Secrets of a Kept Chick, Part 2

by Ambria Davis

  It didn’t take me long to get back to the house. I made it there in no time. I had already called Stacy and told her to help the kids pack their things so we could get on the road. When I pulled up to the house, there was only one light on. It was in the living room, which let me know that Stacy was still up. I really hope she don’t come questioning me, because I damn sure don’t have time for her shit. I just want to get the kids and our things and be out. I don’t want to argue or fuss, because that shit isn’t in me no more.

  I got out of the car and walked up to the house. Before I could make it to the door, she had it open already. I brushed past her and went straight to the kitchen to get me something to drink. I thought that since I didn’t speak to her, she would know that I didn’t want to be bothered. Her simple ass didn’t catch the hint. She marched her aggravating ass in right behind me.

  “What’s going on with you, Kaylin?” she asked as I opened the refrigerator door.

  “Ain’t shit going on with me. Why you bugging?” I said, grabbing a bottle of water.

  “Well, you could’ve fooled the shit out of me,” she said, being sarcastic.

  “Man, look, right now ain’t—”

  “The time for that. Yeah, well, when is the time, huh? According to you, it’s never the time for that,” she yelled, getting in my face. “It’s always the same damn thing with you. If you don’t want me, just tell me. Ever since Mimi done died, you changed.”

  I didn’t reply because I didn’t want to hurt her little feelings. I just walked past her and went to get the kids’ things so that I could load up the car.

  “Oh, so that’s it, huh? You don’t want me? What, you still stuck on Mimi?” she asked, still following me.

  I refused to answer her, because I didn’t want to fuss over a dead issue. She knew from the beginning that I didn’t want her. I never did want her. I only dealt with her because she was the mother of my son. She knew that we couldn’t be nothing more than parents to our son.

  I walked into the kids’ room and grabbed as many suitcases as I could.

  “She’s dead. You might as well face the fact. Mimi is never comin’ back. You’ll just have to get over that shit,” she yelled.

  “Ma, chill out before you wake up my kids.” My tone was low and menacing.

  “Fuck that shit. I put up with your shit for too fuckin’ long, and you over here stuck on a dead bitch. If you want her so much, then go dig up her body!”

  “Daddy?” Kailay called out, wiping her eyes.

  “Yes, baby,” I replied, walking over to her.

  “I want my mommy,” she said as she began to cry. I took her into my arms and began to rock her. Before all of this happened, I was her favorite person. Now all she did was cry for her mother.

  “Shhhh, we already had this talk, baby. Mommy’s in heaven with the angels.” The minute I said that, she started to cry harder. I picked her up and carried her to my room. I didn’t want her to wake the boys up, or else I’d have to deal with three crying children instead of one.

  I placed her in the bed and took off my shoes. I then got in the bed beside her, and I started to rock her back to sleep. It didn’t take long for her to fall asleep. Once she was sound asleep, I slid out of the bed and went downstairs.

  The minute I hit the bottom of the stairs, here came Stacy in my face again.

  “So is it time yet?” she said, waving her hands around. I tried to move past her, but she blocked me. “No, you ain’t goin’ nowhere. This time you gonna talk to me, damn it.”

  I’d finally had enough of her and her fucking mouth. I grabbed her and pinned her against the wall. “Bitch, check this out. I be tryin’ my hardest not put my hands on you, but you keep on postin’ with me. I don’t know who you think you are, but your mouth always be the one to get you in trouble. You ask me why I don’t want to talk to you, that’s the reason why. Your mouth is forever writin’ a check that your ass can’t cash!”

  “You’re always runnin’ away from me, or tuning me out when I’m tryin’ to talk to you. You can’t keep doin’ that to me, Kay. That shit has to stop if we gonna be together as a family.” She had the nerve to continue talkin’, even after I told her why I couldn’t stand her dumb ass.

  “Family? I don’t know where you got that shit from, ma, but you need to chill on that. We ain’t never gonna be a family, ma. You need to get that through your fuckin’ head. I don’t want your ass. You just the mother of my child and I don’t see us havin’ a future together. You not Mimi. She’s who I wanted a future with, but that can’t happen now. So I’m good on having a family. As long as I got my kids, I’m good,” I said, bursting her bubble. I tried to be nice, but I was tired of telling her that I didn’t want a family with her ass.

  “Well, okay,” she said, pushing past me. I really wasn’t expecting her to be so calm and cool but, hell, as long as she wasn’t bitching, then I was cool with that.

  “Good. Now, can you please get the rest of the kids’ things so that we can get out of here? I’m tryin’ to be in Louisiana before the sun comes up.” I left her right where she stood. I really didn’t care how she felt. I was tired of playing games with her, and she needed to stay in her place.

  I was on my way to the kids’ room to grab the rest of the bags that I was supposed to get before Stacy had interrupted me. I was almost down the hall when I heard whispering. Walking a little farther, I noticed that the voices were coming from the bathroom. I placed my ear against the door to see if I could hear anything.

  “We’ll be in Louisiana tomorrow morning,” I heard Stacy say to someone. I heard a pause, and then she said, “I don’t know where he’ll be staying, but I’ll try to find out for you.” There was another pause. Stacy whispered, “Just be on the lookout for me. I’ll call you when we make it there. See you in a minute.”

  I started to interrupt her, but I didn’t want her to know that I knew what was going on. I wanted her to think that I was still clueless. I backed away from the door quietly, hoping like hell that she didn’t catch me. If she wanted to play, then I was going to play right along with her.

  I quietly went back into the kids’ room, grabbed the bags, and went outside to the trunk. When I came back inside, she was walking down the hallway with two bags. I grabbed her and kissed her. I’d caught her off guard, and she let the bags slip out of her hands. Before she could respond, I let go of her and went to grab the rest of the bags. When I came back, she was standing in the same spot that I had left her in. I passed by her like nothing had happened. When I was done loading all of the bags in the car, I grabbed Kailay, woke up the boys, and we were out the door.

  When I got outside, she was standing outside by the car. I made sure the kids were safely in their car seats, and I hopped in the car. I then beeped the horn to get her attention. She hopped in the car and looked at me. I still said nothing as I started the car and hopped on the highway, making my way home to Louisiana.

  Chapter 10

  Stacy

  I didn’t know what had gotten into Kaylin, but I was tired of playing with him. I wasn’t about to be his little play toy anymore. I was ’bout to look out for me and Kaylin Jr. Fuck running behind a nigga. Sad thing was I done played the back end to Mimi for too damn long and, now that she was dead, I still found myself doing the same thing. I couldn’t compete with a dead person, and I wasn’t trying to. I was done with that shit. I was about to get it how I lived.

  I couldn’t lie. I was hurt when he said that he didn’t want a family with me. It crushed my heart. Hell, why not have a family with me? I’d been the side bitch for so long, and now that the main bitch wasn’t here anymore, he still wanted me to be the side bitch? Hell, it didn’t work like that no more. I didn’t think so. I had something for his ass this time. I would not be assed out and looking sad as hell this time.

  I decided to go ahead and call up Mister. Since he wanted Mimi and couldn’t get her, I decided to give him Kaylin. After all, he didn’t want me. Why not let th
is nigga suffer for putting me through all of that bullshit? He didn’t give a fuck about my feelings, so why should I have given a fuck about his ass? The only ones I felt sorry for were the kids, because after tomorrow they were going to be both motherless and fatherless.

  The plan was for me to find out where he would be laying his head, give it about a week or two, then rob and kill him. Did I feel bad for what I was about to do? Hell no. I thought this was long overdue. I was tired of letting Kaylin think he could just play with me. Enough was enough. I was done being his dummy. I wouldn’t continue to play a fool no more.

  After I got off the phone with Mister, I went to grab the kids’ bags so that we could head out. I was walking along, bringing the bags to the car, when Kaylin grabbed and kissed me. To say I was surprised would be an understatement. This dude had just said he didn’t want a family with me, and now he was kissing all on me and shit. How was I supposed to take this?

  I wanted to just grab him and kiss him back, but when I started to, he had done pulled away. I stood there feeling stuck. I had done already made a deal with Mister, but now Kaylin was here, doing the most. I didn’t know if I should go on with the plan or just call the whole thing off.

  I picked up the bags and put them in the car. Pulling out my phone, I stood there like a deer in headlights. I wanted to call this thing off, but I had already made the deal no more than five minutes ago. I couldn’t just close this shit.

  I entered Mister’s number in the dial pad but, when I went to call him, Kaylin came walking out the door with the kids. I didn’t want him to hear my call, so I decided to wait. I’ll just tell him that we had a change of plans, I thought as Kaylin beeped the horn. I placed my phone inside my pocket, got in the car, and mentally prepared myself for whatever tomorrow may bring. I just hoped like hell that nothing would go wrong.

  Chapter 11

  Mimi

  I sat in the back seat of the car, still trying to process everything that Troy had told me. Some of the shit was so unbelievable. I had lived it, and I almost didn’t believe it. I was numb to the pain though. I guessed my feelings had temporarily left with my memory. Maybe that was a good thing though, because I was sure the minute my memory returned everything would hit me like a ton of bricks. I couldn’t believe that, after all of the things we’d been through, Kaylin would do me like that. He had me wondering what I ever did to him to deserve that. Was he missing something at home that caused him to continue to cheat on me, even after we left our past in Louisiana?

  “You don’t have to think so hard about it. Your memory is going to come to you,” Troy whispered in my ear.

  I nodded my head in agreement, but it was easier said than done. It was hard for me not to worry. Her memory was already intact, while I had to go searching for mine. The other thing that threw me off was when she said that I had another daughter, who I remembered nothing about. “My God, what’s been going on?” I whispered to myself.

  “We’re here,” I heard Troy say. I was so deep in my thoughts that I hadn’t even noticed the car had stopped.

  I looked at the house that was once mine, and I wondered what secrets it held. From the outside, it looked like a regular house, except for the uncut grass, yellow crime scene tape, and overflowing mailbox. The house looked like it had once been a beautiful home for a family—my family—and now there wasn’t a family staying there.

  “Are you gonna get out or do you need a little time?” Troy asked me.

  “Oh, I’m coming,” I said, snapping out of my daze. Reaching for the handle, I got out of the car and strolled up the walkway. I stood still as I waited for Troy to catch up to me.

  “Do you want us to come in with y’all or do y’all want us to wait in the car?’ Jayden asked.

  “Y’all can come inside,” I replied, looking back at him. “I need all the support that I can get.”

  “Okay.” Jayden and Mark exited the car and followed us.

  “We’re going to have to go in through the garage since we don’t have our keys,” Troy said, walking toward the garage. She then used the keypad to raise the garage door.

  “You coming?” she asked me, because I was the only one left standing outside. I nodded my head as I made my way into the garage.

  When I got inside, I peeped an all-purple Benz, sitting on rims. Since that was my favorite color, I had to stop and admire it.

  “That joint is tight,” I heard Mark comment.

  “Yeah, it is,” Jayden responded behind him.

  “You like it?” Troy asked.

  “Yeah, that mug is clean,” I said.

  “Good, because it’s actually your car,” she said, shocking me.

  “Really?” I asked, not believing her.

  “Yes. You bought it the minute you got down here. It took a minute for you to apply the paint and rims, but it was bought with your hard-earned money.”

  “Where are the keys?” I asked.

  “They’re in the house. You never drove it much. You drove your other car a lot.” She sounded like a proud mother.

  “Really? Where is it?” I wanted to know because I didn’t see it.

  “Umm, it’s in the shop. You were driving it the day you were shot, so the police took it in as evidence.” She lowered her eyes to the ground.

  “It’s okay, Troy. I’m okay. I’m alive, so you don’t have to feel sad anymore,” I said, using my finger to raise her face up.

  “I know. I’m actually happy about that. It’s just that I should have been there for you and I wasn’t.”

  “Look at me, Troy,” I said, stepping toward her. “What happened to me wasn’t your fault. You didn’t know that I was gonna get shot. It was Kaylin who shot me. It was his fault, baby girl, not yours.”

  I grabbed her and hugged her extra tight. She’d been more than a friend to me over the years. In fact, I didn’t consider her my friend. I considered her my sister. She’d been there for me when I didn’t have anyone, and I couldn’t and wouldn’t choose anyone else.

  “I love you, sis,” I said to her.

  “I love you too. Now, come on. Let’s go get your memory back,” she said, walking toward the door in the garage that led to the house. She stood up on her tiptoes and searched above the door for what I assumed was a key. When she found it, she unlocked the door and allowed me to enter first.

  The minute I entered the house, I got an unsettling feeling in the pit of my belly. It felt like it was trying to tell me something. I walked into the foyer, where I spotted more yellow tape and bloodstains on the floor by the front door.

  “I’m sorry that I didn’t get anyone to clean it up yet. I was trying to wait until everything was over with,” she said, apologizing.

  “It’s okay,” I replied softly, frozen in place. Seeing the blood on the floor made me feel incredibly sad.

  She looked over to the guys and mumbled something, and then they left the room. I didn’t hear what she said because I was still in a daze. I looked over to the left, where I noticed a bunch of toys paired up on the floor. When I walked over and picked them up, I was visibly shaken as a flashback of my four kids crying entered my mind.

  “Are you okay?” Troy asked, walking up to me.

  “Um, ye . . . yeah, I’m okay,” I stuttered.

  “Do you want me to get you a glass of water or something?”

  “No, I’m okay,” I said to her. “Where did you say my body was when you came in?”

  “It was over there by the stairs.” She pointed toward the back of the house.

  I swallowed hard, as a lump had formed in my throat.

  “Do you need me to go with you?”

  “No, I’m okay,” I reassured her.

  “Well, I’ll be right here if you need me.”

  I respected her because she gave me all the space that I needed. She wasn’t trying to treat me like a baby, or cripple me like most people would’ve done. “Okay,” I said, nodding my head.

  I took a deep breath as I made my way toward t
he back of the house by the stairs. With each step that I took, the pain in my stomach became worse. It was in knots as I realized that was where I had died. I knew it was the exact spot because there was a chalk outline forming a perfect shape of the position that my body was lying in. I grabbed on to the wall as my knees started to buckle.

  “Mimi,” I heard Troy yell from behind me. I wanted to turn around, but I couldn’t. It felt like a magnetic pull was holding me in that spot. The moment that my knees hit the floor, every minute that I wasn’t able to remember came flashing back in my mind. It was as if the last few weeks of my life were playing on a projector screen. I saw everything Troy had told me: the moment I spotted Kaylin at the gas station, the minute I met Jayden, seeing Tyreek and Kayla, the hotel rooms with Jayden, the times I sat up with my kids waiting for Kaylin to come home. What hurt the most was when I returned to the house and saw Stacy posted up in it with a child Kaylin had fathered. It added insult to injury to find out that this child’s name was Kaylin Jr.

  My body started to shake as I recalled the flashback of Kaylin pulling a gun out and shooting Tyreek first, then turning the gun on me. In my mind, I felt the four shots enter my back again as if it were happening now.

  “Why?” I screamed.

  “Oh, my God. Mimi!” Troy screamed again. My head started to spin as I heard lots of footsteps running up behind me.

  “Mimi! Mimi! Mimi!” Troy cried, pulling me into her arms. My body was there, but my mind was gone.

  “Talk to us, ma,” Jayden said, but I couldn’t actually see them because a bright light blinded me.

  Looking closer I saw an outstretched arm. Then I heard a voice say, “I’m very glad that you’re back, but I need to tell you something.”

  I already knew who the owner of the voice was because I remembered hearing it before. I just didn’t know what she wanted to say to me.