“Fuck her. Neither one of y’all need her for anything. If she isn’t interested in fixing the relationship, she doesn’t need to have access to you. I’m telling you right now, I don’t want her around my baby. If you decide to allow her into your space, that’s on you, but Noodle won’t be a part of that.”
Lyric and I locked eyes, and I expected her to give me pushback, but she surprised me.
“I agree with you. It’s my job to protect our baby, and I don’t want to introduce her to anyone who may not be around long-term. Plus, I don’t trust my momma as far as I can throw her, so I would never let her spend any time with her alone.”
“Damn right. I talked to Nauri today. He congratulated me on the restaurant. I’m getting tired of keeping secrets from my homie, Lola B.”
Lyric sighed, already knowing where the conversation was going.
“I know, baby. I’ve been trying to find the right time to talk to him about it, but there’s always something going on. He’s been so focused on his music that I didn’t want to bother him.”
I tilted my head and gave her a look to let her know I wasn’t buying what she was selling.
“Come on, now. I’ve given you plenty of time to tell him what was up. You wanted a commitment, and I gave it to you with no questions asked. Now I’m asking you to be honest with your brother. I could have told him already, but you begged me not to. I’m trying to respect your stance, but I don’t like lying to someone I care about. I can’t even be fully open with our relationship because you haven’t told him about us. That’s notfair to me. I’m a real ass nigga, and I don’t hide from anyone, but I can’t even really show you off the way I want, because you’re so worried about what your brother thinks.”
“And you’re not?”
“Hell no. I’m a grown ass man. As much as I love and respect Nauri, this is my life and my family. Even if he didn’t accept us being together, it wouldn’t stop shit. That’s why I don’t understand why you keep stalling. You’re not a child anymore. He can’t tell you what to do with your life, nor should his opinion change what we have going on.”
I could tell the conversation was growing uncomfortable for her because she started looking everywhere except at me. When she did finally acknowledge me again, she sat up and slid down on my dick. Lyric wasn’t slick in the least bit. I knew she was hoping sex would distract me from pressing the issue, and I decided not to press her for now. She couldn’t avoid the subject forever, so I was gonna let her make it. Besides, her pussy held me in a vice grip, and I wanted to enjoy every second of it.
Keynauri’s Release
“Nauri!” My hands shook as I ran to my brother. I almost fell over, but I didn’t care. I leaped into his arms as soon as I got close enough. His arms wrapped around me, and I completely lost it. It had been seven years since my brother was taken from me, but it felt like an eternity.
My face was buried in his neck as I released all of the tears I had been holding all morning. I was a mess, but he allowed me to fall apart in his arms. He carried me over to the car but never let me go.
“It’s good to have you back on this side, bro!” I heard East greet him from behind me, followed by Logic. Keynauri continued to hold me in his arms while he talked to them. Eventually, I calmed down, but I wasn’t ready to let him go.
“Get your big ass down. The man might be buff now, but he’s still weak as fuck,” Logic teased us.
“Nigga, fuck you. You’re just mad because your muscles haven’t grown since the eighth grade. Petite bitch,” Keynauri shot back.
“Fuck you! That’s why your ass is about to burst out of those fuckin’ clothes.”
I giggled as the two of them went back and forth. It was something I missed more than I realized.
Eventually, I got down and allowed Keynauri the opportunity to properly greet his best friends. I rolled my eyes when he and East hugged, but I was being petty. We weren’t exactly on speaking terms, and I almost thought about telling him I would drive myself to the prison, but I wasn’t that damn petty.
Symphonee fell asleep on the ride over, so she didn’t get to officially meet her uncle until we made it to his house. Keynauri carried her on his shoulders the entire time while he toured his new home. I made sure to hire the best to hook the place up. Keynauri was a national superstar and had accomplished incredible things while being locked up. His team was gearing up to introduce him, and it was gonna be crazy.
He asked us to help him find a place, but he had no idea what the house looked like. He told me he wanted something with a lot of bedrooms, and it took months to find valuable options. Luckily for us, our realtor was the truth.
“This is nice as hell, Sis. You really did your thing in here. Keyami’s gonna be excited when she gets to see her room.”
I customized my niece’s room just for her, and I was excited to see what she thought of it. Her momma had basically kept her away from me out of spite, but now that her father was home, I planned to spend as much time with her as I could.
“She’s gonna love it. I still have a few things to fix in her room, but the interior designer did a great job with the vision I gaveher. I need to finish fixing up my room since I’ll probably be over here more than I am at home.”
My phone vibrated in my purse, and when I opened my messages, I giggled.
Lil’ Ugly BD: No, the fuck you won’t. You can be mad all you want, but your ass is coming home tonight and every other night. Play Checkers, but don’t play with me.
I snickered at his temporary contact name. Any time he pissed me off, I changed it. I hadn’t realized they could hear us from where they were. East didn’t play about me sleeping away from home. He made it clear that we needed to come home to each other even when we were mad. For the most part, I had no issues following the rules, but I was pissed off with him.
He told me he had a business meeting last night, but when he crept into the house at three in the morning, all I saw was red. East rarely went out without me, but when he climbed into bed, it was obvious he had been out drinking. He tried to explain why he was so late, but I didn’t want to hear shit he had to say. There was no excuse that made any sense to me unless someone had died, and even then, he could have warned me.
We rejoined everyone else and made plans for the night. The men wanted to take Keynauri out to celebrate his first night as a free man, but I wasn’t ready to share my brother with anyone else. It was bad enough that I would be sharing him with the world soon enough.
