Page 30

I didn’t even bother to respond because I didn’t want him posting shit on his page. It would give off the impression that we were together and it would have all his hoes getting the wrong idea about me. They’d think I was some dumb bitch he had put up while he did whatever he wanted. I wasn’t going to bother texting him any of that because it wasn’t going to be received well. I’d try to tell him how I felt on the matter when he got here and I could only hope he’d truly respect my mind. However, there was a big chance he could say fuck whatever I was talking about and still post the pictures. He had them all in his possession to do whatever he wanted to do with them. I had no one but myself to blame for that because I sent them to him. They came out beautifully and I was excited to share them. I never stopped to think about whether he would post the pictures or not. If I had thought about it I would’ve confidently said that he wouldn’t want to post them. He was living his best single life and posting our maternity pictures could disrupt that or cause confusion in his world. But a lot of women were willing to overlook those types of things. Personally, a nigga with a baby on the way couldn’t do shit for me except get the fuck on. It was a gigantic red flag. I thought that before I got pregnant and now that I had my own experience I felt even stronger about it. Even with Armias and I not doing anything sexual, there was a whole lot beyond that and I wouldn’t put up with it if I was dating him. He’d drop whatever he was doing if I called for something, he rubbed my swollen feet, he laced my palms with wads of cash every other day, and he checked in with me multiple times a day. Those were things every pregnant woman deserved from the man who impregnated her and that was the very reason I’d never get involved with a man who had a baby on the way. The whole process was way too intimate and I’d be bothered by everything.

I finished cleaning the kitchen and made my way over to the living room to pick up all the toys Zee had been playing with. I put them in the bin and stored them in my hallway closet. When I returned to the living room I had to sit down and take a breather because I was a little winded. As soon as my ass hit the couch my phone started ringing. When I saw Denim’s name across my screen I sighed in relief. I thought it was Armias calling because I hadn’t responded to him about posting those maternity pictures.

“Hey sis, what’s up?”

“Bitchhhhh!”

My heart dropped into my ass. The delivery of that one curse word was the only indicator I needed to know that she was calling with gag worthy tea that had to pertain to me in some way.

“What’s going on? Should I be scared?”

“Lo, go look at Kayla’s most recent post on IG.” Her bypassing my last question was my answer.

“Kayla who?” Kayla was a common ass name in New Orleans and probably everywhere else in America. I knew at least five of them.

“Nalyssa’s best friend, Kayla.”

“Oh…okay, I’m finna look now,” I said as my stomach twisted in knots. Kayla had been Lyss’ best friend since their freshman year of high school. I’d hung out with her a lot in our teen years and our family had accepted her with open arms. The only times I saw her in recent years was at family functions that Lyss invited her to. She’d gained quite the reputation in the city and her online activity didn’t help that narrative. I don’t think she cared, though, because she was a stripper and people making assumptions came with the territory of being a sex worker. She consistently posted her twerking videos and promoted her Only Fans with no shame. And rightfully so! I never hated any woman who was hustling to take care of herself. Kayla wasn’t hurting anybody from the way she made money and I could care less what she did with her pussy. She’d always been nice to me and she was the only friend Lyss had managed to keep over the years. She’d always been good in my book, so I was nervous that Denim had called with tea that involved her. Anytime Kayla was in some mess it was drama over a man and most of the time it was a man that wasn’t hers. If this girl was fucking Armias and posting about it I was going to loose my mind. Technically, Armias wasn’t taken and he could fuck with whoever he wanted to, but I was going to have to put my foot down on this. Kayla was in my close friends and I always saw her in my views. She’d actually liked and reacted with heart eyes on multiple pictures and videos I’d posted with Armias back in the Spring. If she was fucking with him then that was super messy and I wasn’t going to let it roll off my back. Both of them bitches was gon’ feel me!

“Hold up, this bitch pregnant?” I exclaimed in shock. I’d put my phone on speaker to make my way to Instagram and view her latest post like Denim had told me to. She’d posted pregnancy pictures for the first time in the form of a professional shoot. Oddly enough, she had the same Laundry Day theme as my first maternity photoshoot except it was a blue version because she was having a boy. Everything from the rollers in hair, her outfit, and her caption was nearly identical to my shoot. “Blue is our new favorite color. We’re happy to say our little prince is on the way. February 2026!”

“Yea, and I think her weird ass wants your life!”

I bursted into laughter. “Girl, is that why you called? I mean, she did reheat my nachos with this photoshoot but it is a popular theme. Maybe it's a coincidence. Shit, I got the idea off Pinterest.”

I was being nice because I knew very well it wasn’t some sheer coincidence. I took my first maternity pictures on the very last day of September and I shared a bunch of behind the scenes content to my close friends. I could tell that Kayla had taken her pictures recently because she had blue hair in them. She posted selfies with that hair color a week ago to her IG story and I only remembered because she never steered away from her signature red hair. I thought she looked really pretty so I commented heart eyes along with several other people.

“Bitch, keep scrolling so you can see who put that baby in her fake ass!”

When I saw she was pregnant the thoughts I had about her and Armias had vanished. I didn’t put anything past a man, but he didn’t strike me as the type to keep a baby a secret. But I was also basing that off of my own experience with him. Niggas picked and choosed who they wanted to act a certain way with. There were some men who decided what kind of dad they were going to be based on who the mom was and how they felt about her. It was fucked up and so wrong, but it happened everyday. I had no respect for anybody who didn’t treat all their kids the same. With that being said, I still didn’t believe that was something I had to worry about with Armias. My gut was telling me that this wasn’t that, so I swiped left with no worries. About five pictures in, that came to an abrupt halt and I gasped in disbelief.

“Bitch, I know you lying! Her baby daddy is Kenny?!”

“Girllllll, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. I zoomed in on all the pictures he’s in like ten times!”

“Chileeee,” I stressed before throwing my head back and laughing out loud. Kenny’s goofy looking ass was standing behind Kayla in some True Religion jeans, no shirt, and blue Jordans. He looked a fucking mess and he was cheapening the photos!

“You laughing?!”

“Yea, because my flabber is gasted,” I tittered. “This is teaaa for me.”

“But like…it’s funny to you? Cause I’m over here mad as fuck.”

“It’s funny because I would have never predicted this in a million years, but I could truly care less. Better her than me.”

“Well when you put it like that…” Denim giggled.

“Exactly. Kenny’s not somebody I miss even a little bit. Then the little love I had for the nigga based on history disappeared when he lied on me. That shit was scary and because of it I don’t put shit past him. This is right up his grimy ass alley. Now…I would’ve thought that me and Kayla were better than this.”

“Right! That’s why I’m so gagged. This is somebody we’ve known since we were kids. Shit, I liked her more than I liked Lyss’ ass. She was at your grandma’s birthday party earlier this year smiling in your face. And Kenny was by your side at that same party, so for her to be pregnant by him is insane.”

“Girl, it’s overly insane but true tea…we then heard too much shit about her fucking people’s niggas for me to truly belive that my ex would be off limits to her. Now that I’m thinking about it she could have been fucking him prior to our break up. If she’s having her son in February then she got pregnant in May.”

“Damn, so she fucked him when y’all were still cohabitating.”

“Yup, except he wasn’t even coming home at that point. His ass was probably living with her.”

“Girl, that’s too toe up. On both of their parts! You should whoop her ass off principle.”