Page 75 of Anything Necessary for Her (Crenshaw Kings #9)

It was preternaturally quiet as the other ladies and I sat scattered around the ballet studio while Carolyn put her things down, wearing a sullen expression.

She spoke something inaudible to Douglas before walking over to stand before us, ceasing even the small whispers that had started to wave throughout our group.

“I’m sure you have all heard the terrible news regarding Nikita, and sadly, she was not as fortunate as Banks, so she will not be able to dance in the show,” Carolyn announced, the stress evident on her face.

“Jamie, since you are her understudy, you, of course, will take over all of her roles including the pas de deux.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Jamie tried to smother her smile due to how inappropriate it would be at this time.

“Do they know who it was?” Frankie queried.

“All Nikita said was the girl was yelling about her messing with her man.” Carolyn shrugged.

“Well, she did get around, so that’s not surprising.” Briana scoffed then caught herself, looking remorseful and frightened as she awaited Carolyn’s scolding.

The latter only cut her eyes at Briana, who mouthed she was sorry, before pacing the floor in front of us.

“Banks, now that Nikita is not dancing in the pas de deux, it wouldn’t be off to assume you will perform it as well?” Her thin brow hiked as she eyed me.

“No, it wouldn’t be off. I’m happy to.” I smirked and gave a curt nod to which she returned.

“Alright, that is all for the announcements and questions today. Let’s get to stretching and then work.” She clapped.

We all climbed to our feet, our voices fishing through our duffels and gripping the barres, creating a cacophony of sounds.

As I stretched in the mirror, I noticed Carolyn watching me through it, almost like she was attempting to get a read on me just before she migrated over.

She put her hand to my back to straighten my posture and fix the way I was stretching as she said, “It’s pretty convenient that this happened, isn’t it?” Her eyes were still burrowing into mine via the mirror.

“I’m not sure what you’re implying.” I felt a nervousness course through me, her cold hands still on my back as I stretched against the barre.

I didn’t want to be seen as some black version of Tonya Harding, even though that title would be better placed on Nikita. However, no one would see it that way if they knew my drug dealing boyfriend had her spine shattered.

“I’m not implying anything, Banks. I’m simply stating that it’s convenient for you that she is no longer in the show, just when you were about to drop out.

The universe works in mysterious ways.” She took her hands off me.

“Jamie is good, almost as good as Nikita, but not quite. Therefore, I expect you to out dance her, Banks, and will be extremely disappointed if you two perform on the same level. Be clean, precise, and perfect. Do you understand?”

“Yes, ma’am.” I bobbed my head, standing upright.

“Everyone should be stretching! We shouldn’t still be in our purses, on our phones, or gossiping!” Carolyn pranced off, shouting in the midst of snatching phones, snapping at girls who were conversing, and tapping the ones still elbow deep in their dance bags.

I pushed the situation with Nikita to the back of my mind and just hoped that the universe, aka Low, would also help Kailey.

“What is this?” I frowned in confusion as Low pulled up to the medium-sized building with its own miniature parking lot.

“Let’s see.” He hopped out after parking his Maybach backwards in an open spot.

He came around to help me out, and I began to wonder if he was about to propose or something. This was so random, and there was no real reason for him to bring me to some random ass building.

He led me to the door, and I was caught off guard when he used a key to unlock it. As soon as I stepped inside, I was startled by so many familiar faces shouting surprise.

“Umm, thank you?” I looked back and up at Low. It wasn’t my birthday, so I didn’t understand what this party was for.

But as the lights brightened, I took in the beautifully designed ballet studio coated in pink.

Even the barres were pink, with bow and pointe shoe decals all around the walls.

My name was scribbled above the main mirror in script font, and though this was beautiful and perfect and elegant, I was even more confused.

“It’s yours,” Low said as if reading my mind as my family stared back at me, grinning like a sea of clowns. “You always said how you wish you had a place to practice that wasn’t Prolific Pointe but got you out of the house,” he reminded me.

I talked so much to Low that I had no idea he paid this much attention. It was only then that I noticed a table of catered food, thankfully from Presley, and a delicious looking three-tier ballet inspired cake. There was a chocolate fountain, a photo booth, and pink tables around for people to sit.

I was speechless as my brothers, their wives, and Kailey all came up to hug me just before my parents.

“He ain’t tell you he did all this shit himself,” my father notified before kissing my temple.

“Really?” I looked to Low, who smirked bashfully.

“I mean, not every fucking thing. Shit, we did some of this too,” Unique called out, getting himself a stern look from my dad and our mother.

“Unique, shut up. Y’all came at the ending. He did everything else,” my mother said.

“Thank you.” I moved from my father’s arms and into Low’s just before he pecked me gently, and I knew it was because my daddy was right there watching like a creep.

Low peered down into my eyes as I hugged his torso tightly.

“For everything though, babe. Of course, this studio, but also for keeping my secrets, even though I knew it tore you up, standing up to my annoying brothers, and just changing my life. You always talk about how life wasn’t life before I came to you, and while I liked my life just fine before us, it wasn’t half as great as it is with you in it. ”

“Good to know.” He moved my hair back, absorbing me through his eyes like always as I kept a hold on him. Music was now playing, and the chatter of my people had heightened. “You know I’ll do anything for you though; anything to keep you happy.”

“Even break some bones,” I whispered up at him, and we chuckled together.

I didn’t need to whisper because between the music, conversation, and my nieces and nephews running around the studio like banshees, no one would’ve heard even if I’d spoken through a bullhorn.

“That’s nothing, Peep.” We kissed several times; this time he put a little more into it since my father had swaggered off and wasn’t hawking us. “What age you trying to get married?”

“ASAP if it’s you.”

“If?” His forehead creased as he stared down at me. I simply smiled as he shook his head, sipping whatever was in his plastic cup. “Ain’t no if, Peep. It’s me or the nunnery.”

I giggled.

“Then ASAP.”

His eyes toggled from my eyes to my lips and back again before he bobbed his head to say he’d heard me.

The party ended up being a lot of fun, and my heart fluttered even more seeing the food was brunch food, which Sophie was also happy about. The attention to detail was something to be admired.

For the rest of the night, I ate, drank, laughed non-stop, and took so many pictures I worried about my phone storage.

My favorite part, though, was seeing Low intermingle with my brothers in a way I’d never witnessed. Before us, he was always just in the background, my brother’s sidekick, but this time, he was actually in the mix. He talked, he laughed, and he looked as if he were with family.

Afterward, we went home and made love.

“Wow, good job!” I clapped once my junior ballet class finished going through the choreography.

Today had been my day to teach, and I hadn’t realized how much I loved doing it. Somehow, in between dancing in shows, I would figure out a way to run my own shit, especially now that I had my own studio to do it in.

Since class was over, the little girls rushed to their cubbies to grab their bags, drink some water, or munch on a small snack their parents had sent them with until their rides came.

As I tidied up, bobbing my head to the music Robin had playing, I noticed a figure appear in the doorway. My heart stalled at the sight of Whitney, already wearing her signature disgusted expression.

“Whitney, hi.” I hurried her way, hoping to apologize to her in person before Waverley spotted her mother and came over. “I wanted to apologize?—”

“Mommy!” Waverley came barging through excitedly. “Prolific is doing a junior ballet show for The Nutcracker , and I wanna audition!” She rambled off happily, making me grin.

“No. As a matter of fact, I don’t think you’re going to keep coming to this little class.” Whitney spoke to her daughter but was looking me in the eyes.

“Mommy, no! I?—”

“Go get your shit and let’s go!” She barked at Waverley, making all the children who’d been talking look over. Robin, too, whipped her head around before I told her through my eyes that I had a handle on it.

“Can we talk outside?” I asked Whitney.

“For?”

“You’ll know once we get outside. Please.”

Whitney scoffed and stormed through the exit before spinning around to face me with her mouth balled up and arms folded.

Her raggedy pleather purse hung from her forearm, and she smelled a little like beer. She wasn’t drunk, though, and it reminded me of how my Papa Block always said some people drank so much that it was in their pores, so you’d smell it even when they were sober.

I was thankful Whitney appeared to be lucid, or else I wouldn’t have been able to let her take Waverley with her.

“We have nothing to talk about, little miss spoiled.”

I took a deep breath, willing myself to ignore her smart comment so I could actually speak with her. I loved Low, and though I wanted to go upside his mama’s head again, I couldn’t because of that love I had for him.

“I get that you’re currently fighting demons, Whitney, but your behavior is going to leave you lonely and with no one to turn to,” I said. “You’re going to keep at it, and your kids will get to a point where they won’t want to deal with you at all. Is that what you want?”

She looked at me, glaring, but after a few short seconds, her face fell. She blinked rapidly as she peered down at the gravelly parking lot briefly.

“You don’t get it. It’s hard staying sober.

It seems easy because you don’t have any addictions, but I can promise you that it’s not.

” Her eyes finally met mine. “And because I can’t stay sober, I can’t make anything of myself or do what I should be doing for them.

And . . .” She sighed, looking off and squinting at the bright sun while she seemed to weigh whether or not she wanted to divulge her true thoughts.

“You get jealous when other people do things for them.” I finished for her, and she whipped her head around to size me up as if I were some prophet.

When she nodded, I continued. “Kids will always have only one mother, Whitney. Low loves me but as his woman, not his mama. The things I do for him are because I’m his girl, and it could never replace you.

Wave likes me as a big sister, and Wyatt just has a crush on me.

” I smiled softly and noticed the corners of her mouth rise slightly.

“People do shit for me all the time, but they can never replace my mother and the love she gives. It’s something that’s irreplaceable.

But just the way a mother can love you like no one else, she can hurt you like no one else too.

The things you say to Low bother him, and after hearing it for years and years, he started to believe it. ”

“No he doesn’t.” She shook her head, worry in her eyes.

“Yes, he did and still does a little bit. I couldn’t imagine my mother speaking to me the way you do him, but I know if she did, it would hurt me more than anything. What you say to him holds weight because of who you are to him.

“Now I apologize for hitting you because that was wrong, and my parents didn’t raise me that way, but you have to understand that I won’t sit by and allow you to mistreat him nor Waverley.

Not even Wyatt. I think you need to go back to rehab.

Don’t rush it thinking they’ll have replaced you by the time you get out, because it’s not possible.

Go in there, get better, then come out and be a good mother.

I know you can do it because you wouldn’t be standing here teary eyed if you didn’t want it. ”

She nodded, wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand.

“I think I can do that.”

“You can. Some therapy for the four of you as well, or at least for you and Willow.” I eyed her, and when she nodded, I exhaled out of satisfaction.

“I will make sure your kids are good while you’re gone.

I have a big family, and they will too. Maybe when you get out, you can meet them, too, but I have to warn you, my mother is worse than me, and you may have an issue if she sees you mistreating your kids.

” I smirked, and Whitney laughed, though I think she kind of knew I wasn’t exactly joking. “Can we hug?”

She bobbed her head, so I stepped closer to embrace her just as Waverley came out with her bags. She was sad, on the verge of crying from being told she couldn’t audition and would have to quit.

“Can you show me the audition routine when we get home?” Whitney asked, making her daughter look up at her in surprise.

“I thought you said?—”

“I thought about it, and I changed my mind.” Whitney cut her off, and Waverley grinned widely, bouncing some in elation.

“Okay, see you Thursday, Wave.” I smiled down at her. “And again, Whitney, I apologize?—”

“No. Don’t. You were taking up for my son, and I can’t do anything but appreciate that. He needs people that will have his back too,” she replied, surprising me.

“Well, I do, and I always will,” I assured her, and she gave me a quick half smile before focusing back on Waverley, leading her to the car.