Page 16 of Down With the King of the South 2

Miami had gone downstairs to get the door for the Chinese food that he’d ordered for me, and Taniya was down the hall asleep in her bedroom. The whole time he was gone, I was declining phone calls from who I knew was Trip calling from different numbers.

“Shorty, you don’t hear me talking to you?” Miami’s voice boomed.

He was standing in front of me, holding my food. I didn’t even hear him when he came back in the room, let alone hear whatever the hell he had asked me. I jumped when I heard his voice, and I tried to slyly throw the phone on the bed, putting it behind me.

“What’s got all your attention? I asked you like two questions, Choc. Fuck is you doing on that phone? You been on that bitch since you walked through the door,” he said.

The whole time he talked, all I could do was hope to God that Trip wouldn’t call. It was just my fuckin’ luck that the phone started buzzing again, and it was a number that wasn’t saved to my phone, but I knew who it was. This moment reminded me of so many scenes that I had starred in back in the day with Trip. Only difference was, I was Trip right now, which was the person who was hiding something. Back then, I was Miami, the one confronting Trip about hiding something. I wasn’t a good liar at all. Either my actions would give it away, my heavy breathing, or my inability to look a person in their eyes when I knew that I wasn’t telling the truth.

“Who calling you? Man, this shit is so out of fuckin’ character for me to be questioning you on who’s calling you, but you acting sneaky. Fuck is you doing, shorty?” he quizzed.

I could tell that Miami was mad; it was all in his body language. It was the way his face held no smirk or smile. He was dead ass serious and looking down at me like I was one of his opponents in the ring, and he wanted to body slam my ass.

“It’s Trip calling. I haven’t answered. He’s been calling for a few days. Every time he calls from a different number, I block it,” I said all in one breath before raising the phone and showing it to him so he could see that I wasn’t lying.

“How long he been calling you?” he asked me.

“A few days now,” I let him know.

He just shook his head, and I could tell that he was mad.

“I fuck with you, Choc. You know how heavy I fuck with you. You are the girl that I wanted since I was a little nigga, but at the same time, I’m not about to be no fuckin’ fool, shorty. This is not how I’m trying to start this relationship shit out with you. I want honesty from your ass. Little shit like you’re doing right now, being sneaky and hiding shit, is going to make me lose trust in you and everything that you do. It’s going to have me questioning your motives and your loyalty. That’s your baby daddy, I get that. I’m so fuckin’ secure and confident in myself and in this relationship that I won’t even tell you that you can’t talk to him. What I will tell you is that it’s after ten, so you don’t have shit to talk to that nigga about.

“If he calls again, just go ahead and hand me the phone so I can run down the same thing to him that I just told you. Here, man,” he said and set the brown paper bag on the nightstand that had my food in it.

I didn’t even get the chance to reply because the phone started buzzing again. I bit my bottom lip, questioning God on why He would allow this to happen. True to his word, Miami snatched my phone off the bed and answered it, making sure to put the phone on speaker.

“Yo!” he barked into the phone.

When he answered, his eyes were glued on me. I was pleading with my face for Miami not to make it a big deal. I didn’t expect the two of them to be the best of friends, but damn, I didn’t want them to be enemies either. I didn’t want the drama. This was why I never pursued Miami in the first place because I was trying to avoid all of this from happening.

“You got some fuckin’ nerve answering this motha fuckin’ phone! Put my bitch on the line! I didn’t call to talk to you, pussy! Yo, I hope yo’ daddy got a good life insurance policy for your ass because, on my dead son, my niggas is killing you! You foul, nigga! How you going to fuck behind me, yo? What type of nigga are you? If the shoe was on the opposite foot, I would have never fucked behind you, especially not with somebody who you were in a whole fuckin’ relationship with and have a kid with!” Trip barked.

I picked up on not only the anger in his voice but the hurt as well. More than anything, I wanted to crawl under a damn rock because I didn’t want to witness this conversation. I tried to be slick and get out of bed to leave the room, but Miami’s hand went to my chest and pushed me back down on the bed. I don’t know why, but I felt wrong. Was I wrong for messing with Miami? Did it make me a bad person to deal with a guy who used to be friends with Trip? I couldn’t leave now because I love

d this nigga!

“Ain’t no bitches over here, nigga! It’s a whole ass woman, sitting on my bed, but you can’t talk to her right now. Like I just told Shae before you called, I don’t give a damn if the two of you keep in contact. You serving a life sentence, so you need all the conversation from people that you can possibly take. What I’m not going to allow is you to ring her fuckin’ phone back to back like this, especially at this time of the fuckin’ night. Your cut off time is 5:00 p.m., nigga, and not a minute later! You keep threatening me, I’m going to make it where you never talk to her pretty ass again, motha fucka!

“Talking about you got some niggas to kill me! What niggas you got? This my fuckin’ city, and I don’t move in silence when I walk these fuckin’ streets! Niggas know where I am at all times, so whoever the fuck you got for me, them motha fuckas better come out swinging and sporting some of the best ammunition they can find because I will be ready for them too. We ain’t brothers, yo! We ain’t boys, none of that. I fell out with you years ago. Therefore, I don’t owe you any type of fuckin’ loyalty.

“You really sitting on this phone mad because Shae moved on. Look at what you asking her to do, nigga. You really expect this woman to ride this life sentence out with you? You don’t ask no woman to do no shit like that!” Miami snapped.

He was so mad that his face was turning red, the muscles in his jaw were flexing, and I could see the veins in his arms.

“Shae knew what the fuck this shit was ten years ago when they put me here. She was ready to ride this shit out then. You bring your ass back into the picture, and now, all of a sudden, she changed her fuckin’ mind—”

“That’s a grown ass woman with a mind of her own. Shae made that decision on her own to stop fuckin’ with you. Listen, I’m not about to do this whole back and forth thing with you over the phone. You had your chance with her. It’s my turn, and I bet not another nigga will get a chance with her after me. I’m about to feed her, fuck her, then put her to bed. I’m turning her phone off too, so try again in the morning. I’m not a heartless ass nigga, so I’ll tell Shae to give me all the information tonight so I can put some money on your books. Consider it a thank you present. My way of thanking you for fuckin’ up!” Miami hung up the phone and threw it my way.

“Turn that shit off, Jashae,” he ordered, and I did just that.

He walked out of the room, and when he did, I pulled my knees up to my chest and stared at the television, which was on mute. I didn’t even have an appetite anymore. I wanted to call Mahogany because her ass always knew what to say to make me feel better, but these days, it was hard to get a hold of her ass since she was always stuck up under Jabari. I wanted this thing between Miami and me to work but look at how everything was unfolding, and we were only two weeks into this relationship.

Trip was sending threats Miami’s way, and Miami wasn’t making the shit any better by egging him on. I didn’t want anything to happen to either of them. I knew Trip; I knew the dudes that he used to run with in that stupid ass gang. Those niggas had nothing to lose, especially not Dino’s stupid ass. I had just lost my son, and I wasn’t trying to now lose the man who was there to pick me up and help put me back together again after Vonte died.

Miami was strong-willed and knew how to hold his own, but I was scared that he was going to leave me, thinking that I was bringing unnecessary drama into his life, which was once calm before I came into the picture. Miami had a daughter who he needed to be here for. My feelings were so damn conflicted.

After about thirty minutes of sitting on the bed, I finally stood up. My house shoes were on the floor, right next to the foot of the bed. I quickly slipped them on and walked out of the room. Miami’s home was like my house put together three times. My house wasn’t even small, but compared to Miami’s home, mine looked like an apartment. Why one man who lived by himself except for his daughter needed so many bedrooms was beyond me. There were seven bedrooms, not to mention the built-in gym, the finished basement, the outside basketball court, pool, and huge backyard. Miami’s place reminded me of a hotel.

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