Down With the King of the South 3

by Diamond Johnson

  “Toddrick, what’s going on? Why were you sitting in here in the damn dark?” I questioned again.

  For the first time, he wouldn’t look me in my eyes. His eyes were on everything except me. That’s when I realized that like a typical man, he didn’t want me to see him crying. He used his hands to quickly wipe it away. He was scaring me by not telling me what happened. I immediately thought of Maya, but I knew that she was fine because she was with my grandma. I usually would come home from work, shower, and then head over to get Maya because she took a strong liking to my grandma, so me coming home to shower and change was just giving the two of them some more time to spend with each other.

  I walked over to Miami and wrapped my arms around his neck as I stood on my tippy toes so I could somewhat try to reach his level.

  “What’s wrong, baby?” I asked him again.

  He released a sigh while shaking his head.

  “I went over to my ole boy’s house this evening because I hadn’t seen him in a few days. He’s been MIA lately, acting real strange for months. It’s been times I would pop up over there, and he wouldn’t be home. On some real shit, in the beginning, I questioned if maybe he had a girlfriend or something and he was hiding it from me or some shit like that. Whole fuckin’ time, that nigga sitting his ass over there with fuckin’ cancer! The days that I would go over there, he would be gone because he would be at chemo. Then, when I questioned him on how long he knew about this, he assured me that it’s been a few months,” he said.

  I could hear the hurt, the anger, even the fear in Miami’s voice. Miami loved his father. He played a huge role in his life. Miami didn’t have that story like a lot of other men who had to grow up without a father because his was actually there.

  “Baby, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. How bad is it?” I asked, referring to the status of his dad.

  “He tried to downplay it, but it’s bad, shorty. I know it ain’t our job to question God, but sometimes I just don’t understand Him, yo. Like, why me? I already done lost my ole girl to this deadly ass fuckin’ disease, and now my fuckin’ pops got it too. I lost deep parts of me when my mama died. Parts of me that still haven’t come back to this day. Shorty, I don’t know what the fuck I would do if… Man, I don’t even want to talk about it. Watch out,” he said, trying to push away from me, but I wouldn’t let him.

  I could sense that Miami was trying to be distant from me, but I also knew what he needed me, so I couldn’t let him go, even though that was probably what he wanted. I hated to see Miami like this. Anyone knew what when it came to family and friends, he was like the backbone. He was the glue that pretty much stuck everyone together.

  “Miami, please don’t shut down on me, baby. What are the doctors saying?” I questioned.

  He lifted me up and sat me down on top of the counter. My legs were slightly parted, so he stood in the middle of them, resting his hands on my lap.

  “He goes back to the doctor tomorrow, so Ima go with him because I felt like he was telling me a bunch of bullshit to get me not to worry. That nigga lied to the very end. I questioned him damn near two weeks ago about his weight. Just like me, you know my ole boy is solid muscle. I had been noticing the weight loss, but when he told me about the new diet that he was on, I believed his ass. I get that he doesn’t want to hurt me with this shit, but I don’t think he understands that lying to me and leaving me out of the loop is hurting me even more.

  “My ole girl did that same shit. She knew way in advance about her cancer, but since I was right where I wanted to be in my career, she didn’t tell me, figuring that it would knock me off my square and not have me fighting to my same potential. Years later, here he is doing that same shit,” Miami vented, and I let him.

  He did all the talking, and I didn’t say anything. There was about five minutes of silence before my phone started ringing. I reached to the side of me and dug in my purse for it, praying to God that it wasn’t Trip calling back because the timing was so off. I don’t want to even imagine the way that conversation would go. I retrieved my phone, and it wasn’t him. It was Jabari calling, and I showed Miami the phone, so he could see.

  “He’s probably calling you because I wasn’t answering my shit,” he said and took the phone out of my hand before answering it.

  While they talked, I lingered around because I wanted Miami to ask Jabari something for me. I stood with my arms crossed, and when I saw that the conversation was fading, I looked at Miami.

  “Ask him how Mahogany is doing,” I whispered to him.

  Miami shook his head at me like I was wrong, but he still went ahead and asked.

  “Shae said how is Mahogany?” he questioned, and I shoved his ass because he wasn’t supposed to say that I said it.

  He knew it too. I wasn’t sure what Jabari told Miami, but it got him to laugh right quick. They stayed on the phone for about another minute or so, and then they hung up. I noticed Miami look at something in my phone, and then he passed it back to me.

  “What did he say about Mahogany?” I questioned.

  He took about a minute to answer.

  “Who were you on the phone with for damn near ten minutes? The time said 5:07, which means you were on the phone on your way home from work,” he said, never even answering my question about Mahogany.

  If I could crawl under a damn rock right now, I would. Hell, anything to get my ass out of this situation. I hated confrontation with Miami. It didn’t make the situation any better that he was already mad and running high off his emotions, especially after finding out that his dad had cancer. I blew out a breath, knowing that this conversation had the potential to go left.

  “Trip,” I let him know.

  All he did was shake his head. “Trip! I’m so fuckin’ tired of hearing that nigga’s name. I love you, shorty, I swear to fuckin’ God I do, but—”

  “But what?” I screamed, cutting him off.

  “Ay, pipe the fuck down. I ain’t Mahogany. That tough girl shit don’t scare me. I weigh almost three of you! I don’t have no regrets about this shit, but I should have made sure what whatever the fuck you had going on with him was really handled before I pursued you,” he said.

  “It is properly handled. What are you talking about?” I quizzed.

  “Is it, Shae? Let me ask you something. Prior to today, when is the last time he called?” he questioned.

  “He hasn’t because I changed my phone number…” My voice trailed off because I had just caught myself in the lie that I told Miami when I told him the fake reason on why my number had been changed in the first place.

  He let out a sarcastic laugh, shaking his head at me.

  “Shorty, I knew your ass was fuckin’ lying when you told me the shit. I was just waiting for when you finally came to me with the truth. You lying for that nigga, Shae, which only means you love him. On some real shit, Jashae, you got me fucked up! Real fucked up. Out of respect for you and our baby, let me get the fuck out of here for a few. I’ll be back,” he said and attempted to walk out of the kitchen, but I jumped down to stop him.

  I grabbed his arm, trying to pull him, and he shrugged me off.

  “Baby, where are you going? Toddrick, I’m sorry. I didn’t want to start any more problems and—”

  “Shorty, you caused yourself a whole heap of fuckin’ problems by lying to me, yo. Looked me straight in my fuckin’ eyes and lied to a nigga. You lying to me for that nigga! Protecting that nigga! Fuck you think that shit make me feel, yo? I don’t question shit that you do, Shae. You told me that you wanted to take Maya in, and as much as I didn’t want to raise another nigga’s baby, I did that shit for you. I did it because of the love that I have in my heart for you. Don’t that account for something, yo? Most niggas would have told your ass no straight the fuck up!” Miami yelled.

  “Baby, it counts for everything. Don’t leave. Why are you leaving?” I asked, tugging at his arm.

  “Because I don’t know if I can trust you, shorty. Had I not had your
phone, I know you wouldn’t have told me that you exchanged words with that nigga earlier because that’s how you do. You protect that nigga. I’m out, man,” he said, and I started crying.

  If he left, I didn’t know if he was going to come back.

  “I wasn’t protecting him, Toddrick. I just want to protect us and—”

  “Jashae, we fuckin’ protected! Why the fuck do you feel like we at fuckin’ jeopardy over a nigga that’s serving a life sentence? Ask yourself that question, yo! Who is it that you’re really protecting? Us or that nigga?” he questioned. His hand was already on the door, and he was leaving.

  “Us, and you know that. Are you really going to leave?” I cried.

  “I’ll be back, but to tell you the God honest truth, I don’t know where we stand. I’ll go and pick up Maya while I’m out,” and with that, he left.

  I closed the front door and slouched down to the floor, crying my poor little heart out.

  Mahogany Brooks

  “Bae, you up?” I heard my husband groan from behind me.

  His voice and his tugging had woken me out of my sleep. He’d gone out tonight with Miami, and I didn’t have a clue what time it was. All I knew was that he’d left a little after eleven at night. My eyes were still closed, and I was still lying in a sleeping position. I knew what Jabari wanted, but I was right in the middle of some good ass sleep that I was actually just able to get because my daughter thought that it was play time all day long. Her kicking had become more pain than enjoyment. There were nights when I would find myself up crying because she would be kicking the shit out of my ribs. Tonight just happened to be one of those nights.

  My stomach was huge these days, and I wasn’t even at my nine month mark yet. Everyone who saw my stomach would always tell me that I looked nine months and like I was about to pop, but honestly, I still had a few more weeks to go.

  “No. I was sleeping,” I answered with my eyes still closed, too afraid to open them because once I did, I knew that it would be almost impossible to go back to sleep.

  I smelled weed on Jabari’s breath, which was a mixture of mint and liquor. I could smell the intoxicating smell of his cologne as well. Jabari and I were in a good space. That Kenyatta bitch had obviously tried to come to me with that information at my job a few weeks ago to knock me off my square, but it didn’t work. Of course, I spoke to Jabari about it, and he told me that it wasn’t his baby. If my man said that it wasn’t his baby, then it wasn’t his fuckin’ baby. Even if it was, I couldn’t be mad because that was Jabari’s past. I didn’t even know his ass back then.

  I’m not condoning him making that woman have a miscarriage because I would never wish something like that on another woman. It wasn’t in my nature, no matter how much I couldn’t stand that silly bitch. I could definitely see me and her throwing down after I had this baby because something told me that she was going to linger around and try to stir up problems in our marriage. It’s like the bitch just popped the fuck up out of nowhere.

  Honestly, I blamed Jabari’s hating ass mama. He could believe her all he wanted and make her out to be innocent all he wanted, but she was playing her part. Trust me, she was the one boosting that bitch’s head up and thinking that it was okay for her to play with me.

  “Reach your hand back. Look at what I got for you,” he said, grabbing my hand and placing it on his dick.

  I smiled big when I felt how hard his dick was. I could feel the veins in it and everything. My eyes finally popped open, and I looked at the digital clock on the dresser. It was almost three in the morning.

  “Nigga, you just now getting home at three? Where the fuck were you?” I asked, turning my head back to look at him.

  His hand lightly went for my neck, and he kissed me in the mouth. I was trying to argue, but he was kissing me, grinding his body onto me, and making it damn near impossible.

  “Ssssh. You going to make my dick soft with all that shit,” he groaned after he placed a final kiss on my lips and reached down to pull my panties off.

  “Where were you, Jabari?” I questioned.

  “I told you I was out with Miami. We went to Tootsies. Swear we only went there to eat. That jerk chicken pasta be hitting. I didn’t touch on no bitches or nothing because I know that’s your next question. He beefing with his ole lady, so he wanted to go out,” he said, dick almost inside of me, but the last part of his sentence had me stopping him.

  “Beefing how? What happened between him and Shae?” I asked.

  “Mahogany, really? Now when my dick goes soft, and I can’t fuck you, don’t get mad. I ain’t trying to think about nobody else but you right now. Come here,” he said, grabbing me by my neck again.

  My whole body was damn near on his chest with my back against him. His warm skin against mine was everything to me. I dropped it, only because I could feel myself dripping, and he was using his other hand to get his dick to slide inside of me. Once I felt it pushing its way in, I moaned and bit the shit out of his lips. Every time we fucked, I swear that first stroke brought water to a bitch’s eyes. His hand was still wrapped around my throat, and he was digging inside me, putting his weight into fuckin’ me. He was deep, hard, and quick with his strokes.

  “Damnnnnnnnnnn,” I cried, never having that feeling before.

  Jabari got better every time he fucked me. Something new always came from our love sessions. I think this was the first time since we had sex that I felt like I wasn’t keeping up. Like, it was honestly hard to keep up, but I couldn’t let him show me out.

  “Damn, what? That shit feels good, ain’t it?” he asked with his mouth to my neck, and he bit me hard as hell on it.

  I knew my light skin had marked up. All I could do was nod my head. The sex was so nasty, and it had just started. I was so gushy between my legs, and I couldn’t stop moaning. I felt like I was possessed. My legs started shaking like I was having a seizure, and before I knew it, I was having my first orgasm on his dick. He gently flipped my body over, putting me on my back. I was so uncomfortable and feeling like my baby was in my chest, but I wanted more of him, so I didn’t complain.

  Jabari grabbed the balls of my feet and brought my legs up to me. With a huge, pregnant belly, I swear it didn’t stop a damn thing. My legs were spread open for him as if I was about to give birth in this room. He kissed my thighs and put that dick back inside of me, making me cry out in pleasure and pain.

  “I’m hurting you?” he sweetly asked while he was still digging inside me.

  For the first time, I could not keep up.

  “Hmmmmm… no, not me! Just my pussy,” I moaned in all honesty.

  He kissed my lips, my cheeks, my neck, anything he could find.

  “You want me to stop?” his deep voice asked again, but I said no.

  He put both of his hands on either side of me and started back up again.

  “Jabarrriiiii. It’s too deeeppp. Shittttt,” I cried mixed with a moan, finally folding.

  He was digging in me like my ass wasn’t good and pregnant. He smirked at me, kissed my lips a few times and, when he sped up his pace, we both started to cum. For maybe one minute, he just lay there. Once he caught his breath, he pulled me into him and turned us both on our sides. Like a baby, he fell asleep. I could hear his heavy snoring in my ear.

  After lying there for two minutes, I started to get cramps in the lower part of my body. It was the same cramp that I felt last night. Then, all of a sudden, it felt like I was peeing on myself. In the beginning, I just lay there, but the pain started getting worse and more fluid was coming out of me. I quickly panicked as I tried to sit up in the bed, but Jabari was pulling me back down since his arm was wrapped around me.

  “Jabari! Jabari! Baby, I think my water just broke,” I calmly said although I was nervous as shit.

  “No, it didn’t. This is only the eighth month. Go to sleep,” he said and reached up, trying to pull my head back down.

  I moaned when I experienced another sharp pain rush through me. H
e must have believed me this time because he shot up. What was hitting me had to have been contractions because it was something that I had never experienced before, yet something that plenty of women with children had described to me.

  “Shit! Shit! Shit!” he called out, jumping out of the bed and throwing on his boxers.

  I couldn’t even move because the pain was rocking my body.

  “Come on. We gotta get to the hospital,” he called, but I shook my head no.

  “Let me take a quick shower,” I said once I was finally able to stand and talk.

  “We ain’t got time to take no fuckin’ shower. We need to find out what’s going on. Shorty, you dripping fluids. Your fuckin’ water just broke,” he voiced.

  I ignored Jabari as I walked into the bathroom. The moment I made it inside, another sharp pain hit me, which almost sent me to my knees. I was able to get the shower water on once the pain subsided, and in no time, I was under the warm water. More pain was coming, and I had the sudden urge to shit. It was so much pressure between my legs, and that’s when I found out what the hell was happening.

  “Baby, I gotta push. Call the ambulance,” I said and sat down in the shower.

  I was dripping sweat and in a pain that was so uncomfortable.

  “Push what? Mahogany, what the fuck are you doing, yo? Come on, let’s go to the fuckin’ hospital,” he voiced.

  I could see it in his face and hear it in his voice that this nigga was scared shitless.

  “Jabarriiiii. Shittttt… call the fuckin’ ambulance,” I cried, feeling more pressure and more pain.

  I reached my hands between my legs, and I could literally feel my baby’s head. It was right there. I was trying to be as calm as I could, but truth be told, I was scared shitless and Jabari wasn’t making it any better. He finally got on the phone with the ambulance, and he had the phone on speaker.

  “Oh my God. Oh… my Godddd… shittttt. Shessss coming… she’s commingggg,” I cried and threw my head back, preparing myself for that split that I was going to feel.