Page 60 of Just Listen
“Okay, cool.” I opened the passenger door. “Now, come on.”
Together, we traveled up the steps that led to my front door. After entering the code, the door unlocked, and I stepped inside, with him right behind me.
“Who’s keeping her?” He questioned, as we were ascending the first flight of interior stairs.
“The nanny, Shelia.”
“The nanny, huh?”
“Yup,” I responded, as I made it to the second floor. “You can have a seat over here,” I instructed, as I ambled over to the sectional.
“Wait.” He grabbed my hand, as I was attempting to sit. “Can you go get Khari first? Please?”
I sighed, before kicking off my shoes. “Okay.”
Huffing and puffing, I headed upstairs, when I really wanted to crash on the couch and close my eyes. However, I was trying to be considerate. Malice had just met the baby, and probably wanted to spend more time with her.
Stepping into Khari’s bedroom, I noticed Shelia sleeping in the daybed, while Khari was asleep in her crib. Quietly, I grabbed my baby, and her bottle, before tipping out of the room. I then headed back downstairs to the second level.
Malice sat up on the couch when he saw me approaching, with Khari in my arms. As soon as I reached the couch, he extended his arms, wanting to hold her. Without a second thought, I handed her over, with the bottle, before going to crash at the other end of the sectional.
“Damn, I’m sleepy,” I yawned, while curling my body against the fluffy throw pillows.
“Well, you can go to sleep. I got her,” he offered, while gazing at a sleeping Khari’s face.
“I don’t know about all that,” I mumbled, as my eyes closed. “You probably…you probably don’t know the first thing about taking care of a baby.”
He lightly chuckled. “You’d be amazed at what I know.”
“Is that right?” I groggily responded, with my eyes now closed. “So, you just stay out all night like this?”
“Nawl,” he yawned. “But these are some extenuating circumstances.”
“Hmph. And you’d be homeless come tomorrow, fucking with me.”
“So, you be putting niggas out?”
“I would,” I yawned for the umpteenth time. “But I haven’t technically lived with anybody. So, I’ve never had to put ‘em out.”
“So, you haven’t really been in no relationship, for real,” he assumed.
I frowned. “How you figure?”
“Cause. When you in love. I mean likereallyin love. Then you gon wanna go to sleep and wake up to that man. And your whole world will be fucked up whenever you don’t.”
“Okay. Is Paisley in love with you?”
He hesitated, before responding. “I believe so.”
“And yet, you’re choosing to sit on my couch, while her world is fucked up. Tisk, tisk, tisk.”
~~~Chapter 14~~~
Malice
“There he is,” Paisley spoke calmly with her hands on her hips.
It was now three o’clock in the afternoon, and I’d just walked through the door. I’d been texting her throughout the night, telling her that I had pressing business to handle. So, although she was probably a little irritated about me not coming home, it wasn’t fight worthy. At the end of the day, I still hustled, so not coming home at night wasn’t a immediate red flag.
