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| King of Hearts |
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By: Janae Destiny
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"Hi mommy," Ava greeted her the second she walked through the hotel room door.
"Hi, baby," she went and kissed her daughter on the forehead before doing anything else.
"Hey Monie," Marco greeted her too.
"Hey Marco," she immediately took her heels off because her feet were killing her, and then her jewelry right afterward.
"How was dinner?" he asked her.
"It was really good actually. And I got some good news for y'all."
"Can't be that good cause I don't see no to-go bag in your hands."
"All your fat ass thinks about is food, but this is more important than that."
"Doubt that, but what is it?" He was leaning up against the headboard of his bed, texting God knows who on his phone.
"We're leaving in the morning," Monie ran her fingers through her hair before pulling it back into a low ponytail.
"Leaving?" Marco got a little bit too excited to hear that. "We're finally going back home?"
"If you talking about back to Chicago, then no. That's not what I meant. I mean leaving as in leaving the hotel."
"And going where?"
"To a condo in Miami Beach."
"Miami beach? Monie stop playing," Marco laughed. "Cause you being funny as hell right now."
"I'm not being funny. It's in walking distance to the beach too. Literally can see from out the windows."
"Shiiit, if you being serious, why wait then? Let's go tonight. I'll start packing right now."
"You being serious? You really wanna leave tonight?" She asked because she figured they'd just want to stay where they were for the night.
"Yes, bruh. I told you we're tired of sitting in this room. Been in Miami going on three days now and ain't seen the beach not one time."
"Ava, baby," she turned to her daughter. "It's late, so you wanna just stay here tonight?"
"No. I wanna leave tonight too, mommy."
"You know you don't have to agree with everything Marco says, right?"
"I know," Ava nodded her head. She says that, but Monie isn't sure if she believes her. Ava always agrees with any and everything Marco says. She's just glad he's not a bad influence on her. Well, besides the cussing, but Ava knows better than to repeat any of the bad words he says.
"It's late, but I guess if y'all wanna leave that bad then I don't see why not. I already got the keys and everything."
"Finally," Marco jumped up off of his bed and pulled on a pair of sweatpants over his basketball shorts. "I been itching to get out this damn hotel."
Monie didn't even bother taking a shower at the hotel- she didn't even change her clothes or take her makeup off before she had their stuffed packed into her rental car and was driving the less than thirty minutes to Kiara's condo.
"You're fucking lying," Marco was in complete and utter shock when they pulled up to a 30-floor building where their new- at least temporary- home would be.
"Marco if I tell you to stop cussing one more time I'm gonna pop you in yo mouth," she warned him, even though Ava was fast asleep in her booster seat and couldn't hear him.
"Okay Monie, but come on. You can't blame me this time. I mean... look at this place."
"Can you at least act like you got some home training for once in your life?"
"Can you let me be excited for once in your life? Good shit like this don't happen very often for us, can you let me enjoy this?"
"You know," she dropped her hands into her lap after parking in one of the designated spots for the complex. "You're right. I'ma let you enjoy this. But-"
"God, why is it always a but?" Marco groaned. "Why can't good shit ever happen to us without it always having to be a but?"
"It's not a bad but if you had let me finish. You should know we only staying here temporarily though. Just until we can find a new permanent home. And I can't promise the next one is gonna be as nice as this place."
"How long is temporary?"
"No more than a year."
"Dang Monie," Marco laughed. "You made it seem like we was gonna be staying a couple weeks. Oh I'ma milk being here for a year. Trust. Now get your ass up so I can go see the beach," he undid his own seatbelt before reaching for hers.
"Marco-!"
"Ava. Girl, wake up," he ignored his sister and instead turned around to get Ava out of her seat. "We at the beach."
"The beach?" Ava rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. "I wanna see the beach."
"Well come on then," Marco got out of the car and went to the back door to properly help her out.
It was dark out, but that didn't stop him from picking Ava up and putting her on his back as the two made their way from the parking lot straight down to the beach that was right in front of them.
"Take y'all shoes off!" Money called behind them because they'd run ahead of her.
Marco put Ava down and took his slides and socks off and then helped her undo the buckles on her sandals. He didn't even care, he left them right there on the concrete pavement before the two ran onto the cool sand.
"What the fuck," Marco laughed as he picked up a handful of sand, slowly letting it fall through his fingers and back down onto the beach. It was dark, the beach only being slightly lit from the reflection of the moon, but Monie could still see the biggest smile she's ever seen on his face in the last 15 years.
Ava was sitting down, burying her arms and feet in the sand, getting it all over her- including in her curly hair. But Monie didn't even care. She was just happy that her kids were happy, and she couldn't help but to smile as she watched the two of them play around in the sand for the first time. There's technically a beach in Chicago, they've just never been before. Life has just always been too... well, hectic.
And that's exactly why Monie moved them out of Chicago. She wants them to experience new things in a new and healthy environment. A fresh start is exactly what the three of them needed, because now Monie can pour all of her attention into both Ava and Marco without her past always there to distract her or hold her back.
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Tuesday Morning
June 1st
Marco was awake early that morning, even earlier than Monie and Ava, which is not normal for him when he doesn't have school or basketball practice- which he currently has neither of. The only reason he'd woken up early was to take a jog on the beach before the sun came out and it got too hot.
"He gon' need a body bag or a night sack. He a bitch, he'll fold under pressure," Marco rapped along to the song 'Bad Man' playing through his headphones as he stepped off of the elevator after coming back from the beach. "We'll beat his ass if he try to throw the-"
He stopped in his tracks when he saw Kiara searching around in her purse for her key, and there were shopping bags on the floor in front of the door.
"No fucking way," Marco pulled his headphones from over his ears and just stared at her in complete and utter disbelief.
"Uh..." Kiara furrowed her eyebrows because she had no idea who the boy was. He does resemble Monie, it just didn't register for her upon first seeing him.
"You're... bruh, you're-" he just pointed at her.
"Kiara King," she held her hand out to him when it finally clicked to her who he was. When she finally realized he's Monie's little brother.
"Yooo! I can't believe this right now," he accepted her handshake. "Your father is my idol. For real."
"I'll tell him you said that," Kiara pulled away from his handshake. "You're... Marco, right?"
"Yeah, but how the hell you know my name? This your place? And how you know my sister? And why the fuck she ain't tell me she knows you?"
"This is my place yeah," she finally found the key fob and held it to the door for it to unlock. "Sorry, I didn't think you would already be here. Monie didn't say when you guys were coming."
Kiara picked up the bags from off the floor to bring inside, and that's when Marco's shock went away and he remembered his manners.
"Shit, my bad," Marco took the bags and brought them inside for her, setting them down on the kitchen counter.
"Thank you," Kiara closed the front door behind them. "Ain't nothing here so I just got a few things for the house. And I don't know what y'all eat, so I didn't wanna get too much stuff."
"Oh, I eat just about everything," Marco started looking through the bags and immediately opened up one of the bottles of red Powerade. "Thank you."
"No problem," Kiara said as she started to unpack the bags and put the stuff away. "Where's your sister at?"
"Her ass probably still sleep. And I don't really wanna wake her up cause she ain't really been sleeping enough lately."
"Yeah, I heard y'all just moved here a few days ago," Kiara leaned against the counter.
"Yup, we just got here from Chicago. But how you know Monie? Y'all friends or sumn?"
"Uhh..." Kiara wasn't exactly sure how to answer that question. One reason is that she's not technically Monie's friend yet and the other reason is that she's not sure she wants to tell Marco that she's her boss because more questions would immediately follow that.
"I guess you could say we're friends. Sure," Kiara settled on.
"I still can't believe she ain't tell me she knows you. Has she met your father? Oh my God bruh, you think I could meet him? Is that a weird question? Am I being weird or annoying right now-?"
"My God Marco," Monie came walking into the kitchen with Ava on her hip. Ava is big as hell, but that doesn't stop Monie and Marco from babying her all the time.
"This probably why I ain't tell you I knew her," Monie put Ava down on the ground and fixed the sports bra on her body because it was sort of twisted. And that was the only thing she was wearing along with a pair of workout shorts. "Excuse him Kiara. He not usually this... talkative."
"It's aight. I don't mind," Kiara sort of laughed. She's used to people acting like that when fans of Keenan King find out that she's his daughter, so she wasn't expecting Marco to be any different.
"I shoulda told you we was coming last night," Monie directed towards Kiara. "But it was hectic tryna check out of the hotel so late and then when we got up here I kinda passed out after we got ready for bed."
The reason was that she had to not only brush and wash the sand out of Ava's hair, but she also had to dry and braid it up for the next time they go down to the beach.
"You're good. I told you it didn't matter to me. And I called my realtor so I'll let you know when all that is situated. I just came over here to drop some stuff off so the place wasn't so empty when y'all got here."
"Aww," Monie smiled. "That's so sweet of you. I was actually gonna take them to go get breakfast. And you shou-"
"You should come with us," Marco said a whole lot faster than Monie could get the same exact words out.
"Oh, uhh," Kiara shook her head. "That doesn't seem... I don't wanna impose."
"You won't be. You should come for real," Marco couldn't take his eyes off of the woman, no matter the fact that she's 12 years older than him. But Kiara is absolutely beautiful, so it's very understandable that he would also think so.
Kiara looked over at Monie, and Monie replied to her silent question with, "I was just about to invite you. Come on, let me take you out to breakfast. As like a thank you."
"Uhmm... okay," she finally agreed. "Sure. Why not?"
"Hello miss," Ava, who had been very silent the whole time because she'd just woken up, finally spoke to Kiara.
"Hi," Kiara waved down at the little girl. "I'm Kiara."
"I'm Avangelina with an A, not an E. But everyone just calls me Ava."
"It's nice to meet you, Ava with an A. And that's a very pretty name for an even prettier girl."
"Thank you," she smiled at the compliment. "You're very pretty too. And I like your pants," she pointed to the jeans she was wearing with a multitude of colorful patches ironed onto them.
"Oh, thank you," Kiara looked down like she didn't already know what she was wearing. "I made them actually. Maybe I can make you a pair if you like them so much."
"Really?" Ava's eyes got all wide with excitement at the mention of something being made special just for her.
"I don't see why not," Kiara looked at Monie, who just had a little smile on her face and she watched her daughter interact with Kiara.
Ava is usually so shy and quiet, so the fact that she wasn't acting like that around Kiara seemed very out of character for her.
"Since I'm still new here, you have any good breakfast spots in mind?" Monie asked.
"I know just the place actually," Kiara nodded her head.
"Great, we're gonna go get ready real quick," Monie held her hand out to Ava so they could go change and get themselves ready for the day.
"Yeah, me too," Marco pulled his wireless headphones from around his neck and set them down on the counter. "I'm all sweaty so I needa go shower real quick."
*
"Did you like it?" Kiara asked Monie as they walked down the street after they left the diner.
Marco and Ava were walking ahead of them while Kiara and Monie lingered behind. Neither of them had plans for the rest of the day, so Kiara didn't mind spending time with the three of them, showing them around Miami Beach. They were in walking distance of the mall, so they figured why not head there and look around to both kill time and walk off the big meal they'd just eaten.
"Liked it? I loved it," Monie emphasized. "You don't see this food baby?" She held her hand over her belly which was barely visible in the skin-tight dress she was wearing.
"Girl," Kiara couldn't help but laugh at her. "Your stomach still flat as hell, so what am I supposed to be looking at?"
"Don't act like you don't see it- Marco!" Monie suddenly yelled out the boy's name because they were approaching a crosswalk and Ava wasn't holding onto his hand even though she knows not to cross the street without someone directly beside her.
"Chill out," Marco reached for Ava's hand the same second she called his name. "You know I got her Monie," he responded without even turning around to look at her.
The four of them crossed the street together and made their way into the mall, where they immediately went to a sneaker store because Marco has an obsession with shoes. He got two new pairs of sneakers to add to the already large collection he currently has in storage with the rest of their belongings before they continued strolling through the mall.
"Hold up," Monie stopped outside of H&M because she wanted to look and see if they had anything for Ava in there. She had grown out of every single thing from the previous year, so she had to buy her an entire new summer wardrobe.
"You love you some H&M," Marco said as they walked into the store.
"And what about it?" Monie replied as she led them to the little girl section.
She looked through the clothes and talked to Kiara while Marco and Ava mindlessly walked around and talked to each other.
"Shat size she wear?" Kiara asked as she looked through the plain blue kids jeans because she really did mean it when she said she'd make Ava a pair of jeans just like hers.
"Uhm, she wears between a 4 and 5T. It honestly depends."
"I'll just get a five," Kiara picked up a couple pairs of jeans in different washes and a jeans jacket too.
"You really gonna make her those jeans?"
"Yeah, I was deadass. I like doing creative shit like that in my free time, so I don't mind."
"Do you have kids you do it for too? Or a boyfriend or anything?" Monie asked her, for no other reason than she was just being nosey.
"Nah, I don't have kids," Kiara laughed at that question because it was very random and unexpected. "And I don't have a boyfriend either. Never have actually, and I never will."
"Why you say it like that? You like girls or something?"
"Yeah, even though I'm not really messing with girls at the moment either. I'm really just focusing on myself and my business, yuh know?"
"Oh trust me, I know," Monie said as she searched through the racks of kid's clothes, picking out dresses, shorts, T-shirts- things of that sort. "I'm done dating for a while because, for some reason, I seem to only attract that crazy ass toxic shit. The last bitch I messed with at my old club slashed my fucking tires when I broke shit off with her."
"You're into girls?" Kiara raised her eyebrows. She wasn't too sure why she was so surprised by that, but she just was. Especially since she has a child, that was the last thing she'd assume.
"Sexuality is a spectrum Kiara," Monie laughed as she said it. "Not everything is just gay or straight."
"I know that. I just... you have a daughter so I assumed you were- yuh know," she just shrugged.
"Well, I'm not currently anything at the moment because a relationship is the last thing on my mind. I got too much shit I'm tryna do and fix in my life to be focused on a nigga or a bitch."
"No, I get that. That's the same reason I been completely celibate for the last five years."
Kiara wasn't exactly sure why she told Monie that, briefly forgetting that she's only known this girl for a couple of days now, no matter how comfortable she already felt around her. But once it left her mouth, it was too late to take it back.
"Five years?" Monie damn near choked on her own saliva when she heard that.
She can go without sex for a little while. But for five years? She wasn't sure she was strong enough for that much of a commitment.
"That must take a lot of restraint?"
"It's honestly not that hard," Kiara admitted. "It was at first, but you get used to it. I like it actually. It's a lot less distracting in a place where... well, where it's easy to be distracted."
Miami is definitely a place where it's easy to get caught up if you let yourself, and Kiara found that out quickly when she was enrolled at The University of Miami.
"Maybe I should try that. The whole celibacy thing," Monie said as she picked up a pink dress that perfectly matched the one she was wearing, not at all caring what people say about mothers who match their daughters.
She whispered this next part under her breath though, "because God knows I've given it up to too many people who didn't deserve it in the slightest."
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