Page 16 of Down With the King of the South 4

As weird as it was, it made so much damn sense. Since the day I met Mahogany, I swear we had been compatible. We didn’t look shit alike because we both looked like our moms. I will say that I saw little small features of my dad in her, especially now that I knew she was his child as well. Like, her light brown eyes that she’d gotten from him and his height. God, it just felt so strange even saying this.

“Damn, bitch. I swear, nobody asks about me anymore. I just called my own damn mama, and instead of asking me how I was feeling, she right off the bat wanted to know how Jamaria was feeling. I am human too,” Mahogany said into the phone, making me laugh.

“I told you that all conversation about you stops once there’s a baby involved. Not that we don’t care about you, but we just care about Jamaria more,” I joked.

I could picture her now rolling her eyes and all that other extra shit she liked to do that worked my nerves and probably everybody else’s too.

“Whatever. Where are you? I want to get us out of the house. I’m going to go crazy in this damn house. Jabari just left, and he claimed he’ll be back in another hour, but it never takes him just an hour to go down to that store. Come pick us up. You can just drive my car, and I’ll sit in the back with Jamaria,” she let me know.

“I was going to my grandma’s house. You want to sit over there for a little bit?” I asked as I busted a U-turn to head in the direction of her house.

“Just as long as your daddy isn’t over there, then, of course, I don’t mind,” she said.

I mentally sighed. I hated this situation that we were in. Of course, I sympathized with Mahogany. She had every reason to be mad because, like I said before, she was the one who had gotten hurt in all of this. Well, her and my mother. The only difference is that my mother died before she even got the chance to experience her hurt.

It was never a case of me not being able to sympathize with Mahogany. Maybe I went about it the wrong way at the time, but all I saw was her disrespecting my daddy right in front of me, so I had to speak on it. Me, deciding to speak on it had come across as dismissing her feelings and not caring about her hurt when that wasn’t the case at all.

I was barely even speaking to my daddy these days. There was a time when I made it my business to call him every day of the week, plus I would go over to his house to visit him at least four times of the week, but once the truth had come out, all of that stopped. The disappointment that I had in him was at an all-time high.

“I doubt he’s going to be over there. Be ready because I’ll be knocking on your door in thirty minutes,” I let her know before I ended the phone call.

While I was at a red light, I picked up my phone to text Miami my new plans. Within seconds of me sending the text message, my cell phone started to ring with a phone call from him. With a smile on my face, I answered it from the car. I didn’t even get a chance to say anything before his voice came booming through the speakers.

“How long you think that’s going to take? I got plans for tonight, and I need you home by seven to start getting ready,” he said.

“I didn’t know we had plans. What are they?” I asked as I jumped on the turnpike.

“I just need you home by seven, shorty. That’s all you need to know. How long you think you going to be?” he asked, being really secretive, but I liked it.

I loved surprises, especially when they came from him. I should have known that something was up his sleeve this morning because this man never cooked breakfast. The most he’d do is put the food out for me to cook, but that was it. He’d make me a bowl of cereal at the most. I didn’t mind, though, because he excelled in all other areas, and truth be told, I would much rather cook for him in the first place.

“Baby, it’s going on two now. I’ll be home way before seven,” I let him know.

“Cool. How was your spa? It wasn’t a nigga in there touching on you, was it? I was really specific when I said that I wanted a bitch to handle you,” he said, making me laugh.

“It was a woman, and it was amazing. I want to go back. I ran into Taylor’s mom while I was there,” I let him know.

“And how did that go? She said something to you?” he asked, already going into defense mode, ready to handle something if he needed to.

“Yeah. She just came over to apologize, that’s it. No big deal.”

“You should have told her, fuck her apology. You different from me, shorty, because you actually see the good in people. I’m not like that. If it’s a problem that you got with her daughter, then it’s a problem that you got with her mama too. Then again, don’t be like me, be better than me. She said what she had to say, so that’s that. Oh, I got a gift for you. I’ll show it to you when you get home,” he said, switching the subject.

“A gift from who?” I questioned.

He laughed at my question while I prepared myself for his answer.

“I went to check on my ole boy this morning. The nurse that he had today was pregnant. I started telling her how my girl was pregnant too with our son, and—”

“Our son? Really, Miami? We don’t even know that yet, and could you please stop speaking that into the universe? I want a girl. I’ll cry if I get a boy,” I let him know, and I heard him suck his teeth.

“Ay, chill out. I know it’s a boy. God already told me that. Anyway, she was able to go to the labor and delivery part of the hospital and get you a little gift basket and shit. We already getting gifts and shit. I’m excited as fuck, shorty. You think it’s too soon to buy him a car already? It can just sit in the driveway until he turns sixteen. Ay baby, our lil man gon’ be the shit, you hear me? He going to be fly like his daddy. Charming than a motha fucka too,” he said, making me roll my eyes at his words.

I would much rather he saw things about us having a daughter and not a son.

“As long as I’m the only one you’re being charming to, then that’s all that matters,” I said.

“Always, shorty. I’m going to always charm the fuck out of you. Let me let you pay attention while you on the road. Send me a text or something when you get to your grandma’s house. I love you.”

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