Page 26

CHAPTER 26

EARTH

“You’re going to behave,” I said to Fire.

He grunted but didn’t take his eyes off his boys. Every time I saw my brother with the boys, I knew he had made the right decision. Blood didn’t make you a daddy. I’d seen niggas father a dozen kids yet were never damn daddies. Fire took care of Ocean and Lake as if they came from his nuts and carried his blood.

“Fire?”

“Nigga, I can’t make one promise,” he replied.

Ocean started to fuss, and he took him out of his car seat. Fire moved like a seasoned pro as he checked to make sure he wasn’t wet, before deciding he probably was hungry and handing him to me.

“If her vibe ain’t right, she can’t keep them. I’m gonna always do what’s in the best interest of my sons.”

“She’s McCoy’s best friend.” I laughed. “My woman’s word isn’t good enough?”

Fire mugged the hell out of me. “Nigga, you saying that shit like that damn girl didn’t kidnap you and have your ass sitting in her house for a damn month.” He pulled everything he needed to make a bottle from the diaper bag and went to work.

“Her situation called for something drastic.” I shrugged. On the outside looking in, I understood why Fire had the mind frame he did about McCoy. But I knew her, knew what she was going through and probably would’ve done the same shit if I were her.

“Why?” he questioned with a skeptical look on her face. “'Cause it ain’t too much I can think of that would have me kidnapping a nigga.” Fire finished making the boys’ bottles, then put all the supplies away.

“Jamel has a problem with his hands,” I said. Fire looked up at me with murder in his eyes. We all had a sore spot when it came to abuse, especially after finding out Shaka had been a victim of it for years without us knowing.

“Where he at?”

“At the Bible Thumpers’ warehouse,” I answered, and Fire ran his tongue over his teeth. “Cross went to see him last night.”

“We paying him a visit after we leave here.”

“Nah,” I denied, shaking my head. “Save that anger for tomorrow.”

The sound of the doors opening pulled us from our conversation and we laughed at the sight of Exodus walking into the room. He closed the doors, looked around, nodded, then came to our table. “Everything cool?”

“It’s straight,” I replied as I stood and dapped him up. Ocean started squirming in my arms as I pulled back. “Chill, nephew, he good people.”

“Man, I thought Krude was playing when he said you were a daddy, Fire,” Ex said as he dapped Fire up. “That nigga is stressed now, for real, talking about he can’t be a single father. Especially after seeing you struggle.”

“Struggle?” Fire laughed. “That nigga was here for about two hours the other day and he hogged the twins the entire time.” He handed me a bottle for Ocean and shook his head. “Tell yo’ cousin to stop lying to me before I call up Megan and ask her to come chill.”

“Ohh, nah.” Ex laughed and shook his head. “You not about to get me caught up in they shit. He already getting on everybody's damn nerves about that girl, and you want to add fuel to the fire.”

“Then he better get his shit together.” Fire grunted. I started feeding Ocean while he fed Lake. “But for real, this place is nice as fuck. I like the new look.”

“Yeah, it turned out nice,” he said, nodding as he looked around. “I had Yuri do the decorating and shit, and you know that girl ain’t cheap.”

“At all,” I agreed. “She did my office at the beginning of the year, and even though it cost me, every damn person who walks into my office says the shit is nice.”

“You think she could do the twins’ room?” Fire questioned and I shrugged. “I’ma call her tonight and see ’cause I want my boys’ shit to be top-notch.”

“Yuri is your girl. If she can’t do it, then she’ll definitely steer you in the direction of who can.”

Exodus’s phone started ringing and he pulled it from his pocket. He smiled, shook his head and put it away. “I’m about to head out. Hitta on her way so we can do lunch before going to see some venues.”

“Venues?” I questioned and he nodded.

“Yeah, she thinks it’s for her birthday party, but I plan to propose soon and want to go look for places to get married.”

“That’s what’s up,” I said, genuinely happy for him. “Check out West’s new spot. I took my girl there and she loved it.”

“We definitely will,” Ex replied. “I gotta get out of here but I just wanted y’all to know I let Terres know y’all bill is comped, so enjoy.” He dapped us up, making sure not to interfere with the twins eating.

“Appreciate it,” I said as Ex headed to the door. As soon as he got to the door, it was pushed open and McCoy and Lynx came inside. “What’s good, Ms. L?” He gave her a quick hug, stepped back, and shook McCoy’s hand. “I don’t know you, but I definitely have seen you before at the center. How you doing? I’m Exodus DeCorte.”

“McCoy Toliver,” McCoy replied with a laugh. “It’s good to finally meet you.”

“You too.” He looked over at me and nodded. “You here for which one? The mean one or the crazy one?”

“The fine one, nigga,” I said, laughing. Exodus grunted and turned back to the ladies.

“Bullshit, ’cause I’m already taken,” Fire joked.

“Hey, Ex,” Lynx replied with a laugh. “How are you?”

“I can’t complain,” he replied. His phone went off again and he shook his head. “I would stay and chop it up for a little bit, but if she calls me again and I don’t bring my ass, Paxton will show the fuck out.”

“She just gonna do a little razzle-dazzle,” I said, laughing.

“Bullshit,” Ex said, then opened the door. “Y’all have a good evening. Earth, I’ll see you tomorrow at the cookout.”

“For sure,” I said, then he left.

I stood, being mindful of Ocean in my arms. “What’s good, baby?” I said, watching her walk to me. She lifted on her tippy toes and kissed me. “You have a good time shopping today?”

“Yep,” she answered with a nod. Her eyes lit up at the sight of Ocean. “Oh, he is so cute, Fire.”

“Appreciate it, sister-in-law.” Fire nodded. His eyes went to Lynx, and for a brief second, my brother was stuck. I chuckled and shook my head.

“Fire, this is Lynx, Coy’s best friend and the owner of Ms. L’s center,” I said, introducing them.

“What’s good?”

“Hi.” Lynx gave him a small wave. Her attention was on Lake as he slept in his arms. “Your boys are adorable.”

“They take after their daddy.” Fire shrugged. He laid Lake back in his car seat, then looked over at me to make sure Ocean was good. “He probably not gonna go to sleep, just so you know.”

“It’s cool,” I said, shrugging. He finished his bottle and sat in my lap, slapping at the table. “He can kick it with me.”

“Can I hold him?” Lynx asked from her spot. I could tell she really loved kids from the way her eyes sparkled as she stared at him.

“Nah, not right now,” Fire said just as I was about to hand him to her. I looked over at my brother to see him mugging the hell out of Lynx. “I gotta vet you first. I can’t have my babies with nobody I don’t like, and right now, you ain’t giving me good vibes polka dot.”

“Excuse me?” Lynx reared back and mugged the hell out of Fire. “What did you call me?”

“You heard me, leopard lady.” He shrugged. “As they daddy, I’m telling you I’on like how you look. You could scare my babies and they been through a lot already.” He shook his head. “I don’t need them traumatized.”

“Fuck you,” she hissed. I expected Lynx to blow up or even start crying from the way she was looking at my brother. “You have some fuckin’ nerve to talk about how I look, like you don’t look like a whole fuckin’ clown. You want to talk about my looks?” She let out a small laugh and shook her head. “Baby boy, you are nothing to look at yourself.”

“You a whole fuckin’ lie.” Fire laughed and shook his head. He looked over at me and shrugged. “This ain’t gonna work.”

“That’s the only smart thing you’ve said since I walked in here,” Lynx agreed.

McCoy and I sat there, confused as hell, as to what had transpired in that short amount of time. The only thing I’d been able to do was introduce them before the insults started up. Normally, Fire was laid back and just went with the flow. His snapping on Lynx when she hadn’t done anything was surprising as hell.

“Give me my son so we can go,” Fire said, standing. He took Ocean from me and strapped him into his car seat. Every so often, he’d glance at Lynx, grunt, and shake his head. After he made sure both boys were strapped in properly, he put on the backpack he used as a diaper bag and turned to me. “I’d rather figure something else out for my boys than use 101 Dalmatians over there.”

“Muthafucka!” Lynx yelled and jumped from her seat. “I don’t know what the fuck your problem is with me, especially since we just met.”

“Lynx, calm down,” McCoy said as she stood.

“Fire, bro. Chill, for real,” I said, shaking my head. I stood so we were eye to eye and sighed. “What’s the problem? You don’t even know that damn girl and you slangin’ out insults like y’all got the biggest beef in the world. Chill, man.”

“Fuck her.” Fire laughed. “Her name fits her though.” He mugged Lynx again. “A Lynx is a spotted cat, right?” He licked his lips. “Tell me, shorty, yo’ pussy spotted too?”

“That’s one question you’ll never get the answer to,” Lynx growled. She turned and looked at me. “Earth, we are good in my book. You love my friend and you’re protecting her. I don’t agree with how she went about this but I will never complain about you taking care of her. For that, I’ll forever be grateful.” She shook her head. “But your punk ass brother can go to hell and I mean that from the bottom of my heart.”

Lynx grabbed her purse off the table and stormed out of the room.

“Baby, go check on your friend while I handle my brother,” I said to McCoy. I dropped a quick kiss on her lips.

“Okay.” She sighed and turned to my brother. “Fire, you—” She stopped talking and shook her head. “I don’t know why you did that, but just so you know, Lynx is probably one of the best women I’ve ever dealt with. She’s loyal, smart, and good as hell with kids.”

“I’m protecting my heart,” Fire said as he tapped the boy’s car seats.

“She would’ve never hurt your boys,” McCoy denied sadly. She turned back to me and I kissed her again. “I’ll see you later.”

“For sure,” I agreed. “I’ma walk you out, though.” I turned to Fire. “Stay here, nigga.”

“Go on,” he said, waving me off. He sat back down in his seat and shrugged. “I’on wanna be out there with her any-fuckin’-way.”

I took McCoy’s hand in mine, interlaced our fingers, and headed out of the restaurant. Lynx stood next to McCoy’s truck, looking down at her phone. When she heard us approach, she looked up and put her phone away.

“Look, I’m sorry about my brother,” I said to her. I normally didn’t apologize to anyone on Fire’s behalf, but this time, I did. She didn’t deserve the way he spoke to her, especially since we were meeting so she could possibly do a favor for him. “I don’t know what got into his ass but we were definitely taught better than that.”

“It’s fine,” she said, waving me off. “I’ve been made fun of my entire life because of my vitiligo, so it’s nothing new for me.”

“You sure?” I asked, not really believing she was cool with it. Fire had said some fucked-up shit to her ass for no reason. “Because understand as soon as y’all pull off, I’m going in there to rock his shit.”

“I’m good.” She nodded. Her eyes cut to McCoy and I watched as they had some type of silent conversation. After a few seconds, she let out a small sigh and turned to me. “Like I said earlier, I appreciate what you’ve done for my friend. So, in my eyes, we are good. Now your brother, on the other hand?” She shrugged and shook her head. “That nigga better stay at least a hundred feet from me at all times.”

“I’ll try my hardest to make that happen.” I pulled her into a quick hug, then stepped back. “Again, I apologize for that nigga.” I turned to McCoy, who had a big smile on her face. “What are you smiling for, Coy?”

“Y’all!” She laughed. “My two favorite people are getting along.”

I threw my arm over her shoulder and pulled her to me. “Man, take your happy ass on.” I laughed and kissed her forehead. “Where are y’all headed to now?”

“To grab some food and then to the house to relax before we do some shopping,” McCoy answered. I reached into my pocket and took out my wallet. Without thinking twice about it, I handed her a black card.

“Ball out,” I said, putting my wallet back in my pocket. I had a band in my other pocket, so I got that and handed it to her. “Grab me something too.”

“You gave me your card plus cash?” she asked me, confused. “Why?”

“That’s your card,” I answered. I’d had her a card ordered a few days ago and it’d come in yesterday, but I hadn’t gotten a chance to give it to her yet. McCoy looked at the card, then back at me. “Don’t think too hard on it, baby, go enjoy y’all selves.” I dropped another kiss on her lips. “Get in, buckle up, and don’t hit them corners too hard.”

“Earth, this?—”

“McCoy, do what the damn man said and get your ass in the car,” Lynx said, cutting her off. I laughed and nodded at her. McCoy wasn’t used to a nigga taking care of her, so for me to give her a card and money without thinking twice about it threw her off.

“I jus?—”

“Coy!” Lynx took her keys from her hand, unlocked the doors, and stepped back.

I opened the passenger door, helped McCoy into the car, and closed the door. “Enjoy, Lynx,” I called out to Lynx as I watched her get into the car.

“See you later, Earth,” she said, then got in. She started the car and pulled out of the parking lot.

Once they were gone, I went back inside and found Fire sitting at the table, eating.

“The fuck is your problem, nigga?” I asked him. Fire looked up at me and smiled.

“I think I found my wife, nigga,” he said and shrugged.

“Nigga, what?”

“That spotted leopard,” he answered, and I stared at him like he’d lost his mind. “That’s wifey.”

“That’s wifey?” I knew at one point Fire needed to be evaluated and I was wondering if I needed to follow up with that with Mama. “What the fuck are you talkin’ about? You just insulted that woman for absolutely no reason and now you’re telling me she’s wifey?”

“You wouldn’t understand,” Fire replied. “You and your woman got your own thing on how y’all met and so do me and mine. Our love doesn’t have to be explained. Just know it’s real.”