Page 6

“Do you want the phone, Lo?”

“She don’t got no wants!”

“Armias, you better stop all that shouting in my ear before I hang up.”

“I’m sorry, mama. You know I got nothing but love for you but your daughter got me fucked up! It feels like I’m being punished when I haven’t done shit to her!”

“Mama, give me the phone,” I held my hand out anxiously. I had a feeling he was about to start pouring his heart out and I didn’t need all my business on front street. He’d already said more than enough in the presence of mixed company. But really, he couldn’t have called at a better time and I was glad my mom had put the phone on speaker. It proved the point I was just making to Nalyssa. I wasn’t chasing behind no nigga to force him to be a daddy like her.

When my mom gave me the phone I took it off speaker and walked to my grandma’s room for privacy.

“Why are you calling my mama with this dumb shit, Armias?” I asked once the door was closed behind me.

“Man, where you at? I’m finna pull up so we can talk.”

“We can talk over the phone.”

“No the fuck we can’t, Lourdes,” he gritted. My pussy thumped when he said my name and that only pissed me off even more. “I’m not about to keep playing with your ass.”

“Nigga I’m matching your energy. You said fuck me and denied my baby.”

“I ain’t say no shit like that and you ain’t in no position to match my energy, Lourdes.”

“Why not? Because I was still residing with my EX boyfriend when I was dating you?”

“You say that shit like it’s nothing!”

“No I’m not, I’m just saying what the fuck it actually was. And yes, I was wrong as hell for lying to you about that. I should’ve kept it real from day one and all of this nonsense could’ve been avoided. But hear me loud and clear when I say me and that man was done in every aspect other than sharing a lease. I wouldn’t even say we were living together because he was never at the house. He straight up lied to you about everything because he saw me moving on and he was mad.”

“You still sharing a lease with that nigga?” He asked. He bypassed everything else that I said so I had no way of knowing if he believed me or not.

“No. After y’all got me kicked out of my suite I didn’t feel safe to stay somewhere he had access to, so I moved in with my mom.”

“No you didn’t.”

“What?”

“I passed around there a few times last month and I never saw your car.”

“Nigga, what?”

“Where you live at, Lourdes?”

“I was staying with my mama for lil while but I got my own place last month.”

“Alright, send me your address.”

“Why the fuck would I do that?”

“Because we need to talk about our baby. What the fuck?”

“Ain’t shit to talk about. I’ll hit you up when I give birth and then you can get a DNA test.”

“We don’t have to wait until you give birth to do that. We can do a blood test as soon as tomorrow.”

“What the fuck are you bothering me and my mama for if you have doubts? Just leave me the fuck alone. I can do my pregnancy by myself.”

“You really got the nerve to be in your feelings as if I don’t have the right to question some shit.”