and it’s doing amazing. Now, you’re in the process of opening another one out in Cali. Look at how mad you just got in one second of seeing Monterius, Trinity, and their baby. Can you imagine working things out with Monterius, and you have to be forced to deal with this and accept it for the rest of your life? You’ll never forgive him for having a baby on you, so why even punish yourself like that and even be angry about a bullet that you know damn well you dodged?
“Let them do their family thing while you do your family thing with a man who doesn’t have children. Girl, you’re one of the lucky ones. Some of us out here have to deal with these niggas and their crazy ass baby mamas,” I said in a joking way, but I was dead serious.
Turned Out by His Hood Mentality 3 Page 13
