Page 118 of Just Listen
“Yeah, that sounds about right.”
I cut my eyes at him. “What about you? You been around for a minute. You get along with everybody?”
“Oh, yeah. We all kin now,” he chuckled.
“Was it like that from the beginning?”
“Yeah. Once Key got pregnant. Before then we had a few hiccups, so we didn’t really focus on meeting the fam. It was only happening by chance. But after we got our shit together, her people became such a huge part of my life. Shit, her mama is like my mama. Cooler than a muthafucka.”
I nodded. “I can dig it.”
“Yeah, and you got Raven for a mother-in-law, so you definitely winning.”
I furrowed a brow. “Why you say that?”
“Because. That lady is the truth. She shows up for all her kidsandtheir spouses. She’s extremely supportive and is just real kind-hearted. That’s why her kids can never be too far away from her.”
I smirked. “Yeah, Jaylah talks to her every day, like clockwork.”
“Yeah, they all do. Key’s like that with Ms. Raquel too. The only thing I’d say to be careful with…is running with that nigga JJ.”
I squinted. “You talking about their brother?”
“Yeah, that nigga.”
I smirked. “The fuck do he be doing?”
“Nigga,” he stressed. “The fuck he don’t be doing? That’s the question. He’on know how to act. Be pulling shit he know that he can’t get away with, then gets mad when his gal gets to tripping. They’re always clowning. My problem is that he be playing with fire too much and everybody aint in the same type of situation. That nigga will fuck around and have everybody beefing with their gals, if you let him.”
I lightly chuckled. “Yeah, Jaylah done told me a few stories about that nigga.”
“Yeah. And if Jaylah ever tries to pick a fight whenever she’s with all her sisters and cousins, then just walk away, my nigga. I’m telling you. Because they do be jumping. I’m talking straightthrowing hands. All of ‘em. Don’t matter how rich they are or nothing. They be on the bullshit.”
I was full out laughing now. “So, you been a victim?”
He shrugged. “Once or twice. Then them muthafuckas was smiling in my face a few days later, like they wasn’t jumping on my back, knocking me over the head.”
My shoulders shook with laughter. “Mannn.”
“I’m telling you, dog. They’re basically a fucking gang.”
When he said that, I thought about the times that Jaylah randomly flipped the script on me, like the time she put a knife to my fucking throat. At the time, I thought that she was stepping outside of her character, and now I was beginning to believe that it was nothing new to her.
“Come on, nigga! What’s up!”
I lifted my head to see Big Baby squaring up with JJ. She had an incredible stance, before slap boxing with him. Then just like Wale had just talked about, all the women swarmed him, busting him across the head.
After a while, a few of the guys stepped in, and soon after they were all wrestling across the sand. Jaylah would often talk about how her and her siblings would revert to big kids whenever they were all together, and I was now witnessing that firsthand.
“Say.” I licked my lips. “I know that you officially retired,” I referred to his once illegal activities. “But when did you know that it was time?”
“Shit, I had to learn the hard way,” he admitted. “Keyasia had been on my ass for years, even while sticking beside me. Herand her mama would help with investments. Whatever it took. But I just couldn’t leave the shit alone. Then one day, Keyasia woke up and said that she wasn’t doing that with me no more. It was either my family or the streets, and she was serious that time. I was mad a fuck, feeling like she was trying to force my hand…but I couldn’t lose her. Then we had a real talk about everything. Our finances. The safety nets. And I admitted that I had a paralyzing fear of being broke again. With tears in her eyes, she said that if I lost it all, then we could always just go live with her mama and daddy, until they took pity on us,” he chuckled. “She’s always fucking cracking jokes, but there was some truth to what she was saying. She don’t have the ordinary family. It’s a bunch of movers and shakers. She got one of the strongest support systems I done ever seen, and once we locked in, they became a part of my support system too. And once I stopped looking at that from a overly prideful place, that’s when everything changed for me. Now, I don’t hesitate to call this one or that one, when I can’t figure something out on my own. I just had to let go of the idea that I had to always look like that nigga in my woman’s eyes. A real man recognizes his strengths and weaknesses, and accepts when his woman might have to take the wheel.”
Nodding, I was listening intently, while having a internal battle. It was wild when I thought about it, because I wasn’t just the average hustler. I’d done a lot of shit that I could only talk to God about, and the strongest pleas from Paisley never shook my position. However, in less than a year’s time, being with Jaylah had me rethinking everything.
“What are y’all over here talking about?”
I lifted my head, and found Jaylah now standing directly in front of me in her form fitting sundress, with her hands on her hips.
