Page 33 of Certified Pressure 3
I smiled, lettin’ the words roll off me. “Maybe. But you carryin’ this ain’t shit nigga’s baby whether you like it or not.”
She ain’t respond right away, but I heard the sound she made when she tried not to smile.
“Goodnight, Pressure,” she said finally.
“Goodnight, Pluto.”
When the call ended, I just stood there, starin’ out at my cars. My pulse was still movin’ faster than it should’ve been. Me and Pluto argued damn near every time we talked. The shit was crazy.
I seriously needed to clear my fuckin’ head, so I stepped out back and lit one. The night was warm, and the sound of the jungle around the estate filled the air. I had a glass of Henny in one hand and smoke rollin’ out the other. I just needed peace for a minute. My mind had been runnin’ wild all day, and no matter how much weed I smoked, I couldn’t calm it.
Everything was hittin’ me at once. Kashmere was inside actin’ like she was mad about some dumb shit, and Pluto was miles away carryin’ my child, barely talkin’ to me like I wasn’t breakin’ myself tryin’ to make it right.
I kept thinkin’ about just disappearin’ for a few days, sayin’ fuck everything and everybody, just to breathe.
I took another pull from the blunt and leaned back in the chair, watchin’ the smoke rise into the sky. My mind was loud as hell, but everything around me was quiet.
Then I heard the door behind me slide open. I ain’t even look at first, but when I heard it close, I turned my head. Kay’Lo was standin’ there, lookin’ at me like he was tryna read my thoughts before he said a word. He had a bottle in one hand and his own blunt in the other.
I ain’t say nothin’. He didn’t either. He just walked over, pulled out a chair, and sat down next to me like we ain’t been on bad terms. We sat there quiet for a minute, both smokin’, both drinkin’ and both thinkin’.
He finally leaned back and looked at me. “You gon’ stop actin’ like a bitch and talk to me, or we just gon’ sit here all night?”
I looked over at him and smirked. “Nigga, who you talkin’ to?”
He chuckled, then threw his arm around my shoulder. “You the only nigga out here with me, ain’t you? You been in your feelin’s, and I get it. You mad about how this shit went down, but damn, Cuz. You know I love you.”
I took another pull from the blunt, lettin’ the smoke sit before I spoke. “Love me, huh? Didn’t look like it when I walked in and seen Toni in my fuckin’ kitchen.”
He shook his head. “Man, I wasn’t tryna back door you.”
“You did,” I said, lookin’ at him dead-on. “You knew she was mine at one point.”
Kay’Lo shrugged. “Yeah, she was, but you ain’t want her. You know you ain’t want her. I ain’t never went behind your back or tried to steal nobody from you. We just clicked, bro. It happened. You can’t have every woman you meet. I know you like to live in your head a lot, but the world don’t revolve around you.”
I stared at him for a second, then laughed under my breath. “Man, fuck you.”
He grinned and clinked his bottle against mine. “Nah, for real though. You know I would never cross you. I love the shit outta you, and I’ll never move shady about no woman. I know you, and I know you only trippin’ ‘cause you feel like I broke some unspoken rule, but Cuz, it wasn’t like that. Toni just real, and she hold me down in a way I didn’t expect.”
I leaned forward and rubbed my face. “Yeah, I know. I been thinkin’ about that shit. You right. To be honest, I ain’t even mad no more, for real. It’s just… I wish you would’ve gave a nigga a heads-up.”
He nodded. “You right. I should’ve. I just ain’t know how you was gon’ take it. You been stressed, and I ain’t wanna add to it. But… I do apologize.”
We sat quiet again for a second. The music playin’ from my speaker was low, somethin’ slow with a heavy bassline. The air smelled like liquor and weed, and the silence between us wasn’t tense no more.
“I got a lot goin’ on,” I said finally. “This weddin’, and this baby. Pluto been drivin’ me crazy. She swear she don’t like me, but she always callin’ and textin’ like she can’t go a day without hearin’ from me. She run from everything, and I swear she could be a track star with how fast she disappear every time shit get deep.”
Kay’Lo laughed hard, holdin’ his stomach. “Nigga, you sound stressed. She got you in a chokehold.”
“She got my fuckin’ mind twisted, that’s what she got,” I said, shakin’ my head. “I don’t even know what to do no more.”
Kay’Lo took a slow pull from his blunt, then looked over at me. “You do know what to do. You just don’t wanna hear it.”
“What’s that?”
“Fight for her,” he said simply.
I sat back and stared ahead. “Man, I been fightin’.”
