My Sister's Husband

by Ambria Davis

  Before I knew it, I had done finished the blunt and had fallen asleep. If it wasn’t for Chance being here and waking me up, I knew for a fact that I would’ve been there the whole night, and Sky would’ve been even madder than she was today.

  “Yo, man, get up. It’s ten minutes to seven, and you got to go all the way home to get dressed,” he said, shaking me and trying to wake me up. “Yo, Dontie, man, get up. You’re already going to be late.”

  “What?” I asked confused.

  “Man, it’s almost seven o’clock, and you have to go,” he said again. This time, I heard him loud and clear.

  “Fuck!” I yelled, getting up from the sofa. “How the hell did I even fall asleep that fast?”

  “I don’t know, man. Must been that weed. All I know is that you need to be getting out of here before ole girl starts calling,” he said, heading back to where he’d come from. I hurried into the bedroom, trying to finding a pair of jeans and my shoes. Once I found them, I threw them on, found my keys, grabbed my phone, and left the room. I checked my phone to see that I had about twenty missed calls from Sky, and two from Brinay, along with a couple of text messages. I’ll check that shit later, I thought.

  “All right, man, I’m out,” I yelled down the hall to Chance.

  “A’ight, cool. Text me the address when ya make it home. I’ll see you later, man,” he said from the bedroom door.

  “All right, man,” I said, and with that, I was out the door. I didn’t even go to the elevator, because I knew that just because I was in a rush, it was going to take forever to come, so I took the stairs. Once I made it to the lobby, I ran all the way to my car. I unlocked the door, got in, and started it. I pulled out of the parking spot and drove off. I silently prayed that Sky wouldn’t be mad, like I knew that she’d be, as I drove like a bat out of hell trying to get home, hoping that I didn’t get stopped by the police or get into an accident on the way.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Sky

  I jolted up out of my sleep in a hurry. I must have overslept, because when I looked at the clock, I noticed that it was almost seven o’clock at night. I hurried around the room trying to get my act together. In the midst of everything, I noticed that Dontie still hadn’t made it home, which only pissed me off more than I was already.

  “He’s going to make me hurt his ass,” I said as I made my way to the bathroom. Grabbing a washcloth and my toothbrush, I prepared to brush my teeth and wash my face. When I was done, I went back into the bedroom and grabbed my makeup bag. I didn’t really need any makeup, so I only added a little bit here and there. After doing that, I headed back into the room and grabbed my baby oil so that I could oil my body up. Right when I started to pour some on my legs, I heard the sound of the alarm going off. I got up from the bed and began walking to the door when I heard it being disarmed, which meant that Dontie had finally decided to bring his ass home. I was going to wait by the door and chew out his ass, but I didn’t have the time or the patience for that at this moment. I’d wait until tomorrow to give his ass the business and find out what the hell was up with him and all of these games he was now playing.

  I heard him before I saw him. I knew he was standing in the doorway looking at me naked. I hope he wasn’t trying to get none, because that was a no-go, and even if I could’ve, I wouldn’t have anyway. I wasn’t about to fuck his ass, not knowing where he was coming from and what he’s been doing.

  “Why are you standing there staring at me when you need to be in the bathroom taking a shower so that we can get dressed and get out of here?” I said as I continued to oil my body.

  “I don’t need to take a shower,” he said, now walking into the room.

  “And why’s that?” I asked, now looking up at him. His eyes were red, and I could already smell the weed coming from his clothes, and he hadn’t made it all the way over to me yet.

  “Because I already took one,” he said.

  “Oh yeah, and where the fuck you took a shower at if you ain’t took one here?” I asked, getting up from the bed.

  “I got a room at a hotel in Miami Beach,” he replied.

  I know his ass was lying, but I didn’t have any proof to back that up. “Yeah, I fucking bet. Let me find out you got some bitch you fucking with . . . I promise you ain’t gon’ like what’s going to happen, Dontie,” I said, staring him in his eyes. For a moment, we stood there mugging each other as if we were about to start throwing punches. I know that’s what I wanted to do to his ass right now. He was the first to walk away, laughing as he headed to the bathroom.

  “What’s so fucking funny?” I asked, walking behind him.

  “You. You be having all of this mouth on you, but I never seen you back none of that shit up,” he said, grabbing his toothbrush and squirting toothpaste on it. “I told your ass once before, that if you ain’t gon’ walk the walk, don’t talk the talk.”

  “You don’t know what I’m going to do,” I said, defending myself.

  “No, I just know what you ain’t going to do,” he said, then began brushing his teeth.

  “Yeah, all you got to do is try me and see,” I said, walking off. I didn’t have time to play with him. I already let almost twenty minutes pass, entertaining his ass. Grabbing the oil, I finished oiling my body before I went to grab our clothes out of the closet and placed them on the bed. I then went over to the dresser and grabbed the purple bra and pantie set that I had gotten from Victoria’s Secret earlier in the day. I grabbed my shoes from the rack in my closet and began getting dressed just as Dontie came out of the bathroom.

  “Where are my things?” he asked, standing in front of me.

  “They’re over there on the bed. Hurry up and get dressed so we can get out of here,” I said.

  “Yeah, a’ight,” he said smartly. I looked at him and rolled my eyes before I began putting on my dress. When I was done, I made my way to the mirror. Taking the cap off of my head, I let my curls flow freely. Thank God that none of them had gotten wet. Grabbing a comb and some bobby pins, I began pinning my hair up to the side. When I was satisfied with how everything looked, I grabbed my jewelry box, along with Dontie’s box, and placed them on the dresser. I sprayed on a few pumps of my Mariah Carey perfume before I began to apply my jewelry. Once I was done, I did a quick once-over in the mirror before I went to put on my shoes. After applying everything that I needed, I went over to the full-length mirror to see how I looked. I was straight killing it, as usual.

  “Are you ready to go?” Dontie asked, stepping behind me. I looked at him through the mirror, and I had to say that I was very pleased with the way he looked. Looking at him now and seeing how good he looked made me forgot about what happened earlier.

  “You look good, ma.”

  “Thanks, baby,” I said, kissing his lips. “You don’t look bad yourself. Now, let’s go because we’re already late as it is.”

  “All right, ma. Come on,” he said, leading the way. Grabbing my purse, phone, and keys, I made my way down the stairs. I then made sure that everything was off, the alarm was on, and the doors were all locked before I followed Dontie outside. Getting in the car, it smelled just like weed, so I made him put all of the windows down and sprayed a little perfume inside the car before we got on the road and made our way to my father’s house, which was only about fifteen to twenty minutes away. I was nervous and excited that this night had finally come, and all the people who I loved were going to come together as a family . . . well, almost all of them.

  BRINAY

  As I sat there in the mirror admiring myself, I couldn’t help but to feel nervous about this evening. I hadn’t seen my family in years, and I knew that it was going to feel funny, because when I left here, me and my family wasn’t on the best of terms. Hell, my sister and I hadn’t been on good terms since we were first introduced, so I knew tonight was going to be weird, and eventful.

  “Come on, Nay,” Kourtney said from behind me. “It’s already almost eight o’clock. If you stand in fr
ont of that mirror any longer, we’re going to be here all night.”

  “Okay. I’m coming,” I said, applying a little more lip gloss to my lips. “How do I look?”

  “You look like you always do,” she replied, causing me to frown. “Beautiful!”

  “Thanks,” I said, letting out a nervous chuckle. “You don’t look so bad yourself.”

  “Thanks, baby mama,” she said, smiling. “I be trying.”

  “All right, now that we know that we’re some showstoppers, let’s go find the show to stop,” I said to her. I walked over to the bed and grabbed my keys, the key card, and my yellow clutch.

  “Today, Kourtney, today.”

  “Girl, I’m coming,” she said, picking up her purse. “Come on. Let’s be out, Big Momma.”

  “You’re going to stop with all of these nicknames that you’re giving me,” I said, laughing, as we walked out the door.

  “You know I can’t help it. I’m just excited to meet the baby, that’s all,” she said, laughing with me.

  Me too, I said in my head, instead of saying it to her. Me too.

  * * *

  “Oh my God, Nay, your daddy got bank, girl,” Kourtney said, her eyes beaming like she was a kid in a candy store. “What did you say he do again?”

  “I didn’t,” I replied. My father stayed in an upscale neighborhood out in Key Biscayne. He had a six-bedroom, five-and-a-half bathroom house with all that extra shit added to it. I mean, dude had a six-car garage, a big-ass driveway, a gym, and a pool in the backyard. I can’t lie, the house was nice, but I don’t know why she was getting so bucked up behind it. After all, it was only a house. Ain’t like he was going to be able to take any of that with him when he dies.

  “Girl, you’re one crazy sister. If my daddy had lived in something like this, I’d be in that bih every day,” she said, getting a little too excited for me.

  “That’s easy for you to say. You didn’t live the life that I was living. I could care less about any of this, because material shit doesn’t make me. Not one bit,” I replied. I guess she got the hint that I was beginning to get in a sour mood, so she ended up dropping the subject altogether.

  “Damn, the entire family must be here, because I can’t find a parking spot no-damn-where,” I said, getting frustrated. I’d been driving around for a good five minutes, and I hadn’t found a parking spot yet.

  “There goes one right there,” Kourtney said as a car pulled out of a spot. Just as fast as that car pulled off, I pulled in. I wasn’t trying to let no one else get that spot before me. I cut the car off and just sat there, staring at the house. For a minute, I was lost in my thoughts, thinking about everything that I’ve been through in there.

  “What’s wrong? Are you okay?” Kourtney asked, grabbing my arm.

  “Nothing. I’m fine, boo,” I said, “You ready?”

  “I’m ready when you are,” she said, looking at me.

  “All right, then, let’s go,” I said. I took a deep breath before I removed my keys from the ignition and got out.

  I waited for Kourtney to walk over to my side before I began walking toward the house. I was happy that we didn’t park too far from the house, because my feet were beginning to hurt and we’d just gotten there. It was cool, though, because I had some flats in the car.

  With each step that I took, my heart rate sped up. My heart was beating so fast that I thought it was going to pop out of my chest any minute now. I was so nervous that my hands were beginning to shake.

  “Are you sure that you want to go inside?” Kourtney asked, stopping me in front of the door.

  “Umm, yeah, I’m sure,” I replied, not so sure my damn self.

  “I mean, if you want to leave here and go back to the hotel, we can leave right now,” she said.

  “No, ma’am. I’m here now, so I might as well just get this over with.”

  “Okay, then, let’s go,” she said, ringing the doorbell. As I stood there waiting, I thought I was going to piss on myself. I don’t know if I was afraid or anxious, but what I do know is that it was too late to turn back now. I was about to say something to Kourtney when the door opened, causing my words to get caught up in my throat.

  “Brinay?” she asked with a look of shock written on her face.

  “Hello, Veronica,” I said to my dad’s wife. She stood there, staring at me as if she were waiting for me to disappear or something. As I stood there face-to-face with her, I couldn’t help but to remember all of the things that she did to me as a child. I had a mind to spit in her face, but the view of my father walking up behind her stopped me.

  “Who is it, dear?” he asked behind her. She didn’t answer him, so he looked out the door for himself. The minute he saw me standing there, he practically threw her ass out of the way and came straight for me, giving me a hug. “You made it!”

  “Yeah, I did,” I replied, barely able to breathe. He was hugging on me so tight that I thought he was going to suffocate me. “I can’t breathe.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry, baby. I’m just happy to see you. I haven’t seen you in years,” he said, letting me go.

  “This here is my friend, Kourtney. Kourtney this here is my father, Brian Williams.” I said, introducing the two of them and trying to act as if I didn’t hear what he had just said.

  “It’s nice to meet you, sir,” she said, extending her hand for him to shake.

  “Same here,” he said, bypassing her hand and giving her a hug instead.

  “Ahem,” we heard from behind us. We turned to see Veronica standing there with her arms folded and her leg shaking with a look on her face that said she wasn’t pleased. I caught my dad rolling his eyes before he turned back to me.

  “Come on, let’s go inside,” he said, grabbing my arm as Kourtney followed behind me. On the way inside, I locked eyes with Veronica. She rolled her eyes, causing me to smirk. I don’t know what was her problem, but I can guarantee that she don’t want none of this here. This ain’t like them old days when she used to rule me. I’m not a kid anymore, and I don’t give a fuck about her old ass, so I wouldn’t have a problem with chewing her ass out in front of all these damn people.

  “Chill,” Kourtney said once she noticed the look on my face.

  “I am,” I whispered.

  “Uh-huh.”

  As I followed behind my father into the dining room, I silently said a prayer, asking him to give me the patience to be able to deal with these folks tonight, because I wasn’t trying to go to jail for murder, and that’s what was just going to happen if anybody tried me.

  SKY

  Just like I had thought, once we had arrived at my father’s house, I knew he was going to be asking me twenty-one questions about why I was late. I told him that I had forgotten something important back at the house and had to turn all the way around to go and get it. Just like that, he bought my story but turned his attention to Dontie and his cousin, Chance. Like any normal man and father, he wanted to know any and everything about them. Where they were from? How old they were? What did they do for a living? How much did they make? Did they have any kids? Who were their parents? Were they criminals? If so, how many times had they been arrested and for what? I mean, the man asked so many questions I thought that we were on a job interview or in an interrogation room or something. Hell, he had me scared, and he was my daddy. I thought he was going to ask both Dontie and Chance for their Social Security numbers so that he could run a background check on them.

  “Daddy, please, be still,” I whispered in his ear, spotting the looks on both Dontie’s and Chance’s faces.

  “I’m just trying to get to know these men, Skylar,” he replied. “How long did you say that you’ve been dating Dontie?”

  I didn’t, I thought in my head.

  “We’ve been dating for almost two years now, Daddy,” I said in a sweet voice, because I knew he was going to be mad about me keeping Dontie a secret this whole time.

  “And why are we just now meeting him?” he asked
with an attitude.

  “Because I wanted to make sure that this was going to last before I introduced you all to each other,” I said sadly.

  “Are you sure that’s the only reason?” he asked, looking me in the eyes as if he was searching through my soul to see if I was lying or something.

  “I’m positive,” I quickly said.

  “Okay.”

  “Let’s go in the dining room, then, shall we? Everyone’s been here waiting on you to arrive,” he said just as the doorbell rang. “Excuse me.”

  “No, honey, I’ll get it. Why don’t you show them to their seats,” my mother said, heading for the door before he said anything else. I guess she was trying to get away from him, just like I was.

  Once we made it to the dining room, I spotted my whole family sitting at the table. I mean, everybody was there, from my uncle to my aunts, my little cousins, and all of their children. Well, everyone besides Brinay. I’m not surprised, though. I knew she wasn’t going to show up. She always chickened and bailed on things we had at home.

  “Hello, everybody,” I said, waving as my father directed both me and Dontie to our seats. Once Dontie, Chance, and I were seated, I began to introduce them to a few people in the family. I noticed that on one side of us there were two empty seats. I’m guessing they saved them for Brinay and whoever she was bringing, if she had someone to bring. I’m just glad that they were next to Dontie and not me, because I didn’t want her sitting nowhere near me.

  “I’ll be right back,” my daddy said. “I’m going to see what’s taking your mother so long at the door.”

  “Okay,” I replied. As I looked around at all of the people who I loved and I knew loved me, it felt good to know that I’d be adding Dontie to my family.

  “I think your father’s a cool dude,” Dontie whispered in my ear.

  “He is,” I said, grabbing his hand. “Baby, my daddy didn’t mean any harm. He was only trying to get to know you. He means good, I promise.”

  “Yeah. Uh-huh. I thought I was applying for a job instead of meeting my girl’s family, with all of the question that he was asking,” he said, looking uncomfortable.