Excuse any mistakes. Mariyah in the mm.
LA
Next morning
"You've got to learn to leave the table when love's no longer being served."
Nina Simone
—
Naomi is awake at 7am with her eyes wide open. The sun is peeking through the oversized windows that's dressed with champagne colored drapes. She can hear Zeke's light snores as his breathing is slightly tickling the back of her neck.
Restless.
Something Naomi has been dealing with for years now. She rarely gets any sleep these days and if she does, she has to force herself to do so.
This was different, however. Something was bothering her, although, she couldn't put her finger on it. Deep down inside, she felt like something wasn't right.
Zeke sighs in his sleep, moving slightly while pulling Naomi closer to him. When his movements stopped, Naomi figures that he's gone back to sleep.
"What's wrong?" His deep, sleepy voice voice rumbles causing her to shutter.
"How'd you know I was awake?" Naomi asks softly.
"I've been sleeping with you for years now, angel." Zeke says. "You don't sleep much."
Naomi sighs. "I'm just thinking."
"When are you not thinking?" Zeke laughs slightly. "You've got to turn that brain of yours off one of these days."
She turns to face him, running her finger along his face. "Easier said than done."
"Messiah, again?"
Naomi nods her head. "I was the same way when Amir went to prison. Wanting him to come home alive, in one piece." She stops and shrugs her shoulder. "It's nerve wrecking. It's amazing how I'm not over it yet I expect for Amir to somehow deal with it."
"Amir got bigger issues." Zeke rubs the sleep out of his eye. "No offense or anything."
"No." She shakes her head. "You're right. Strangely, I worry about him, too."
Zeke sits up on his elbow. "Amir and Messiah are grown men. They've made decisions, or lack thereof, that they have to deal with. Worrying about them changes nothing, sweetheart. I love you and I want you to rid yourself of those bricks that's weighing you down."
"I thought I did, Zeke. I rarely talk to Amir these days. I'm loving him from a distance."
"Then, what's the problem?"
"The problem is that I've never left him before even when he left me. Amir's psyche is not healthy." Naomi explains.
Zeke shakes his head. "How many times have you begged him to get some help? You can only do so much."
Naomi opens her mouth to counter, but nothing comes out. She knows Zeke is right. If she wanted the help more than Amir did, it would never work.
She smiles a little, remembering telling Senaya the same thing. "What?" Zeke asks.
Naomi shakes her head. "'Nothing, you're right."
"So you gonna let it go?"
"Yes, babe. I'll let it go." Naomi says.
"Good." Zeke leans down to kiss her, but she immediately swerves him. "Well, damn."
"You know how I feel about morning breath. We go through this every morning, Zeke." Naomi rolls her eyes and pulls the cover back. She sits up and stretches her limbs.
Zeke kisses his teeth. "I'm ya husband."
"So?" She looks back at him.
"Whatever." Zeke mumbles before getting out of the bed. "I have a client to shoot at 9."
Naomi lifts her eyebrows up. "I may be telling on myself, but I checked your calendar and you were free today."
Zeke chuckles to himself. "Why you always gotta be in control, angel?" He shakes his head. "But, yeah I was. Late addition."
"You never take late clients." Naomi tilts her head at him. "Who is it?"
"Um," He shrugs his shoulders. "Some girl from Houston. Said she wanna show off her body art." Zeke disappears into the master bath.
Naomi tries to process what's just been said to her. Slowly, she gets up to also go into the bathroom. Zeke is on his side of the vanity, brushing his teeth.
He looks at Naomi through the mirror, noticing that she had on her reading face. Meaning she's trying to read the seriousness of the situation.
Zeke puts his head down and spits. Once he lifts his head back up, he could feel her eyes still on him. "What I do now?"
"Since when do you do nude photos?" Naomi questions as she leans on the wall.
Wiping his mouth with a face cloth, he sighs. "I just started. It's not that big of a deal."
"Mm, how many have you done?"
Zeke glances at her before washing his face. "3."
"Interesting." Naomi nods her head as she walks to her side of the vanity. He watches as she gets out everything she needs to do her morning routine.
"Are you mad?"
Naomi glares at him. "What do you think?"
Zeke sighs as he scratches his head. "I'm a photographer, Naomi. It's just business. I'm not even looking at them like that."
"Okay."
He kisses his teeth. "Don't do that. Say what's on your mind."
Naomi laughs lightly. "I'd rather keep these thoughts to myself right now. What I am going to say is that you could have ran that by me before you decided to do it. Not discussing it with me is causing many questions to form in my mind. Basically, this could have been avoided." She grabs her toothbrush. "Now, go get dressed. Traffic."
"You know I wouldn't betray you, right?" Zeke wraps his arm around her waist.
"I do." She nods her head. "Because I would blow this thing up, literally and figuratively. However, if you think that's the point I was trying to make, you wasn't listening to me."
Zeke sighs and watches as she begin to brush her teeth. Before he could say anything, a tiny knock sounded against their bedroom door. Zeke removes his arm from around her to go open it.
Twisting the knob, he opens the door to find Chase, Saint and Jamila standing there. He folds his arms across his chest. "What happened?"
Jamila huffs, a sign that she was about to talk first. "Daddy, Chase is literally the worst thing that has happened to this family."
Zeke opens his mouth to talk, but Chase interrupts.
"Real bold in front of Dad." He says with his raspy voice.
"Well, Nia made breakfast." Saint speaks up, putting his hand inside of the small bowl that's in his hand. He eats on a few grapes, chewing loudly.
"She did?" Zeke lifts his eyebrows.
"Yep." Chase nods. "And nothing burned down."
Zeke laughs to himself, remembering the last time Nia tried to surprise them with breakfast in bed. In short summary, Naomi had to redo the entire kitchen.
"I wish you burned down." Jamila walks off.
Chase looks at Zeke and shakes his head. "Your daughter such a lame. She mad cause she can't play basketball."
"He beat her 21 to 0." Saint jumps in.
"My question is, why are y'all up at 7am on a Saturday morning?" Zeke looks at them.
Chase shrugs. "I been up all night. I'ma crash soon."
"I was watching movies with NiNi and she put on a scary one. Shook me, Dad." Saint shakes his head.
"Scary self." Chase rolls his eyes. "Such a wimp."
"Ya girlfriend don't think so." Saint bites into a cantaloupe and smirks.
"Woah." Naomi appears from behind Zeke with a pair of tights on and a t-shirt. "You have a girlfriend?" She looks at Chase.
Chase kisses his teeth and glares at Saint. "Some like that."
Naomi pushes Saint and Chase out as she walks out of the bedroom. "Does this little girl have a job? A degree?"
"Ma, really? She like fourteen." Chase looks back at her.
"You're eleven."
Chase shrugs his shoulders. "I like older women."
Naomi rolls her eyes, following them down the hall. The smell of food immediately hit her face and she wondered who was in her kitchen. She sees Nia sipping on a cup of coffee and her counter full of filled plates.
There were chocolate chip pancakes, bacon, turkey sausage, eggs, breakfast potatoes, and honey biscuits.
Nia looks up and smiles softly, placing her cup on the counter. "Morning, lady of DST." She reads Naomi's shirt.
"Goodmorning, future lady of DST." Naomi counters back. "You cooked all of this and my kitchen is in one place? The end is near."
"Haaaaa." Chase laughs and takes his seat.
Nia kisses her teeth. "Really? I've been watching you. Where's Zeke?"
Naomi holds in her eye roll. "Getting ready for work."
"Huh?" Nia looks confused. "Okay, I may or may not have checked his schedule yesterday and it said he was free."
"So, everybody just goes into my office and into my computer, eh?" Zeke appears from around the corner in a Jordan jumpsuit.
"Well, yeah." Jamila shrugs, ripping off a piece of bacon with her teeth.
"Ion care nun about it." Chase shrugs.
"Liar. You was watching the naked people the other night." Saint blurts out.
Naomi's mouth fell open and Zeke doubles over, trying to contain his laughter. Nia's eyes widens in shock.
"Spicy." Jamila mumbles.
Chase's cheeks flushes in embarrassment. "Wow." Naomi looks over at Zeke. "I'll let you handle that one, Dad."
Zeke laughs louder. "Saint said the naked people. I cannot."
"He meant porn." Jamila says sarcastically, causing Zeke's laughter cease immediately. Now, it was Naomi's turn to laugh.
"What you know about porn??" Zeke asks.
"Relax, father. We learned about it in my sex education class."
Zeke looks at Naomi, who only shrugs her shoulder. "What the hell she doing in sex education so early?"
Naomi rolls her eyes. "I put her in the class because she needs to know. Sex education isn't just about sexual intercourse, Zeke. She needs to know about her body and how to protect it. Chase is in the same course."
"I was, too. Very insightful." Nia blurts out.
"Can I get in it?" Saint looks up at them.
"Just wait, Saint." Naomi chuckles to herself.
"Now, I'm going to enjoy breakfast because it's a rare time where I didn't have to cook."
She goes to fix herself a cup of coffee before taking a seat beside Jamila. Saint discreetly feeds Cato a piece of bacon while taking a bite out of the syrup heavy pancake.
Coco watches from the living room, knowing she is not allowed in the kitchen. Bailey is turned over on his back by the sliding doors to the patio, sleeping like a baby.
"You should get going." Naomi chews as she looks at Zeke. "Mm, this is good, Nia."
"Whew." Nia wipes the imaginary sweat off of her forehead. "Good."
"If you don't want me to do it, just say it." Zeke looks at Naomi.
Nia looks between the two curiously. "Do what?"
Naomi sighs in frustration. "Zeke, go to work. You've been doing it this long. Don't care about what I think now."
Zeke takes his plate and goes to wrap it in foil. Naomi begins back eating and Nia watches Zeke as he begins to walk out of the kitchen.
"You forgot something." Nia speaks up.
Zeke turns around and looks at her. "What is it?"
"A kiss on our forehead." Nia blinks. "And a kiss firmly on Mommy's lips."
Zeke smirks and laughs to himself. "You're right." He places a kiss on the foreheads of his kids then goes to stand in front Naomi.
They look at each other for a brief moment before kissing one another. The kiss was genuine enough for Nia to know that it was just a little squabble.
Zeke leaves, and Nia throws the rest of her coffee down the drain. She isn't sure how the adults do it, or maybe she didn't fix it right.
"I'm going to the gym." Nia announces.
"Can I go?" Chase asks.
"Yea." Nia shrugs and Chase takes off to go get his gym bag. Bailey woke up at the sound of his footsteps, tilting his head to see the family eating a meal without him.
"Tonight is going to be interesting." Naomi places the brim of her coffee mug to her lips while looking at Nia. She takes a sip. "With Shiloh and his mom coming over."
"Yeah." Nia mumbles.
Naomi smirks. "Nervous?"
Nia shrugs her shoulders. "I'm not sure, honestly. Probably a tad bit anxious."
Sitting her mug back on the counter, Naomi nods her head. "Kind of a big deal that he wants you to meet his mom. He really likes you."
Nia smiles softly. "I like him, too."
—
Picking at his food, Roman ignores his father while his father is talking. Roman Sr. was babbling on about three workouts a day on the weekends and two during the week for Roman's recovery.
He, his father and Khalil were out for breakfast while Scarlett was out of town for a case. Times like this, Roman kind of wished that she was a stay at home mom.
Roman isn't a fan of his dad.
He slid his feet in and out of his NIKE sliders while his hood is over his head. He was missing football.
It's like a void. A dark void. A never ending dark void that consumes everything, so you are left feeling nothing. Empty.
The emptiness is always there; Roman considers himself decent at hiding it, masking it with normal human emotions. He smiles because no one is going to ask him why he's smiling.
But, today is different. Today is a bad day.
"Jr., are you listening to me?" His father's voice causes him to look up.
Roman clears his throat and nods his head in a lie. "Yeah."
Khalil is busy stuffing his face to even care about what they're talking about. It's about football and Khalil could careless about the sport.
"What's up with you?" Roman Sr. looks at his son. "You're not talking these days. I feel like I'm losing my son."
"It's nothing." Roman sits up in his chair and begins to eat.
His father looks at him curiously. "You sure talk to your mom alot."
"And?"
Khalil slows down as he looks between the two of them. "Pops, you know Mom is like the mediator of the family. Ain't nothin' personal." He speaks up.
Leaning his elbows on the table, their father sighs. "I don't want you two feeling like you can't talk to me. You can, I'm your father. I'll hear you out."
"But will you listen?" Roman looks at him.
"If you have something to say, say it."
"Three workouts a day on the weekends is bullshit. That's overload because I know they gon be intense." Roman says.
Roman Sr. shakes his head. "How you think you're gonna get back on the field?"
"I wanna take my time. I have a whole year to get ready for my senior season. Going hard is what got me in this predicament in the first place." Roman explains. "Can you just let me rest?"
"You don't need to be waiting a year to get back on the field. You need to be healthy by spring camp. Coaches from Universities need to see that the injury didn't hurt your growth. You need to come back faster, stronger, and leaner."
Roman sighs and shakes his head. "Forget it. Fine, whatever you say."
Khalil kisses his teeth. "Come on Dad, you are hard on bro."
"I'm not hard enough. I know where all of this is coming from. He's distracted." Roman Sr glances at Roman. "By that girl."
Roman's head shoots up, and his face forms a glare. "Tamara don't have nothing to do with this."
"Girls are a distraction." Their father looks at the both of them. "That goes for both of you."
Khalil discreetly rolls his eyes as he drinks the rest of his cold water. "Mariyah isn't a distraction. If anything, she keeping me focused."
"Same with Tamara." Roman agrees.
"I don't care. Last night, instead of being in the gym, you two were out with them. Didn't come home til midnight. I swear, if either of you get one those girls pre—"
Roman's phone rings, interrupting Roman Sr's lecture. Thankfully it was Scarlett and he immediately picks up the phone to answer it. "Hey ma." He huffs.
"Hey, what's wrong? You sound frustrated."
Roman glances at his father. "I am. How's Miami?"
"Hmm," Scarlett hums. "It's great. I miss it here, actually."
Roman nods his head in agreement. "Same here. How long are you gonna be gone?"
"Maybe three or four days." Scarlett responds causing him to sigh. "You're older now, Roman. What's the—"
"Nothing." He quickly interrupts her. "Win the case like you always do. I'll be fine."
"Are you sure?"
Roman nods his head. "Yeah, I'm sure."
"Okay." Scarlett says. "Tell Khalil I'll call him later tonight and I love him. And tell my husband that I love him."
"Aight."
"I love you, Roman. Everything is going to work out just fine. Go see Adrian and hang out with him. He kind of needs you." Roman lifts his eyebrow out of curiosity.
"What's wrong with him?" Roman asks.
Scarlett sighs through the phone. "When he's ready to tell you or anyone else, he will. Right now, just be there for him."
Roman nods his head, realizing that he's probably a little more selfish since he has been hurt. Only thinking of himself and his problems. He and Adrian were close so this is the least he could do.
"I gotcha."
After a few more minutes, she and Roman hang up. Khalil looks at him with a questionable look. "She call you, but not us?"
"She said she will call you tonight." Roman looks back at him and Khalil nods, replacing his frown with a smile. "She also says that she loves you both."
"Are you done being a brat now?" Roman Sr. speaks up.
"Are you done being anything less than a Dad?" Roman shoots back.
"Woah, woah." Khalil tries to defuse the situation. "How about we order another round of bacon and be some happy campers? I understand the first batch was a little rough which is why we all on edge."
Roman and Roman Sr. continues to stare at one another, neither of them standing down even as Khalil attempts to calm them both. "I meant what I said." Roman Sr. ignores Khalil. "No girlfriends."
Now, Khalil looks at his Dad like he has lost his mind. "Are you serious?"
"You'll both thank me later." Roman Sr. says as he goes back to his food.
"You and mom were together when you were playing." Khalil raises his voice. "No offense Dad, but you sound real dumb right now."
Roman Sr. shakes his head. "Your mom and I wasn't together. She was fooling with that guy, Noah. And I was too busy chasing her and got distracted. Your mom was a dis—"
Khalil abruptly gets up and reaches across the table to grab his father by his shirt. Roman's eyes widens in shock as he carefully gets up. "Khalil." He calls out.
Khalil ignores him and continues to stare a hole into his father. He's the only grandchild who inherited the Personality Disorder from Khari. He is able to control it, but Roman knew that this wasn't him right now.
Luckily for the three of them, they were in a secluded sitting area.
"Don't ever talk about my moms like she just some hoodrat you settled for." Khalil snarls. "You know better. Don't make me hurt you."
"Khalil, let me go before I hurt you." Roman Sr. responds.
Roman threw his arm around Khalil's neck, slowly pulling him away. Khalil let go of his father and gently pushes Roman's arm off of him. He reclaims his seat and calmly begins to finish his food.
Roman looks at his father and shakes his head. "You're so absent that you don't even know that that's not Khalil."
Sitting back down, Roman begins to talk to Khalil, who isn't saying a word. Roman Sr. looks at him, trying to understand what Roman meant. Khalil continues to quietly eat his food, something he used to do a ton when he was smaller.
Roman Sr. just thought the boy was shy.
Roman Sr. shook. Valentine's ain't shit to play with!
Zeke ain't cheating by the way. Still just a dumb ass negro.
Naomi about to pop off soon, though. Guess on who tho 👀👀👀