Page 76 of Hellcat Barbies: Imani
“Baby, I’m the same as I left here.”
“Oh good,” I sigh. “What happened?” I ask and his eyebrows knit.
Totally ignoring my question, he simply kisses my forehead and says, “Let’s get some sleep. It’s late.”
“You know you can tell me anything,” I assure him.
“I trust you with me and my son’s life but I’ll never put you in harm’s way or ever make you an accessory to anything that I do. Just know that whatever happen, it will never land on me and definitely not you.”
“I know but,” I begin but his mouth on mine halts my words.
“No buts, beautiful. There’s nothing else to say accept that I’m your man. I love you and I will make sure that anyone that puts your or DJ’s life in danger can never do that to you, to DJ, or to anyone else again,” he says, his words confirming what I already knew. “I just need you to love me back and go to sleep,” he adds.
“No man has ever loved me like you do. Of course, I will forever love you back.”
“That’s all I need,” he utters before closing his eyes.
Epilogue…about eleven months later.
“Whose idea was this shit anyway?” Brick scoffs as he stands and pinches his pink pajama pants that are covered with red hearts down his legs. He’s been complaining about his pjs since they got here.
“The pajamas or this karaoke machine?” Dodge asks, sounding annoyed.
“Both, nigga,” he huffs.
“Ours,” me, Hazel, and Presha say at the same time then laugh.
It’s the Sweetest Day and the three of us thought it would be cute to celebrate it together. I’m hosting at Daymir’s and I cooked the food and desserts. Presha handled the decorations. Hazel took care of the drinks and entertainment and each couple was tasked with wearing matching heart themed pajamas.
Everything came together perfectly. Daymir and I are wearing black pjs with red hearts and Presha and Dodge have on some red and white pjs with pink hearts. The living roomend tables have the cutest heart centerpieces and Presha even decorated the fireplace with hearts and a SWEETEST DAY sign on top.
As for the food, of course, I kept with the theme. For appetizers we have shrimp cocktail but I deconstructed it and shaped the shrimp into hearts and placed a dollop of cocktail sauce in the middle of the shrimp hearts. The main course is surf and turf and the sirloins are heart-shaped. For desserts, we have red velvet cookies and white chocolate covered strawberries. The bartender, Hazel, hooked us up with a drink she’s calling the Hot Honey, a delicious but strong ass hell cocktail with hot honey, muddled strawberries, and bourbon.
Tonight, it’s just the adults. DJ and his grandmother, Miss Pat, are at the Metropolitan Hotel, staying for the weekend. She came in Monday for his fall break and has been here all week but Daymir put them up because of our plans. It’s been over a year and no one has heard from Makenna. If it wasn’t for a few people in Houston who know Makenna reporting to Miss Pat that they’ve seen her, we wouldn’t know if she was dead or alive. She really abandoned her child but thankfully he has his father, Miss Pat, and me, and it’s official. In February, Daymir was awarded sole custody of DJ.
“Ya’ll got ten minutes,” Presha says when Dodge walks to the bar behind Daymir and Brick. “We are starting karaoke when ya’ll get back and we are all singing,” she says and he just shakes his head.
“I don’t know why he’s acting like that. They can all sing,” she says.
“I know. Well, I know Daymir can. He kept it from me for a minute but I caught him singing in the shower a few months back and he can blow,” I admit.
Imagine my surprise when we where showering together and he started to hum. I didn’t comment and while I was washing his back, the humming turned into a song and he unintentionally serenaded me with one of my favorite Sol songs. His deep baritone sent chills down my spine. I didn’t mention it until a few days after that but when I called him out, he admitted that his grandmother could sing and they got it from her. It was just something he didn’t do often but he sings for me now.
“Let me find out Brick’s ass can sing,” Hazel says.
“He can. Dodge says they get it from their grams. Maybe we can get them to do a group song. I love some New Edition,” Presha says.
“My vote is Jagged Edge,” I say because while I do love New Edition, JE is my favorite. “But before they come back, we need to discuss the Gala really quick. I had Tae send me a mockup of her banquet hall decoration idea. I love it but I want your opinion,” I tell them after I pull of the pictures our party planner sent me this morning.
Our car club is up and running and our first official fundraising event, our Ghostly Gala, is next week at the banquet hall at the Blue Mountain Resort. We are having a Halloween theme fundraising event to adopt a few families at the women’s shelter for Thanksgiving and Christmas. It’s going to be an upscale costume party with an auction.
“Oh damn! I fucking love it,” Hazel says.
“Me too. It’s dark, sexy, but elegant. Yeah,” Presha nods. “That’s it.”
“I know right. Daymir and I are really going to stick with a phantom of the opera type vibe. I found a sexy ass mask for him. I just got to find one for me. I also got the hospital to donate for the auction,” I tell them.
“What hoe? Needles?” Hazel says, laughing.
