Page 15

“Chill out y’all, we can do all that, but y’all gone have to compromise on what we doing first,” I told them in a more patient tone than I was even aware I possessed.

“The game first!”

“Swimming first!” they shouted simultaneously, but before I could interject, Kani suggested rock, paper, scissors to make the final decision.

I really didn’t care what we did first, but knowing I was still high from the blunt I’d smoked earlier, I was hoping to start with video games.

As much as I trusted myself, I wouldn’t disrespect Keyani’s aggravating ass by putting the twins in harm’s way while I was zooted.

I also didn’t want to have a damn D.A.R.E commercial moment with them if I had to explain why I couldn’t immediately take them out to the water, so when Kani won the best three out of five, I breathed a sigh of relief.

Keyani’s eyes were on us the whole time, and I could tell she felt a way about how easily shit was coming to me when it came to the twins.

She’d made up in her mind what type of nigga I was and had been treating me accordingly, but the fact that the twins fucked with me threw her ass for a loop.

I personally enjoyed seeing her so uncomfortable with how they took to me. That’s what her ass got.

With the order of activities decided, we headed down to the game room with their salty ass mama on our trail.

Right away, they started trying to give away the little money they’d won the day before, especially when AJ and Maasai found their way in there, but I wasn’t falling for their conning again.

I decided to let them hit those niggas’ pockets this time, opting to feed them cheat codes that had them walking away with another couple hundred each.

By the time they brought up the jet skis again, my high was dull at best, and I felt confident enough to take them out on the water, but I needed their mama’s approval first. Keyani had disappeared to the lower deck with the other ladies after it became too boring to watch us play video games.

She’d been guzzling some sparkling alcoholic drink the onboard chef had made, so I knew she’d be more agreeable than she was before.

I left the twins with Maasai and AJ to go in search of her, and it didn’t take long to find them singing karaoke in some type of entertainment room.

Sticking my head in the door, I smirked seeing Keyani on a makeshift stage, rapping along to some GloRilla song, until she got to talking about dark-skin country niggas.

She was feeling that shit a little too hard for my liking, rolling her neck and shit like she thought she was Glo’s ass for real.

It didn’t help that Avery’s ole pregnant ass along with Maagic were hyping her up even more.

Hell, even Gabby was all into it, so none of them noticed me come in until I was on the stage with her, then they started booing like this was Apollo or some shit.

Not realizing why the crowd had turned on her, Keyani finally faced me and immediately rolled her eyes dramatically.

“Let me holla at you.” It came out like a request, but I already had ahold of her hand and was leading her out the room.

She didn’t put up a fight either, just handed off the mic and fell into step with me.

Low key, that shit made me feel good as fuck that she didn’t automatically think something was wrong with the kids.

It was like she knew she could trust them with me, or maybe she trusted that they were with Maasai, but I preferred the former.

“If you’re ready for me to get the twins, that’s all you had to say.

I don’t need you to hold my hand there, I know where they’re at.

” My forehead bunched hearing the sudden attitude in her voice once we stepped in the hallway, and it became obvious why she’d followed me out quietly.

She thought I was tired of my youngins. She pulled her hand out of mine and went to walk off, but I caught her arm, bringing her right back, and wedged her between me and the wall. “ What! ”

“Aye, pipe down, ain’t nobody come get you for the kids, man.

My youngins straight,” I snorted, feeling insulted for the second time that day about something having to do with her bad ass kids.

Her expression softened a bit, but she kept her arms folded, tryna keep a tough facade.

“They wanna go on the jet skis though, and before you start trippin’, I’ll make sure they got on the vests, and I won’t even go that fast. You can even come watch.

Shit, you can ride too if you want. It’s a four-seater down there. ”

Keyani was already shaking her head and trying to walk off, but I pulled her right back. “Boy, me and my kids ain’t getting on that thing with you!” She chuckled like I was crazy for even suggesting that shit.

“Fuck you say it like that for? I’m the safest muthafucka you can ride with.” My brows dipped as she laughed harder and waved me off.

“I’ll ride with you!”

We both looked up to see Gabriella’s thirsty ass with her head poked out the door, being nosy.

Her presence had Keyani’s attitude back, and she raised her arched brows with a nod.

“See, she’ll go.” Feeling as if that was a green light, Gabby pulled the door open wider, flashing all thirty-two of her teeth.

I was already getting annoyed, but her trying to throw me off on the next muthafucka had me even more so.

Here I was trying to put the bullshit between us aside, and she was still taking me for a joke.

The look on my face must’ve showed just how disgusted I was by the suggestion, because Gabriella’s smile vanished quick as hell.

“I said I’m tryna take you and the kids, not her bucket-head ass,” I said, no longer trying to be all nice and shit.

I heard Gabriella gasp, but I didn’t take my eyes off Keyani, who was trying her hardest not to laugh when the door slammed back shut.

“Now you know you ain’t have to call her that,” she chastised, even with a smile playing on her pretty ass lips.

She probably wouldn’t admit it, but I knew that shit had her feeling some type of way to know that a bitch like Gabriella wasn’t on my radar.

Women were crazy as hell. She didn’t want me giving my attention to someone else, but she’d refused to let me take her ass out and had been funny acting ever since.

I didn’t know what she planned to gain from pretending she didn’t want me, but I was done letting her get away with that shit.

“If you would’ve just said yes like you wanted to from the beginning, then she wouldn’t have got her feelings hurt.

” I shrugged, unbothered, knowing full well ole girl probably would’ve still tried to tag along if Keyani had agreed right away, then everybody would’ve been mad at me for taking her out just to drop her ass in the ocean.

She was getting off way easier this way.

Pressing her lips together, Keyani silently squinted up at me for a few seconds before sighing in resignation.

“Okay, fine, but I swear, if me or my kids end up in the ocean or if the damn Loch Ness monster pops up and eats us, I’m gone fuck you up.

” She pointed her small ass finger in my face as if I was supposed to be scared after she said that crazy shit.

Too pleased to argue with her about the existence and location of a mythical creature, I gently pushed her hand away.

“Ain’t nothing gone happen to y’all, and on the off chance that some shit does come eat y’all, I’ll light that bitch up if it don’t spit y’all aggravating asses out first.” I was already dragging her to the stairs as I spoke, meaning every word.

I knew there wasn’t shit in the water that would hurt us, but if there was, I’d have no problem filling whatever it was with bullets.

Keyani talked shit all the way back upstairs over me calling them aggravating while I ignored her.

She only stopped when we reached the room where the kids were waiting with AJ, Maasai, and now Aw’sum.

They froze from playing the game to look between us, but I could already see how excited they were at the possibility of going.

“Look who said they wanted to ride with us, y’all,” I told them, taking a step back as they ran over to her, cheering loudly.

Keyani shot me a nasty look over their heads, unable to keep cursing me out, but I just smirked until my eyes rolled around to the guys.

While AJ and Aw’sum were still wrapped up in the game, Maasai was cheesing at us in a way that had my forehead creased.

Even the mean mug I hit him with didn’t change his expression.

He only cheesed harder as I ushered Keyani and the kids from the room to get away from his weird ass.

I walked slowly behind them, letting my mind wonder about what he thought he saw looking at us, but by the time we reached the jet skis, I’d shaken the interaction off.

Of course, his old in love ass was thirsty to pair muthafuckas up, but he could go on with that shit.

I fucked with Keyani, thought she was beautiful, and liked her vibe, but I wasn’t taking shit too serious, especially after running into Raya’s crazy ass. Fuck that!

By the time we made it to the deck, I’d pushed it to the back of my mind though.

The kids were talking a mile a minute as one of the deckhands adjusted us all into our life jackets, but their scary ass mama was quiet, only speaking when they asked her something directly.

Shit had me wondering if her ass even knew how to swim her damn self.

“Aye, you straight?”

She’d been staring at the jet ski, quiet as hell, like she was trying to mentally prepare herself for the task at hand, so she didn’t respond until I repeated myself, this time touching her arm.

Her head snapped up, and she let out a shaky breath forcing a smile.

“Ye-yeah. I got it,” she lied, and like a love-sick fool, I caught her hand in mine, stopping short of bringing it to my lips.

When she didn’t immediately pull away, I knew she was really scared, and I gave a little squeeze.

“I promise, I got y’all.”

I climbed on first with the kids getting on behind me before I helped Keyani on last. The first trip, I didn’t stray too far from the yacht, and I kept my speed slow enough for them to get comfortable, but by the time we got to the third spin, they were all shrieking for me to go faster, and I obliged, but not by much.

Other guests had started coming out to watch or join us after a while since there were three other jet skis.

Even Gabriella’s salty ass came out and eventually let AJ take her for a ride on one after she got tired of shooting daggers at me.

Just like the night before, I ended up spending most of my time with Keyani and her kids, enjoying their company more than anybody else’s, occasionally catching Maasai giving me that same look a few times, like he knew some shit I didn’t.

He had me fucked up, but I could show him better than I could tell him.