Worst Case Scenario

by Chenell Parker

  She liked Nas and Remo because they kept her laughing. They were clowns when they got together and it was comical to see them in action. Remo always came to the shop to get his hair washed and Toi looked forward to it.

  “What’s up pretty girl?” Nas said as he pinched Toi’s cheek.

  “Boy, I don’t know how you plan to cut nobody’s hair today. You look a hot ass mess,” Stori laughed.

  “I feel like a hot ass mess too. You got some coffee Stori?” he asked with a yawn.

  “Yeah, I’ll make you a cup. Do you want breakfast too?” Stori asked.

  “I want it all. I’m hungry and tired as fuck,” Nas replied.

  Stori brewed him a cup of coffee before she finished cooking their breakfast. Once she was done, she fixed everybody a plate and cleaned up her kitchen. Nas smirked when he saw Gavin following her around like a little puppy. That nigga was obsessed with his wife and Stori couldn’t even breathe without him sharing her oxygen. Gavin was lame as fuck, but Nas tolerated him. Gavin was the one who used to take all of his tests when they were in cosmetology school. Nas was a natural at cutting hair, but school was never his thing. He knew that he couldn’t get his license without passing, so that’s where Gavin came in. Nas had a gift of pointing out the weakest link amongst the bunch. As soon as Gavin walked into class and introduced himself, Nas knew that he’d hit the jackpot. Remo wanted no parts of him, but Nas was always the friendlier of the two. When Remo went to jail, Nas finished the program and got his cosmetology license

  Unfortunately, he couldn’t get rid of Gavin after that. He was like a groupie and wanted to do everything that Nas did. It was annoying as fuck and Nas tried to distance himself as much as he could. He showed his appreciation by getting Gavin a job at one of the hottest barber shops in New Orleans, but that obviously wasn’t enough. Gavin considered Nas to be his best friend and that didn’t go over too well with Remo. It was weird to Nas how a grown ass man always copied another man. Gavin had dreads for a long time until he saw Nas start to grow his hair out for a mohawk. Nas and Remo had a nice grain of hair like their mother. When Nas got his curly mohawk colored blonde at the top, Gavin was trying to mimic him. He probably would have if Stori wouldn’t have stopped him. She was the one who colored Nas’ hair and she refused to do her husband’s. He wanted his hair curly too, but he had to use chemicals to make it happen.

  Besides bragging about his wife and money, Gavin wasn’t all that bad though. Nas was a closed book to most people, so Gavin didn’t know a damn thing about him. Besides going to school and working together, he didn’t need to know anything else. Nas only trusted one person and that was the nigga who he came into the world with. Remo hated Gavin, but Nas knew that it was just a little jealously. Since day one, it had always been the two of them. The thought of having someone trying to come in between their bond angered him. Nas assured his twin that Gavin was nothing more than an associate. The only real friend he’d ever had was his brother.

  “You ready to get to work Toi? We got a busy day ahead of us,” Stori said once her kitchen was nice and clean.

  “I’m always ready to have fun,” Toi replied, right as her phone rang. She loved to interact with the clients in the shop and their gossip and friendly banter kept her entertained.

  “Who is that calling you this early?” Stori asked.

  “Hey Misty,” Toi said when she answered for Nas’ sister-in-law.

  “Tell her to unlock the door, so I can come take a shower and get ready for work,” Nas said when he heard Toi call Misty’s name. His sister-in-law and her baby lived with him and his wife and he needed her to let him inside.

  “Misty wants to know if I can babysit tonight. She said that she’ll pick me up and bring me back home in the morning,” Toi said while looking at Stori.

  “Yeah, that’s fine,” Stori replied, right before Toi repeated what she and Nas said to Misty.

  “Okay, I have to check Stori’s appointment book,” Toi said as she got up and headed downstairs to the shop. Stori did Misty and Milan’s hair too and Toi kept up with most of the appointments.

  “You ready to get up out of here bruh?” Gavin asked while looking at Nas. They were over an hour early for work, but he needed to drop Nas off home.

  “Yeah, I’m ready,” Nas replied as he stood up and stretched.

  “Make sure you keep your phone close by. I hate it when I call and you don’t answer,” Gavin said as he wrapped his arms around Stori’s waist.

  “It don’t matter if the phone is close by or not. If I’m busy, I can’t answer it. You know I don’t like to keep my clients in the shop too long,” Stori replied.

  “Put your ear plugs in or something. I be needing to hear your voice sometimes. I love you, baby, and make sure you come lock the door. You be all the way in the basement and the door be unlocked,” Gavin said as he kissed her lips and walked away.

  “Pussy whipped ass nigga,” Nas joked once they walked out of the house.

  “Man, you just don’t know. I wish I could put that shit in a bottle and sell it. Pussy so good I be wanting to cry sometimes. I’m mad as fuck that she’s on her period right now,” Gavin replied.

  Nas never understood niggas like him. There was no way in hell that he would tell another nigga about how good his wife’s pussy was. Niggas were grimy as fuck and that was a rookie mistake. Gavin was always bragging on Stori and niggas were listening. Some of the same dudes who sat in his barber chair were lusting after his wife. They knew he was lame and some of them had even tried to get at her. He should have been happy that Stori wasn’t a hoe. A lot of men wanted her just because of the shit that her husband said about her. Milan was an ex-stripper, but Nas still wouldn’t put her on blast like that. Stori was bad as fuck, but she wasn’t out there being a hoe like some other woman probably would have been. The way Gavin talked about her all the time had a lot of niggas curious though.

  “I think it’s real fucked up that y’all still got Toi babysitting Summer,” Nas spoke up as Gavin neared his house.

  “Who is y’all? I don’t have shit to do with that,” Gavin replied.

  “You need to man the fuck up and say something nigga. I know I do some fucked up shit, but that’s foul on a whole new level,” Nas said while shaking his head.

  Gavin didn’t even have a reply, but he knew that his boy was right. Shit was too far gone for him to intervene now though. Toi had been babysitting Misty’s daughter, Summer, for three months now, if she couldn’t find anyone else to do it. Milan was supposed to be helping out, but she was too busy chasing behind Nas.

  When they pulled up to the house, Gavin got out of the car and followed Nas inside. Milan was sitting on the sofa with her legs tucked underneath her. She frowned when Nas walked in, but he didn’t bother saying anything to her. He went straight down the hall to their bedroom and she jumped up and followed right behind him. Gavin kept going until he came to the second room at the end of the hall. When he opened the door, Misty was standing there trying to comfort Summer, who was crying.

  “Hey baby.” She smiled as she walked up to Gavin and gave him a kiss. Gavin loved when she called him baby because Stori never did. She wasn’t into all the pet names unless she was talking to Toi.

  “What’s up? Why is my baby crying?” Gavin asked as he took Summer out of her arms.

  “She’s hungry. I need to go make her a bottle. She needs more diapers and wipes too,” Misty replied.

  “I’ll get her some later today or tomorrow,” Gavin said as he rubbed Summer’s back lovingly.

  Stori would die if she ever found out about his little secret and he’d die before he let her. Shit was crazy, but having a baby on his wife was not something that he was proud of. He didn’t even know that he was the father until the baby was born. Granted, he did have sex with Misty a few times before she got pregnant, but he wasn’t the only one. Misty had fucked with Remo and another nigga around the same time. When she said that she was pregnant, Remo wanted her to get rid
of it. Misty wanted to keep her baby, but she couldn’t dance while she was pregnant. She ended up disappearing for a while until the baby was born. Since their mother lived in Beaumont, she stayed with her for a while and had her daughter in Texas. She came back when the baby was two weeks old and asked all three men for a blood test. Gavin was the unlucky one and he now had a six month old daughter.

  Nas let Misty come back to the club, but Gavin still helped out with their daughter. Misty hated that her baby was a secret, but she just went with the flow. Gavin was an only child but not even his parents knew about Summer. He would have done anything in his power to keep from Stori knowing the truth. It was bad enough that Milan and Misty went to his wife to get their hair done, but Toi had taken a liking to the baby. Every time Misty would come to the salon, she would take Summer to her room and keep her the entire time. After a while, Misty started asking Toi to babysit. Sometimes, Summer would come to their house or Toi would go to theirs. Nas always told him that he was foul for letting it happen and Gavin couldn’t even disagree.

  “We need to be looking for another babysitter too. Shit is too close to home for Toi to keep doing it,” Gavin said when Misty handed him a warm bottle to feed their daughter.

  “I’ve been looking Gavin, but I don’t trust just anybody with my baby. She loves Toi and Toi loves her too. She takes better care of Summer than Milan does. That bitch is home every day and I don’t trust her with her own niece,” Misty replied.

  Misty and Milan had a love/hate relationship. They were originally from Texas, but the two sisters visited New Orleans one year for Mardi Gras and fell in love. They decided to move there temporarily to see if they liked it and they did. They both ended up working at the club until Misty got pregnant. She went back home and used her savings to survive. She was broke after she had her baby, but it was worth it.

  Once she decided to move back to New Orleans, Milan promised to help out with Summer since she no longer had a job. She even agreed to let her sister and niece move in with her. Misty left her daughter with Milan once and she never made that mistake again. Summer’s diaper looked like it hadn’t been changed in hours and she was screaming to the top of her lungs when Misty got home. Milan was knocked out and never even bothered to wake up and see about her. It was sad that Misty trusted a fourteen year old with her daughter more than her own sister. Milan wanted a baby so bad, but she wasn’t ready. She only wanted a child to keep Nas around, but she wasn’t mother material.

  “Well, look harder. I can’t have this shit blow up in my face and my wife find out about it,” Gavin said.

  “Maybe if your parents knew about her, I wouldn’t have to look so hard. You know that I don’t have any family here. Everything ain’t always about your wife. I didn’t lay down and fuck myself. Where was your loyalty to her when you got me pregnant?” Misty inquired.

  “Fuck all that dumb shit Misty. Stop acting like I wasn’t one of three possible fathers. My luck just wasn’t as good as the other two,” Gavin said.

  “Wow. So, being her father is bad luck?” Misty questioned.

  “Don’t act like I’m some deadbeat ass nigga that’s out here doing my daughter dirty. I take care of my responsibility. When the test proved that she was mine, we agreed to keep everything under wraps. I fucked up, but you and everybody else know how I feel about my wife. Don’t even try to start getting in your feelings,” Gavin said as he laid his now sleeping daughter down in her bed.

  “I’m not getting in my feelings about nothing. I’m just telling you that it’s not easy to find a reliable babysitter.” Misty shrugged.

  “Maybe you should think about getting a day job and I can pay for her to go to nursery,” Gavin suggested.

  “Where am I gonna find a day job that pays as much as the club? I can’t use my real estate license here. It’s only good in Texas. I’m just starting to build my savings up again. I don’t want to stay with Milan forever. I’m used to having my own place. You take care of Summer, but you don’t do shit for me,” Misty reminded him.

  “You’re not my responsibility. Now, if you’re trying to make some extra cash before you go to the club, I got you,” Gavin said as he slipped his hand underneath her dress.

  “Stori must be on her period. That’s the only time you come over here trying to fuck me,” Misty replied while rolling her eyes.

  “Stop acting like you don’t want it,” Gavin said as he dropped his jeans and got a condom from her drawer.

  He’d learned his lesson from before and he’d never hit Misty raw again. Sex with her was okay, but it would have to do until Stori got right. Misty wasn’t nearly as tight as Stori and she was never as wet. Still, he put the condom on and slid inside of her. He only had a few minutes to spare before he had to get to work, so he was leaving as soon as he was done.

  Misty held on to the dresser as Gavin pumped into her from behind. Although she cared for Gavin, he wasn’t who she really wanted. Remo was that nigga and Misty spent nine months praying that he was Summer’s father. It was crazy because she even named her daughter after his deceased mother. Remo was furious when she got pregnant and he wanted her to get rid of it. Misty had been with him way more than she was with Gavin and the other man and she just knew in her heart that she was having his baby. Instead of getting rid of it, she hid out by her mother until she had her baby. There was no way in hell that Remo would have let her have it had she stayed in New Orleans. When she came back to town, Misty got right to work and demanded a blood test from all three men that she was with. She was pissed when she found out that Remo wasn’t the father, but Gavin was her second choice. Besides being borderline obsessed with his wife, he wasn’t so bad.

  Gavin was handsome in his own right, but Remo was a fucking god. He stood well over six feet tall with a body that seemed to be hand crafted by the most high. His warm beige skin tone, kissable lips and exotic bedroom eyes made up the perfect face. He resembled a thugged out version of Odell Beckham with dreads. Misty was sometimes salty that her baby sister was walking around with an identical version of him. Nas was every bit of Remo, minus the hair. He actually wore his mohawk similar to the football player that he and his brother resembled. He was more laid back than his twin but he was a piece of work too. Misty wasn’t a grimy bitch, at least not to her family. If she was, she would have fucked her sister’s husband a long time ago. The way Milan talked made it seem like Nas was the shit in the bedroom. His twin brother was too, so she knew what had her sister so hooked.

  Once he found out that Misty’s baby wasn’t his, Remo refused to even touch her again. He really didn’t want her to come back to the club but Nas intervened on her behalf. It was all about business with him and she was one of their top money makers. She hated to see how gone Remo was over Kalani, but he was crazy in love with that bitch. Misty often wondered what she had done to make him feel that way but she would probably never know. She was thankful that Gavin wasn’t a deadbeat but she still hated how things played out. No one knew that he was the father of her child and he was determined to keep it that way. Misty always thought that she would be in a relationship with the father of her child and, sometimes, she really wanted to be. Unfortunately, all she got was Gavin’s body because Stori already had his heart.

  “A t least hear a nigga out before you say no.” Nas frowned as he looked at his older brother, Jarvis.

  At forty-four years old, Jarvis was the closest thing that Nas and Remo had to a father. Their parents were killed when they were ten and Jarvis was twenty-six. Jarvis was married with a baby on the way at the time, but he and his wife didn’t even think twice before they took the twins in and raised them.

  “I heard everything that y’all said, but I can’t do it bruh. I already got y’all strip club and rental properties in my name. I don’t even make that much money for all that shit. Y’all gon’ have the feds looking at me like I’m doing something illegal,” Jarvis argued.

  He was a local truck driver for Budweiser and his wife
was a paralegal. Together, they made a pretty decent living and they had three teenage daughters. It was like he had five kids because he had been raising his two younger brothers since they were ten and they were now twenty-eight. Jarvis was devastated when their parents were gunned down in their home. His grandparents offered to take the twins in, but he couldn’t even do that to them. Nas and Remo were bad as fuck and nobody could handle them like their parents could. They were identical and it was hard for anyone to tell them apart. Even Jarvis had trouble figuring out which one he was talking to most times. The twins both had a birthmark on the inside of their thigh on opposite sides. They used to swear that Jarvis was trying to look at their dicks but that was the only way that he knew how to tell them apart. He was happy as hell when they got older and Remo started growing his dreads. That made his life and the lives of others so much easier.

  Their parents left them a nice lump sum of money in the bank and with their life insurance policies. Jarvis was fair and he divided everything up three ways. He set it up so that the twins would be able to have access to their money when they turned twenty-one. He wanted them to invest their money and do something positive with it. Knowing how they were, Jarvis knew that he was expecting too much. He wasn’t even surprised when the twins put their money together and got some dope instead. That was the beginning of the end from there. They stayed in some shit and they both had a rap sheet that was longer than Chinese arithmetic.

  When they finally got their money up the way they wanted it, they decided to open up a strip club, but that didn’t stop them from selling dope. Nas got the hookup with a pharmacy and they sold prescription drugs and anything else that they could get their hands on. They had people selling the shit right out of their club and they made a killing. With more money came more problems and the twins had lots of them. Everything they did was extreme and they fed off each other’s bad habits.

  Unfortunately, they couldn’t get anything in their own names. Everything that they owned was in Jarvis and his wife’s names. Not only did they have a lengthy criminal record, but Remo didn’t have any legal income besides the club and rental property. Nas finished cosmetology school, but Remo never went back. Nas wanted to open up his own barber shop but he didn’t even have credit. He ended up working in a shop that belonged to one of their grandfather’s old acquaintances. Mr. Herbert had been their grandfather’s best friend up until the day he died seven years ago. They suspected that he was messing with their grandmother now, but they always denied it.