Page 17 of Heavy Lifting
“My children sat at my job in the waiting room for two hours waiting for their ain’t shit daddy to pick them up last night. He didn’t show up, but you know what came? A SEX VIDEO THAT ONE OF HIS BITCHES SENT TO MY PHONE. SO INSTEAD OF PICKING UP HIS CHILDREN COZART WALKER WAS OUT STICKING HIS DICK IN A TRIFLING BITCH. HE ISN’T ANSWERING MY PHONE CALLS SO I HAD TO COME UP HERE TO TELL HIM ABOUT HIMSELF!” Kaliyah yelled loudly.
I glanced around in embarrassment, and half the gym was listening. The other half were pretending not to listen, but air pods had mysteriously made it out of ears.
“Let’s go into my office and talk about this sister-in-law.” I told her politely as I tried to wrap my arms around her shoulders. She snatched away from me angrily like she was sick of my shit.
“No BRICK you can’t FIX this for him. I didn’t marry YOU I married HIM and I want him to tell me to my face why he’s such a shitty husband and father. He disappointed ME, but those kids are his FLESH and blood. He can at least care about them. Where is your brother? Where is Cozart?” she asked angrily as tears filled her eyes.
I rubbed my temples, but before I could reply Cozart stormed to the front.
“WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU DOING KALIYAH UP HERE MAKING A SCENE AT MY PLACE OF BUSINESS? GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE BEFORE I CALL THE POLICE ON YOUR ASS AND YOU LOSE THAT JOB YOU JUST GOT!” he yelled making things go from bad to worse. Even the people that were pretending not to listen at first were fully tuned in now.
“Can y’all take this into your office Co? We have customers,” I told my stupid ass brother through gritted teeth. I was just as pissed off at him as Kaliyah was. The nerve of him to leave my fucking niece and nephew sitting in a hospital waiting room for hours so he could fuck a slut hoe. I really wanted to know where the hell this behavior came from because he didn’t grow up watching our father do this shit. Our father was a FAMILY man. He loved his wife and stuck by her side until the day GOD called her back home. He provided for us, took care of us, didn’t bring our family no drama, and he was the only proof I had that good men actually existed. I was single not only because my brother showed me the worst parts of men. I had also never had a man to come to me with the energy that my daddy gave my mother.
“NAH, SHE WANT TO PUT THE SHIT ON BLAST RIGHT HERE LET’S DO IT RIGHT HERE. I APOLOGIZE I COULDN’T GET THE KIDS BUT NIGGAS FUCK UP!” he yelled back at her.
“FUCKING UP AND BEING AN UNFIT PARENT ARE TWO DIFFERENT THINGS! I LOST MY JOB BECAUSE OF YOU! I HAD TO LEAVE AND TAKE THE KIDS HOME, AND I HAD NO ONE ELSE TO WATCH THEM. SO, IT’S YOUR FAULT THAT I HAVE LOST YET ANOTHER JOB!!” she screamed at him as tears flowed down her face.
“I would have come and picked the kids up Kaliyah all you had to do was call. I was at the gym all night,” I shrugged.
“NO BRICK! I DIDN’T CALL YOU BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT YOUR KIDS AND NOT YOUR RESPONSIBILITY. YOU DIDN’T STICK YOU DICK INSIDE OF ME AND MAKE THESE KIDS, YOUR BROTHER DID!” she yelled before she turned back toward Cozart.
“Show me which one of these hoes you were fucking last night? You find all of your playthings right here in this gym. Is she here today? Show me which hoe sent THIS VIDEO.” Kaliyah shoved her phone in Cozart’s face.
He looked at the video in confusion and shook his head.
“I wasn’t with a woman last night. I was at home,” he said calmly.
“LIAR!” Kaliyah screamed.
“I’m not lying Kaliyah I wasn’t with a woman last night. I trained three people yesterday, and I was exhausted. I have no reason to lie to you about if I was with another woman. We are separated and have been for quite some time. We don’t live together; I have my own place. We would have been divorced by now if you would just sign the papers,” Cozart said angrily causing Kaliyah to look even more upset if that were possible.
“Y’all please take that somewhere else because this is a business and this shit is unprofessional. If y’all both don’t LEAVE I’m calling the police on BOTH of y’all then going to pick up my niece and nephew to take them out for ice cream while y’all sit in jail for the day for disturbing the peace. TRY ME.” I looked back and forth between Co and Kaliyah while pulling my phone from my pocket.
“This is half my gym too! You can’t call the cops on me.” Cozart turned to me angrily.
“My name is FIRST on this building I can do what I want. I have never brought personal issues to our business but leave it to you to bring some drama to this damn establishment. THIS IS YOUR FAULT!” I screamed at my brother angrily.
“SHE CAME UP HERE FUCKING WITH ME AND THIS IS MY FAULT?” He yelled back at me turning his attention away from his angry wife and focusing all of his anger on me.
“IT’S BOTH OF YALL FAULT. YOURS FOR ENABLING HIM TO BE A PIECE OF SHIT FATHER AND HUSBAND AND HIS FOR BEING A PIECE OF SHIT FATHER AND HUSBAND.” Kaliyah looked back and forth between both of us.
“BOTH OF YALL STAY AWAY FROM ME AND AWAY FROM MY KIDS. I HATE THIS FAMILY!” she screamed as she ran over to the bench and grabbed a 50-pound weight. Before either of us could react, she sent the weight sailing through the front window causing the glass to shatter and the alarm began to go off blaring loudly. She took off running out of the now busted front window and it would have been comical if I didn’t know that the window was about to cost me thousands of dollars to replace.
“KALIYAH WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU DO THAT?” I screamed as I placed my hands in my hair in exasperation. I didn’t have the words for how angry I was.
I walked over to the speaker system, cut off the music, and began to speak.
“Due to hazardous conditions, I need everyone to vacate the premises now. I am sorry for the inconvenience, and I will refund each of you for two days on the next billing cycle. I am closing the gym for a mandatory 48 hours while I get this window replaced. Again, I apologize for the inconvenience.” I said as I cut the mic and people began packing up their shit and leaving out of the gym doors in droves.
“Sister I’m so sorry about this-” Cozart began before I put up a hand to silence him.
“Cozart please leave,” I told him angrily as I scrolled through my contacts to find a vendor who could take care of this issue. Right now, I didn’t want to be Cozart’s sister. I had bigger hats to wear at the moment. As the manager, the owner, the cleanup crew, and the insurance policy holder, I was estimating that Cozart neglecting to pick up his kids and costing his ex her job was going to costMEaround six thousand dollars.
“If you were getting pussy last night, I hope the bitch was a great lay because this is going to cost me a grip,” I fumed angrily.
“I wasn’t, I really went home and went to sleep. Whoever sent her that video was just trying to piss her off and they succeeded. I may annoy you and you always have to clean up my messes, but I’ve never lied to you twin sister. I apologize for this again. I have some savings, send me the estimate and I will take care of it. I’m not broke, I can afford to pay for what I fuck up,” Cozart said solemnly as he turned to walk out of the door with the rest of the members of the gym.
I knew that he was telling the truth. He had never lied to me before. It was still his fault though. Even if he wasn’t with a woman last night, he should be a better father. He had a great father as an example of how to be a good dad. I rolled my eyes and continued to scroll through the phone until I found the contractor’s number. After setting up an appointment, I sighed deeply and looked at the open window in defeat.
