Page 112 of Just Listen
“Yeah?” I answered a call, while I was behind the wheel of my Rover, while parked at a corner store in the hood.
“So, I gotta use somebody’s else’s phone to get you to answer?” Paisley sassily questioned.
“Mann,” I drawled. “The fuck do you want?”
“What I want? Are you fucking serious? I want access to my fucking house, nigga!”
“What house? Can’t be the one in that gated community with that ten-thousand-dollar mortgage. A mortgage that you obviously can’t afford. Can’t be talking aboutthathouse. Cause if you wanted to live there, then you wouldn’t move how you move.”
“So, I gotta kiss your ass for you to do what’s right?”
“What’s right? That shit went out the window the minute you started posting my daughter on social media. That’s why I had them people to pack up everything you had in that house, and drop it off at ya mama’s and daddy’s. The bridge was burnt then, but then you showed up to where my baby rests her head, and that’s venturing into a whole different territory. You’s the enemy now, and you’ll never eat off my plate again.”
“Eat off your plate? The same muthafuckin’ plate that I helped you make,” she seethed.
“The fuck did you help me make, Paisley? The way you be talking, you’d swear that I was a scrub when I met you. I was already doing my thing. It was you who told me that your daddy wanted to do business. Then that nigga wanted me to take consignment off the rip. After one round, I told him that I didn’t need no more advances and that nigga was heated. Because hethoughtthat I’d be another worker. But he learned early on thatI wasn’t going. So, anything after was on the up and up. Nothing extra, just because I was with his daughter. Shit, you know that like nobody else. That tight ass nigga makes you work for everything you have. It’s the same reason that you can’t afford to pay the bills without me.”
“Look, whatever,” she scoffed. “You’re so fucking ungrateful. And it sounds like you have real strong feelings towards my daddy, when he’s shown you nothing but love and respect.”
“Nah, I aint got nothing against that nigga. You just not about to use him or nothing else to hold over my head. This shit is a wrap, and any help I was gonna give…you fumbled that. So, what’s up?”
“Really, Khamere?” She sniveled.
I sucked my teeth. “Man, miss me with that bullshit.”
“But—”
Tired of hearing her voice, I ended the call. Then I sat back for a minute to reflect on some shit. It had only been a week since Paisley had shown up to the house to jump Jaylah. Since then, things had been relatively calm. Jaylah’s people swore that they were going to get some people to lay hands on Paisley again, but nobody had managed to catch up with her. With her no longer having access to my house, I didn’t know where she’d been resting her head. But if she kept up the bullshit, then I wasn’t above luring her somewhere.
It was wild to me. I once loved the broad, but she was gradually transforming into my biggest opp. Me not wanting her hadn’t stopped me from caring about her, but she was pushing it to a point of no return. Then when I saw how she was attacking my baby online, I had never been happier with the decisions I’dmade. The whole way she was handling things showed me just how flawed her character was.
Paisley being hurt or mad was a normal human reaction, but talking about a baby that was made while we was technically broken up was diabolical. Then I hated how everything else unfolded. Big Baby’s family hadn’t gotten to know me fully yet, and then this bullshit happens. I could only imagine the sidebar conversations that were happening, because I’d definitely have smoke for any nigga who’d have my sisters in the middle of some bullshit.
I know that she claimed that she didn’t care what her people thought, one way or another. However, I could see right through her, and knew that she cared about what her parents thought, like a muthafucka. And now, she was talking about going on this family trip with everybody so that we could get better acquainted.
Naturally, I’d agreed to go, but I had to admit to myself that being around her family had me questioning if I was enough for her. Not saying that she couldn’t experience the same level of drama with any of them athlete niggas, but at least that would be the only bullshit they’d come with. Unfortunately with me, Paisley being bitter was just the tip of the iceberg. And for the first time in my life, I wasn’t exactly proud about where I currently was…because I felt like my daughter and Big Baby deserved a better version of me that was operating on a higher frequency.
Ironically, it was like the more I thought about her, she could feel my vibrations from across the city, as I received a FaceTime call.
“What’s up, my Big Baby?” I smiled into the camera, after answering.
“Hey,” She smirked, giving me those dimples that I loved. “I was just calling to check in.”
I nodded, while squinting. “Where you at? And where’s my baby?”
“I’m down at the boxing gym with Riah, and Khari is with Ms. Shelia at home.”
Just as she said that, some random nigga came into view, seemingly gawked at her ass while she was standing, before stepping out of view.
“Come holler at me, when you get off that call,” the nigga attempted to whisper.
“The fuck? Say, nigga, she ain’t got shit to holler at you about,” I growled loud enough for him to hear.
“Exactly,” Big Baby co-signed.
“These niggas gotta want me to pull up.”
She smirked. “I hear you, bae, but you do know that he’s a middleweight champion, right?”
