Page 13 of See No Evil

Her lower lip quivered as her steely light blue eyes bore into him. At that moment, he hated every part of her. The twists of her hair. The way her chest rose and fell as her temper swelled. He loathed her knotted words, her absurd utterances dipped in malice, and her dying, disgusted eyes. And yet, he still wished he didn’t feel like that. Remorse? Guilt? That dark emotion climbed up his throat and threatened to be expelled. As if he needed an exorcism. The foulness inside of him was rotten, a mountain of stinking secrets he held onto tight. They festered, swathed in the image of the mother he wished he had, versus the mother he damn sure got.

Turning on his feet, he walked out of the kitchen.

“God is going to get you, Legend! You’ve run the streets your whole life and blamed me!” she ranted, revving up her crying—her typical go-to reaction when he called her out on her shit. “You got kicked out of the Army. You blamed me! You started missin’ so much school you were gonna fail. Yup! Ya blamed me, again!” He could hear her walking behind him, practically chomping at the bit to hurt him in retaliation. “You went to prison over and over again, and would call me and cuss me out. Get mad if I ain’t put nothin’ on yer books! I ain’t never did nothin’ to you but love you! I mean it. IF YOU DON’T DO RIGHT, GOD’S GOING TO GET YOU!” she cried out again, her voice trembling.

He faced her then, and in a calm voice, he replied, “God alreadygotme. Wasn’t anything worse he could do than give me a mother like you…”

And with that, he left.

“Because you alreadydidn’t pay your child support for five months, so you’re in arrears. I just put you on child support a year ago because you stopped coming to see her, or doing anything much at all, and you ain’t been doin’ nothin’ but complainin’ about this piddly money.”

“If it’s so piddly, Desiree, why you want it so damn bad?”

This has got to the dumbest man on planet Earth. I picked him to procreate with. That makes me dumb as hell, too.

“You ain’t the brightest crayon in the box, are you? Because fifty cents is better than no cents at all! It’s only seventy-six dollars a month, Jacob. Like I can really take care of a whole twelve-year-old off that. She’s a child, not a kitten.”

Desiree stormed out of the building, her good mood ruined after receiving a bullshit, frantic call from Jacob, her daughter’s father, while finishing up her cooking class.

“Desiree, Kaylee ain’t the only mouth that needs to be fed. You’re being selfish. You know I’ve got to take care of my other kids, too! They’re going to arrest me if you don’t help me. I ain’t even working right now ’cause I hurt my back.”

“You ain’t working right now because you are dodging takin’ care of your other kids, too. You purposely don’t have a job, and if you really did throw yo’ back out, it wasn’t ’cause of work, but because of all the women you let ride you like some merry-go-round.”

She regretted not bringing her sunglasses once the bright glare from the sky hit her eyes. Her phone to her ear, she made her way down the steps.

“You don’t know what’s goin’ on in my life. You just makin’ assumptions and talkin’ outcha ass.”

“Did you tell your new ho of the day, Cherri, that Kaylee and Harmony are the same damn age and their birthdays are just three weeks apart? You also had me and Cassy pregnant at the same time, and sheknewwe was engaged at the time. Now I hear you’re going back and forth between Cassy and Cherri, and they’re fighting over your broke and cheatin’ ass. All of y’all getting what you deserve. Diddly Dumb, Diddly Do, and Diddly Squat.”

“I can’t stand you sometimes, Desiree. You are the worst baby mama out of all of mine.”

“That sentence right there says it all: out of all mine. Yet, let you tell it, I’m the problem. You ain’t shit, Jacob. Got the audacity to ring my phone, talkin’ ’bout help you pay child support so you don’t end up in a cell. You are a sperm donor—you ain’t no daddy. You barely even talk to her or see her. I’m tired of our daughter asking me why Daddy don’t come by and get her.”

“’Cause of you! I don’t want to deal with her mama! Tell Kaylee the truth.”

“I never stopped you from seeing your daughter.” She looked around her, noticing a few people staring in her direction as her voice began to carry. She was approaching the parking lot, filled to the brim with cars and barely an open spot in sight. “Even when I used to drive her to you, I tried to make it work, but enough was enough. You never offered gas money or to meet halfway, and then come to find out, your old ass enabling mama was watching her most of the time, while you played video games or went to the club. You would think since youdon’thave a job, you’d have more time on your hands to spend with your children.”

She weaved through the vehicles, looking for her car. In her anger, she’d temporarily forgotten where she’d parked, and that made her all the madder.

“Then just give me half the money back for the back child support. I can match it, and then avoid going to jail. Otherwise, this shit is yo’ fault, because you’re doing it out of spite, Desiree.”

“Jacob, I suggest you call whatever woman you’re usin’ at the moment, besides your girlfriend and her silly ass slow-in-the-head sister wife, and askherfor the money.”

“She ain’t got it, or I would!”

“When you got that money from that settlement two years ago, Kaylee didn’t see a dime of it. Now you’ve got the nerve to ask me to do some mess like this. You don’t have a lick of shame.”

“Bitch, I didn’t even get the—”

“Who you callin’ a bitch? Niggadamus, here’s a prediction for you: in ten days, you’ll be detained and charged with two counts. Failure to pay child support, and bein’ a fuck boy. Won’t God do it?!”

“If you don’t do what I told you to do, you’re gonna make me—”

“Make you dowhat?! You can kiss mywholeentire ass, that’s what you’re gonna do. Don’t drop the soap, model boy! Cheerio!”

Disconnecting the phone call, she stormed about, smoke practically coming out of her nostrils as she searched high and wide for her red Honda in the sea of cars.There it is.She marched over to it, her backpack and purse on her shoulder, feeling the weight of the world crushing her with a hearty death blow.

As she neared her car, she noticed something small and pink on the hood. Squinting, she hurried up to see what it was. There, on the hood, wrapped in cellophane, was a perfect little pink cupcake, with pink icing and a glittery stick stuck on it, with some letters printed across. She picked it up and read it.

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