Everything I Expected

Chapter 8

"Lia, Mama's home!" I didn't hear anything. Not even a giggle like I usually would. "Didn't I tell you to stop yelling? I just put the twins down two minutes ago. What'd you get me?" Dinah says as she makes her way down the stairs. "Not a lick of nothing." Knowing that it would make her feel some type of way. "Really? I thought you was going shopping for the family?" She says as she makes her way towards me before sitting on the couch. I walk towards her and sit next to her. "I did. For the kids and myself. I got me these new Gucci slides. Mommy and me shoes for me and Chey. And then I got the twins matching gladiator sandals." I pull out the boxes for all four shoes.
"So you really didn't get me anything?" I shake my head. "Look at them though. Aren't they cute? The shoes for the twins goes with the outfit that Chris bought them for their birthday a couple of months ago right?" I say as I show her the shoes. "Those are cute. We can put them on them later." I turn my head to look at her. "Where are they going?" She looks at me with her eyebrows raised. "To go do some retail therapy since their mother didn't buy me nothing." She says with an eye roll. "Dinah, you know damn well I bought you something. Stop playing." I grab the box with her slides and hand them to her. She opens the box pulling the slides out and squeals. "Y/N I love them. Thank you." She hugs me and kisses my cheek.
"I was thinking, you and the kids been through a lot the past months. Not even just you and the twins, but Chey too. I think we should go on a trip. And maybe make it a family trip. Your family, my family, and invite some of our friends. Just a chill, fun, and great trip." She nods her head. "That's nice. Where are we going to go?" "Jamaica? Barbados, Mexico, honestly anywhere. How about you pick let me know and I'll have Yonni book it when she can when we're both free?" She nods her head. "Oh and here. Since they took your other one. I got you a newer one." I say handing her the Apple bag. She grabs it and opens it. "Y/N you didn't have to get me a new phone. I was fine with the one that I had." "Okay and? You got a new one. What'd you do today?"I say as I turn myself towards her.
She puts her legs on my lap and I massage her feet. "Well your daughter thought it was funny to play in the sandbox and put sand in her and Leo's hair so I had to wash them up. Then she wanted to run around butt naked when I tried to put her clothes on. Kaleo fell right to sleep after the bath per usual. After I finally got your daughter dressed we called Kamila and then Kalia finally fell asleep. And that's when you came here yelling." She finishes as she looks at her toes and spreads them. "Girl don't come over here doing all that." I say and chuckle at the end. "But you'll suck on them now wouldn't you?" "Maybe. After you get them done. I'm not about to get no chip of nail polish in my mouth. Your bugging if you think any different." I say and we both laugh.
The doorbell rings and me and Dinah both look at each other. "You expecting someone?" I ask her and she shakes her head. "I honestly haven't given anybody this address that doesn't need it." Dinah says as she get up. I get up behind her and stop her from getting close to the door. I push the wall that's in the corner and grab my stash out. "Where-" I put my hand up. I go to the door and look through windows and see Ayana and Ashley standing there with luggages. I put it back in the compartment in the wall and walk back opening the door. "Hey, what are y'all doing here and how did y'all get this address?" I ask them opening the door wider to let them in. As they walk in and I close the door Dinah grabs my arm. "We'll talk about it later." I sigh and nod my head.
We walk into the living room and see Ayana and Ashley sitting on the couch. "Okay, so we came here because Ashley wanted to come see you. And I asked Yonni because you wasn't at your house and asked her where you might be. She told me here so I drove the Lambo here." "Ayana you drove the Lambo with her in it!?!? Are you crazy?!?! She's 7!" I yell. "Well I drove it slow. Plus she had her seatbelt on." "Ay Dios mío. Your a pain in my ass." I say shaking my head. "You guys can each find an empty room and put your stuff down. Take a shower and chill out. I need to talk to your sister and make dinner." They nod their heads and Dinah pulls me into the kitchen. "When did you get that?" She whisper yells. "When the house was built. There's rooms and secret compartments in this house that you know nothing about. I have to be able to protect y'all. This is a big ass house Dinah." "I know that it is. I get you want to protect me but what about the kids? What if they find one of your secret compartments and hurt themselves?" "Nobody knows where they are though. Plus you have to know where they are to find them. They're in the walls and even you couldn't tell there was a secret compartment." "Y/N that's not the point. What if they accidentally open one of them? Can you put a higher security in them at least? At least then I'd feel safer knowing they can't get easy access." "Yeah I can I'll call the people tomorrow and set an appointment for them to come tomorrow. I'd get the fingerprint scanner how about that?" She nods her head as she walks towards the fridge. "Please don't be mad at me. I just want y'all safe. Especially now that he's in jail. We don't know who he knows and I can't risk any of y'all getting hurt again."
"I'm not mad. I understand you want to protect us, but don't you think having secret guns around the house is a little extra? You already have the place surrounded by guards that have their own. Like I get it. You can have one in the room when the time comes to protect us if someone was to get past your guards but these little compartments are too much. Plus how many do you have?" "25." I mumble hoping she doesn't hear me. "25!?!? Y/N seriously? You're getting rid of 23 of them." I nod my head not even arguing with her. "Alright I'll have them take away some of the compartments and give the guns back to Jared." "Thank you." I nod my head.
"Wait you gonna let me have one in the room?" "Yup in the closet." She says as she washes the rice. "Under the night stand?" "In the closet." "Under the mattress?" "In the closet." She says as she looks up from cutting vegetables. I put my hands up. "In the closet it goes." I mumble. "Thank you." She says with a smile as she goes back to cutting. "What are you making. "Chili. Aunt Drea taught me how to make it." "So are you guys back together again? Y'all are really giving me wifey vibes with both of y'all in this big house." Ayana says as she comes in the kitchen. Me and Dinah laugh and shake our heads. "Nah we aren't. I just upgraded my baby mother and kids." I say and Dinah rolls her eyes. "Dinah are you okay though? I've seen the news about Odell. It's always the fine ones that do that stuff." I look at Ayana giving her a look. "I'm not okay. But your sister is making it better day by day. Im going to get into therapy and just wait for the day he gets locked up for a while. Your sister was just telling me that we should all take a trip. We just don't know where to go." "Ooouu let's go to Jamaica. I wanna have some drinks on the beach." "You're not even old enough to drink Yana." "I am there." "That doesn't mean you are going to." I say giving her a look. "Come on. I've been responsible a lot lately." "Driving Ashley in a lambo doesn't qualify as responsible. She's 7 and she's riding in the front seat." "Well, I've been taking care of her lately." I hear her mumble and I sigh.
"Look, I know you have been taking care of her while you guys are with Aunt Drea, but being responsible all the time means all the time. Coming home high Ayana? Really? You think I wouldn't find out?" "You smoke. Why can't I?" "Because I'm grown and I live in my own house. You know Aunt Drea don't condone that stuff so why would you deliberately come home smelling like weed? I'm not understanding that. Eyes blood shot red, low and you come home and eat everything up. You had high written all over you. You wonder why I haven't bought you a car yet, that's the reason why. I know mom's passing has been hard on all of us, but that doesn't mean you start acting out. You're 18 not 21. Going to parties ain't everything. Hanging out with your friends till two in the morning isn't right. Yeah, Aunt Drea might not be hard on you, but that's because she knows what you're going through. Don't abuse that. Because if she kicks you out and you have to come live with me it ain't gonna be easy. I can promise you that. If you need to talk to somebody let me know so I can set something up. You wanna talk to me just call and I'll book a flight and you can come stay with me till you have to go back. I ain't giving up on you for nothing. If you need me, I got you. You just have to talk to me. I'm always going to be here for you and Ashley. I ain't going nowhere. You just gotta talk to me. This acting out shit is for the birds. And you better get your grades up too. Your graduating this year so you need to tighten up. You hear me?" She nods her head as tears falls from her eyes.
I open my arms wide and she runs into my arms and she holds onto me tight. I wrap my arms around her and kiss the top of her head. "I'll always be here for you. When you go home you better give auntie Drea an apology." She nods her head as she pulls away. "I love you Y/N." "I love you too Yana." "Now while you're here you'll be doing chores and if you do good at them maybe I'll think about buying you a car. But you have to promise me you will get a job and pay for everything to keep it running." "Okay okay I will. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you." Ayana says and goes back upstairs. "So we're going to Jamaica?" Dinah asks. I nod my head. "Jamaica it is."
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