All I Want is that Hood Love 3 (5 page)

              I couldn’t believe this nigga!! I understand that they have a child together, but his job is to take care of his child, not the child and the child’s mother! Where the fuck do they do that at? No wonder that bitch is always smirking and shit when she sees me. My nigga still supporting her ass!

              “Yeah, that grown ass woman has to keep the damn lights and shit on too. She gotta keep a roof over my daughter’s head.” The way that he said that shit had me heated.

              “OH MY FUCKING GOD! THAT GROWN ASS WOMAN SHOULD TRY GETTING A FUCKING JOB!” I bellowed and went to my room slamming the door as hard as I could. I knew he was coming in behind me. Soon as he opened the door, I went in again.

              “And why the fuck did you let your hair down huh?” I asked him because I know that every time Rock and I fuck he would take his hair down so that I could pull on his dreads. He was a sucker for that shit.

              “Cause them fucking cheap ass rubber bands you bought, popped!” It took everything in me not to laugh at his stupid ass. He closed the door and made his way over to the bed where I was laying. “I know what the fuck you want! Stay right thurr!”

              Once we left Kira's house, I decided to stop by my mama’s house to see what was up with her, since I hadn’t heard from her lately. She had been avoiding me ever since the day that I gave birth. I had been calling her repeatedly only for her to send me straight to the voicemail every time. Kira had already informed me that word on the streets was that she had had the baby. She know that she didn’t have any help, so I didn’t understand why she was dodging me, as if she didn’t need the assistance.

              She still lived in the projects on Andrew Street. Back in the day when Kira and I lived there with her, she had a three bedroom. Since Kira and I had grown up and moved out on our own, she switched to a one bedroom. I took on the scenery as I cruised through the projects, slowing down at every speed bump. At one project I saw a few little girls who looked to be between the ages four and ten. They had a radio outside that was blasting Rae Sremmurd’s “Throw Sum Mo’”. The girl that looked to be the youngest was in an all-out dance battle with the girl who looked to be the oldest. I shook my head as I watched the little girl do the twerk team’s signature dance kick while rocking her hips with her tongue hanging out of her mouth. She placed her hands on her knees and started twerking as if she was in the running to win a shopping spree at the candy store. My mouth dropped when I saw her walk up to the older girl and dropped down into a split and start bouncing up and down. I wanted to throw my car in park so bad and go snatch her lil’ ass right on up! A couple of projects down, Stacy the project’s hairstylist, was outside on her porch jumbo braiding up someone’s hair as a cigarette dangled from the corner of her mouth, with a damn cordless phone placed between her ear and her shoulder. Shit, the only person I knew that still owned a house phone was Mrs. Mildred and that was understandable. You could tell she was gossiping from the way the cigarette flapped up and down in her mouth.

              When I pulled up to my mama’s project, I saw Jamel's BMW parked out front. I reckoned he was more than likely using my mama to get in touch with me. I wasn't ready to face him but I had no other choice right now. I needed to find out what was going on with my mama. The closer I got to her door, the clearer their voices became. Jamel and my mama was having an all-out war inside. Instead of knocking on the door and interrupting their dispute, I stood at the door with DJ in my arms and listened.

              "You still on that shit! Look at you! Look at all this shit! How many times I gotta tell you to keep this shit away from my fuckin’ baby, Debra?" JaMel yelled. I wasn’t sure if I was hearing their conversation correctly, so I put my ear closer to the door.

              "Well if you’re that fuckin concerned, why don't you take him with you?" she spat back at him.

              "Nah, you need to step yo’ overgrown ass up and be a fucking parent! I don't want nobody to know that we fucked and especially knowing that I got you pregnant! A fuckin junkie!"

              My hand went over my chest as I went back against the brick wall. My chest heaved up and down as I tried to take in what I had just heard.
Nah, this can’t be. I ain’t hear that right?

              "Oh, that’s how you feel? You just like my whore of a daughter, selfish as fuck. Fuck you and that bitch! Now get the fuck outta my house!" she snapped.

              I tried to move out of the way so that I wouldn’t be seen before the door came open, but it was too late! The door flew open, and they both made eye contact with me. Jamel looked like he had seen a ghost while Debra stood there holding the door open for him to exit with a malicious grin on her face. I was standing in front of the two people who had deceived me the worst in my entire life. Something inside of me was telling me to kill both of them, but I had to think rationally. My son was with me, and I wasn’t about to go to jail fucking around with these two. My best bet was just to leave before I ended up in jail and my son ended up without his mother.

              With DJ still on my shoulder I ran to my car. If I wasn't done with them muthafuckas then, I was damn show done with them now.

SICK BASTARDS!

              "Taysia baby, wait up! Please! Just let me explain this shit! Taysia! Don’t go man, please!" Jamel called as he ran behind me.

              I hopped in my car with DJ still in my arms, and locked the doors. Jamel started banging on my window like a fucking madman, begging me to open up the door and listen to him. He started shaking the door handle trying his best to get in. We made eye contact and I knew I had to go before I did something that I may regret later on down the line. I ignored his cries and pleas. Little did he know he had just done me a favor! This shit right here sealed the fuckin deal. There was no coming back from this shit.

              Now I didn't feel so bad for doing the things that I had done. I had no reason to. I couldn’t believe that I had actually started feeling sorry for that muthafucka. Not only did he fuck my mama, but this nigga had gotten her pregnant. If that ain't the grimiest shit that someone can do to a person, I don't know what is. Fuck Jamel and Debra! Right now, I didn't have anyone besides Kira and MeMe at this point, and that was enough.

              I had become tired of crying to them about everything that was happening in my life, so instead of calling them like I always did, I sat inside of my car in the grocery store parking lot with DJ still in my arms, and tried to get myself together. I had to remember that I’m a mother before anything. I needed to get the rest of his milk for the month, so that I wouldn't have to stop anywhere once we made it back to Albany. I went inside of the shopping center for some milk plus more. My cart was filled with groceries. I was struggling trying to put DJ inside of his car seat and watch my cart at the same time, when a handsome, older gentleman hopped out of the driver’s side of a silver Chevy Camaro with tinted windows and approached me. He was very charming to be exact.

              "Let me help you with those, beautiful," he sneered as he began helping me load my groceries in the car.

              "Thank you sooooo much," I said to him. I couldn't remember the last time a man had been nice to me.

              "No problem, you looked like you were having a hard time over here and I would’ve been less than a man to just sit back and watch.”

              “Well that was real sweet of you. I really appreciate it.” I waited for him to finish.

              “It would be nice to put a name with the face," he stated after putting the last few bags inside of my car.

              "I'm NaTaysia, and you are?" I asked.

              "I'm Wesley," he said and extended his hand out.

              I hugged his hand with mine, and he brought it up to his dark chocolate lips, pressing it with a gentle kiss. Wesley's hands, and lips were soft like baby skin. Now I wasn't into older guys but if I was, Wesley would definitely be my number one draft pick.
Got damn this old man, is handsome!
He was pure sexy and dark skinned. He put me in the mind of the actor Idris Elba. His skin was smooth like silk and his hair was wavier than a Frito Lay.

              "I would like to get to know you better NaTaysia, I mean if that's okay with you." He and I both smiled, but I wasn’t up for dating anyone at the moment.

              "Wesley, I'm sure you're a nice guy and all but trust me, I have so much shit going on in my life right now that I would hate to string you along. I’m sure you’re a very nice gentleman and all, but right now isn’t a good time for me.”

              He laughed.

              "Well how about this." He turned to his car and grabbed a pen and tore off a piece of my grocery bag. "Whenever you get rid of all that extra baggage, I'm only one call away." He handed me the paper with his name and number on it and winked.

              "Will do," I lied as I took the piece of paper out of his hand and placed it up in my sun visor. He watched me as I got in my car and pulled off. In my rearview mirror, I could still see him standing there smiling. Until finally, he hopped in his car and pulled off as well.

              A few days had passed and it was a quarter to midnight. DJ’s little body had finally shut down on him and he was out counting sheep. I laid in my bed stalking my phone like always. I don’t know why I was expecting Mega to call or at least text. Maybe it was because I really wanted him to. Coming to the conclusion that he wouldn’t, I decided to text Jamel. I needed closure between us and there were a lot of unanswered questions that needed to be addressed. I’m sure he probably had some as well, and I was willing to lay it all right out on the table, followed by a divorce. He would have to find out on his own about Jamelia not being his daughter, because I wasn’t about to tell his ass a damn thing. That wasn’t my damn business anymore.

              ME: Meet me tomorrow, 3:00 in Albany at Ruby Tuesday. We need to talk!  

              I cut straight to the chase. There was no need for him to even think that this was a date, or some type of
let's fix it
event. In order for us to move on, this was something that needed to be done. I waited for him to respond, but to my surprise he didn't. It was cool though. I knew Jamel wasn't going to pass up this opportunity being that he had been blowing my phone up ever since I pulled off on his ass a few days ago, and I wasn’t answering. I turned off the TV and laid back in my bed. I wondered what Mega was doing right now. Visions of him making sweet love to someone else clouded my mind.
Was he really through with me? Who is this new bitch that he has walking around on his arm? Where the fuck did she come from? Was she better than me?
I was going to drive myself crazy if I didn’t find out who she was.

              The next morning I was disturbed by someone banging on my door. I glanced over at the clock and it was 9:00 A.M. I already hadn’t gotten any sleep because I had to wake up three times in the middle of the night to feed DJ his bottle. Glancing over at his baby crib, I saw that he was wide awake, gnawing on his fingers. He always did that when he was hungry. I couldn't help but laugh. Ignoring whoever it was banging on my door, I walked over to his crib and picked him up.

              "Hey there mama's lil pud! Whatcha doin up, huh? You watching mommy sleep? Huh? Ooooh, mommy needs to change the baby's diaper!" DJ's pamper was soaked. Laying him down on his changing table, I changed his pamper and made my way to the door.

              "Taaaaayyy, open up!"

              It was MeMe’s loud ass. I opened up the door and let her ass have it.

              "Bitch, are you tryna get me kicked out my apartment today?" I asked and she fell out laughing. She had Jamelia with her. Jamelia had gotten much bigger since the last time I saw her.

              "Whatever girl! Get my nephew dressed, he's rolling with tee tee today," she happily stated.

              "Mmm hmm. And where is
tee tee
trying to take him? Meme quit tryna be slick, ok!" I said letting them come inside and closing the door.

              "What you talkin ‘bout sis?" she laughed. I gave her ass a look that told her that I knew that she was up to something. Mega had sent her to pick DJ up, and I knew it.

              "Okay, okay, damn! Mega's having a cookout at grandma’s house later on today. He wants DJ to come…hold up!” She raised her hand in the air as if she knew I was about to interrupt her. “Before you think about saying no, Grandma said that you and DJ should come, and if you don’t want to, then you better at least send DJ. After hearing about what happened the other day I didn't think you would want to come," Meme said.

              I don’t care what happened between me and her brother, her ass always knew about it.

              "And you are absolutely right! Yo’ brother dissed the fuck outta me the other day! Not only that but he questioned if DJ was his," I rolled my eyes.

              "Why you let my brother get to you like that? I done told you about that shit! Same thing happened with that fake ass engagement. Mega be tryna read you and see where yo’ head at. You hurt him so he's trying to hurt you. Real talk, both of y'all are petty as fuck if you ask me. There's a child involved for Christ’s sake. I'll be glad when y'all get y'all shit together, I swear, because both of y’all are starting to really piss me off. So you letting DJ go or nah?"

              I trusted MeMe with my baby. She was his aunt and we were cool. This would be perfect being that I was supposed to meet up with Jamel later on today. My feelings were kind of hurt that Mega didn't invite me to his little cookout. That's okay though! As soon as my meeting with Jamel was over, I was going to that damn cookout, whether Mega wanted me there or not, and I know that bitch would be there so I knew I was going to have to shut shit down with my attire. I only got a glimpse of her the other day when she appeared at Mega’s door, so I really couldn’t see how she looked.

              After getting DJ ready and sending him off with MeMe and Jamelia, I hopped in the shower. I threw on a pair of skinny jeans, with a pink "I Work Hard Bitch" t-shirt by Shekinah Jo, and a pair of pink and black Air Max. Thanks to DJ, my hair had grown very thick and long while I was pregnant, so I pulled it back into a ponytail, and headed to the mall.

                After spending two hours in the mall, I finally found the perfect attire. It was simple, but with the body that I possessed it was damn sure to turn heads and break necks, from both males and females. Once I left the mall I went straight home, jumped in the shower again, flat ironed my hair and headed to meet Jamel at Ruby Tuesday. His car was the first car that I spotted when I pulled into the parking lot.

              Well, here goes nothing!
I approached the table where Jamel was sitting and this nigga stood up as if we were supposed to hug or kiss.
I think not!

              "Hey," I spoke dryly as I slid into the booth.

              "Hey sweetheart," he said.

             
This nigga here!

              From there, we let silence fill the air, neither one of us really knowing what to say to each other. Especially after what happened the other day. I couldn’t even believe that I was meeting with this muthafucka, but I knew that it was best for me. I needed to do this so that I could move forward. Sensing the tension, Jamel threw his hand up for the waiter. The waiter came over and took his order. The only thing I ordered was a glass of water. I didn't plan on staying that long, so if that meant that Jamel would be enjoying dinner by himself then oh fucking well.

              "So Jamel, tell me what made you agree to meet me here today?" I asked.

              "Well honestly Taysia, I haven’t been to sleep in days…I just been thinking. I feel that we have a lot of unresolved issues, especially after the incident that took place at your mom’s. I've come to realize that…you and I,” he took a deep breath, “will never work. I would love for us to work, but I know in your heart that you will never love me the same, and I can’t be with you like that. Ya know, knowing that you don’t love me the same."

              He was absolutely right, and I wanted to give him a round of applause. There was no way in the hell that I could ever love him the same. And I definitely couldn’t be with a man who fucked and got my mom pregnant. Hell, even if he hadn’t gotten her pregnant, they still fucked and that was enough for me.

              After about an hour of talking, our dirty laundry was done. Everything was aired out, and it felt damn good. He told me from the beginning how he and MeMe had met, when, and why he would cheat on me. Hell, he even told me that he used to let Simone suck on his dick occasionally. That didn’t surprised me at all. Hearing how my mom had snuck her way into our home and blindfolded him didn’t really sound realistic to me, but it didn’t matter. Either way that it went, they still fucked.

              When it was my turn to tell all, that’s exactly what I did. He knew how I had met Mega, and about our trip to Miami. I even told him how Mega had come to see me in the hospital the night that I miscarried when he left to go get my food. He couldn’t believe it when I told him that he was the only one that didn’t know what was going on at the engagement party that night.

              The last thing we discussed was getting a divorce. He wasn’t upset about it, but more like hurt. I was just glad that we were able to get everything off of our chest and finally let this shit be!

              "Taysia, before you leave there's one more thing that I think you should know. During one of the many arguments I had with yo’ mama, she yelled out some serious information that I think you may want to look into." He sat up at the table with his hands clutched together.

              "I'm listening."

              He continued, "Apparently, your mom had another child that she gave away at birth.”

              I wasn't sure if I had heard him right.

              "I’m sorry, what did you just say?" I asked listening more carefully than before.

              "Your mom…she uh…had another child, but gave the child away when she was born. You have a sister Tay."

              Confused would be an understatement to explain how I was feeling, but from the look on Jamel's face, I knew that he was telling the truth.

              “Mel, please tell me you’re playing. Are you serious right now?” He nodded.

              “I can’t believe that bitch!” I slapped my hand down on the table, loud enough to draw attention. “Why are you just now telling me this Jamel?” I asked.

              “Honestly Taysia, there was so much shit going on that it slipped my mind. I had planned on telling you but shit had gotten real hectic between us during that time,” he explicated.

              “Oh, okay. Well, I appreciate you for letting me know about this. I really do.” I stood up and gave him a genuine hug. That was the least I could do.

              “I’ma miss you Tay,” he whispered in my ear and held on to me as if he never wanted to let me go.

              “Take care Mel. You should receive the papers in the mail within the next few weeks.”

              He responded by nodding his head. I grabbed my purse and walked out of Ruby Tuesday feeling like a free woman. I hopped in my car and went straight to Cuthbert. My thoughts ran wild the entire drive there. My mama, no, that bitch, Debra was a fucking snake! There was no if, ands, or buts about it. The bitch was the leader of the fucking pack. I know that if I wanted to find out about this long-lost sister of mine, I was going to have to do some thorough research. I wouldn’t be able to do that unless I contacted this bitch, which is something that I didn’t really want to do, but right now I would have to deal with this bitch, at least until I was able to get what I needed from her. I had all of my answers from Jamel, and now it was her turn. I was going to put this shit behind me for the moment because I was on my way to handle some other business. I couldn’t wait to shut shit down at this cookout. Kira said that Rock had invited her but she declined. She had been giving him the cold shoulder lately, but once she found out I was planning on making a grand entrance, she hopped on board.