Page 9 of His Four Leaf Clover

Monty was pissed when he got back to the dorms, but it wasn’t with Iva for giving him a swollen eye and lip to match. He was angry that she’d found out about him and Caprice. The same phone that she’d purchased in her name was used to beg his ex to forgive him and not leave him. He swore that what she heard was a lie but, thankfully, Iva wasn’t trying to hear it.

Caprice cried herself to sleep the night that the call and text message logs that she’d requested from the phone company came in. Still, that didn’t stop her from continuing what they had and she now had him all to herself. Things went good for a while until one of the same hoes that she used to get Iva out of the picture stabbed her in the back. Caprice noticed the change in her and the space that she started to put in between them. It only took a few weeks for her to learn why. Monty started fucking her too and had her doing the same thing that Caprice was doing.

After a while, she started acting like she was a big dog and didn’t have to listen to anyone, including Caprice, who was her supervisor. After being written up too many times to count, she lost her job but she didn’t go down without a fight. She told the higher ups what Caprice had been doing and they started investigating her. Two months later, Caprice was being led out in cuffs, the same way she’d instructed her staff to do Iva. She lost her job and was ineligible to be hired by the state ever again.

Thankfully, she had saved some money but it wasn’t enough to sustain her forever. She didn’t want to spend it all before she found another job. Monty felt bad about what happened and he made sure that she was straight until he got out. Unlike the other men who she’d dealt with in prison, Monty made good on his word and actually stayed with her. Caprice loved him even more for that.

Since her man was paid out the ass, she didn’t feel the need to get another job so she laid around the house and enjoyed the fruits of his labor. Unfortunately, that didn’t last too long either before Monty started pressuring her to get her shit back on track. Although he paid the bills, he didn’t give her money or buy her anything. She wanted him to spoil her like Dash did Clover, but they barely even had sex. Monty had been home for close to a year, and she could literally count how many times they were intimate. If she didn’t invite herself to tag along with him, she probably would have never seen him until he came home late at night or early the next morning.

“Thank you, Grampy,” Kardi said after opening one of Hank’s gifts.

Caprice sat around and watched as the men gushed over their only niece and granddaughter until Clover came down the stairs, followed by Diva. As usual, Dash kept his eyes on her the entire time until she got close enough for him to pull her down on his lap. Fonzo was always affectionate with Amina too, but Monty didn’t have a romantic bone in his body. He followed Dash’s lead on everything else except giving her the unconditional love that she so desperately craved and envied Clover for.

“Aye, I don’t want no bullshit out of y’all two next weekend. It’s y’all daughter’s party and y’all need to act like it,” Hank said while looking at Clover and Dash. He whispered the curse words, but Kardi was too busy talking to Fonzo and Amina to hear him or care.

It was no secret that Clover didn’t get along with all of her cousins. It was crazy because he didn’t even know how the beef started. Clover didn’t and never did live in Georgia and they only visited each other for special occasions. That still didn’t stop Clover from beating the brakes off of one of them. Dash laid her nigga out too and he was only trying to break them up.

“Me and Lucky are on whatever they’re on. We matching energy.”

“Don’t piss me off, Junior. You heard what the fuck I said.” Hank frowned at his youngest son.

“Don’t be fussing at my babies when them hoes be the ones starting it,” Diva argued.

“I’m not fussing at nobody, but Clover know what we talked about.” Hank gave Clover a knowing nod.

“I’m good.” Clover shrugged, not caring one way or the other.

Hank kept telling her about how much it hurt her grandmother when she didn’t get along with her cousins. Tilly always told him how much it broke her heart that Clover and some of her cousins acted like they hated each other. He knew that it wasn’t Clover’s fault but he always tried to get her to be the bigger person. She was too much like his wife though and they didn’t always play nice.

“Man, fuck them hating ass hoes. They’re jealous of my daughter and always have been.” Diva rolled her eyes, not seeing that Caprice had discreetly done the same thing.

She sat there and listened, as Diva talked about Clover like she was really that bitch. As usual, Dash nodded in agreement as his girl was being placed on a pedestal that she didn’t deserve to be on. Caprice couldn’t wait to report back to Clover’s cousins to tell them everything that was being said in their absence.

Clover drank the last of her coffee before she finally felt good enough to get out of the black Bentley that she’d been sitting in for the last half-hour. She had a customized green one just like it, but everyone knew how much she hated to drive.

“You need to just take the day off, baby. Make sure everything is good and leave,” Dash said as he looked over at her.

They had a lot of help from their families with Kardi’s party, but Clover was a perfectionist when it came to their daughter. She had to make sure that everything was done exactly how she wanted it. Between that and her online classes, she was barely getting the proper rest. Dash tried to take as much pressure off of her as he could. He wanted his baby’s party to be perfect and drama free. Unfortunately, some of Clover’s cousins came all the way from Georgia with the bullshit.

Dash, the same as Clover, was born and raised in New Orleans. He was a city boy but he liked to go visit his family in Georgia as often as he could. It was almost like they were celebrities in the eyes of their families with their accents and designer clothes. Dash and his brothers often sent some of their male cousins the latest shoes and they were always appreciative. Clover did the same with some of her cousins, but a few of them just didn’t fuck with her. Aside from jealousy, Dash never knew why. As long as they kept their hands and comments to themselves, all was well with him.

“I would have if Irie was here but she took off today, remember?” Clover reminded him.

Just like Clover, Irie had a degree in early childhood education. She was done with school so she was good with her bachelor’s degree and declined to go back when Clover did. She managed the nursery, but Iva was there running things in her absence. Irie rarely took off, but all three of her kids had appointments. They were all at different times so she decided to take the entire day off. Usually, their mother, Cherelle, would handle things like that for her but she had an appointment herself.

Iva swore that she was done with school after she got her high school diploma but she ended up going to cosmetology school instead of a traditional college. She fell in love with locs at a young age and she was an amazing loctician. She kept Clover’s hair on point as well as her own. Diva had just started her loc journey about a year ago and she loved the convenience already.

“Damn, I forgot all about that. Well, go on inside. I’ll bring everything in for you.”

Clover had to stop and grab some more afternoon snacks for her babies since Diva was busy preparing for Kardi’s birthday party the following day. She usually did things like that in addition to helping Dot prepare breakfast and lunch. Since Dot owned the lot on the side of her bar, that was where the party was being held. Dash rented tents with fans to keep the guests cool since it was so warm outside. They had a lot for the kids to do including face painting, games, and a spacewalk. Hank and his brother were boiling seafood, but the rest of the food was being catered.

“Morning, bestie. Special delivery for you.” Iva smiled when she saw Clover walk into the daycare. She pointed to a huge green and white flower arrangement that was sitting on the counter. She snickered when Clover looked at the bouquet and frowned.

“I know his stupid ass didn’t come here to drop that off.”

“I don’t know. It was already here when I got here.”

“Is he slow or what?” Clover’s daycare was opened from six in the morning until six in the evening. She doubted if a florist was open that early, so they had to be hand delivered by the person who bought them.