Page 22 of Read the Room

She raised a quizzical eyebrow. My head slanted and my eyes tightened.

“Closed nose, flat faced, Ma? Is that how you see her?” I burst into laughter because she was dead ass serious. “Ma, I broke upwith Alexi a lil time ago. I found out she was cheating on me, so I cut her loose.”

Ma’s eyes bucked.

“Audacity is on a buy one, get one free sale because I know that heifer wasn’t cheating on you. God should have cheated when he made her and just decided to chuck her ass in the trash,” she quipped as she shook her head. She glanced at the wall on the clock. “Them babies should be on their way back. I’m gonna let the girl shut the center down, and I’m coming with you. I need to put eyes on her and Lucas.”

This was why I didn’t want to tell her that Reya was at my house. I stayed away for this purpose. Ma was nosy as fuck. I sat on the couch and listened to her mumble about me messing up Reya’s life plan. Apparently, she was saving to go back to school.Ma knows everybody’s damn business.

I turned the television on to settle in until the kids got home. The parents had to pick their kids up by six in the evening and it was only four-thirty. Shit, let me see if I can take a nap while I’m here. The second I stepped foot into my house, if Jedi was awake, there would be no nap for me until it was time to go to bed. That lil boy loved to talk in his broken sentences and was inquisitive as hell.God, please don’t let Ma pack an overnight bag.

My main house was on the outskirts of Charlotte in the town of Davidson, North Carolina. I preferred to live on the outskirts the same as Sully. We lived in the same neighborhood. Joey recently moved his family out here to Davidson in a neighboringneighborhood. That was a big accomplishment for him, and I was proud that he took me and Sully’s advice to separate his family from the street. The only reason that Mama Bee still lived in the same neighborhood was because she refused to move. She proclaimed that her purpose was to serve and support the community that she was raised in.

From Mama Bee’s house, my house was about forty-five minutes away. During the ride there, I allowed her to control the music. It was all Al, Otis, Teddy, and Marvin. When we pulled onto my street, I noticed a vehicle parked along the curb that shouldn’t have been there.Man, fuck!

The left side of my driveway was always left open so that I could pull into my four-car garage. It didn’t matter if I had a house full, which would never happen. The only people that knew where I laid my head full-time were Joey, Sully, Mama Bee, Alexi, and now, Ethan and Reya. From the garage, I heard the ruckus in my house. I rushed in through the garage door that opened to my mudroom then my kitchen.

“Alexi, I think you have a fuckin’ death wish.”

Alexi was in my kitchen with Ethan in front of her. Reya was also in the kitchen on the other side of the island. She looked completely unfazed by the erratic screaming and jumping of Alexi. Reya moved around the kitchen cooking as if nothing was afoot.

“Nigga, this is what you’re on! You have this bum bitch in the kitchen cooking like she belongs here!” Alexi shouted before she advanced toward me. “If you wanted a downgrade, that was all you had to say.”

When Alexi raised her hand to slap me, she was met with a foot in her side. My head dropped because my ma was on one for that shit. Mama Bee wasn’t your typical old ass grandmama at fifty-eight. Her ass worked out daily and, against my approval, had an active dating life.

“Flat-face Martian! I wish you would put your damn hands on my grandson.”

Alexi crumpled on the floor.This shit is embarrassing.At the sound of Mama Bee’s voice, Reya spun around.

“Mama Bee!”

Earlier in the Day…

Since we’d beenat his house, it had been quiet but cool. I was beside myself when we got here and Jedi had a bedroom that was decorated with the theme of my baby’s favorite showLittle Einsteins. When I asked him how he was able to do all of it so quickly, he told me that the designer used decals for the walls, and the furniture was rush delivered. If that wasn’t enough, when he gave us a tour of his home and we got to the backyard, my mouth dropped.

His backyard had a climate-controlled deck with a barbeque area, a nice pool and jacuzzi, a fire pit area, and toward the back of the yard there was a very elaborate playground. Lo’ak was awalking example of money can get you almost everything but love. It also made me wonder just how long he planned for us to be here. When Lucas saw his room, there was nothing you could tell him. When he saw the playground, it was forget everybody.

The only problem with the house was that I was tired of it. I needed to get out of it before I started painting the walls with condiments. My nerves tried to get the best of me when I knocked on Lo’s bedroom door. It took him a minute to let me know that I could come in. I opened the door and froze.

“Oh, I can come back.”

“Reya, stop acting like you never seen a nigga in a towel and bare chest fresh out the shower,” he said dismissively. “What’s up with you? You need something?”

I hadn’t seen a naked man that wasn’t in a porn since the last time I had sex. That was before I found out that I was pregnant with Lucas. After that whole blow up with Kevin, I vowed that I wouldn’t have sex again until I met a man who liked me as much as I liked him. I would also make sure my ass was on birth control. Although I hadn’t had sex and didn’t plan to, I still made sure I was on a five-year birth control. You wouldn’t catch me slipping twice.

“Um, yes. I wanted to know if I could cook dinner tonight? Joey cooks sometimes, but we mostly eat take out. I would really rather cook.”

I concentrated so hard on not letting my eyes fall to his dick print that was printing that I was sure my eyes weren’t blinking. I understood why Alexi wanted everyone to know that he was her man. If that belonged to me, I’d put a padlock on it.

Lo moved around his room, gathering what he needed to get dressed. He stepped into his massive walk-in closet.

“Yeah, you can cook. Tell Joey what you need, and he’ll go get it,” he told me from his closet.

When he stepped out of the closet, he had on a pair of compression underwear and a wife beater.

“I see you’re comfortable and confident with your body.” I let out an uncomfortable titter.

There was no way I couldn’t glance at his package at this point. Even in the compression shorts, that package was heavy.

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