You're My Little Secret 3

by Chenell Parker

  “I’ll be right back,” Dwight said as he walked out the front door. About a minute later, he came back in with another woman.

  “This is my cousin Drika y’all,” Dwight said introducing her to everybody. One look at her and I had to admit that Co-Co was right. There was absolutely nothing cute about her. She kind of reminded me of the comedian Jamie Foxx when he played Wanda on In Living Color. She had a dark chocolate complexion with bright red lipstick covering her huge lips. The blonde wig she was wearing only made her look worse.

  “Hey everybody,” she said waving at us. “And how are you Co-Co?”

  I prayed that this clown didn’t act a fool on this girl in Baby’s house. But to my surprise and relief, he’s on his best behavior.

  “Hey, Drika girl. You look so cute. I was just telling Dwight how pretty you are,” Co-Co lied with a straight face. He walked over and gave her a hug like they were the best of friends. Dwight looked at him and shook his head. Drika was blushing at the false compliment, and I had to keep myself from laughing once again.

  “Thanks and I love your hair,” she said as she attempted to touch my cousin’s short platinum colored hair. We always joked and told him that he looks like Sisqo from Dru Hill, but he always said that he looked better. He really does remind me of the singer except he’s not as short, and he can’t sing for shit. A few other people said it too so it must be true.

  “Oh no honey, please don’t touch the do,” he said seriously.

  Co-Co doesn’t play about his hair, so he moved away before her hand connected with his head. Brooklyn offered them some food, and they made themselves right at home. They ended up staying over there for a while as well. We played cards and chilled up until a little after midnight. This day just like any day with my family proved to be one that I would never forget thanks to Co-Co.

  BROOKLYN

  Six weeks and four days after I gave birth to Dominique, Dominic and I got married on the beach in Key West, Florida. When he came to me with the idea, I was skeptical at first. He wanted to do everything by himself and that made me nervous. As soon as I stepped on the beach and saw the layout I was in awe. I don’t know who he got to help him, but everything was perfect. The view was breathtaking. Dominic and I stood in a heart that was made of roses and recited our vows in front of all of our family and friends. The colors were coral, and cream, and everyone was dressed to match the decorations. There were about one hundred chairs decorated and lined up in the sand behind us. I cried the entire time when my dad walked me down the makeshift aisle to meet Dominic underneath the gazebo. Never in a million years would I have thought that we would be here today. When he married Kennedi I just knew that it was over between us for good, but fate has a way of making the impossible happen.

  Once the ceremony was over, we retired to the wraparound deck where the reception was being held. I didn’t want to leave my babies to go on a honeymoon, so Dominic rented the entire villa on the beach for us to stay in for a week. It was big enough for all of us to have our own rooms with lots of space left. They had lots of activities for us to enjoy, and we had babysitters for whenever we wanted to do something. As much as my mama didn’t want us to be together, even she was happy and smiling. All of our parents were staying there as well as our siblings. Since they planned to stay for the entire week, Bryce had somebody else running his shop until they returned.

  I was also happy to see Dominic smiling and happy again. He had a huge smile on his face for the entire wedding. Kennedi had been stressing him out for the past few weeks. He gave Mrs. Liz his credit card to take her shopping for their daughter, but that didn’t go too well. That crazy heifer wanted a custom made crib in the shape of a carriage that cost almost four thousand dollars. When he told her that he wasn’t paying for it, she threw a tantrum and said that she didn’t want anything if she couldn’t have what she wanted. She said her baby wasn’t wearing or sleeping in anything cheap. After two days of shopping, the only thing they ended up getting for the baby was some pampers, wipes, and a few onesies for her to sleep in. Mrs. Liz was ready to kill her. She said Kennedi bitched and complained the entire time they shopped. She gave Dominic his credit card back and gave up. I told Dominic that we would go out and buy everything that the baby needed when we got back home. If she refused it, then that would be on her.

  “Damn Brook, it’s almost three o’clock and y’all are just now waking up,” Co-Co complained when Dominic and I met them on the beach the following day. “I hope your fertile ass is on some birth control.”

  “Um, we did get married yesterday just in case you forgot. And we had to make sure our kids were straight before we left,” I replied. I ignored his comment about birth control because I’m probably overdosing I’m on so much medicine. I love my babies, but I’m not ready to have anymore anytime soon. Even though Dominic and I are married now, I want to finish school and focus on my career before even thinking about having more kids. Dominic’s sex drive is through the roof so I have to protect myself or we’ll have a house full of babies.

  When I was younger my mother and I never really talked about birth control. She always told me to tell her if I ever felt like I was ready to have sex and we would take it from there. Of course, that never happened. I would have never felt comfortable enough to tell her something like that. It was those times that I often wished for a sister. All my brothers ever told me was don’t do it. They drilled that in my head for so long until I almost didn’t do it. They had me so scared of everything that I was almost anti-social at one time. If anybody even expressed interest in me, they scared them off before it went anywhere.

  “Well, let’s get this show on the road. Dwight is only here for two more days, and I want us to have some fun before he leaves,” Co-Co said shaking me from my thoughts. Dwight works as a cameraman for one of the local news stations. His hours are crazy, and he barely gets time off. He had to practically beg one of his colleagues to fill in for him just to be with us for a few days.

  “I’m ready,” Taylor said walking away.

  “You might as well bring your hot as right back here,” Bryce said as he grabbed her hand. “You’re staying with me since you wanted to wear that small ass bathing suit.”

  Taylor and Tiana were so tiny that they could get away with wearing anything. I have to be careful because my ass is too big for certain clothes. Having two babies back to back only made it bigger. We all have on two piece bathing suits, but I’m wearing the boy shorts instead of the underwear bottoms. Dominic still doesn’t like it, but he let it go because I’m with him. Candace is wearing a wrap over her bathing suit, and that kept David’s mouth closed too.

  “Let’s get on the jet skis,” David yelled excitedly.

  “I’m not getting on them things,” I replied nervously. I looked out at all the people who were on them, and they’re going too fast for me. A few people fell off, but the skis kept right on rolling.

  “C’mon baby, you can get on with me,” Dominic said as he pulled me along. We all followed David’s lead as he walked us over to the rental booth. We have five more days of vacationing left. I just hope we’re all still in one piece to be able to enjoy it.

  KENNEDI

  I’ve been holed up in my house all day crying my heart out. I’ve cried so much until I didn’t think there were anymore more tears left. That was until I looked at Dominic and Brooklyn’s wedding pictures again. I can’t believe he really married that bitch. He refused to buy what I wanted for our daughter, but he gave her a lavish wedding on the beach. They’re still in Key West living it up without a care in the world. I guess Tiffany got tired of me asking her what was going on with them because she gave me her password for me to look whenever I wanted to. I’m already in a foul mood and seeing that only made it worse. I was finally back at home relaxing after being gone all day yesterday. I’d drove for almost four hours to visit my mother in the federal facility where she’s being held in another part of Louisiana. I’m due to give birth in less than
three weeks, so my doctor advised me not to go. Tiffany was supposed to drive me, but she canceled at the last minute. I didn’t have anyone else to take me, so I drove myself there. I just had to see my mother before having my baby. I don’t know when I’ll be able to see her again.

  She tried to keep a smile on her face, but I saw the worry in her eyes. Things aren’t looking too good for her, and she’ll probably have to do federal time. We couldn’t even hire a lawyer because all of her accounts had been frozen. She keeps telling me that everything will be alright, but I know that’s a lie. The Feds don’t come for you unless they have solid proof. She’s guilty of everything they accused her of, but she’ll never admit it. Now I understood why she was always so afraid to get the police involved in anything.

  I cried almost the entire ride back home. Just seeing her in those prison clothes was enough to drive me crazy. Then, if that wasn’t bad enough, I had to come home and get hit with the pictures of Dominic marrying his side bitch.

  “Yes,” I snapped into the receiver of my phone when I saw Tiffany calling. I was so pissed with her for so many reasons. Ever since she moved in with Kyle, she’s been putting me on the back burner. Not only did she cancel on me yesterday, but she was supposed to be here to get me earlier this morning. She promised that we were going to spend the day together just so I could get out of the house, but she never showed up.

  “I’m outside, come open the door.I have food so you better hurry up,” she said laughing.

  I wasn’t in a laughing mood, but the thought of food had me rushing down the stairs. I unlocked the door and swung it open, ready to tell her off for standing me up. My words were lodged in my throat as anger took over my body when I saw Kyle standing there with her.

  “What is he doing here?” I asked with a frown on my face.

  “I’m here with my woman, that’s why I’m here,” he replied with an attitude.

  “Are you going to let us in or not?” Tiffany asked me. I stepped to the side and allowed them to come in. Kyle walked in and immediately started looking around while Tiffany took the food to the kitchen.

  “You can have a seat,” I said when he started touching some of the paintings on my wall. His ghetto ass was acting like he’d never saw art before. He gives me the creeps, and I don’t know why my cousin brought him here. He ignored my invitation for him to sit and continued looking around at everything. I rushed into the kitchen with Tiffany to give her a piece of my mind.

  “You can go sit down. I’ll bring your plate to you,” she said when I walked in.

  “Why the hell did you bring that loser here? He’s in there looking like he’s checking out my house so he can come back and rob me,” I snapped.

  “You can’t be serious right now,” she said frowning at me.

  “I’m very serious. I don’t trust his broke ass and I damn sure don’t want him in my house,” I whispered angrily.

  “Bitch, I’m far from broke and I don’t want to be in your house either. I only came because my girl begged me to come,” Kyle said from behind me. I jumped when I heard his voice because I didn’t know that he was standing there.

  “Kyle chill, we’ll leave in a little while,” Tiffany said trying to defuse the situation.

  “Nah, I’m ready to leave right now. I see why Dominic divorced her stuck up ass and married Brooklyn,” I’m sure Tiffany is the one who told him, but he didn’t have to throw it in my face.

  “Fuck you!” I snapped angrily.

  “From what I heard you can’t even do that right,” he laughed.

  “Kyle stop,” Tiffany begged.

  “Tiffany, if you’re not out of here in five minutes I’m leaving without you,” he said as he walked out and slammed my front door.

  “Did you really need to say all of that Kennedi?”

  “I don’t know what the hell you see in him. You should have left him alone after he let that bitch Nadia beat your ass,” I yelled.

  “He didn’t let her do anything. He can’t control what his ex does. You just need to stop looking down on everybody. That’s why you’re single right now,” she replied hurting my feelings further.

  “I’d rather be single than be a broke nigga’s punching bag,” I replied.

  She couldn’t respond to that because she knew that I had her right. I lost count of how many times she showed up to my house with a busted lip or bruises on her face. She always makes excuses as to why Kyle hits her, but it’s all bullshit to me. In my opinion, he’s a coward who can’t keep his hands to himself.

  “I only came here to give you some money for my God-daughter. You can have the food. I’m not even hungry anymore,” she said as she handed me a wad of money. I looked at all the hundreds that she’d just stuffed into my hand, and my jaw hit the floor.

  “Where did you get all of this money from Tiffany?”

  “Don’t worry about where it came from. I know you need it to get some things for the baby. I’ll call you tomorrow,” she said as she walked out.

  I locked my door and sat down on the sofa, staring at the two thousand dollars that Tiffany had just given me. She and I needed to have a talk very soon. Both of us are unemployed, so I want to know where she got this kind of money from. Looking at Kyle, I’m sure it came illegally. I just pray that whatever he’s doing doesn’t affect my cousin in any way.

  BRYCE

  After being in Key West for a whole week for Baby and Dominic’s wedding, we were all on our way back home. Dominic rented three vans for us and his immediate family to get to and from the airport. The rest of our family left the day after the wedding, so it was only a few of us left. Damion, one of my tattoo artists, has been running things for me in my absence. He called me every day to let me know that everything was running smoothly. The barber and beauty shop was closed for the week since all of us were gone. Damion blocked off the front of the shop and had all of the clients who wanted tattoos to come in through the side entrance. He was the first artist to work for me when I opened my shop years ago, and I trust him to the fullest.

  When we got back to the airport in New Orleans, it was a little after nine that night, but we were all worn out. I was ready to grab Taylor and my girls and go home. We all boarded the airport shuttle buses that were there to take us to our cars. I didn’t want to park my car at the airport lot for an entire week, but I’m happy that Taylor convinced me to do it. That way I didn’t have to wait for anybody else to take us home. Both of my daughters were sleeping so I had to pick them up and put them in the car. As soon as I finished putting in the last of our suitcases my phone rang displaying Damion’s number.

  “I’m just now getting in town D. Let me call you back tomorrow after I get me some rest,” I said when I answered the phone.

  “Aye Bryce, I need you to get to the shop like right now,” he yelled above all the noise in the background.

  “Why, what’s wrong?”

  “Man, the whole damn shop is on fire,” he said knocking all of the wind out of me.

  “What!” I yelled causing everybody to stop and stare at me. “Damn, I’m on my way!”

  “What’s wrong baby?” Taylor asked me.

  “Damion said that the whole shop is on fire,” I said repeating what I was just told.

  “Oh Lord no! My tropical fish were in that shop,” Co-Co said right before he collapsed to the ground. His ass is just too extra, and I don’t have time for it right now.

  “Co-Co get your ass up. Fuck those ugly ass fish,” Candace snapped. “Bryce’s shop is on fire and you’re worried about fish.”

  “I paid a lot of money for my fish, but it’s not just about that. What about all of our supplies and stuff? And let’s not forget that we’re out of a job. I just can’t take this right now,” he said as he stood to his feet.

  “Everybody just calm down,” my pops yelled. “Y’all put the kids in my truck and go see what’s going on. Call me if you need me Bryce.”

  Dominic put him and Baby’s kids in the car while I l
aid my daughters on the third-row seat of my daddy’s truck. All of us had our own cars except for Candace and Co-Co. They rode with David as we all left the lot and headed to my shop. I started smelling smoke as soon we were around the corner from my building. When we got on the street, it was impossible to drive in front. We parked on the corner and walked the rest of the way. I couldn’t believe what I saw when I walked up. My entire building was engulfed in flames. The firemen were working hard to put it out, but it wasn’t an easy job. I walked through the crowd until I found Damion.

  “Did they say what happened?” I asked when I spotted him near a group of people.

  “No, but you can talk to the fire chief. I told him that you were on your way,” he responded.

  I went over to the man that he pointed out. He led me away from the crowd and asked me some questions. They wouldn’t know what happened until they did an investigation, but I had a feeling that it was done intentionally. After talking to him and getting his card, I went back to join my family. A crowd of people was standing around looking, and I heard Co-Co’s mouth before I even got to them.

  “We lost everything. Y’all might as well take me to the hospital right now. I feel an asthma attack coming on,” he cried.

  He was acting a pure fool just like always. Candace looked like she’s ready to knock fire from his ass, and I didn’t blame her. I shook my head in embarrassment at the way he was behaving in front of all these strangers. He was on the ground screaming and crying about his fish and being out of a job. He cut up so bad that one of the firemen came over and tried to give him some oxygen. A representative from Red Cross came over to speak with us, and even she ended up consoling him. She also offered to assist us with getting our supplies back whenever we’re ready to open up another shop. My tattoo artists and I always take our supplies home with us every day, so we’re good on that. Unfortunately, Taylor and everybody else will have to purchase everything all over again. The fire seemed to have started in the front of the shop, and they lost all of their supplies.