Page 22 of Nothing Without You

“Chyna don’t even be around niggas like that⁠—”

“So how am I supposed to believe y’all just suddenly got together⁠—”

“Does she live here?”

“Man, shut the fuck up. Both of y’all,” Keegan roared.

Stephanie immediately clamped her mouth shut. Smart girl. She knew who Keegan was and how he could get. Damien didn’t, unfortunately. Poor tink.

“Nah, you shut the hell up and answer my ques⁠—”

Keegan moved so quickly that my brain had a hard time processing what happened. He had Damien hemmed up by his shirt, up against the wall next to the still open front door.

“You gonna wanna be real careful wit’ how you speak to me, nigga. I ain’t the one, two, or three. I ain’t even the four. Matter of fact, count that bitch all the way up to a hundred thousand. All you need to know is that Chyna is mine now, and her and Liam are more than taken care of when they wit’ me. You understand that? And before you answer, I sure the fuck hope you do understand. Only reason you ain’t leakin’ on the floor right now is ’cause my respect for Liam and Chyna outweigh my irritation for you, but one wrong word from you can change that. You feel me?”

“I got you,” Damien said through clenched teeth.

Keegan let him go and then patted Damien on the head. “Good man.”

Damien pulled away with a confused expression, and I stood there planted in place, unsure if I should burst out laughing or allow the secondhand embarrassment for Damien to seep through me. Option two won. I couldn’t believe I had spent so much time with such a punk.

Avoiding eye contact with him, I looked at Stephanie, who appraised me right back.

“Do we have a problem?” I raised a brow at her. I wasn’t as crazy as Keegan, but I didn’t have a problem with taking it there if it came down to it, and she needed to know that. I wouldn’t tolerate another B word or name that wasn’t Chyna Drayton to fall from her lips.

She must have caught the hint because she sucked her teeth and rolled her eyes. “Nah.”

Keegan had to be rubbing off on me because I had the crazy urge to pat the bitch on her head and call her a good girl, but I refrained.

“Now that we got that settled. Take these lil niggas off our hands so we can have some fun.” Keegan bent and grabbed Liam’s and KJ’s bags, respectively, and handed them to Stephanie and Damien.

They both looked hesitant to take the bags and like they wanted to protest some more, but they thought better of it. Begrudgingly, they grabbed the bags as I called out for the boys.

“KJ, Liam! Come on,” I shouted.

Seconds later, we heard the bedroom door open, and their little footsteps sounded above us. Moments later, they were downstairs and looking at all of us expectantly.

“Is we go now?” Liam finally asked.

I bent to give him a hug. “Yes. Give me some love.” His little arms wrapped around my neck, and he kissed my face repeatedly. I giggled. “Say bye to Kee and KJ.”

Liam pulled away from me like I was suddenly made of fire. His little face took on a look of horror. “Bye to KJ?”

I nodded slowly, sensing a tantrum coming on. “Yeah, baby. You’re going with your dad, and he’s going with his mommy.”

Liam looked over my shoulder at Stephanie and Damien, then back at me. He lifted his finger and pointed at them. “They can live together.”

I chuckled. “No, baby. That’s not how this works.”

“It can work,” KJ chimed in. “I not like Mama’s boyfriend. Him can be her boyfriend.”

I glanced up at Keegan, and his ass was bent over laughing. “Aye, man. Good luck wit’ that conversation. I ain’t in this one,” he said to Damien and Stephanie, who eyed each other defiantly.

Keegan straightened up and hugged KJ and Liam. KJ gave me a quick hug before he grabbed his mom’s hand. Damien grabbed Liam by the top of the head and navigated him toward the door.

The boys wasted no time trying to convince Damien and Stephanie why they should all spend the weekend together.

“Bye! So nice to meet you, Darnell!” Keegan said before he slammed the door shut behind him.