Page 28

Looking in the mirror within my trailer, I rehearsed my lines as if I hadn’t been doing the shit all weekend. I’d always been great at memorizing the shit, but now I’d gotten even better at it since Kabrina was running lines with me.

Before her, I enjoyed practicing my craft, but after her, I would wanna get the shit over with so I could lay up with my baby. So having the two things I loved meshed into one made it all the fucking better.

A knock on my trailer sounded off, making me check the time on my watch. It was two minutes until start time, so I figured that was Renee coming to get me. But before I could cross the trailer to get the door, Tamira walked in.

She wasn’t wearing her usual playful and salacious expression though. She was mad as fuck, bearing the same expression my mama did when she was about to dig in my ass.

“I’m coming out.” I gave her the benefit of the doubt that she wasn’t coming in here for some dick. If she was, I was gon’ let her ass have it. I could feel the shit brewing in a nigga.

“When I first met your little wife, I thought she was another one of your random relationship quests, but after she decided to tell me that you made me out to be some kind of sexual deviant, I realize you actually like that girl.” She started toward me but then stopped, leaving a small gap between us. I was mainly focused on when and why the fuck Kabrina even spoke to Tamira about any fucking thing. The bathroom shit came to mind immediately after. “So, I will say this, Unique; you’d better put a muzzle on that wifey of yours, or it is gonna get really bad for you. I will have you blackballed so quick and fast that people will be snapping their fingers to even remember your name. And don’t think that Night Walker shit is in the bag because it’s not. There are plenty of young and hungry actors who can take that job, especially when I make sure of it.”

I was so floored at the moment I could barely process her fucking threat. I didn’t know how to feel knowing I’d explicitly asked Kabrina not to say shit, especially not to Tamira’s muthafuckin’ ass, but she did anyway.

My silence made Tamira think shit was gravy though because she closed the gap between us to touch my chest, but I blocked her.

“Let me explain some shit to you, Tamira—actually a couple fucking things. For one, I ain’t puttin’ a muzzle on shit. My wife can say whatever the fuck she feel she want to, and I’m gon’ have her back on that shit. Secondly, if you don’t wanna come up missing, stop throwing them tired walls my way, love. I ain’t fucking around.” I latched onto her eyes with mine, following them every time they bounced around my face to be sure we had a clear fucking understanding. “If you wanna blackball me or have this show canceled, by all means, but just know I’m gon’ handle shit how I see fit, and if that mean I got to turn yo’ nigga into a widower, I’m with that.”

“Excuse—”

“Get the fuck out my trailer and tell them niggas I need five.” I cut her off. “Hurry up!” I barked, and she actually turned away and bolted out.

I’d done my best in the past to be cordial and cool with Tamira, not wanting to disrupt shit and especially not my career, but the bitch brought the real Unique Compton up out of me.

I was raised to love, respect, and protect black women, but I was also raised to snatch the life up out a muthafucka threatening my family or my livelihood or both. I was a cool, funny muthafucka until you pushed me, and that was something she was about to learn.

Tamira could think a nigga was playing if she wanted to, but it’d be her ass getting her neck squeezed on until she stopped breathing at the end of shit… not me.

Tamira did as she was told, so when I came out of my trailer ready to go five minutes later, I had no issues. AJ was getting worse on set, unable to remember his lines and actually stay in character due to his hatred for a nigga. Typically, shit like this would have me up all night, praying his actions didn’t fuck up the show, but at this point, I’d stopped giving a fuck.

By the time we’d gotten done shooting for the day, which wasn’t much due to AJ’s fuck ups, the sun had set. Only upside was the lack of traffic, now that it was after seven p.m., and the thought hit me to take my ass to my own house to process my thoughts.

However, I knew that was not how shit was supposed to go when you got married. You had to talk, work through shit, and doing any type of silent treatment or ignoring of one another would only make shit worse. So as angry as I was with Kabrina, I was still in love with her and would much rather wave the white flag than lose what we had.

I shook my head at myself as I threw my whip into park. The vulnerability that love brought out of a nigga was scary. I didn’t know a person who would make me forget about being upset or not even wanna be upset until I met her ass. My baby had too much control over a nigga.

“Guess what I made this time.” She beamed as soon as I walked into her studio. It smelled like a fucking restaurant in here, causing my stomach to growl since I had no real appetite while on set all damn day.

“What is it?” I smirked as she slid her arms around my body before we kissed. My resolve was melting the more I was in her presence, which was wild as hell.

“Chimichurri steak, dinosaur potatoes, and lemon asparagus. Hungry?” She cheesed, proud of herself for making all that fancy shit Presley had come up with.

“I am, but let me talk to you for a second, love.” I moved to sit on the couch.

“Okay.” Her chipper tone had been exchanged for a confused one as I listened to her cut off the appliances she no longer needed before coming to sit in my lap. She knew what she was doing, and sadly, it worked.

How the hell would this shit even work when as soon as I looked at her pretty, innocent ass face and beautiful eyes, I was no longer upset? I felt like Alice in fucking Wonderland, falling deeper into this black hole love shit each day, making it less likely I would ever be able to climb my ass up out.

Looking down at the floor so I would stop being mesmerized, I asked, “Why you open ya mouth to Tamira?”

When I picked my head up, I saw the regret in her face as she fidgeted.

“I know that was wrong, and I honestly never meant to do that, but when she threatened your career, it just flew out. I don’t want her fucking with you.”

I tittered subtly and briefly, hand on her waist before I said, “Baby, I don’t need you to protect me from Tamira. I don’ gon’ against niggas a lot worse than her. It’s fine right now.”

“No, it’s not fine, Unique. She’s throwing her weight around and forcing sexual favors on people. Others need to know about her.”

“Not at my fucking expense, Kabrina.” I frowned. “I told you already I ain’t about to be some fucking poster boy for no shit like that! I was a grown ass man, and it was just sex. Not like I was a virgin or some shit. I’m not even bothered by it, so why even put that type of fucking spotlight on myself?”

“You are, too, bothered because you walk on eggshells so that she won’t mess with your career, and you were fucking her for the same reason, even when you didn’t want to!”

“I’m not doing it, love. I’m not being the nigga that complains about some shit like that and who also got a gay ass father. That don’t fucking look right. Aight? And niggas ain’t about to be telling me I wouldn’t have made it this fucking far if I didn’t smash her ass.”

Kabrina calmed down some before climbing down onto her knees so she could look up into my face, which she palmed on both sides. Even throughout cooking, her hands smelled sweet.

Kissing me, she said, “Unique, no one is going to think anything like that because you told what she did. No one is going to think you aren’t talented, because we see the proof on TV every week. And ultimately, no one will think you are less of a man. I can promise you. But she is a predator, and she does not need to be around young talent. A boy who isn’t as grown as you could be a future victim, and you’d be okay with that?”

“You know I wouldn’t,” I said.

“I do. You don’t have to expose her or be the one to tell on her, but you can’t let her dictate your personal life.”

“I won’t. I said as much when I saw her ass today and she told me to put a muzzle on yo’ ass.”

“What did you say?” Kabrina frowned.

“To kick rocks and that I wasn’t putting a muzzle on shit.” I smirked, seeing the smile split her pretty face.

“Thank you.” She stood on her knees to hug my neck tightly. “I want you to know I love you no matter what you choose to do, but I can’t promise that when people threaten you, I won’t get angry.”

I chuckled, rubbing up and down her back. “I can’t promise that shit either, baby.” I pulled back to peck her. “I love yo’ ass too.”

Our kissing turned passionate as I started to massage her plump ass, dick swelling in no time.

“We have to eat, baby,” she moaned when I picked her up, standing along the way.

Wrapping her legs around me, I kissed on her neck.

“Food gotta cool.” I kept on kneading her round ass as I carried her to the bathroom to knock out sex and a shower in one.

Thankfully, she didn’t protest.

* * *

I stood behind Kabrina as she slipped her key into her aunt Bell’s door. Pushing it open once it was unlocked, she switched inside, and I was right on her heels. I wasn’t really trying to come through for this shit, but Kabrina wanted me to do her a favor, and it was impossible for me to tell my wife ‘no.’

Initially, when Kabrina told me Sharon wanted to talk to me, I was hesitant and leaning more toward turning the shit down. But my mama convinced me, explaining, as his wife, she deserved to know all the bullshit Devante deprived her of knowing. And since I agreed, and it would make my lady happy, I came through.

“How y’all doing?” I asked the room which consisted of Kabrina’s aunt Bell and her best friend Sharon.

“Just fine.” Aunt Bell smiled up at me. We’d been best of friends since I took her and her sister along with Kabrina to Maestros and let them eat their fucking weight in expensive food and cocktails.

Sharon just nodded sullenly at me as Kabrina and I took a seat on the couch.

“First off, I wanna tell you what happened at the barbecue and the church had nothing to do with you, but I understand you and yo’ kids were collateral damage of the shit.” I sighed.

“Thanks.” Sharon nodded, taking a sip from a mug containing either tea or coffee as she sat in the La-Z-Boy across from me. “I asked to speak with you because I want to know everything. Between Kyle yelling, the church in mayhem, and your brothers being there, I couldn’t truly grasp everything and its timeline.”

Exhaling, I responded, “I mean, it’s simple. He and my mama got married while still in high school because she got pregnant with my oldest brother. Grandparents were religious so they made ’em do the shit. They went on to have five more, me being the youngest, and when I was around seven, my mother caught him with his co-pastor.

“She ain’t give me all details ’cause a nigga was only seven years old, but I can confirm it was a sexual act. She divorced him. Then the co-pastor exposed him for whatever reason and ruined his preaching career even further. He was in and out of our lives, more out than in. After that he eventually just changed his identity, his phone number, cut off his parents, and made a whole new life with you. The first time I’ve seen him was at the barbecue.” Running my hand down my face, I added, “My older brothers know more if that ain’t enough detail for you—especially Khari.”

“Do you need some kind of proof, Sharon?” Aunt Bell asked.

Keeping her eyes on me, Sharon shook her head and said, “Nope. He has the same eye shape as Kyle and my kids. Just different color eyes.” She gulped more of her hot drink like she needed it to stay sane, and she probably did need it. “The co-pastor was a um… man?”

“Yeah.” I nodded. “Can’t be sure if he still doing that, but as Khari explained, a few years ago my brother Shakur got a PI, and he had proof that he was up to no good then.”

“Shakur,” she whispered. “I remember he came to the church once with his wife and kids. Kyle was acting strangely.” She stared at the carpet as she talked, recalling the moment. “When I asked him about it, he just said Shakur had bad energy, and he got an evil vibe from him. Oh my gosh.” She set the mug down then covered her face in angst, and I felt bad as fuck. For a split second, I wished we’d left that nigga Devante alone.

“He is a liar and a fraud, Sharon. You need to leave him.” Aunt Bell got up to console her friend, sitting on the arm of the La-Z-Boy while caressing Sharon’s back.

“I don’t even work. I’m forty-nine years old. Who the hell is going to hire me? And even if they do, it won’t be enough to take care of three children.” She cried.

“His mother was in the same place but with six kids,” Kabrina chimed in.

“Yeah, but she was much younger from the sound of things.” She sniffled in response. “It’s going to be hard and almost impossible for me to rebuild my life as a single mother. I don’t know if I can do it.” She sobbed.

Unable to find any fucking words of comfort because there were none, I simply nodded when she caught my eyes, to say I understood.

That was Devante Compton, though, fucking up everyone around him, all so he could have the life he wanted or the life he wanted people to think he wanted.