Down With the King of the South 3 Read online

  I didn’t respond; I just smiled. Jabari didn’t tell me that he’d bought his mother this house. Then again, I didn’t ask. That’s how my man was, though. He wasn’t boastful, and that was one of the things that made me fall in love with him. Yes, he talked a lot of shit, but he was also humble, never going around and bragging on how much money he had. I remember the first time he told me about the shoe stores that he had, he literally was talking about it like his accomplishments weren’t anything.

  “Sit down. I want to talk to you. I’m making you an omelet because I’m sure you didn’t eat. You need to feed my grandbaby. You’re skin and bones, chile, and you probably starving my baby in there,” she said.

  I had only been in her home for maybe ten minutes, and this was already strike number two for me.

  “I may be small, but trust me, I eat. Your son makes very sure of that,” I said, feeling the need to gather her together just for a second. That was light. If she kept on, I was going in for the kill.

  She stared at me for a few seconds as if she was considering what she wanted to say next to me. Her response never came, though. She just turned her back to me and started placing the omelet that she’d made onto a glass plate. My mouth watered when she set the plate in front of me. It looked exactly like the omelets that I liked to order at Ihop. It had the perfect amount of cheese, chives, and vegetables, which was just the way I liked it.

  “How did you meet Jabari? He’s so secretive, so when I asked him, he wouldn’t say. Honestly, he didn’t even tell me that he had a girlfriend. I just happened to be on the phone with him one day, and I heard you in the background. He gets that secretive shit from his daddy,” she called out.

  “I met him at a club,” I said, keeping it short and sweet.

  “You love him?” was her next question.

  I didn’t even mind the questions because I was now carrying a child who would one day want to date, and I was sure that whoever my child brought around, I would drill them to death with a bunch of questions. That’s if Jabari even allowed him to make it through the front door, with his crazy ass.

  “Of course, I love him. The fact that I’m even carrying his baby speaks volumes. I never wanted kids. It’s not that I don’t like kids because I do, I just never entertained the thought of having children of my own,” I said.

  At the same time, I was using the knife and the fork to cut through the omelet.

  “What is it that you do? I just want to make sure that you’re not just with my son for his money,” she said, and then she let out a sarcastic laugh.

  I had to laugh at that too because she was a joke.

  “That was cute. Reallll cute. Not sure what other mooching ass bitches your son has introduced you to in the past, but just know that I have my own. For the past four years, I’ve been the creative director for a very popular fashion company in Miami, which leaves me to make over six figures a year. I have my own money, my own car, and my own house. Anything that your son gives me is just an added bonus. I entertained Jabari before I even knew his status. It was after the second time that we had sex that I even found out what he did. Any more questions? I can keep going,” I said, pushing the food away, not even having much of an appetite anymore.

  “I didn’t mean to upset you. I just know how a lot of women can be. I’m overprotective of my son, the same way a father would be overprotective of their daughter. I apologize,” she said, but I knew that it wasn’t sincere.

  “It’s fine. Do you have a room that I can lay down in?” I asked, not even wanting to be around her ass anymore.

  “Yes. It’s a guest bedroom down here. Once you round the corner, it’s the first room on the left,” she let me know.

  I quickly stood up, and when I was back in the foyer of the house, I wheeled my luggage to the room where I was going to. It was a nice bedroom, which had a king-sized bed in the middle of the room and two nightstands on either side of the bed. There was a 60-inch TV mounted on the wall, and there was also a bathroom adjacent to the bedroom. I loved the brown and white color scheme of the bedroom. Besides running her mouth all the fuckin’ time, I loved Jabari’s mother’s taste. I would actually let her redecorate my house for me.

  I flopped down on the bed to see if Jabari had called or texted just to let me know that he would be there soon, but he hadn’t. Feeling defeated, I grabbed the Victoria’s Secret blanket that I brought with me, kicked the slides off my feet, and curled up in the bed with the blanket wrapped around my body. It didn’t even take me long to doze off. Hopefully, by the time I woke up, Jabari would be waking me up and taking me away from there.

  I woke up to loud laughter coming from outside the bedroom. It was pitch dark in the bedroom that I was in, since I didn’t even bother to open the curtains when I decided to lay down a couple hours ago. I felt around the bed for my phone and saw that it was a little bit after ten in the morning. I had slept just a little bit under two hours, and I had two text messages from Jabari. The first one was him checking to see if I was up, and the other one was him telling me that he would be leaving the store in another thirty minutes. That last message came through five minutes ago.

  I tossed the phone back down on the bed and lay down for a few minutes more as I wondered who the other voice in the home belonged to. After almost five minutes, I got up from the bed and went over to my luggage. I pulled out a small pouch which held my toothpaste, toothbrush, and everything else that I needed to use really fast to handle my hygiene. It took me almost fifteen minutes to get myself together in the bathroom. Before I headed out front to where the voices were, I straightened the bed back up, folded my blanket, and walked out of the bedroom.

  “Torrance, you are a hot ass mess,” a woman called out, followed by a laugh. She was talking to Jabari’s mother. Her name was Torrance.

  I rounded the corner and spotted the two women sitting at the circular breakfast table that was in the dining room. There was a bottle of wine in the middle of the table, and they each had their own glass. They were probably able to feel my presence because they both turned their heads and looked at me. The woman who was sitting at the table with Jabari’s mother looked to be around my age, and she was very beautiful. She had the same light skin complexion with fire red hair that was cut into an asymmetrical bob. Gorgeous hazel eyes, and with her sitting, I still was able to see how small her waist was and her curvy hips. If she stood, I knew her ass would be huge.

  She wore a cropped shirt, and the jeans that she wore dipped low in the back, almost exposing her ass. I could see the big tramp stamp that she had on her back, which looked like it was a cover up tattoo for something that she had before. The same way I sized her up, checking her out, she did the same thing with me. Her eyes lingered on my stomach and then they went back to my face.

  I looked crazy today, so I could honestly say that whoever she was, she’d definitely caught me slipping. I wore nothing but a Gucci hoodie, which had the red and green emblem in the middle of the sweater, a pair of red tights, and Gucci slides were on my feet. When I woke up a few minutes ago, I threw water on my hair and pulled my curly hair up into a ball. I didn’t look my best is what I should say.

  “You’re up. Kenyatta, this is Mahogany who I was telling you about. Jabari’s friend,” his mom said, and I laughed, all the while shaking my head.

  This lady was funny. Too damn funny. I knew what Jabari and I were, so I didn’t even feel the need to correct her.

  “Nice to meet you. I’m Kenyatta, Jabari’s ex-girlfriend,” this bitch had the nerve to say. She said that shit with pride too.

  This whole fuckin’ situation was messy. I was looking at Jabari’s mom sideways as hell because the fact that she would even think that it was okay to bring Jabari’s ex-girlfriend over while I was there was so fuckin’ crazy to me. It was disrespectful. I didn’t even know that Jabari had an ex-girlfriend. He told me that I was his only girlfriend. I should have known that his ass was spitting game and just fuckin’ lying.

&n
bsp; “And it just so happens that while I’m here is the same time that you thought it would be okay to invite her over? What? Did you want to see what I looked like?” I asked because I was confused.

  It was a question for both of these stupid bitches to answer. The Kenyatta bitch had the nerve to sit her ass there and chuckle like I’d said something funny. I couldn’t help but feel that this is how Jabari must have felt yesterday when Jeremey came to the table. Her introducing herself to me as Jabari’s ex-girlfriend was identical to her saying that she was once the girl who would fuck him before me, and that shit made me livid.

  “I know it looks crazy as hell, but my actions weren’t intentional, Mahogany. Kenyatta is my friend. I didn’t know she was going to stop by, but when she got here, I wasn’t going to turn her around. Truthfully, I thought that you would sleep the entire time that she was here. She lives in Decatur, which is a little bit over an hour from here, so how would I look telling her to leave after she’d just made that long ride? I don’t know what you think of me, but I’m not out to get you,” she had the nerve to say.

  I knew my mouth, I knew my temper, and I knew that if we kept this conversation going, Jabari would probably never talk to me again because I could see myself picking up that wine bottle and cracking his mama over the head with it. So, to avoid that, I left. I turned around, went back into the bedroom, and requested an Uber to come and pick me up.

  I didn’t give a fuck if that bitch drove from fuckin’ Africa to get there, she wasn’t supposed to let her ass in, especially while I was there. She should have told that bitch to circle the fuckin’ block until I left! I was angry. Too fuckin’ angry. I felt like that bitch had been testing me since I walked through the fuckin’ door. The whole time I requested the Uber to come and get me, my hand shook because I was that mad. When I saw that the Uber would be there in two minutes, I grabbed my purse and wheeled my luggage out of the room.

  “Mahogany, where are you going?” Torrance asked.

  “Where the fuck do you think I’m going? I’m not about to be around you while you got this bitch in the house. Talking about that shit wasn’t intentional. It was intentional! I know you want to blame this shit on my hormones, but it’s not. Any other woman in their right mind would have felt disrespected had she walked into some shit like that. When you son gets back, you just make sure you tell him why I left!” I snapped.

  My phone buzzed, letting me know that my ride was outside. The destination that I put was the airport because hopefully, I would be able to get something that would have me back in Miami within a few hours. She had nothing to say, so she didn’t even bother.

  Luckily, the driver got out of his car, and he quickly put my luggage in the trunk. The nap that I’d taken had temporarily gotten rid of my headache, but after this, it was back to throbbing. Five minutes into the ride, my phone started buzzing. It was Jabari calling. I didn’t want to talk. All he was going to do was accuse me of acting insecure and swear up and down that I was crazy, so instead, I opted to turn the phone back off.

  Jabari Brooks

  I told Mahogany that I would be gone for three hours at the most, but the shit turned into almost six. Shit just wasn’t moving the way I wanted it to at the Atlanta store. In the past two months, the store had been broken into two times, so part of the reason why I had to fly in town this weekend was for me to upgrade the security system and hire security. I needed to hire more staff and get started on some new renovations because I’d put too much fuckin’ money into this store to have to keep worrying about a hating ass nigga going into my shit and stealing. That shit was frustrating.

  A part of me was willing to just sell the space because I couldn’t keep coming back and forth to Atlanta, especially not at a time like this when I had a pregnant girl at home. On the other hand, this was my first original store, which served a bunch of memories, so I couldn’t just get rid of it like that. I felt like I was losing money more than anything because the shit that I had to keep doing with the shop was costing me.

  I was back inside my car, and I knew that Mahogany was pissed at me. Either she was pissed or she was still sleeping, but all bets were telling me that she was pissed. She hadn’t answered the phone or any of my text messages, then all of a sudden, my calls started going straight to voicemail. This shit with Mahogany was going to cause a nigga gray hair. I was beefing with her ass more than we were fuckin’ getting along. Every other day it was some shit, man. I hate to say it, but I felt that if shorty wasn’t pregnant, I probably would have left because I got tired of all that fuckin’ arguing, man. Shiitttt, who am I kidding? A motha fucka would have to kill me in order for me to leave that woman alone.

  I didn’t know if Mahogany was expecting me to apologize for knocking that nigga out yesterday, but I wouldn’t. That silly nigga did too much. Had he just walked past the table, said what’s up to Mahogany, and kept it pushing, I swear I wouldn’t have made a big deal out of it. The most I would have done was ask her where she knew the nigga from, and I probably would have been in my feelings a little bit for having to think about her fuckin’ somebody else, but that would have been it. He started telling me how lucky I was and how he would sell his soul to be in my shoes, so damn right he deserved to be knocked out. No nigga was about to stand in my fuckin’ presence and damn near daydream about my shorty’s pussy. Wasn’t happening.

  If she wanted to talk about it, we could, but I wasn’t apologizing. If I apologized for anything, it would be for not knocking the nigga out twice!

  When I saw that I wasn’t going to get through to Mahogany, I decided to call my ole girl. I swear Mahogany was crazy. Knowing her, she was lying in the bed and forcing herself to be mad at me about some shit that I probably did a week ago. Then again, she could be mad because I didn’t sleep in the bed with her last night. I swear that shit wasn’t done on purpose. When I came back home from the gym last night, I took a shower and wanted to play the game. Mahogany was in our room watching TV, and I wasn’t going to turn off what she was watching to play the game, so I ended up going in the next room and playing it in there.

  I smoked, played the game, and I ended up crashing in the bed. Let Mahogany have y’all thinking I’m a fucked-up individual if you want to. I’m a damn good man. I treat that woman like fuckin’ royalty, and she knows it. After my second time calling my ole girl, she finally answered.

  “Yo, where Mahogany at? I’m calling and texting her phone back to back, and she not answering,” I voiced as I jumped on the highway to get back over there.

  I heard her release a sigh on the other end of the phone, and that sigh spoke volumes, so I sped up because something told me that I needed to.

  “She left and—”

  “Fuck you mean she left? With what fuckin’ car?” I barked.

  “She left, Jabari. She called an Uber, and she left. She got mad at me because Kenyatta is here—”

  “What fuckin’ Kenyatta? I know you not talking about Kenyatta from high school,” I said.

  “What’s the big deal, Jabari? She just came to visit,” she said, like she didn’t do a fuckin’ thing wrong.

  “The big deal is that I used to dump my fuckin’ kids down her fuckin’ throat! You don’t sit around with no bitch like that while my girl is there. My pregnant girl at that. Fuck is wrong with you?” Man, I was too fuckin’ angry. Now, it made sense why Mahogany wasn’t answering the damn phone.

  “So, that’s all she was to you? Jabari, you know as much as I do that Kenyatta was your girlfriend. I feel like you’re trying to save face for your new girlfriend,” she went on to say.

  I was so wrapped up in this conversation that I didn’t realize how close I was riding the car in front of me. I had to slam down on the brakes, so I wouldn’t run into the back of it.

  “I ain’t never in my fuckin’ life told you, that bitch, or anyone else that she was my girlfriend! What made you even assume some shit like that? Because one time she was with me, and I brought her ass inside to pee?
Fuck outta here with that. I’m getting older, Ma, and I’m trying to better my relationship with you, but you bringing a bitch over to the house where my girl won’t make our relationship better. That shit was foul, and you know it.

  “Mahogany didn’t even want to come with me for these few days to Georgia. She didn’t necessarily say why she didn’t want to come, but I just knew that she didn’t. Even with me beefing with her, shorty put that shit to the side, and she came for me. She played nice with you for me, even though you stood you ass there and disrespected her more than once. Man, if I lose my girl behind your dumb ass actions, you might as well forget about me!” With that, I hung up on her ass.

  I didn’t know the first place to even look for Mahogany. She didn’t like planes, so I doubted she got on one by herself. Then again, if she was as mad as I thought she was, she just might have gotten on a plane by herself. It took me about thirty more minutes to make it to my ole girl’s house, and I shook my head in disbelief when I saw the extra car that was in her driveway, which I was sure belonged to Kenyatta.

  I hadn’t talked to this bitch in years. I didn’t even know that my ole girl was in communication with her. They weren’t even in the same age bracket, so what the hell could they have possibly had in common? The older I got, I was starting to realize just how messy my ole girl was, but that was still my mama, so they say you’re supposed to love her regardless, right? I wanted to love her, I wanted to have a relationship with her, but damn, she was toxic. Even after I just snapped on her ass on the phone about having this girl over here, she still didn’t take it upon herself to get this bitch the fuck out!

  I quickly got out of the car and slammed the door behind me. The day was going wrong already. I had plans to come back, get my girl and take her shopping at Phipps Plaza, even though her ass didn’t need shit. Then we would do whatever else she wanted to do. Now, I had to deal with this shit! I used my key, and the moment I walked in, both of them were standing in the foyer. Kenyatta’s purse was on her shoulder, and her keys were in her hands like she was getting ready to go.