As the months passed, it was as if the twins were growing up faster than Renae and King both wanted. Both girls were crawling like no other and babbling on about things only they understood.
Renae had been trying to get them to start talking and even bought them the LeapFrog devices to help, but the twins were too busy chasing behind King. Wherever he went they were right behind and always tapping on his leg ready to be picked up and smothered with kisses.
The girls were starting to only want to be around King and it was starting to bother Renae. She began to see herself as Egypt and often cried to Tish on the phone about it. She wasn't sure if they weren't too fond of her or just naturally connected with King more, whatever it was, was bothering her.
It was early July, King and Renae threw them a small celebration for turning 6 months old and of course, they stuck their hands in the cake and made a mess but the family enjoyed it.
"You in da wine business?" King asked Kwan looking around his nice shop.
Kwan was giving King a tour of the businesses that would be his.
"Yeah, I own two in Houston, tree in Cali, tree here and two in New York," Kwan answered as they took a seat at the bar.
"Dis one and di one in LA and di one in Brooklyn will be yours,"
"Just like dat?" King rose a brow.
"Just like dat, mi knows yuh like to do tings business profession, so mi got di contracts here," Kwan informed as he opened his briefcase and pulled out the first folder.
"Read first before yuh drink, mi go check out a few tings, I'll be bak in twenty minutes," he said and King nodded opening the folder.
"What's those?"
"Yur other contracts, mi told yuh mi wuz serious, mi always keeps mi word lil brudda," Kwan smirked before heading towards the back.
As King was reading thoroughly through the contract, a lady had sat on the stool next to him and ordered a drink.
King ignored her presence but felt her burning a hole in his face.
"You're not from around here are you?" She finally asked allowing her Columbian accent to flow freely.
"Neither are you and I'm married, you definitely aren't my type shorty," King dismissed not even glancing her direction.
"Married huh?" She smirked looking over his attire. He was fine as hell, she knew that and his tattoos and accent only attracted her to him more.
"I don't see a ring," She added crossing her right leg over her left allowing her dress to rise.
"I don't see you leaving either, guess we both can't have what we want,"
"That would be no fun, don't you agree?" She smiled picking up her drink.
Shaking his head, King put the pen down and finally looked at her.
She looked like every Instagram model he's ever saw, to him she was basic, boring looking to be exact but to a regular guy or a lame she would be considered 'bad' or the 'It girl'
"Definitely not my type, not even close," He chuckled focusing back on the contract.
Frowning, the stranger looked him over and went to touch his leg but Kwan came in out of nowhere and grabbed her hand and had a death grip on it.
"Dis iz mi family, yuh out of yur fucking mind?" He gritted.
The once flirtatious woman now had fear in her eyes. "Kwan I didn't kn—"
"Move yuh bloodcleet fram yuh suh, Nicole!" He barked and she quickly got up and rushed out the building.
"Stay away fram her! Shi iz dangerous!"
"Don't yell at me nigga, I won't checking for dat plastic bitch," King chuckled signing the contract.
Kwan looked over at his bartender and glared at him. "I'm sorry boss," He apologized before rushing towards the back.
"Amateurs," Kwan sighed sitting down.
"Why da hell you so upset for?" King asked sliding the folder his way.
"We're family, yuh tink mi want Renae fi hear sum krazy rumors about yuh sleeping around? Mi don't like cheaters, mi fadda wuz a cheater and mi madda killed herself becuz of it,"
King sat there stunned, he never knew that. He knew Kwan hated his father and only acknowledged his aunt and cousins, but he never knew about where the anger actually came from.
"I appreciate you looking out woe, but I have no desires for any other girl unless her name is Renae last name Stone," King shrugged picking up his drink.
"How is ol girl dangerous though? And if she's dangerous why she still alive?"
"Shi hunts for rich men or men shi tinks are rich. Shi no care about dem being in a relationship or married, shi just want to haffi sex, take yur money and expose yuh later. Shi ran some of mi best man away, only reason shi iz here iz becuz of mi dealing with her brudda," Kwan paused to sip on his drink.
"Mi told her brudda mi had no problem wit ending her life if shi kept up her stupid ass games, shi hadn't been around in four months, shi can always sense when fresh meat iz in town," he shook his head then frowned his face up.
"I hate di bitch,"
"I can tell," King chuckled.
"I know how to handle girls like her, but fuck her, why da contract says you're giving me seventy percent of all profits?"
"When yuh become family tings change. Mi haffi enough business fi go around mi brudda, mi told yuh mi like yuh alive not dead so understand dat," Kwan told him and King nodded.
"Come to di bak, mi will show yuh how every ting is made," he added standing and King finished off his drink before standing as well.
"Yo ass is like da black Bill Gates," King chuckled.
"Mi rather be all about Black Excellence,"
***
"Peekaboo!" Renae giggled as she sat on the bedroom floor with the twins playing different games.
"Peekaboo!"
Reign and Kaari both erupted in laughter as they copied Renae's actions.
Today was a good day for Renae and she was enjoying every moment of it.
"Mommy's babies," she smiled picking up an alphabet card. "Say ahhhhhh,"
"Aaaaaah" Reign and Kaari said and Renae giggled.
"Ok, say B,"
"Aaaaaaaah" Kaari said again and Renae laughed.
"I said B," she giggled picking up the next card. "Say C,"
The girls just giggled clapping their hands.
"I know y'all understand what I'm saying, little behinds just don't care," Renae frowned putting the cards up.
Giving them their toys back, Renae got up and headed for the mini fridge but paused in her tracks.
"Ma ma," Kaari said playing with her teacup.
Renae blinked her eyes a few times and went to reply until Reign spoke, "Ma ma!"
"Ma ma!" They beamed waving their arms excitedly.
"Say it again," Renae encouraged with glossy eyes as she grabbed her phone ready to record.
"Ma ma, ma ma!" They repeated looking at her with bright eyes and a smile to match. "Oh my God," Renae whispered.
"Can you say Da da?" She asked and both girls stared at her confused.
"Da... da?" Reign said looking at Kaari who started giggling.
"Da da!"
"Oh shit," King chuckled entering the room. Renae saved the video and wiped her face just as King sat on the carpet with them.
"Da da," Kaari smiled crawling his way with Reign right behind. "How long have they been saying dis?" He laughed laying back so they could crawl on him.
"Not that long," Renae answered getting up taking that as her cue to leave. "Hold up, where you going?"
"Downstairs, they like you... alone," she smiled walking out the room.
King furrowed his brows and sat up.
"Y'all got something to tell me?" He asked staring at the twins as if they could really understand him.
"Da da!" They both squealed reaching for his face.
Chuckling, King stood up holding them securely as he made his way out the room, down the hall, and down the stairs.
Renae was in the living room reading a book until she noticed King and the girls.
"Why'd you run out like dat?" He asked sitting next to her.
"I didn't... they just like to be alone with you," She partially told the truth.
"What makes you think dat Nae? They were up there having fun with you before I even got here,"
"It always seems to stop whenever you come around," she shrugged looking at her ring.
"What does dat mean? I'm da cause or something?"
"No," Renae shook her head then forced a smile. "They like you better and I don't blame them... I almost killed them." She mumbled about to get up but King grabbed her hand.
"They give us da same attention ma and why are you talking about da past? You had no control over dat, stop blaming yourself Nae,"
"They tolerate me until you come around, it's obvious King. It's fine though, at least they like one of us," she said with watery eyes as she stood up.
King tried to stop her but she waved him off and headed out back.
Looking down at his girls, they both had tears in their eyes with their bottom lip trembling as if they understood what Renae had just said.
"Oh no," King said. "No crying, I can't handle dat," He added about to stand but Reign threw her little head back and cried her heart out.
Kaari seemed so confused and looked from Reign to King before she started to whine. Poor baby didn't even know why she was crying, all she saw was her mother crying and Reign and the sad look on King's face was the icing on the cake.
"Welcome to fatherhood King," he mumbled to himself as he placed Reign on the sofa and leaned forward to grab their pacifiers.
Handing Kaari hers, she stopped crying immediately and pulled at his chin hair.
Reign refused to take hers and cried harder.
Renae rushed back inside and picked her up and started dancing around the living room while patting her back.
Kaari laid her head on King's chest and began to doze off while King watched Renae calm Reign down.
Once they put the twins down for their nap, King sat at the fireplace with Renae as she stared at the flames.
"Sometimes I feel like I'm turning into my mom,"
King sat the baby monitor down and turned towards her.
"The way she treated me... I feel like in a way that's how they view me. I never really spoke much about it before, I don't even think I told Tish this but she used to beat me a lot just for anything. I was a kid so I really didn't understand the meaning of 'abuse' but as I got older I realized that's what it was. When Ahmed left she just hated everything about me, when I cried she'd hit me, if I couldn't get myself on the toilet she'd hit me and if DJ made a mess or did something on accident she always blamed for it," Looking down at her arm tattoos she smiled faintly.
"I wanted the love she had for DJ for myself, but nothing I ever did was good enough for her. She only pretended to love me whenever Dad was around and I always went right along with it even though I knew deep down she hated me. Kinda like the girls," she chuckled wiping her face.
"The same way they run to you as if I'm not even there is the same thing I did whenever my aunt or Dad came around, but it only pissed her off more. Sometimes I feel like she's lingering around here somewhere just laughing at me... no matter what or where I go I just can't seem to shake her," she mumbled dropping her head.
King went to touch her but she stopped him.
"I don't want sympathy, I'm just expressing myself because if I go another day with this bottled up I'm going to lose my mind," she spoke on the verge of tears.
King scooted over and wrapped his arms around her as she tried to push him away.
"What do you need me to do baybeh?"
"Nothing!" She cried kicking the cup over. "I have to face this alone! I'm tired of the help, it doesn't last, I hate it!" She cried hysterically trying to get out of his hold but he only hugged her tighter as she hit on him and screamed.
He wasn't sure if this was the postpartum creeping in months late or if this was actually how she's been feeling.
There wasn't anything he could say because every time he tried to speak she just cried harder. They were good just hours ago which was starting to lead him to believe she's been missing days on taking her medicine or this was just genuinely how she felt.
At the end of the day, they were a team and there was no him without her if she was broken he felt validated to fix her...
***
"Did I miss anything?" Lucy asked sitting on the other side of Eve since Bryson was sitting to her left.
Instead of going pro, Dajon just decided to do basketball as a little hobby during the summer time. It was Howard University vs Norfolk State.
"No, they started about ten minutes ago," Eve answered as she kept her eyes glued to Dajon. They were sitting court-side so they could see everything and all wearing a jersey with Dajon's number on it to represent, he was a power forward and shooting guard and doing damn good at each.
"Hello Bryson," Evan spoke leaning forward. "Sup," Bryson gave a simple nod cutting his eyes at Lucy and she shrugged opening her box of Mike & Ikes.
"Are you done with your summer classes?" Evan asked looking over at a very focused Eve.
"I told you I don't take summer classes, I take everything else but those," she said cutting her eyes at him then back to the game.
"What have you been doing? I haven't seen you in the house,"
"Because I volunteer at the hospital with mom and I'm normally here for Dajon's games," she huffed when he made her miss Dajon's shot.
"Stop distracting her, you know how she gets when it comes to this," Lucy laughed offering Bryson some candy but he declined and leaned back into his seat.
Eve fell in love with basketball the moment she and Dajon started hanging out and as of late she's become one of his personal coaches that tells him what he slacked on and what he needs to improve in. Dajon actually listened to her advice, when she first started getting into sports she didn't know anything about anything but now she was up on game and sometimes better than the coach, who actually took a liking to her sideline calls.
"PASS THE BALL!" Eve shouted to one of Dajon's teammates. "PASS THE BALL"
"Stupid," she sighed when he missed the shot and Bryson and Lucy both laughed.
"It's not funny you guys, I hate ball hogs," She frowned folding her arms and slouched in the chair.
"Dajon can't have the ball the entire game Eve," Evan chuckled.
"He was the only one open, hellooo," she sang throwing her hands up and Bryson laughed to himself.
"I need a drink," he chuckled getting up. "Can I have a Powerade?" Eve asked.
"Which one?"
"I'll show you," Lucy laughed handing Eve her box of candy then followed Bryson out.
When they made it towards the back and away from the cameras, Lucy pushed Bryson into the co-ed bathroom and reached for his pants but he stopped her.
"What?"
"My son is dating your daughter, and he's been talking about marrying her, I don't know about you, but this whole thing is becoming weird," He told her as he let her hand go and Lucy frowned.
"You said no strings attached, what's the problem now?" She asked folding her arms.
"This was supposed to be a one-time thing Lu... we were drunk,"
"But we're grown... it's just casual sex until you find you someone else and I'll back off, I promise," she smiled sliding her hand into his jeans.
"One more time Bryson, I promise I won't be loud,"
Closing his eyes, Bryson leaned his head against the wall as she kissed on his neck and stroked his dick slowly.
"Lu..." he groaned wanting to stop her but he knew just like his dick knew she had that super wet.
"One more time Bry," She spoke against his neck as she pushed his jeans down and pulled her hair up before she got on her knees and took him into her mouth.
Bryson had to bite down on his lip and keep his eyes closed to contain the groans that were begging to come out, one look into her eyes and that was it for him.
As Lucy bobbed her head faster and used her hands to stroke and grip the remainder of his dick, Bryson looked down at her and groaned loudly.
"This isn't right," he mumbled pushing her head down further as he started fucking her face aggressively.
Just as his nut neared, Lucy wrapped her mouth around the head of his dick and sucked him dry as he exploded into her mouth.
Licking him clean, she stood up slowly and stepped out of her panties and removed the condom from her bra.
"I got it," He stressed snatching it from her and she giggled at his obvious frustration with her.
Locking the bathroom door and hitting the vent switch, Bryson lifted her body and pressed her back against the wall as he slid in and out of her quickly.
"Angry aren't we?" She teased wrapping her legs around his waist.
Ignoring her, Bryson pulled out of her temporarily and turned her around and pressed her breasts into the wall and gripped her hair as he entered her pussy from the back.
"Just like that," she moaned pushing back on him.
Bryson knew what they were doing were wrong, but he couldn't help the fact that he found Lucy attractive and she had some good pussy.
He also knew they couldn't continue doing what they were doing, he would have to put a stop to it soon because disrespecting his son wasn't something he planned on doing and he felt as if he already disrespected Dajon as is.
"Fuck Bryson, shit," Lucy whimpered when his pace quickened.
He was never one to talk while in the act especially not with Lucy, if he spoke then that meant he had feelings for her and that was a no go in his book.
As she came, Bryson gripped her waist and sunk his teeth into her neck as he pounded into her furiously.
The sounds of bodies smacking together echoed off the walls and Lucy's soft whimpers turned into moans of her begging him to go faster and that's exactly what he did.
Pulling out of her momentarily, Bryson rammed himself inside her and let out a low groan as he exploded into the condom.
Pulling out of her slowly, he grabbed a few papers towels and wrapped the condom up in it before tossing it in the toilet.
As Lucy entered the stall to fix herself up, Bryson cleaned himself at the sink as guilt started to wash over him.
Shaking his head, he washed his hands quickly and splashed water on his face before leaving out the bathroom.
Lucy walked out minutes after and sprayed his cologne over his clothes before spraying herself with perfume.
"This has to stop," Bryson mumbled as they stood at the drink machine.
"I know... it was fun though wasn't it?" Lucy smiled softly.
"I'm seriously Lucy, you're putting me in a dangerous situation,"
"I'm sorry, ok fine, I apologize for real Bryson I just figured we could do this with no problem. My bad for overstepping," she apologized sincerely.
Bryson looked at her briefly then went ahead and got the drinks for him and Eve.
"Hey," Lucy called grabbing Bryson's arm before he could walk away.
"I am sorry, I'm not trying to hurt the kids, I honestly am sorry,"
"Yeah, me too," He replied before walking away.
Sighing, Lucy got herself a drink before she rejoined them at the game.
She could barely focus because Bryson kept creeping into her thoughts, she knew just as well as he did that they were wrong but she had no love for Evan and he for damn sure wasn't even half of the man Bryson was or even half of the dick, but she knew they couldn't work out. That would be wrong and nasty, knowing that Dajon wanted to marry her daughter put a burden on her heart and she felt like she's been lying to Eve.
What she and Bryson had was simply good, well great, casual sex. It's what she needed to get through this divorce that Evan was prolonging, her heart wasn't in it like his still was and the more she thought of the moments she and Bryson shared the guiltier she felt.
Removing her shades from her purse, Lucy put them on and excused herself not wanting them to see her cry.
She felt dirty for what she's been doing but it felt good to her and the more she tried to tell herself that she was grown and capable of cleaning up her own mess the more Eve's face popped into her head which made her cry harder.
She betrayed her daughter.
******
Well... let me have it lmao.
Y'all trust Kwan?
Y'all think Nicole gonna be a problem in the future?
Renae and the kids, how y'all think she should handle that?
Bryson and Lucy.... messy messy or it's 'grown folks business' and we should mind ours?