“But don’t you still have the boys?”
“Girl…” Missy took a swallow of her drink. “We do. She’s supposed to pick them up before Essex goes on tour with G Herbo. The boys aren’t a problem at all, and I would never tell my man his kids aren’t welcome, but I don’t have any fuckin’ children.
“If Viv can be all over Instagram, arguing with fans over Essex, accepting interviews like she the main bitch, and shaking her ass at them weak-ass bookings, she can get her sons. If shedoesn’t want them, cool. But she gonna have to let me tag her ass againandsign over her rights. I’m not about to play with that hoe. I haven’t even figured out what it is I want to do with my own life. I’m not her built-in babysitter.”
“No lie, I feel you, bestie,” Pia replied. “Either she’s going to remove herself from the equation, or step up so y’all can come up with a co-parenting schedule. Being a mama is hard, but being a mama to someone else’s kid, while their mama act ignorant, is tough.”
“Right. I still gotta go through the properties Ms. Covington left me. Shit, I’m still grieving that crazy-ass lady. Ain’t had a second to be alone so I can cry about the shit. Shits just been moving so fast that I haven’t had a chance to process it.” Missy blinked back what I assumed were tears. “But anyways… Enough about me. Glow, tell us about thishusband. Since you ain’t let us be bridesmaids, walk us through the day.” Missy urged.
“Yes! And that ring looks so good,” Dasani complimented. She was being nice because if she knew my ring had been bought off the street, she would probably smack Don for letting Tunan do that.
Glancing down at it, I smiled faintly, ignoring the pounding in my chest. I was crazy as hell to still be wearing it. But for some reason, I didn’t want to take it off. Our wedding had been a hot-ass mess. That damn preacher and that God-forsaken church lived rent-free in my damn head. I was happy to have met some of Tunan’s family, but Memphis was a wild place. It had been nothing but theatrics from the moment I got off the plane.
“We basically went to a courthouse.Then, I got on a plane and came back here for the engagement dinner.”
“Booo! Tomato! Tomato! I can tell from that live of y’all on the porch it was more than what you’re trying to make it seem.” Jisei squinted at me.
“Right. Only good pussy can make a nigga have his whole family out there taking ya fucking braids down. Especially in that hot-ass Memphis heat.” Missy fanned herself as if she could feel the warmth.
“I can’t stand when a nigga’s whole family is fine. I’m so damn glad Lorenzo ain’t got no siblings. I know Tunan ’nem gave their mama hell growing up,” Mocha whispered.
The men were right across from us, but the sounds of the gambling machines around us drowned out our conversation.
Sister.They were raised by their sister.
“So, y’all didn’t consummate the marriage?” Scarlett asked.
“We…” I smirked, thinking about Tunan fucking me in the old-ass car when I thought he was Shio’s worker. “We’d done that already prior to getting married… And, after.”
“Ha!” Missy clapped her hands together. “Fuck you talmbout! Glow, I knew you had it in you, my girl. Put that pussy on him and had him marrying you, ASAP. That’s like a Rinaldi record, ain’t it?”
Dasani placed her glass to her lips in a teasing smile. “Hell yeah, it is! Demise had to trick me, with his ole ugly ass.” Dasani shook her head in disgust but then grinned again.
“We’ve had sex. But it’s more of a business transaction, y’all. He needed a wife.” I shrugged.
“And what the fuck didyou need? You already paid, you’re famous on the net, and you fine as fuck. You can get any nigga you want, friend. So, what was it?” Jisei cocked her head.
“Shit… I married Matteo because I was flat on my ass, Glow. My mama was a crackhead, stealing everything from my baby and me. And I’d just gotten fired from my job. A man offering topay me to be his wife sounded crazy, but it also sounded like a plan that I didn’t have.”
“I had Zo’s baby. He needed a wife, and there was no way he was marrying another hoe.”
“My brother owns all this shit and told me I had no choice. It worked out, though. I love me some Ezio Cuppucio,” Jisei added.
All of the women had married for a feasible reason, and hearing what I already knew out loud had me feeling more and more like a fool. Dasani had her legs crossed, swirling the ice cubes in her glass as she held it up.
“I… I wanted to fit in, I guess. I wanted y’all to see me as an equal.”
I felt so stupid. The words burned as they slipped out of my mouth, and the way everyone looked at me with confusion, then realization, made me sink further into the couch.
“I outta slap the shit out of you! What the fuck, Glow!” Jisei screeched.
“Umm hmm. I done told her… I done told her. Then, she had the nerve to hide from us, like Glee having a baby is something to be ashamed about.”
“I don’t know what for. At least Glee’s eighteen and in college. I was sixteen without a pot to piss in.”
“I was underage too. My daddy was pissed but, shit… look at me. I finished school and everything.” Mocha reminded me of the degree she earned, which had been collecting dust.
But Glee didn’t have the resources Mocha had. She also didn’t have a rich mobster as her baby daddy, nor was our daddy “street rich.” Still, I kept my thoughts in my head.
