Page 18 of Fraudulent Beauty

Inwardly, I groaned when I reached the door and heard them yelling. I wasn’t sure what I should do. Wait outside until they were done? Walk in and go straight to the guest bedroom? Slowly, I put the key she gave me in the lock and crossed the threshold. The yelling stopped, and Nook looked over his shoulder to see who’d come in the house. Sheniah took advantage of his sudden quietness.

“Can you get the fuck out?!”

“Sheniah, don’t try to show out because Tahli is here.”

“Show out? I’ve asked you to leave at least four times. I don’t have to show out for anybody. I gave all your shit to Khalif. You don’t have anything here homeboy. Goodbye!”

“Homeboy?” he drew back. “I get it. You’re mad, and you have a right to be. I was tired of us arguing, and I jumped the gun. I’m sorry.”

Walking past them, I headed toward the guest bedroom that I was occupying.

“Please don’t be sorry. You thought the grass was greener on the other side. You thought you and Clint were going to have a cool lil’ bachelor pad, and that shit didn’t work out how you wanted. Now you want to come crawling back. Fuck outta my face. You wanted to be single. Stand on that shit.”

I couldn’t say that Sheniah would never take Nook back, but she was for sure letting him know that she meant business, and I loved that for her. I’d never had an issue with him but playing in my girl’s face was a no no.

I didn’t hear another word from Nook. Instead, Sheniah walked in the room and flopped down on the bed. “I’m so sick of that bastard.”

With a giggle, I took my shoes off. “Well, you need to find a remedy because he’s not letting up any time soon. That man is applying pressure.”

Sheniah’s upper lip curled, and she looked absolutely disgusted. “No thank you. In the beginning, I think I was so hurt because Nook is all I’ve known for ten years. Even if the relationship wasn’t healthy, he was all I knew for so long. Once I got over that odd feeling of being alone and single, baby, I love it here. He can stay gone, and I mean that shit.”

“As long as you’re happy that’s all I care about.”

A whole lot could happen in ten years. People could remain the same, change for the better, or for worse. Nook started out as the perfect boyfriend now, I couldn’t even recognize his actions. It was hard to imagine one day just waking up and Khalif was an entirely different person that the one I met and was falling for. It happened all the time, however.

Things had been going very well with him. In fact, it was almost too good to be true. Which had me lowkey nervous because I kept waiting for shit to hit the fan.

Pulling up in my parents’ driveway like a bat out of hell, I opened the door before I’d even put my car in park. Pissed was an understatement, but I wanted to calm myself down before I went in the house around my baby. I entered the house and found Sierra on the couch asleep. I could tell by the aroma that was permeating the air that my mother was cooking. I took notice of the one Hello Kitty duffel bag by the chair. Storming into the kitchen, I was ready for answers.

“That’s all she gave her?” I asked with nostrils expanding.

“Yeah. You know she knows that baby has stuff here and at your house. That hoe really dropped Sierra off at school and basically told the teacher to let her father know full custody was now his.”

“I’m not even really mad at getting my daughter. I’m mad at her being an ignorant ass drug addict.”

“You think she’s on drugs?” my mother asked. “I mean, yes, she does some questionable things, but I was just thinking it’s because she parties, drinks, and runs the streets. Gina tries to keep up with her friends that don’t have kids. She was doing that when you and she were together.”

“Yeap. She parties, runs in behind her friends that were smart enough not to have kids they didn’t want, and she screws any man with money that might come along and save her. Drugs fit more into that puzzle than my daughter does. Even if it’s only weed, she’s on something. It’s all good though. I’m getting something drawn up in writing. She won’t come back in three or four months and think she’s just going to take Sierra.”

“You know I’ll help you in any way that I can. Gina should be ashamed of herself. I don’t know how she raised her, but Joy is a good grandmother. Her parenting skills sure didn’t rub off on her daughter.”

Sierra was a daddy’s girl. She loved when she came to my place, and she rarely ever cried for or even asked about her mother. For those reasons, I didn’t think it would be a difficult decision for her to live with me full-time, but I didn’t want her to end up feeling abandoned by her mother. I sat down at the kitchen table and sighed. Sierra was better off with me but having full custody thrown in my lap with no warning was going to be stressful. Such was life when you had a kid with a dumb bitch.

“I’ll wake Sierra up, so she can eat. When you get her home, all she’ll have to do is take a bath, and she’ll be good for the night. I’ll braid her hair tomorrow in a style that will last her for a few days if she’ll keep that scarf on while she sleeps.”

My mother went to wake Sierra up, and I wished I could have a drink or three. I didn’t mind changing my life around to accommodate my daughter, but having Tahli over for sexual trysts was going to have to only occur when Sierra was in school or with a grandparent. Of course, having sex wasn’t more important than making sure my daughter was good. It was way too soon to introduce Tahli to her, so until I felt the time was right, that’s what it would be.

Tahli wasn’t the clingy type, so I didn’t think she’d mind. Sierra entered the kitchen rubbing sleep from her eyes. “Hi daddy.” She walked into my arms.

“Hey, baby. How was your nap?” Hugging her tight, I placed a kiss on her forehead. “You ready to eat?”

She nodded, and I let her go, so she could climb into a chair. The lasagna and garlic bread my mother made smelled amazing, but Gina’s antics damn near made me lose my appetite. I would regret not eating later, so I just got my mom to fix me some to go. My father was asleep and would eat when he woke up. The only thing that could bring a smile to my face was the way Sierra was demolishing her food.

“Slow down, girl. It’s not going anywhere,” I chuckled.

“Grandma this is good!” she declared.

“I’m glad you like it, baby.” My mother beamed with pride as she sat down with her plate.