Page 116 of Love me Like XO

“Their father,” I finished continuing to look through the sizes of shirts. Let Zero tell it I kept our sons dressed in old man shit when they were with me. Then when they were with him, he barely put clothes on them and then of he did it had to be a swoosh sign no it.

“Oh, so you’re still with their father?” he asked a little too in my business for my taste.

That made me look up, nearly sizing him up. The audacity or nerve of this nigga to be all in my business like he deserved to be or something.

“My bad, I wasn’t tryna overstep or anything. I was just asking.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at him. A goofy ass nigga who didn’t have a fucking clue. “Yes, their father and I are still together.”

“I fucked up huh? The realization of that is settling in on a nigga. Seeing you last year pregnant, now yo?—”

“You still over here in her face? She ‘ont want you Dionne.” Old girl walked her ass out of the isle now holding a sheet set.

Defeat settled into Dionne’s expression before he nodded his head. “I’ll see you around, Empress.” It was almost like he wanted me to say something to him, but I had noting. Dionne and this bitch had hurt me, shit had me walking around with wounds at a point. But right now at this point in my life I was loved and full as fuck off life. I didn’t have time to cry over water under a bridge I was no longer on. If anything seeing them showed me just how much I had grown and how life had different plans for me.

I didn’t respond. I got back to what I was doing immediately, before Zero walked over here rushing me.

“Yo, Ree just called me over this damn ice cream. You ready to go, or you till over here picking out shit they won’t be able to fit in a few weeks?” Zero’s voice on the opposite side of me stole my attention from the outfit I called myself putting together.

“Just about done. What do you think about this with the bucket hat?” I held up what I found.

“Bucket hat hits nice as fuck but the rest of that shit, no.”

I laughed and still threw it all in the cart. “Did you grab the pacifiers? I left Amel’s at the house.”

He reached in the cart in front of him and held them up. “Hell yeah. They supposed to smell like vanilla or some shit like that.”

I nodded. “When are we supposed to ween them off ‘em anyways?”

“Big Mama says we have time. Just like I have a while before I get my breast back to myself.”

He laughed as we rolled toward the front to checkout. He laughed because he was just like his damn children, believing that my body belonged to them rather than myself.

When we finally made it to my grandmother’s house I wasn’t shocked to see Malik and my brother standing outside smoking when we pulled up. Irish was gonna at least eight times a day and that was in no way an exaggeration. He just stayed high. Eyes always lids always low while the eyeballs stayed red tinted. Maybe that had to do with the fact that he and Zarali were still a mess or hell I don’t know. Either way he loved his weed.

“You think you could put in a good word for a nigga?” Malik’s voice interrupted my thoughts as he now stood at the back door of the car to get one of the twins.

“A good word for what, Malik? What did you do?”

“Shit, her fucking hormones are all over the fucking place. I done been threatened, cussed out and threatened again all in the same ten minutes. Shit is nuts.”

I cackled. “Y’all did call me the seed of chunky when I was carrying them.”

“That’s ‘cause you was, but she’s fucking worse. That’s Lucifer in there.” Irish’s voice filled the space.

“Yo’ don’t let her hear that shit.” Malik picked my son up, smiling in his face.

“By the time we made it up to the house everyone was all there, everyone except Rev’s missing in action ass. He was never here on a regular, but he was here when it mattered.

“Bout time you brought me my babies.” My grandmother walked up to Malik and then Zero with the toothiest of grins. For some reason she still thought she could hold both of their fat asses and didn’t hesitate to reach for them at any moment.

“Mama, you know those lil’ niggas are too big for you to be reaching for.”

“Boy, hush yo’ mouth. You needn’t be worrying about me and go in there to deal with that evil ass grandchild of mine.” She cut her eyes at Malik who was laughing. “And I damn sure don’t know what you’re laughing about, chocolate. She been asking for you since you walked out that door.”

I cackled, before going into the bag I had and handing him the fruit snacks that I bought in conjunction to the ice cream. “This may help you out.”

He gladly accepted it before taking himself, and Aimer to where my sister was.

---