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“But he was married to my mama when he slept with yours. I don’t give a fuck who the oldest.” I pushed her out of the way by opening my door. “Why are you at my shit?”

“I was coming to talk to you about Daddy’s surprise birthday party next weekend. I really need your help because I have my own party coming up in two weeks at my club that I really need to focus on.”

“I’m busy.”

“You can’t be that damn busy that you can’t take some time out to help surprise our damn daddy.”

Pinkie heels clicked on the pavement as she followed behind me to my apartment. We had a strained relationship, and I’m not sure why she was running her ass to me for help. I hadn’t said shit to my pops since I found out about all the fucking kids he had on my mama. I stuck my keycard to the door and let myself in with her behind me.

“This is nice as hell. Should’ve known you had a little taste.”

“What the fuck do you want, Pinkie?”

She dug in her purse and pulled out a notebook and a pen. She then took a seat and stared at me until I sat my ass down.

“I know shit between him and your mom ain’t the best, but I think inviting her would make him happy. He misses her. This is the list, and all I need you to do is get in touch with the people and give them the address, time, and date of the party. Can you do that? It ain’t like you doing shit else.”

“You don’t know what the fuck I got going on. I’ll talk to my mama, but I doubt she wants to be around his hoe ass. What you got the rest of your siblings doing?”

“Don’t worry about it. Just make sure you handle that within the next few days. I want this to be perfect. He will only turn fifty once.”

She gathered her stuff and walked out. I threw the whole list on my table and went to take a shower. I didn’t give a fuck about the nigga or his birthday. He was foul and he knew it. I’m sure this whole idea was his and she was making it seem like it was a surprise, but it wasn’t.

My phone started ringing before I could get in the shower. Jill’s name flashed across the screen, but I didn’t feel like talking to her at the moment. I was too busy trying to figure out how to break it off with her so I could pursue Summer. She had her man and everything, but if I pleaded enough, she would fall weak. Last night was about to open up so many memories for both of us until Jill fucked it up. After I got out of the shower, with the water still dripping, I dialed Jill’s number so I could end this shit with her.

5. PINKIE ROSE

Locked up in my office, I placed a stack of money in the money machine and let it count it to save me some time. It was close to the club being closed, and I wanted to be out before shit got too crazy. No matter how tight I had security, a nigga always wanted to fuck my shit up. I hated the police, but if you planned on coming to my establishment and causing harm, then I was calling the police.

I was satisfied with my amounts, so I stacked them in the safe and locked it back before shutting everything down and walking down the stairs to the back of the club where my Audi was parked. I was going home alone, again. At the age of thirty, I was supposed to be married with kids by now, but the niggas here just didn’t do it for me. Either they hustled with no purpose, they had too many baby mama problems, or they were just immature and couldn’t hold a conversation. Oh, and let’s not forget the niggas that want to hang around their homeboys all fucking day. That was the gayest shit ever.

“Tell Gabrielle to lock up and send the reports to my email. I’ll be up late doing payroll, so if you need me, hit my phone up.” The security nodded at my request and opened my car door for me. “Thank you!”

It was late, and the only thing I could think about was seafood and a drink, but it wasn’t safe for a single woman like myself to wander around the city. Instead, I took my ass through McDonald’s drive-through and ordered a fish sandwich with a large fry. Not that I needed it. All it would do was go straight to my ass and hips, but it was part of my depressed eating.

People thought I was this happy-go-lucky woman, but I wasn’t. I was a girl with daddy issues that went through no good ass niggas just to say I got a man. No amount of money could take away the feeling I had whenever I was single. My last relationship ended because he just couldn’t control his baby mama, who turned out to be the nigga wife. She would pop up and start shit until we end up fighting in front of my rich neighbors. I’m a girl from the hood, and the last thing anyone will ever do to me is be disrespectful. I’ll beat your ass and send your ass back home crying.

The nigga before that ended up liking his asshole played with not only by me but his homeboys too. I caught that shit on his phone one night we were chilling. Then someone sent me another video of the nigga playing sword dick with his other homeboy. Who the fuck does that? After that relationship, I thought it was me, but it wasn’t, and I had to go through some deep self-evaluation to make sure I wasn’t the issue.

I got in my house and up to my bedroom, where I pulled my wig off and put it on the dummy head so it wouldn’t lose its shape. I spent too much money going back and forth to Atlanta to get them things made. My clothes were off, and I was in bed with my food with nothing on but the television and my phone in my hand. It was a must that I had my daily dose of good drama. If I needed to know anything, it was on social media.

I had made my way around to ask how Law was doing since his house burned down. It was something about Law that made him different. He was the same age as my brother Trey, but he was way more mature than Trey. The ones I wanted were always taken. Law had a girl which was Trey’s ex-girlfriend. As much as I tried to throw myself at Law, he would never take the bait.

I had a hair and nail appointment, but once I laid eyes on Law’s candy red Benz truck parked at the restaurant, my plans quickly changed. My hair wasn’t done, but that wasn’t going to stop me from going to see how he was doing. We were still strangers but he knew who I was and what I stood for because I always supported his mother even when she was selling dinners out of her house. I adjusted my scarf on my head and walked into the establishment. It was a very successful business, and just like any other day, it was booming.

Approaching the counter, I made my same special order and paid. Law wasn’t out front, so I assumed he was in the back working. I thought it was cool for a hood nigga to not be ashamed to help out his mama. It was a major turn-on. Sending a text to my stylist, I wasn’t paying attention when someone came and sat my plate down in front of me.

“You ordered the turkey wings, right?”

And here she was, the beautiful Summer. There was no wonder why Law was in love with her. Her skin, hair, and body were to die for. The only thing about her was the tattoos that covered her body. I didn’t want to pass judgment on her because I didn’t know her from a can of paint. She just had something I wanted.

“Yeah, I’m just used to Law bringing it to me. He must be off today?”

“Mmhmm, he had to handle something.” She took me in by looking me up and down.

“Okay, well, tell Ms. Mae I said thank you, and I’ll see her next week.”

“What did you say your name was again?”