Page 31 of Turned Out by His Hood Mentality 3

We were in our bedroom, and I was sitting at the foot of the bed after I’d just helped give her a quick shower. Billionaire was behind me, lying on his side of the bed, skimming through channels on the television and calling out some of the most outrageous names he could think of for our baby girl. I wanted a unique name that many people didn’t have, and Billionaire was definitely going out of his way to give me some unique names, but I hated every single one he came up with.

I was already in my pajamas, and as soon as Khari left out our bedroom, I planned to crash and call it a night. I definitely did too much tonight, and I felt it all in my back and my feet. There were so many sweets at the gender reveal, and I indulged in just about everything there. This little girl was kicking up a storm, so I really didn’t think she would allow me to go to sleep so soon.

“Bae, what about Currency?” Billionaire asked from behind me.

Khari giggled as I rolled my eyes. She probably could tell that her dad was annoying the hell out of me with his names.

“Billionaire, no! I don’t like that,” I told him.

“What? Why not? Currency is pretty as hell, and it’s unique like you were saying. How many female Currencys you know?” he asked.

“None, because nobody liked the name,” I joked as I stood up from the bed and stretched.

Billionaire looked over at me and shook his head. He stood up from the bed in his gray pajama bottoms and his durag on his head. The man hadn’t stopped cheesing since he found out that we were having a little girl. I didn’t think I’d ever seen him this happy.

“I’m about to take a piss. I’ll think of some more names while I’m in there. We’re going to settle this shit tonight,” he said before he walked down the mini hallway that led to our master bathroom.

The second he walked out of the room, a phone started vibrating on the bed. I looked down, and it was Khari’s cellphone ringing. Yes, this five and a half year old little girl had an iPhone XS Max. It was her mother calling her, and she was doing it via Facetime. Khari flopped her little body down on the bed and answered the phone for her mother while I straightened up the little mess in the room.

“Hey, Mama,” Khari answered, followed by a light yawn because her little butt was so sleepy.

“I thought I told you not to get your hair wet! That’s your problem now, you don’t fuckin’ listen. I specifically told your little ass not to get your hair wet!” I heard Denim saying to her daughter.

I bit my bottom lip, trying to hold myself back from walking over there, snatching that phone out of Khari’s hands, and saying something to Denim. Khari had gotten her ponytails soaking wet today in the pool, so I had to wash it for her while she was in the shower. Right now, it was plaited because tomorrow, when I took the braids out, her hair would go back to being curly. I just needed to do something quick with her hair tonight because she was tired, and it was way past her bedtime. Hell, it was well after midnight, which is why I was confused about why Denim was calling so late.

“Mama, I was in the pool with my big brother and my other cousins. They were playing so rough, and they had threw me in the pool. It was an accident,” Khari said in her little sleepy voice.

“Khari, I don’t care about all that. I told you not to get your hair wet. I’m picking your little ass up from over there tomorrow and—”

I quickly set down the items that were in my hands and placed them on the nightstand. I rushed to take the phone from Khari’s hand, and now I was looking Denim square in her face. When my face popped onto the screen, she sucked her teeth and instantly stopped talking.

“I know once I say my peace, you’re probably going to say something like this is your child, and I don’t have a say so in any of this, but technically I do because this is my stepchild. We had our gender reveal today, mixed with a pool party. Every single child in the pool today got their hair wet. My husband nor I knew that Khari wasn’t supposed to have gotten her hair wet. Had we known, maybe I would have tried to prevent that from happening, but I know that her dad wouldn’t have batted an eye to interfere with his daughter having fun with the rest of the kids. If you’re worried about her having chlorine in her hair, I’ve already washed and treated her hair for the night. She’s fine. Fine and sleepy. You can call her back in the morning at a more reasonable time, please. Khari, go to your room, baby,” I told her.

Khari quickly got down from the bed, kissed me on my cheek, and then she ran out of the room. When I finished my peace with Denim, I was about to hang up the phone on her, but then she let out a sarcastic laugh. I decided to entertain her for a little while because I wanted to see what she had to say next. From the looks of things, she was in her bedroom because I could see the headboard in the background.

“Bitch, you got a little peanut growing inside of you, and you think you are the spokesperson for mothers around the world? Lik

e I told you the last time I saw you, fuck you! Nobody was talking to your black ass anyway! I was talking to my fuckin’ daughter!” she screamed at me.

“You were talking to your daughter, cursing at her, like she was one of your homegirls, so I had to jump in and intervene! This may be my first child, but credit me, sweetheart, because I work with kids for a living. I can teach you a thing or two! While I got you on the phone, you need to watch what you say to Khari or watch what you say around her because she tells me everything that you sit so bitterly over there and say about me—”

“And I mean every fuckin’ thing I say! Hoe, I’m supposed to be scared of you?” she asked, and at the same time, Billionaire was walking into the bedroom.

He had a confused look on his face as he rushed over to me. He tried to take the phone out of my hands, but I pushed him back and ran from him because I was getting ready to finish her!

“You don’t have to be scared of me! All I ask is that you respect me! And to think that I actually spent the last few months praying that you woke up from your coma! You should have stayed exactly where the hell you were with your nasty ass spirit! You want to make me out to be the enemy so damn bad when you have bigger problems that you need to be worrying about, like learning how to fuckin’ walk again! You talking to me crazy, like I haven’t been the woman in your daughter’s life that’s been helping to look after Khari. Showing her how to sit with her legs crossed, teaching her how to pray at night, going over homework with her, and whatever else.

“You haven’t liked me since the moment you laid eyes on me, and I know my presence bothers you, but I’m sorry because I don’t plan on going anywhere. I’m going to be a part of your daughter’s life and your baby daddy’s life, whether you like it or not. Now, call Khari back in the morning. She’s going to sleep for the night,” I said and hung up.

I threw the phone back on the bed. Billionaire was staring at me from the other side of the room with his hands over his head, trying to piece together what the hell just happened.

“Damn! What the fuck happened? I go to take a piss for a minute, and you and my baby mama in here arguing—”

“Because your baby mother doesn’t respect me, Billionaire! She has been talking crazy about me to Khari for months. I just didn’t say anything about it!” I screamed, and then I took a seat on my side of the bed.

I just had this perfect day, and then I let Denim get under my skin. Billionaire went over to the room door and closed it then locked it behind him.

“Well, that was your first fuckin’ mistake! Why wouldn’t you tell me that Denim was talking shit? I would have fuckin’ handled that!” he said, walking back over to the bed and standing on the side of me.

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