“You’re not listening, Renee. That wasn’t his first time belittling me since he’s been home,” my vocals dragged like I was bored…because I was.

“Yeah. I heard that part, but I’m saying don’t involve KyKy in y’all’s bullshit, Jade. He say stupid shit to me all the damn time and I ignore his lil ass ‘cause I know that’s just how he is. He got a good heart, though.” I rolled my eyes, holding my cell between my head and shoulder.

I used one hand to massage my itchy, stinky scalp, and the other to scroll down my Facebook timeline, something I rarely did lately. And I saw why I’d stopped. There wasn’t much going on in people’s lives other than memes and celebrating Brielle’s birthday. I mean, people who had never met the girl were posting pictures of her with birthday greetings. Dang! You would think her birthday was a national holiday.

“Yeah,” I exhaled. “But he’s your son. You have to love and deal with him unconditionally. I don’t. I’m over it. Until he apologizes to me and promises never to disrespect me again, he will remain blocked from calling me.”

“For how long, Jade? He’s Ky’s father. You can’t block him, baby.”

“And she blocked me from my son’s phone, too!” Ryshon shouted in the background.

I wanted to remind him Kyree didn’t have a phone. He was too young for one. He had an iPod. But that would’ve been useless. He’d been that disconnected from his son.

I sat back at the kitchen table, one hand going to my growing belly without thought. It was a recently developed habit. It was also hard to avoid considering I was wearing one of my old small t-shirts.

“I’m not going to continue going back and forth over this. He’s hot-headed and unpredictable. He almost got into a fight with my fiancé’s pastor over disrespecting his wife, Renee!”

Me saying her name reminded me that we shared it. My mother’s influence of the name Renee was purely French, though.

“Oh, shit! You’s about to fight a preacher, Ryder?” she asked him.

“He wasn’t no preacher. That nigga too young to be a preacher. He was just a stick that was flexin’ ‘cause his wife kept fuckin’ with me! They all kept fuckin’ with me. One lady said Ky gone be a Bailey ‘cause TB taught him how da dance! Ask her ass about that!” I heard him yell.

I pinched the bridge of my nose. April did say that. I’d forgotten all about it, and had no idea it offended Ryshon. Trent and Ky danced around here all the time. They always battled—or at least Ky thought he could compete with Trent. When those two did the JuJu dance down in the basement, I had to check myself. I was getting aroused as though no one else was in the bowling alley but Trent and me. He was lost in his playful state, bouncing his shoulder, thrusting his pelvis, and sticking out that tongue as he smiled beautifully. Ugh! That was one of the few occasions where Trent behaved as a big kid and I wanted to take advantage of him. Sexually. I didn’t allow myself too much time in arousal land that day. The last thing I needed to be thinking about was sex. It’s what got me into the predicament I was currently in.

“Jade, now that ain’t right,” Renee argued. “That man ain’t KyKy’s daddy.”

I sat up. “Errrrrr!” I felt like a kid doing this. I didn’t want to speak to Ryshon or his mother. “Renee, Kyree only has one father. He only calls one man daddy.” I was painfully aware of that after Trent made it clear he would not shut Ryshon out—before he got a taste of his childishness. “One father that will lose contact with him for a while until he learns how to respect his mother. I’ve got no problem doing it.”

“Jade, you can’t keep KyKy away from his father!”

“She can’t! She can’t!” Ryshon screamed. “Fuck that! I’m getting a lawyer on her dumb ass!”

Lawyer? Really, Ryshon? Where?

“Shut the fuck up, Ryder! You sound all types of stupid as hell. You on parole. Who ya dumb ass gone get to help you? You gots to stay outta the damn pen first!”

“Yo! Facts, yo! Facts. I take care all my kids. They got clothes, shoes, and food! Facts, yo! I dare anybody to say I don’t!” Ryshon screamed to the top of his lungs with a passion I’d never heard from him.

“Renee, Ryshon hasn’t sent a red dime my way since early 2015. Did he tell you we got evicted? Did he tell you the same time we got put out, Shontel and little Renee got a house and a Benz?”

“Wait a minute now!” Renee demanded. “I know everything. And that house ain’t what it seems, Jade.”

I rolled my eyes, had moved on to a gossip blog now, seeing Brielle celebrated again. At this point, I had no idea what annoyed me most: seeing a stranger well-wish a super celebrity, who was probably on an exotic island unbothered, or this fruitless conversation I was engaged in.

“Why? Because it’s in someone else’s name? Ask him how much he contributed to it? Kyree requires food, clothes, shelter, school supplies, medicine, and those are just the necessities. I was busting my ass in school and between two jobs to make ends meet for him, by myself!”

“Hold up, honey!” Renee gave more bite than she had this entire twenty minute call. “You know if my grandson needs anything, all you gots to do is pick up the phone and call his grandmother! Don’t flex ‘cause you tryna’ play super girl!”

My neck snapped back and eyes shot wide. “Renee, I didn’t know you wanted to be a grandmother anymore! You haven’t asked for Kyree since Ryshon went in this last time. I shouldn’t have to beg for anything. If you choose to help and you know your son has been incarcerated and cannot provide, why would you not even call and check on him.”

“Oh, I gotta call? I’m the grandmother. I got five grands and I gotta be the one to reach out all the time?”

“No.” I shook my head. “You don’t have to and clearly you didn’t want to, which is why I never called. I don’t beg for help anymore.”

“See, Ma! She got all this attitude now!” Ryshon declared. “I told you that life done gone to her head.”

“Jade, you is acting different,” Renee observed.

This was getting ridiculous and we weren’t getting anywhere. It all reminded me of how I used to drag Ryshon’s mother into our fights, thinking she could talk some sense into him. Also, to win her favor. The tables had now turned. He ran to his mother, and they reached out to me. The problem was, I was over it. Over Ryshon and everything attached to him other than our son. I didn’t want to fight. I just wanted respect and privacy. I wanted out of their circus.

“You’re right, Renee. I have changed. I don’t want the drama anymore. I have no interest in Ryshon anymore. I won’t beg anymore. I won’t ask you guys to do right by Ky or Ryshon to respect me anymore. I’m done. I don’t have to bring Kyree with me, but I will if I feel I can’t trust Ryshon not to do anything repulsive or vindictive. I can’t risk sending him to Ryshon and have his head filled with poison about me. I’ve never spoken ill about his father to him. But after hearing what he said to my friends, I see he’s capable of anything, and I won’t have it.” I took a deep breath, closed my laptop and pushed away from the table. “Unless he’s prepared to apologize to me and swears to change his attitude toward me, I’m done with this conversation.”

I didn’t wait for an answer. I disconnected the call and slid my phone near the laptop. My arms went up for a stretch above my head, the cool air hitting my exposed belly. That had my arms flying back down and my eyes rolling again. I still couldn’t believe I was pregnant. My belly had still been growing, not waiting on my preparedness.

I stalked from the table towards the stairs, remembering I never brought down my wide tooth comb for when I applied the deep conditioner. It was a Friday, nearly two weeks since Ky’s party, and I’d finally taken out my weave. I’d been thinking about going without it for a while. At least until Trent’s birthday then I’d decide my next move. But for now, I needed to clean and deep condition it.

As I made it to the stairs, I massaged my scalp with both hands. My foot hit the first step and the doorbell rang. I froze. The doorbell never rang. The gate would ring from time to time with deliveries or service people, but not the house door. I suddenly recalled having left the gate open for the patio furniture delivery. But that earlier.

Shoot!

I’d forgotten to close it after. As I padded through the house to the front door, I grew more and more curious. I was inappropriately dressed with tight cropped sweat pants, ankle socks, and the small tee that didn’t cover my full belly, and exposed my braless breasts that were now huge! 

This is why I should’ve never taken Renee’s call…

Not that it mattered. I would’ve been indecent anyways. Normally no one rang the doorbell. Even though the Rogers’ had the code to the gate, they would still be expected to ring the gate bell. It couldn’t be Stenton. He was out of town. I’d taken the boys to school today and would be picking them up in a few hours. April had a set of keys. Even so, she was down in Macen Beach with her girlfriend, needing to be near Shank. She wouldn’t be back until Sunday.

As I approached the door, I could see two figures through the glass. The bell rang again, startling me.

“Who is it?” I asked.  

“Terrell…” a male’s voice, masked with femininity eventually answered. “…and B.” Then I heard a snicker.

My brows furrowed. Trent once told me about kids in the neighborhood finding out it was him living on this property and popped up once or twice, but in the year and a half I’d been here, there had been no such strange occurrences.

That’s why I went ahead and unlocked then opened the door. Slowly, two small figures appeared. One was a male, rather short with a brown fur coat and matching fur Cossack cap. My mom had about a half a dozen of them. His mustache and five o’clock shadow were cut with precision just as the high arch in his brows. He wore foundation and light eyeliner.

And he snickered. Again.

His eyes slid to the figure next to him, and that’s when I almost went weak at the knees. My hand ached to touch my wild, dirty, and foul-smelling hair standing on top of my scalp. My other jumped in place, was en route to my swollen and unrestrained breasts. And my—

My eyes flew down to my exposed belly. It wasn’t that big, but definitely too round and oblong to be dismissed as fat. Slowly, my eyes rolled up to her light brown orbs underneath long curled lashes and recognized the betrayal, shock, and pain in her aghast expression.

Again, the guy snickered, but this time, it appeared difficult to keep to a minimum and he sputtered a laugh…it seemed at her.

Brielle.

With her mouth agape, she turned to who I assumed was Terrell, with a blazing glare.

He was definitely laughing at her.

“I’m sorry, B!” He tried against roaring laughter that had him cupping his mouth. “But…” he sputtered. “This nigga done got her knocked the entire…” He tried. “…fuck up!”

Brielle’s eyes swung back over to me. I was too stunned to speak at first, unable to decide if this was a dream or a damn nightmare. Who opens their front door and sees pop-star, multi-Grammy winning, Global Globe winner Brielle? There was a running limo waiting behind her on the cobblestone, circular driveway.

“Who are you?” she asked, snatching me out of my own head.

The entitlement in that question rang loud.

“Ja—” I cleared my throat. “Jade, and you?”

Terrell fell into laughter again. My eyes closed, immediately understanding why. Who didn’t know who Brielle was? After issuing him a warning glower, she turned back to me.

“Trent’s friend. Please let him know I’m here.”

I hated her tone. She had a beef with me and I didn’t understand why. She didn’t even know me.

“You never answered my question,” the confidence in my voice returned with each word I spoke. Her whole aura told me to get on guard. “But it doesn’t matter. Trent’s not home.”

“But you are,” Terrell sputtered, laughing again.

His eyes were on Brielle as he referred to me, but she wasn’t with him in humor.

Who was he?

Terrell straightened, or at least tried. “Look, he’s not even available here. Just drop it. It’s clear he’s…into something here.” His French manicured hands gestured to me. “Let’s try to make this flight, darling.”

—and me with my peeking belly…and untamed breasts…and weaveless head…and makeup-less face.

Brielle didn’t like that suggestion at all. Her eyes warred with deciding what to do. They landed on me intermittently.

“But I can’t get him anywhere. How else am I supposed to reach him? It’s been two years now!” she argued to Terrell. “What else am I going to do?”

“Why are you here?” I asked before that conversation could continue.

Why did she need Trent? Hearing how long it had been boosted my confidence. I guessed she wasn’t counting that emotional performance at her concert. The doorway was cooling fast with a winter blast shooting through. They were in furs, I was in thin cotton.

“Oooh,” Terrell commented with his regard to me, amusement lining it.

Brielle cocked her head to the side, narrowing her eyes. “I need to talk to him about something personal between the two of us.

I adjusted my stance. “I’m his fiancée. I don’t think there’s anything I can’t hear.”

Before I was done speaking, Terrell sputtered a hard laugh at that.

“Terrell!” Brielle shouted.

“I’m sorry, B! I’m sorry. It’s just that…”

I would’ve believed this was an April Fool’s joke, only April wasn’t until tomorrow. How could she not have anything better to do on her birthday?

She shook her head, her butterscotch face turning red. This was a far cry from the Brielle the world knew—I once knew.

“Look. I don’t know what you two got going on, but I can assure you, if you tell him I stopped by, he’ll tell you I’m not the one for you to be territorial with.” Her eyes rolled gesturing inside the house. “I decorated this place.”

“False. The old design was yours. He’s upgraded since.”

Without failure, Terrell barreled over to his knees and laughed harder than was appropriate. I now didn’t know if it was at me or Brielle.

“This bitch, done moved…yo shit out and hers in!” he tried over hoots.

I was over it. “Again, you can tell me anything you want conveyed.”

Brielle’s eyes rolled from Terrell back over to me, brows furrowing again.

“You can tell him some stupid employee at my doctor’s office leaked my old pregnancy test and abortion records to the press. They’re running with the story any day now,” she hissed through gritted teeth.

That jarred me. It was the last thing I was expecting. How much of a past did these two have? Brielle, on camera, was sexy, sultry, seductive and mesmerizing. The Brielle off stage was America’s sweetheart: demure, reserved, and warm to everyone she encountered. A reigning musical princess, earning her crown as queen. She had a spotless record from drugs, alcohol, partying, and scandalous affairs. Her entourage kept her sheltered and protected. The quick buzz of if she and Trent were lovers that spawned from her show last fall had quelled. Now this.

“What is it with you and drama?” I asked. “Y’all cousins or something? In December, it was a threat of a threesome, now it’s your abortion. What does that have to do with Trent?”

Her pretty face formed an expression of disdain.

“What do you think?”

Oh… Realization hit me.

That was a gut blow. But again, I couldn’t let her see me swaying from it.

“Again. What does that have to do with Trent? The public doesn’t even know you two were once lovers. That’s a load you can carry yourself, sweetheart!” I backed to show I was prepared to close the door.

“Oooooh!” Terrell sang. “You done made her big mad, B.” His eyes were on me while he addressed her.

“I don’t care!” She spat, face contorting. Oh, my god! Brielle was losing her cool. She wasn’t the super power everyone perceived her to be. She was…no different than the girls Ryshon pitted me against. Holy shit! My husband was fucking Brielle! It may have been long ago, but I was familiar with a woman burning with jealousy over a man who supposedly belonged to you. This was surreal. “Who are you anyway? A stripper he caught feelings for? A dancer—”

“We know that ain’t entirely true, B,” Terrell interrupted. “TB is like titanium with them emotions. He ain’t falling for bullshit.” He chuckled.

My palm flew to the center of my chest and eyes brightened. “So, I’m bullshit?”

“I don’t know what the hell you are! That’s why I’m so confused!” Brielle shouted so loud, her heeled feet leaped from the cement each sentence.

“Don’t be,” I offered with a deceptively calm tone, extending my left hand as a reminder. “I’m his fiancée, remember? What we’ve not established is your reason for being here.”

“My entire reason is none of your business. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you’re nobody. What do you even know about him other than what’s in the media?”

“Welp. She knows that schlong,” Terrell answered, tossing his chin to my exposed belly.

Brielle was pissed as she kept shifting in her high heels on the platform of the steps. “Knowing that doesn’t make her special.” She looked about to explode. “Doesn’t make her suitable.”

My chin dropped. “And you think you’re the one for him?”

“For some insane reason you do. I wonder why.”

“Girl!” Terrell perked up, stepping toward Brielle and taking her at the arm to pull her away from the door. “I’m over this. Too damn old for this ‘he fucked me harder’ shit. Let’s go catch this flight, B.” His tone was warning. Terrell wasn’t in joke mode anymore.

“Wait!” she yelled, tripping backwards over her feet, Terrell’s tug was unrelenting. Everything seemed to happen fast. “I want to see him!” Brielle stopped. “Who is this bitch? What makes her think she has anything remotely real with a man like him?” She then shot bullets into me through those brown orbs.

Bitch?

The word didn’t sound right rolling from her tongue. This was Brielle. The Brielle, who sang at Michael Jackson’s tribute before he passed. The one performing alongside Tina Turner at Oprah’s birthday party at the age of eighteen. The one who won the Golden Globe, starring next to Will Smith.

“It’s in the way he looks at me after the world has taxed him for fumbling the ball. The way he holds me when soaked in my sweat. How he wears the confidence I saturate him in and tells me so. You can’t have what’s been ordained for me.”

“Fuck you!” Brielle shouted from just at the limo’s door. Her index finger swung my way.

“Bitch, you sounding stupid, now!” Terrell attempted while trying to push her inside. The driver stepped out, but didn’t intrude. He just held the door. “Did you really bring me out here to catch a Bergen County case? Girl, I’m too femme for anybody’s county!”

He managed his friend inside the limo, but not before I could catch the string of tears falling down her beautiful face. Brielle was hurt. That thought angered me.

I slammed the door and threw my back against it, sliding to the floor. My head rolled back and rested on it. My limbs were shaking, mouth turned dry and sour the moment I recognized her at the door.

God, what in the world just happened?

Brielle?

I couldn’t even think who would believe me.

The tip of the ball spun, landing in my hands. I tossed it up again, twisting it on the way up. It went even higher, taking longer to reach me this time.

She walked into the room, reaching behind her back, unclipping her bra. Jade went to the walk in and from the mirror on the inside of the door, I could see her pull the long baggy dress she’d been wearing lately around the house over her head. My dick got hard at the sight of her panties wedged between her ass cheeks and her bra hanging from shoulders. She took another dress from a drawer in there and pulled it over her head, pushing her arms through, and tugged it down until the elastic stopped just above her tits.

When I saw she turned, I tossed the football in the air again. She came out of the closet and headed to the bathroom. She’d just put Ky down for the night and I wanted to talk to her before she got started on her school work.

“You doing homework tonight?”

She stopped. “I knocked it out this morning. How’re your classes coming?”

“I’m maintaining.” She nodded, looking awkward standing in front of the bed. I shot the ball in the air again. “Need to talk to you.”

“Okay,” she agreed softly and walked closer to the bed.

“My pops been tryna contact me.” I tossed the ball again.

“Really?” I heard the desperation in her tone, and she moved closer. “Since when?”

“A few months now.” Before throwing the ball in the air again, I caught Jade biting her lip.

“That’s been a while.” Her voice was a different low now. A thinking low. “You respond?”

I shook my head. “Nah. Wasn’t going to.” I went back to the ball.

“You are now?”

I didn’t speak. Honestly, my heart wasn’t settled either way. Ezra hit me up the other day, and it somehow came up in the conversation. He told me to stop ducking him, and at least hear him out.

“You don’t have to feel obligated.” She switched weight on her hips. “It doesn’t appear that Mr. Jackson has felt one to you.”

I tossed the ball again, knowing I had to find the words to say. It was hard with all of Jade’s aggression. Things had been off with us since finding out about the baby three weeks ago. She had been in her own zone, adjusting. I’d been trying to give her the time she needed while on the road working. This was the first sign of the feisty Jade I’d seen in weeks.

“Trent!” she called my name, impatient with my delay.

The ball dropped into my palms. “We can meet with him. Okay?”

I heard her whisper “we,” trying to process it.

“Do you want me to set it up?”

I tossed the ball again. In my peripheral, I could see Jade move. She lay out on the foot of the bed on her side. She used her palm to hold her head as she faced me. I tossed the ball higher in the air, doing it over and over again, trying to think. Until Jade yanked the top of her tube dress down and tits fell out.

The ball dropped into my hands and luckily not in my face, because my eyes were on those hard chocolate nipples that I hadn’t tasted in…weeks. I put the ball down on the bed and slowly sat back against the headboard. My eyes couldn’t go anywhere else.

“So, this is what I have to do to get you to drop the ball and give me your undivided attention?”

“To drop the ball, yeah. You always got my undivided attention.”

“Good—”

“But I don’t wanna talk, Jade.”

Her eyes rolled then closed before she let out a long breath. “We have to talk, Trent. You’ve been in and out, and we have a lot going on. It feels like we were just celebrating Ky’s birthday and already, yours will be here next!” She paused for my reaction. I didn’t have one in my face. My dick maybe, but all my face wanted was to be all in her mouth, tits, and valley below. “Okay. You need to focus this semester in school. You’re almost done. If there’s anything I can do to help, let me know. The next is your father.”

That broke my eye game. I looked over to the wall. This topic made me uneasy.

“Okay. I can tell you know you have to deal with it. Otherwise, you would’ve never brought it to my attention. I can set up a meeting with him—if you want me to.” Her eyes were wide with that one. She didn’t want to overstep. My eyes dropped from hers and I nodded. I knew she’d take care of it. Jade always did. “Okay.” I could hear the relief in her voice.

Jade sat up on the bed, pulling her top over her breasts. That made me feel some kind of way.

“The next thing we need to discuss is Ky.”

I felt my face tighten. “What’s wrong with Ky?”

If that cock-sucker, Ryder, did something stupid…

“Nothing.” She shook her head. “He’s fine. But we have to tell him about the baby. My stomach is spreading. There’s really no time left.”

“You want me to do that?” Panic hit my chest.

“No. I think we should do it together. It may be better since it happened before the wedding. You know?”

Dag…

I nodded, my eyes going to the wall again. This thing was complicated each way.

“Cool…” she whispered, catching my attention.

Jade bit her lip, her eyes running across the comforter below.

“What’s that all about? What you gotta say, J?”

Her eyes closed again. “Brielle came by.” Her words were rushed.

It was obvious she didn’t want to tell me.

“When?”

“Yesterday.”

“Yesterday? Why you ain’t tell me?”

“You just got in this afternoon. I was waiting until we had time alone tonight.”

“You could’ve hit me up.”

“It wasn’t an emergency,” she whispered, eyes squinting at the comforter.

That’s when anger turned into anxiety.

I sat up from the bed. “What she say?”

“She said she’s been trying to contact you to no avail.” That’s when her eyes met mine. “How did she get your new number?”

Oh, no! Not this!

I felt agitated all over, almost to the point of violence. I couldn’t look at her when I answered, “Alton.”

My jaw tightened. I hadn’t had the time to confront him about it.

“He gave her your number knowing I live here. My son and I live here. I’m no fling!”

“I know!” My hands shot in the air defensively. “I’ll handle him. I’ve been busy, but I’ll handle him. He knows I’m on his ass.”

“He’s insane!” she spat out.

“Nah. Not totally.”

“And what makes you think that?” Jade was ready for war.

“Because I had to tell his dumb ass she couldn’t perform at his party with Lord if he wanted me to come.”

“She was supposed to be there?”

Shit!

The thing with trying to be open with your lady is when you start, you open up other doors that ain’t necessary.

“She was there—”

“What?” Jade flew to her feet. “So she was there? I didn’t know if I could take him seriously when he mentioned it that night.”

“Chill,” my voice was purposely calm as I reached for her arms to get her to sit back down. “She left before we got there.”

“This is just too much, Trent!” Her angry eyes turned against me. “First that concert in December when I learned my husband had a damn affair with Brielle, of all people! Then she shows up on my doorstep when I’m indecent: hair standing on top of my head, no makeup on, and looking barefoot and knocked up. And now you’re telling me you had her leave an event so I wouldn’t see her? You have that kind of power? This is Brielle, Trent!”

“And?” My face screwed.

“She’s considered the eighth wonder of the world!”

“She’s a person like you and me. Let’s not do this, Jade!”

“You know what I mean, Trent! I’ve been in rivalries with women over a guy. It’s hard to think my current one is with Brielle. I gots no wins!”

“What did she say to make you think that?”

“Everything and nothing.”

“Speak English! Please!”

Jade cupped her face with her hands. “She said lots. But I gather her reason is that you’ve been ignoring her. She mentioned the press getting a hold of her doctor’s records that included her abortion.”

What abort—

Then it hit me.  

“That was mad years ago.” I tossed my hand at that old bullshit. “That was before I did my bid, and all.”

“I asked her why she thought you needed to know.” Jade’s tone was soft again.

She was scared.

I swallowed hard, my eyes rolling back to the wall.

“You said I was the only woman you had sex with without a condom since you’ve been an adult.”

“You were!” I never lied.

“Then why does she feel you should know?”

I took a deep breath. “Because the condom broke.” My dumb ass kept going. It was too late. I was already there. “That one time—the only time.”

“So, it was your baby?”

“We didn’t know.” My laugh was dry. “B was with Shiraz around that time.”

“She cheated?”

“Nah.” My eyes went wild. “We were never together like that. I told you.”

“Right.” She nodded with tight lips. “You only had an arrangement.”

“I never lied to you, J.”

“No. You just dole out your secrets slowly.”

My neck jerked back. “And what the hell that supposed to mean?”

Jade jumped to her feet and started to the bathroom, speaking with her back to me. “Nothing. Just be ready to tell your step-son he’s expecting a baby sister soon. Don’t wanna keep him in the dark longer than necessary. I’ll set up something with your father after your birthday.”

That was a jab if I’d ever had one thrown my way.