Page 59 of Certified to Handle You 3

Pressure lifted his head a little and looked at me. “It’s been days, Pluto. Renza ain’t even comin’ home. You know that ain’t like that nigga.”

“I know,” I said soft.

“He not gon’ say it like this, and he not gon’ ask me to put her out ’cause he know you let her in,” Pressure said. “But this his shit too. I can’t have that nigga stayin’ in hotels while everybody wait on him to be ready to walk through his own door.”

I swallowed and kept looking at the candles because I felt both sides of it. I loved Sha’Nelle. I loved her enough to hold her on my steps, let her cry into me and give her somewhere to rest when everything else felt like it was falling apart. But I loved my husband too, and I understood what he was trying to protect. This wasn’t about being mean to her. It was about everybody finally letting Renza and Sha’Nelle stand in the middle of their own mess without using our homes, marriages and peace as places to bleed.

“I’ll talk to her,” I said.

Pressure lowered his head back down and pressed a kiss against my nipple. “I ain’t tryna be cruel to her.”

I kissed the top of his head. “I know you’re not.”

“I just want my house back,” he murmured. “And I want Renza home.”

My nails moved over his head again. “I know, baby.”

He breathed out against me, and some of the tension in him eased. I stayed awake with him in my arms, rubbing his back while his body got heavier against mine. After everything we had just shared, the quiet felt different now. It felt full of all the things we both knew but didn’t need to keep saying.

Pressure fell asleep against me a little while later. His arm was still wrapped around my stomach with his face resting close to my chest. I kissed his forehead again and looked toward the candles, already preparing myself for the conversation I needed to have with Sha’Nelle.

Everybody loved her. Everybody loved Renza, but it was time for them to figure out what they were going to do with each other without dragging the rest of us into the middle of it.

Just like me and Pressure had to find our way back. Just like Toni and Kay’Lo would have to fix what had been shaken in their house…

Sha’Nelle and Renza had to face each other or let each other go, but they couldn’t keep making everybody else hold the door open while they decided.

Trill-Land, ‘LoLux Estate

Days later…

I found Kay’Lo in My’Love room, sittin’ in his recliner, foldin’ her clothes with his sleeves pushed up and that same calm look on his face that had been makin’ my stomach hurt this past week.

We hadn’t fucked in about nine days, and last week, he boarded up my damn Red Room and had me walkin’ past it every day feelin’ sick ‘cause he knew I loved that part of our marriage.

Kay’Lo had My’Love’s lil’ socks stacked together, her sleepers folded neat, and one of her dresses in his hand, still takin’ care of everything in this house while still bein’ mad at me. That was what made it worse. He wasn’t slammin’ doors, yellin’ or none of that shit. He was just pullin’ his energy back, and I hated that shit more than any argument we’ve ever had.

I walked in with a glass of brown liquor in my hand and looked at him for a second before I held it out.

“You still mad at me, Daddy?” I asked, and my voice came out real soft.

Kay’Lo looked at the glass first, then he looked at me. He took it from my hand when I got closer and took a sip, but he ain’t say nothin’ right away. That hurt, but I ain’t say shit about it.

I stepped closer, slid myself on his lap and wrapped one arm around his neck while he sat here with the glass in one hand and his other arm restin’ behind me like he wasn’t sure if he wanted to touch me or not.

“I’m not finna fuss with you,” I whispered. “I just wanted to bring you this.”

Kay’Lo looked at me for a few seconds, and I could see he was still mad. It wasn’t loud or crash-out mad. It was just Kay’Lo mad, where everything in him got quiet and you had to feel the distance instead of hear it.

I turned my face to his and kissed him soft, pressin’ my lips to his so he could feel my apology without me makin’ a whole speech. He ain’t pull away, but he ain’t give in too fast either. His mouth moved against mine slow, just enough to let me feel him, and I kissed along his smooth jaw before comin’ back to his lips, tryna love the mad outta him without sayin’ too much.

I kissed him again and let my lips stay on his bottom lip a second longer before I pulled back just enough to look at him.

“I know I had you feelin’ like I was movin’ behind yo’ back,” I said low. “I ain’t want that, and I don’t want you lookin’ at me like I’m against you, ‘cause I’m not.”

Kay’Lo sat his glass on the floor, and his hand finally came to my hip. It wasn’t the way he usually grabbed me, but it was enough to make my body loosen a lil’.

“You still did it,” he said.