Page 51 of Just Listen
“I’m saying.” I opened my arms. “She looks young as hell. Plus, she’s pushing a stroller. So, I’m assuming that’s her baby.”
“No, uh, baby,” Jaylah’s mama spoke up. “Don’t go around putting that charge on me. I’m done with having kids. This is my grandbaby, right here.”
“Oh.” My eyes traveled back to Jaylah. “Is that your baby?”
Tucking her lips into her mouth, she nodded.
I smirked. “See, and that’s why I bowed out gracefully. You and that nigga wasn’t done.”
She rolled her eyes again. “Nah. He was hardly the issue. Let’s be for real. If anything, I’m sure that you wanted to work it out withPaisley.”
Hearing that, I paused. “Huh?”
“Nigga, if you can huh, you can hear,” she spat.
“So, you been knew her or some shit?”
“Ewe. Hell, no. I definitely don’t get down like that. I met her,afterI met you. I didn’t even know that y’all knew each other, until I saw her IG story.”
“Oh, yeah?” I stroked my goatee, while trying to process the information.
“Yep.” She yawned and stretched.
I nodded. “So, you and that nigga must be still off and on?”
“Jay-lah,” her mama fussed.
“Mama, I’m coming,” Jaylah responded evenly. “I’m just trying to tell Malice about—”
“Malice?” Her mama regurgitated with a frown. “This is Malice?” She pointed at me, throwing me completely off.
Why the hell would she tell her mama about me?
Jaylah nodded. “Yep. And I know you said…that if I saw him…then I just needed to be honest.”
“Right,” her mama agreed.
“Right,” Jaylah sighed, as she gazed at me. “Would you like to meet your daughter, Malice?”
A flash of heat instantly covered my face. “Say what?”
She sighed, while shaking her head.
“You playing with me, right?”
“No. I’d never play like that.”
“Okay…so, so, so,” I stuttered. “Why didn’t you say nothing—” I cut myself off, as I stepped over to the stroller, and peered down.
The baby girl in the stroller was red, chunky, with silky hair. I couldn’t fully make out her facial features, because her she was sound asleep with her head tilted. There was a gold bracelet around her chubby wrist, and she was dressed in baby Dior, which I wasn’t a bit surprised by. Big Baby aka Jaylah was unquestionably a material girl.
“This is crazy.” I shook my head, before glaring at Jaylah. “If she’s mine, then why didn’t you let me know?”
“Nigga, aint noifabout it.” She sassily twisted her neck.
Attempting to manage my temper, I nodded and licked my lips. “You so sure, yet I gotta find out in the middle of the fucking mall?”
Not seeming moved, she folded her arms across her breasts. “Look, it was now or never. Because clearly, I’ve been handling shit on my own. So, the only reason I’m saying something…is because my family keeps stressing that Khari should at least know who she’s biologically related to. Even if a relationship is never established.”
