I laughed under my breath and shook my head.
“Girl, you can go to hell with that.”
That’s when Toni stood up.
“Nah, you can go ahead and get the fuck on somewhere with that bullshit you talkin’ about,” she said, her tone sharp now, with all that laid-back shit gone.
I looked at her and leaned back like she was the least of my concerns. “Girl, you a lap dog. You do everything this girl say, so I know it ain’t shit you can do with me.”
Her whole face went flat.
“At least I never been with a nigga who hid me. “And…” she said, steppin’ forward a little. “Come show me it ain’t shit I can do with you.”
Before I could even respond, I heard chairs movin’ behind us.
Next thing I knew, Nyori was at my side before I even realized she moved, her hand comin’ to my arm while Abeni stepped up next to Pluto.
“What is going on?” Nyori asked, her voice calm but firm.
I opened my mouth to say somethin’, but before I could even get it out, my attention shifted.
Pressure’s mama stood there watchin’ me, and the way she was lookin’ at me made me pause without even thinkin’ about it. She wasn’t sayin’ nothin’, and she wasn’t raisin’ her voice or movin’ around like the rest of us. She just stood there, locked in on me like she was readin’ straight through me without blinkin’, and it was somethin’ about that shit that didn’t sit right. It carried enough weight to make me check myself for a second, and I didn’t even like that I did.
Kay’Lo’s mama stepped in quick, her hands liftin’ slightly like she was tryin’ to settle everybody at once. “Ladies, please calm down. I think it might be something in the water that’s making everyone seasick.”
Pressure’s mama didn’t move her eyes off me when she spoke.
“I think the water is just fine.”
The way she said it made the whole moment feel tighter without her doin’ anything extra.
Nyori gently caressed my arm, and she didn’t look at nobody else when she spoke. “Come on.”
She didn’t argue. She didn’t raise her voice. She just guided me away from the dock like it was already handled.
Once we got a little distance from them, she turned to me. Her expression was still calm but serious in a way that made me straighten up without even thinkin’ about it.
“I like you. You are a wonderful girl,” she said, lookin’ directly at me, “but certain things will not be tolerated.”
I tried to speak, but she lifted her hand just enough to stop me.
I swallowed what I was about to say and just nodded, because I already knew this wasn’t a conversation I was about to win right now. At the same time, that shit didn’t sit right with me at all because I wasn’t used to nobody talkin’ to me like this, like I was a child who needed to be sent somewhere to cool off.
I kept my face straight and didn’t push it, because I wasn’t about to argue with her, but in the back of my mind, I was already clockin’ what this really was. This didn’t feel like her just tryin’ to calm the situation down. This seemed like how things were handled in this family, and whether I liked it or not, I was on the outside of it.
The more I thought about it, the more it started settlin’ in that I didn’t have no real say in nothin’ out here. Decisions gotmade, people got adjusted, and if you didn’t fall in line, you got pulled to the side and corrected until you did. And even though I nodded and went along with it, it didn’t change the fact that I felt it for what it was.
That shit felt like control.
And for the first time since I stepped foot on this yacht, I didn’t feel like I was just here enjoyin’ myself with Renza and his family. I felt like I was stuck in the middle of somethin’ that was already run a certain way, and I didn’t like how easy it was for me to get pushed into a place that didn’t feel like mine.
By the time I made it back to the room, Renza wasn’t there, and that didn’t help how I was feeling.
I had been tryin’ to adjust the whole time. I had tried to go with the flow, and not to make nothin’ bigger than it needed to be, but no matter, I still ended up feelin’ out of place.
Then the worst fuckin’ part was knowin’ I couldn’t even leave.
I was stuck out there in the middle of the damn ocean with Renza and his family, and for the first time since I got on the yacht, this shit didn’t feel good at all.
