Two's Enough Three's a Crowd

by Brenda Hampton

  “Yes. I saw her today and she’s pregnant. I asked her who the baby’s father was, and she wouldn’t tell me; however, she did tell me it wasn’t yours.”

  “Really?” He paused and rubbed his goatee. “How many months is she? Or did she tell you?”

  “Naw, she didn’t say, but the moment I saw her, I could tell she was pregnant. You might want to ask Stephon,” I said, spicing things up a bit. “Since he’s been kicking it with her, I’m sure he knows something.”

  “What do you mean, kicking it with her?” This time, Jaylin’s brows scrunched in and his forehead wrinkled. He was mad.

  “I mean, I just left her place not too long ago and he was over there. Looked like they were a couple or something.”

  Jaylin jumped up and went into his closet. He put on his jeans and a white wife-beater. He grabbed his keys off his dresser and asked me to stay there until he got back. Mackenzie came running out after him, but he kissed her and begged her to stay with me. When she cried, he kissed her again and wiped her tears. Motherfucker didn’t even give me a kiss, and I was the one who gave him the scoop.

  I picked up Mackenzie and we went back in his room to watch cartoons.

  28

  JAYLIN

  I was on a rampage. I was already upset about the shit that went down with Scorpio, and now this. In my Mercedes, I drove about ninety miles per hour down Interstate 270. When I hit a bump, I almost lost control of the wheel.

  Felicia had to be bullshitting. I knew damn well Nokea and Stephon weren’t kicking it like that. I had just seen him Friday at the gym and he didn’t say nothing about Nokea. And pregnant? That didn’t sound right to me. If she was pregnant by Stephon, that would mean he’d been screwing her at the same time I was. But she was a virgin, so that couldn’t be true.

  I racked my brain, trying to figure out what the fuck was going on. I thought about Stephon’s and my conversations about Nokea over the last few months. I made it perfectly clear that out of all my ladies, I didn’t want him to ever involve himself with Nokea. He could’ve fucked with anybody he wanted to, but she was off limits.

  I continued to speed, and when I flew past a police officer, it was too late to slow down. He pulled me over. He took nearly twenty minutes checking my license and registration, then hit me with a ticket for speeding. The motherfucker had the nerve to ask if I had any drugs in the car. As fired up as I was about Stephon and Nokea, I almost went to jail.

  “Do you have any drugs in your car?” I asked disrespectfully.

  “Sir, I just asked you a simple question. Do you or don’t you?”

  “And I just asked you a simple question too. If you don’t, then I don’t.” I looked at my watch. “Look, this has been really fun, but I need to get going. If there’s nothing else, have a good day and move on to the next black man. There are plenty of us to harass, and you seem to be awfully good at what you do.”

  “Very good,” he said and tapped the hood of my car. “You have a swell day too.”

  “I will. And in the meantime, I’m gon’ say a little prayer for you. Today wasn’t your day, but you just never know ...tomorrow may be. Be careful out there, sir. These streets can be a dangerous place for you.”

  “Don’t I know it.” He winked and walked away.

  I shook my head and calmly drove the rest of the way to Nokea’s house.

  As soon as I turned into Nokea’s subdivision, I saw Stephon’s BMW in her driveway. I swung my car into her driveway and almost hit Stephon’s car in the rear. I slammed my car door. I was about to get my clown on.

  I didn’t even knock on the door; I tried to damn near kick the motherfucker down.

  Nokea pulled open the door.

  “Jaylin, what are you doing?” she asked in a panic.

  I pushed the door open and let myself in. I looked down at her stomach and was shocked at how round it was. Felicia wasn’t lying. Nokea was for damn sure pregnant.

  My fists were already gripped tight to do some damage. “So, what’s up, Nokea? Who’s the fucking father of your baby?”

  Her eyes watered as she looked at me in fear. Just then, Stephon walked out of the kitchen.

  “It’s me, man. The father of her baby is me.”

  I looked back at Nokea. “Is this true? Is Stephon the father of your baby?”

  She started crying, and Stephon walked over and put his arms around her.

  “Jaylin, man, just go. Can’t you see she’s upset right now? Once I leave, I’ll come over to your place and explain everything to you.”

  My eyes shifted back and forth from Nokea to Stephon; somebody was about to get fucked up. Wasn’t sure which one it would be, but I wanted some answers.

  “Nokea, how long have you been fucking my cousin?”

  She ignored me and buried her face in Stephon’s shoulder.

  “Man, look, it ain’t even like that. Why don’t you just go home and chill out? I said I’ll be over there to explain things to you in a minute.”

  “Shut the fuck up talking to me, you sorry motherfucker! You always had to have every damn thing I had, didn’t you? Couldn’t stand to see me with anything I called my own. Your ass had to have a piece of it, didn’t you?” I said, laughing. “Even when we were kids, you had to take everything, just so I could be miserable. You and your fucking selfish-ass brothers. And your mother—aw, now, we ain’t gonna talk about how she raised such a lowlife asshole when she was one her damn self, are we?”

  “All right, man, that’s enough!” Stephon said, grabbing my shirt and pushing me back. “Get the fuck out of here! And if I—”

  I didn’t give Stephon a chance to say another word. I slammed my fist into his jaw.

  “Son of a bitch!” he yelled. “You wanna fight? Is that what you want? You want my lady to see you get your ass kicked?”

  I punched his ass again. Without any hesitation, he punched back, and it was on. We scrapped so hard that we broke two of Nokea’s vases and her glass table. I wasn’t letting up and neither was he. She tried to break us apart, but I pushed her down. I didn’t give a fuck about Stephon’s baby she carried.

  When he saw her on the floor, the asshole really tried to get tough. He grabbed my waist and pushed me into the wall with every ounce of strength he had left. My body put a dent in the wall, and the picture above it came crashing down on top of Stephon. I picked it up and tried to bust his damn head open with it. He dodged it a few times and then tried to grab my legs and knock me on the floor. When he realized he couldn’t do that, I pushed him back into Nokea’s baby grand piano and flipped his ass over the top.

  Nokea screamed and ran to the phone. As Stephon lay on the floor, holding his back, I ran over and snatched the phone out of her hand. I pulled the cord out because I knew she would call the police.

  As I stood in front of her, she cried hysterically and shook like a leaf. I balled up my fist, just about ready to punch her in her damn stomach. She put her hands over her face and screamed.

  “It’s your baby, Jaylin! Please don’t do this. It’s your baby!” She fell to the floor and cried out loudly. I slammed the phone down, and it broke into pieces.

  “You lying bitch! You’ll just say anything, won’t you?” I wiped the sweat from my face. “I hope you and my cousin have a happy fucked-up life together.

  “You had me fooled, though, baby. I thought you had a bit more respect for yourself. But I guess you ain’t no better than all the other fucked-up women in my life.... Excuse me, did I say women? Naw, you’re not women. You all are undependable, unpredictable, and unreliable bitches. Every last one of y’all, including my damn mother, who left my ass years ago.

  “Shit actually started with my mother. And then his sorry-ass mother stepped in and tried to pick up the pieces, when the only thing she could pick up was a crack pipe.”

  In a rage, I pounded my fist into the wall. Nokea screamed for me to stop, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t let the situation go. “Let’s see who else there is.... There’s Simon
e, who left town with the only fucking thing I had to love in my life. And let’s not count out Scorpio. Boy, she was a charm. Had me paying for her shit—big dollars—only to find out she had other motherfuckers paying her too. And now you, little innocent-ass, virgin-bodied Nokea. Pretending all along that she loves me so much she can hardly see straight. And now, ‘Guess what, Jaylin? I’m pregnant and it’s yours, but I’m fucking your cousin too.’ Bitch, get real! You were the worst one of them all because you stabbed me in my back purposely. You were the worst and I expected so much more from you, Nokea. So, you know what?” I walked over to her and lifted her face with my hand. “If it is my baby, you raise it your damn self. I’d be too ashamed to tell it that it’s got a whore for a mother.”

  Nokea rocked back and forth on her knees and covered her ears so she couldn’t hear me. I wanted to kick her in her face, but I caught myself. I didn’t want to hurt her. Instead, I knocked one of her expensive statues on the ground and jetted.

  As I was leaving, I backed up my car then went full force into the back of Stephon’s BMW. I saw the front end of my shit fold like a piece of aluminum foil. His car was severely damaged.

  By the time I pulled in my driveway, my car was smoking and the front dangled off. Felicia came rushing out of the house.

  “Where’s Mackenzie?” I asked because I didn’t see her come after Felicia.

  “Jaylin, her aunt came over here and got her. I wasn’t about to go to jail for your ass. You were wrong for keeping that little girl, and I did you a favor by letting her go.”

  “You opened my damn door and let her take Mackenzie? Is that what you’re telling me, Felicia?” I grabbed her neck. “Where in the fuck did she take her?” I yelled, though I knew Felicia couldn’t tell me because I had a strong grip on her throat and she couldn’t talk.

  She gagged and tried to pull my hands away. When I let go, she fell to the ground like a piece of paper. She lay there for a while and coughed. I didn’t give a fuck. I shut my front door and turned off the light so she couldn’t see.

  In hopes that Felicia had lied, I went into Mackenzie’s room, but there was no sign of her. I sat on the edge of her bed and dropped my head. Everything seemed to be hurting on my body, but nothing as much as my heart.

  I didn’t know how I got myself into such a fuckedup situation. I had depended on too many people for my happiness, and every last one of them failed me. I was so mad that I could have killed somebody. But wasn’t no telling who I would go for first.

  I lay back on Mackenzie’s bed and felt very sleepy. It wasn’t long before I was asleep and dreaming.

  During my dream, I looked up at Mama and apologized for disrespecting her. I told her how upset I was with her for making me go to an orphanage, only to hear her apologize for that. But then she told me she was unhappy with my behavior. I’d not only disrespected her tonight, but I’d been disrespecting women for a long time. She said it was only a matter of time before my shit caught up with me.

  I told her about all the good fortune I’d come into by doing things for myself. She said that she was proud, but acknowledged that I still had a long way to go before she could say I was the man she wanted me to be.

  When I tried to touch her, I woke up, and found myself still lying in Mackenzie’s bed. My mother had come to me in my dream and tried to get me to see how wrong I’d been.

  I lay still for a while, thinking about Mackenzie. My heart ached for her. She was such a joy to be around, and I hoped like hell that I’d be able to see her soon.

  It was damn near light outside, so I pulled off my shoes and lay across my own bed. I watched the early morning news and dozed off again.

  When the phone rang, it woke me, and when I looked at the alarm clock, it showed that it was almost noon.

  “Jaylin, Mr. Schmidt is really upset with you,” Angela said on the phone. “Why haven’t you come in or called or something?”

  “Because I don’t fucking feel like it. Tell your father-in-law to kiss my black ass.” I hung up. She called back several more times and I finally picked up.

  “Don’t you hang up on me,” she said. “Now, if you’re having some problems, I’ll cover for you, but don’t go hanging up on me.”

  “Sorry, Angela. I’m not in the mood for doing any work right now. Tell Schmidt I’m taking a leave of absence. In the meantime, ask Roy to handle all my accounts for me. Don’t call me unless it’s a matter of life or death, please.”

  “Okay, but you know he’s going to want to talk to you.”

  “Well, fine! Have the motherfucker call back soon so I can tell him to go fuck himself.”

  “Jaylin, calm down. I don’t know what’s bugging you, but nothing is worth losing your job over. So, when he calls, you’d better change your attitude.”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever. Just tell him to call me.”

  Ten minutes later, Schmidt called from his office on speakerphone. Roy was in the office with him, and in so many words, Schmidt said if I didn’t come in to work, I didn’t get paid. That was quite hilarious because I had plenty of money stashed aside from my inheritance. In addition to that, most of my salary came from Higgins and his buddies anyway. I told Schmidt I would be back in action within sixty days, and he agreed to let me come back then.

  For the rest of the day, I chilled. Took my phones off the hook and watched Judge Joe Brown and Judge Judy as they showed no mercy for people in their courtrooms. My body was sore and bruised from fighting with Stephon; I relaxed in the tub about five times that day.

  The only phone call I made was to my lawyer to find out if there was anything I could do about Mackenzie. When he said there wasn’t, I told him to go fuck himself and then fired him. Then I called my other attorney. He said that if I could prove Scorpio was an unfit mother, I stood a chance of getting Mackenzie. I wasn’t trying to hate on Scorpio, but I wanted Mackenzie back in my life. I told him I would think about it for a while and get back with him.

  After lying across the bed most of the day, drinking shots of Martel, I found myself getting horny. Right about now, Scorpio was probably fucking a brotha and sucking him well. I kicked her out five days ago, and my dick was lonely. I looked in the pocket of the suit I’d had on at Aunt Betty’s funeral and found that tender’s phone number.

  I called, and when she answered and realized it was me, she sounded excited. I talked to her for an hour and managed to coax her into coming over to see me. I jazzed myself up, knowing she’d give it up to me in a heartbeat.

  When she rang the doorbell, I watched the last five minutes of a sitcom and made her stand outside and wait. Still, as she saw me approach the door, she was all smiles. I let her in and closely observed her to make sure I wanted to go there with her. She wasn’t no dime, but her plump, juicy ass in a tight red mini-skirt kept her in the running. I noticed her fingernail polish was chipped, and I immediately knew she couldn’t be in Jaylin’s world if she tried.

  She looked a bit young, too, but when I asked how old she was, she told me she was twenty-seven. As long as she was legal, that’s all I cared about.

  We chatted in the living room for a while, and then I escorted her upstairs to my room. I wasn’t about to waste any time.

  “Hey, uh, what did you say your name was?” I asked, already forgetting.

  “Brashaney.”

  “Can I get you something to drink?” I poured myself another drink.

  “No, no, thank you. But if you have some water, I’ll take a glass of that.”

  “I don’t serve water to my guests. If you’d like something else, let me know.”

  She cut her eyes and gave her lips a slight toot. “I’m good,” she said. “Forget it.”

  I didn’t care much for her attitude, but for the time being, it didn’t even matter. I sat on the bed, put my drink on the nightstand, and asked her to stand in front of me.

  “Why?” she asked. She was starting to become a pain.

  “Because I want you to take off your cloth
es. You don’t mind if I watch, do you?”

  “No, but can we listen to some music or something before we get down like that? I mean, I haven’t been here five minutes and you already talking about taking off my clothes.”

  “Brashaney, I don’t have time for games, baby. I invited you here tonight because a brotha liked what he saw. If you want to sit here all night and listen to some music, fine, go right ahead. But I asked you to come here so I could make love to you. So, what’s it gonna be?” I stood up and started to remove my pants. “Are you taking off your clothes too, or do I put on some music?”

  Brashaney gazed at my dick and started to remove her clothes. I could tell she was young because she had young, fresh titties. Nipples didn’t even look full-grown yet. But when she got on top of me and swallowed my dick like a shark, I wasn’t really sure.

  I slid on a condom and just lay there as she put an arch in her back and tried to put it on me. I rubbed her ass a few times, and that was it. She took my hand and tried to make me feel her insides, but I couldn’t get with it.

  The thought of Stephon fucking Nokea was fresh in my mind. I remembered how he told me he be airlifting women, sucking their pussies, and I wondered if he’d done that to Nokea. I also wondered if she liked the feel of him better than me. How or why would she bring that much hurt to me, I didn’t know. And Stephon’s backstabbing ass ...I couldn’t believe he had gone there when I simply told him not to.

  I was unable to focus on my intimate time with Brashaney, so I stopped.

  “What’s wrong, Jaylin? Aren’t you enjoying yourself?” She took my hand and rubbed it on her pu-tain.

  “Yeah, I’m enjoying myself. Let’s get this over with so I can go to sleep, though.”

  I flipped her over and took control. I banged her insides just so I could have the pleasure of hearing her say my name. When I heard that, I cut her short and came. She was all up on me, trying to get close, but I wasn’t having it.

  “Say, baby, I’m really tired. Why don’t I call you tomorrow?” I said.

  She yanked the covers back, put on her clothes, and left without saying good-bye. I wasn’t sweating it. I got what I wanted, so what the hell?