Page 3 of Down With the King of the South 4

He knew good and damn well why I wasn’t coming home. After Vonte died, I couldn’t stand the thought of being in a house by myself. Yes, Maya would be there, but at night, she’s asleep, and that’s really when I become the neediest. When Miami would decide to bring his ass home, it would be well after I’d already fallen asleep, which is why I decided to leave for a little while.

“Shorty, I’m putting every piece of this motha fucka on you! You know good and fuckin’ well why I’m beefing with your ass! If you need a reminder, call out your new phone number and question yourself on why you changed it. Let’s end this conversation now. Half of this fuckin’ relationship has been spent with us arguing over that fuck nigga anyway. I’m tired of wasting all my fuckin’ energy on that clown. Ain’t you?” he sarcastically asked me.

I could see myself swinging on his ass. Like, in that one second, a thought flashed in my head, and I could really see myself jumping on his side of the car and pounding on his ass bec

ause he was pissing me off. It’s like he wasn’t going to let me live this shit down.

“Where are you going after you drop me off?” I questioned, not even bothering to answer the question that he’d asked me.

It took him a while, but he finally prepared to answer me.

“L.A. right quick,” he voiced like it was no big thing.

This was my first time hearing any of this, so I sucked my teeth loud as hell.

“L.A., for what? You say it like that shit is right around the fuckin’ corner, Miami. Don’t drop me off then. I’m going with you. We’re going to L.A.,” I corrected him because he wasn’t about to go nowhere without me.

“Look, I ain’t going out there for no fuckin’ pleasure, alright? I’m not going there on no business shit either. I’m popping up on my baby mama. I’m getting the fuck in and getting the fuck out. Taniya called me while we were at the hospital and told me that she saw her mama’s boyfriend punch her mama in the mouth. Before you start bitching, I’m only going down there to check dude because, no, that’s not my shorty, but at the end of the day, that’s my daughter’s mama. Another nigga not going to be putting his fuckin’ hands on her, especially while my child is over there.

“If that motha fucka put his hands on my child, I’m killing him, period! I just want to look him in his fuckin’ eyes and make that shit clear, that’s all. Now, ask yourself, does this sound like a trip that interests you? Let me know. You can ride this bitch out with me if you want to,” he said as we slowly approached my grandmother’s house.

I didn’t even bother to respond. I just sat back in the seat and stared out of the window, counting the minutes until I got out of the car and from around his ass! In about another five minutes, he pulled in the driveway and parked right behind my grandmother’s car. I watched him as he shut the car off, and before either of us could get out, I said something.

“Let me know if this isn’t what you want to do, Miami. Ain’t no sense in me having two baby daddies,” I let him know, meaning every word of it.

I didn’t want to be just another baby mama to him. I knew what that felt like after being one to Trip for so long. If shit was going to get too toxic for him and me to be around each other, then he needed to let me know now. Swear that I didn’t even believe in abortions, but I’ll be damned if I go through the same bullshit with Miami that I went through with Trip during our first years of Vonte’s life.

In the beginning, when I found out that I was pregnant, I felt like the timing was perfect, but now, not so much. Miami’s father was pretty much on his death bed, and I was arguing with this man almost every fuckin’ day, so a decision on what we were going to do needed to be made.

“Get the fuck on with that crazy ass bullshit, man! Lately, everything that comes out of your fuckin’ mouth be sounding so damn crazy!” he voiced.

I could tell that I’d pissed him off with what I said. That much was obvious in the way his eyebrows were furrowed mixed with the flexing of his jaws, down to the way that he was holding the keys that were in his hands.

“It’s not crazy ass bullshit! It’s the fuckin’ truth. Forget it,” I said, not even having the strength to argue with his ass anymore.

My head was pounding, and all I wanted to do was shower, crawl in my bed, then call it a night. I quickly got out of the car, grabbed my purse from the back seat, and met Miami on the porch. I used the spare key that I had to get into my grandma’s house and let us in. All the lights were off inside the house except for the lamp that she had on in the living room.

While Miami walked to the back, where I’m pretty sure he went to check on Maya, I went to my bedroom that I liked to sleep in whenever I came over. The moment I got inside the room, I turned the light on and set my purse down on the dresser. I found some pajamas and undergarments then went into the bathroom to take a quick shower.

I had promised myself that I would stop crying because I knew that my baby would feel everything that I felt, but I couldn’t control my emotions, so I broke down. I felt like I was losing everything. I hated this place that Miami and I were in right now. In just a week, I went from having a man who worshipped the ground that I walked on to having a man who I felt like was only still around and tolerating me because he knew that I was pregnant. In the back of my mind, I honestly felt that if I weren’t pregnant with Miami’s child, he would have already left me because there wouldn’t have been anything for him to stick around for.

I stayed in the shower for about another twenty minutes because I decided to wash my hair while I was in. Stepping out, I reached for my towel to wrap around my head while I pulled another on my body. I went over to the sink to do my nightly skin routine, and then I brushed my teeth. Once my pajamas and everything was on, and the towel was off my head, my damp hair lay freely as I walked out of the room to check on Maya.

She was a couple of doors down and scared of the dark, so she chose to sleep with her room door open while there was a night light inside as well. I could smell Miami’s cologne upon walking in, so that let me know that he’d been inside there. The window in Maya’s bedroom faced the driveway. When I looked out of it, I saw that his car was gone, which assured me that he’d left without even telling me goodbye.

I walked away from the window and went over to Maya’s bed. She was lying on her back, sleeping so peacefully. The mom in me cringed when I saw that my grandma had let her go to bed without putting her scarf on her head to protect her braids. A part of me wanted to wake her up just to put it on, but I didn’t bother her. I leaned my head down, kissed her forehead a couple of times, and walked away from the bed. I didn’t leave her bedroom door wide open like how it originally was. Instead, I cracked it.

I heard the TV blasting from my grandma’s bedroom, although her double French doors were closed. That let me know that she was up. I could hear Steve Harvey’s loud ass voice on the TV, so I knew that she was in there watching Family Feud, which was one of her favorite shows.

I knocked twice, and when I heard her tell me to come in, I pushed the door open. There she was, sitting up in the middle of the bed, cracking up to her favorite show.

“Did he come in here before he left?” was the first thing that I asked.

“You know he did. How are you feeling?” she questioned, although I was quite sure that the look on my face pretty much told it all.

I had bags under my eyes from lack of sleep, and I felt like my eyes were always red, due to me crying all the damn time. I just all around didn’t look happy.

“How you think I’m doing, ma? That man doesn’t even love me anymore,” I complained, and she looked at me like I was crazy as she waved me off.

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