Page 30 of Down With the King of the South 4

His voice shook as he talked to me as if he just knew that he’d fucked up, and he didn’t need anyone else there to rub it in his face.

“I’ll think about it. I’m not making any promises,” I let him know.

“I respect that. Drive safe getting home,” he said and stepped back a little bit so I would be able to open the driver’s side door.

“Thank you. You too,” I replied right before I got in the car.

This new relationship, or in our case, I should say lack of a relationship with Jahir and I was so different from how it used to be in the past. Before all this shit had come out, I loved Jahir as a person. He was like the only man who had been in my life before I got with Jabari, so whenever I had some sort of car trouble, it was him who I went running to. Whenever something broke at my house, like the toilet, the sink, or anything that required a man, it was he who fixed those things for me.

All this time, I thought Jahir was just nice and looking out for me, but in reality, he was doing those things because he was actually supposed to be doing it.

On the drive home, I thought about if I should have called my husband and let him know what happened when I got to the grocery store. Telling him something like this over the phone, I knew that it wouldn’t do a damn thing but stress him out, so I figured that I would let him in on what happened when I got home. From the backseat, I heard Jamaria behind me making gurgling noises, and that’s when I realized that she was waking up. I smiled as I watched her little body try to stretch in her car seat.

“We’re almost home, mama,” I called out to her like she knew what I was saying.

It didn’t take me but ten minutes to make it home because the grocery store that I’d chosen to go to was right by our house. As I neared the house, I saw my husband standing outside talking to someone who had their car pulled into our driveway. A car that I didn’t recognize, so I really wasn’t sure who the car even belonged to.

I slowly pulled my car into the driveway and parked it on the side of the other car that I still didn’t know who it belonged to. I could hear Jabari’s voice, even with the window rolled up, and whoever he was talking to, he didn’t seem to be in the best of moods. That’s when I saw her get out of the car, and I sucked my teeth loud as hell.

It was his fuckin’ mama! I should have known it was her ass. I honestly didn’t have the slightest clue why she was here because I made it very clear that she couldn’t be around my baby. I didn’t like that bitch, nor did I trust her, but out of respect for my husband, I’ve played nicely. Upon meeting her, I didn’t like her. Our very first phone conversation, we didn’t say that much to each other for me not to like her, but I could tell that her vibe was off.

As petty as I wanted to be and stay in this car with Jamaria until she left, Jamaria was getting fussy in the back seat. I ended up shutting the car off, and I went around to get Jamaria from the back. At the same time, Jabari came behind me and let me know that he would get Jamaria.

“I didn’t even know she was on the way over here, shorty. A nigga hadn’t even been in the house for ten fuckin’ minutes before she was out here blowing the fuckin’ horn like a maniac. Let me get the baby. Go in the house. I got her,” Jabari tried to reason, but I shook my head no.

“No, Bari! So, you can take her over there? I meant what I said about not having her around my child. She’s disrespectful, and I don’t like her. Until she gives me an apology, then no, she can’t be around her!” I said and pushed him out of the way, so I could get the baby.

The whole time I spoke, his mom was within eight feet of me, and I didn’t lower my voice because I actually wanted her to hear me. Her hair was fixed nicely. She was in a very pretty Dolce & Gabbana dress with the matching heels, and I even noticed that she wore a little bit of makeup on her face. There was no doubt that Jabari’s mother was pretty, but what was on the inside made her ass so ugly.

“Girl, please, with your dramat

ic ass! Ask yourself what you are really mad at, Mahogany. I’m trying to play nice, but your ass is being ignorant for real. You still carrying on this fuckin’ grudge for some shit that happened months ago? Just be honest and say that you didn’t want me around the baby from the get-go. You using me having Kenyatta at the house as a fuckin’ excuse, and you know it,” she yelled, getting closer.

I tried to walk over to her, but Jabari’s hands went on my waist, and he squeezed.

“Don’t do this shit out here with her, shorty, aight? Chill the fuck out for me and take the baby in the house—”

“Jabari—”

“Yo, it wasn’t a fuckin’ question! It was a fuckin’ demand. Go in the house with her, Mahogany. Damn, I’ll be in there in a second!” he barked at me.

Instead of responding to him, I got Jamaria out of her car seat and headed for the front door. I wanted to tag that old bitch the same way I did Kenyatta, but Jabari would probably never forgive me for beating his mama’s ass.

Once inside the house, I took Jamaria upstairs to her room, so I could change her diaper. In the midst of me doing all of that, I was talking so much shit in my head and mentally getting my words in order for the many ways that I was going to curse this nigga out the moment he came into the house. Just as I was putting Jamaria’s pants back on, he walked into the bedroom.

“Look, Mahogany, she’s downstairs in the living room. I told her that she owes you an apology, so just hear her out. Let her see Jamaria. If you ain’t comfortable with her touching her, then damn, at least let her take a fuckin’ peek at her or something. Y’all putting me in a fucked up position right now. I got my wife going at it with my mama. How you think that shit makes a nigga feel? I’m trying to defuse this shit, but I don’t feel like we getting anywhere. She done came all the way down this way, at least let her see the baby,” Jabari pleaded with me.

I didn’t even say anything. Once Jamaria was all cleaned, I handed her to her dad. He thanked me right before he kissed me on the lips, then went out of the room with the baby. Let me make it clear that I can be petty all fuckin’ day if I wanted to. The only, and I mean the only reason I gave Jabari the baby is that he was right about being in the middle, and I didn’t feel that it was fair to him.

After I put Jamaria’s diaper in the trash, I used some hand sanitizer on my hands, and I headed downstairs. I went into the kitchen and quickly made my baby a bottle. Once it was ready, I joined the three of them in the living room. I won’t even lie and say that my body didn’t tense up when I saw Jabari’s mother holding my baby.

“She is so tiny. How much does this baby weigh? Are y’all feeding this baby? I don’t think she’s supposed to be this small at three months,” his mom judged as she held Jamaria.

“She’s fine. She just went to the doctor last week, and she’s a well baby,” I let her know as I set the bottle down in front of her.

She quickly picked it up and then started feeding it to Jamaria. I had to mentally question whose side Jamaria was on because her little butt started drinking that damn bottle like we really weren’t feeding her.

“Listen, Mahogany, I’m sorry. I had no right to bring Kenyatta over to my house. I spend a lot of time with her because she does my hair, and we became pretty close outside the salon. I knew about the history that she had with my son, and the more I was around her, the more I felt like she would be a good pick for Jabari. I honestly didn’t know the two of you were so serious about each other until I watched the way you two interacted when you came to my house. Now, the two of you have a child together, and you’re married. I guess it was poor judgment on my side, and for that, I do apologize,” she said.

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