Page 17

“What’s wrong Hurtz?” Her pretty voice had me looking over at her in despair. I never wanted to be the nagging ass nigga that complained all the time. I tried my best to go with the flow.

“Got a lot going on today. Coach worked us like crazy in practice, I don’t even feel up to having this party today either.” That was the truth, my muscles hurt like shit and my mind wasn’t on celebrating a birthday.

“Don’t go then, I’m pretty sure they won’t mind just coming to you.” Jocelyn slid out of bed. I wondered if she even remembered that today was my fucking birthday.

“Convenient as fuck for you,” I mumbled loud enough for her to hear me. Taking her slender frame in, I frowned. Jocelyn use to have a little thickness to her now she looked like she was nothing but skin in bones. Despite her looking skinny as hell, she still held her youthfulness beauty to her.

“Always sounding like your last name.” She mumbled back over her shoulder. I ignored that jab, I wasn’t hurting like I used to, I was just tired of her bullshit. Not wanting to back down like a buster ass nigga I said some shit that had her stopping in her tracks.

“Its always another someone that’s willing to do what your mate can’t seem to grasp.”

“What the fuck is that suppose to mean.” She put her hand on her peanut butter waist and gave me a daring look.

“It means you slacking bad as fuck Jah, you act like you got a list of things to do around here as my wife. I bet you ain’t even planning on being there today for my dinner party.” I threw the covers off and sat at the edge of the bed.

“My best friend is having a party today; you knew about this already. I’ve been talking about it for weeks now.” She sighed hard and it was like I was getting a way better view of the real Jocelyn. It was a hard blow to the gut too. It was evident as fuck that Jocelyn didn’t give a damn. All these years, that we have been together, I constantly tried to make things easy for her.

I never wanted her feeling overwhelmed with Luv or Passion so she never did a thing when it was regarding my sisters. I didn’t fault her for that shit because in my mind it wasn’t her responsibility. Today was my birthday though, and even though I wasn’t that thrilled about it. It bothered me that she still hadn’t even offered up a happy birthday or some form of acknowledgment. I knew about her best friend Jessica party but I thought she would pick me over her friend since I was her husband that gave her any and everything she wanted.

“Yup.” I stood up and started gathering my shit to go in the guest bathroom. I wanted to see what my sisters were up to and also see if they need extra spending money to get themselves something nice to wear for my dinner party.

“Are you thinking about cheating on me, Soulful.” I turned with my clothes in my hands and looked deep into her eyes.

“I wouldn’t cheat on you Jah. I love you too much to do you foul like that.” I could see the relief washing over her entire pretty face.

“What I would do, if I ever thought about cheating or knew I was close to cheating… I’d divorce you and make sure that you were straight even without me. I don’t know what’s up with you Jah, I haven’t been able to get close to your heart ever since your brother got killed. That shit changed who you were. I never let my personal and hurtful problems get in the way of how I treat you, especially since you're my wife.” I left out the room and left her alone with her thoughts.

I didn’t have it in me to argue or go back and forth with her today, because that shit drained me and made me feel like throwing the towel in. Back in the day, nobody could tell me that Jocelyn wasn’t my dream girl. I crushed on her hard as fuck and was deeply in love with her. I’m the nigga that took her virginity and taught her everything that she knew.

I feel like the money changed who she was, she had the money thanks to me and was free to do whatever with that money to make her happy. It was like she didn’t look to me for happiness, her happiness was me giving her that almighty dollar to do as she pleased. I was the type of nigga that let a person do what they’d rather do. I didn’t like asking a person for shit not even a helping hand.

After taking a much-needed shower, I threw on some basketball shorts and a white beater and walked into the kitchen since the smell coming from that area had my stomach growling. Luv was standing there stirring the pot while Passion sat bobbing her head listening to music through her air pods. When they noticed me walk in the kitchen, they both got super dramatic.

“Happy birthday Teddy!” Passion and Luv yelled out and rushed me. I can’t even lie that shit made me feel so good that I was getting ready to shed a tear. My sisters were like my kids, I’d been taking care of them their whole lives. The task wasn’t an easy one, but I got that shit done and was still doing the best I could to be their provider.

“Thank you, babies.” I cleared my throat and took a seat at the kitchen table.

“Teddy, I got some fly shit for tonight!” Luv was the first to talk, I usually got on her about her language but the girl had been cursing since she learned how to walk.

“You don’t got to get extra’d out Luv, it's just a dinner party.” I reminded her, Luv was eighteen, but she was gone have me growing gray hairs soon. I just turned twenty-six, but Luv had me feeling like I was way older than that with the way she constantly stressed me. Luv was really the loud and wild sister. Passion was fifteen and very quiet and sneaky.

Luv was outspoken and hardheaded, she loved to challenge me the most. Passion would listen and keep quiet and if she disobeyed me, she went about the shit in a sneaky way.

“Uncle Berto said, he going all out for you tonight! He said he wasn’t gone let you spend this birthday acting like an old man. I just know he rented out some real player shit for you so trust and believe we getting lit tonight.” I almost spit my orange juice out. Clearing my throat, I shook my head at Luv as she walked around the island and brought me my plate of food.

Luv did most of the cooking and I appreciated that. She learned how to cook from Sovereign. She started cooking little shit at fourteen and now she was a mini five-star chef. I looked at my plate and dug right in. She made buttermilk waffles with eggs, sausage, and bacon. Even though it was just an average breakfast the display of it had me feeling like I was in an expensive restaurant.

“Luv, I don’t think I’m going out tonight. Just the dinner baby girl,” I reassured her. To my understanding, Roberto’s crazy ass wasn’t even out here. He was supposed to be back in Mexico taking care of his cartel. He told me he had encountered a couple of problems back home, that needed his attention.

Luv and Passion thought I missed the sly look that they gave each other.

“What’s up with y’all?” I eyed them suspiciously. Love was getting ready to answer me until her phone started ringing. That was Passion’s cue to give her focus back to her phone.

“Teddy, Uncle Berto wants to know if your wife wished you a sweet happy birthday.” I felt my stomach turning. Roberto was probably about to do some wild ass shit. I wanted to lie in front of the girls and tell him she did. I didn’t like lying though, that shit didn’t settle good in my spirit.

“It’s only nearing nine thirty. You know it takes time for her to warm up in the morning.” Luv placed him on speaker.

“Well, happy birthday brotherrrrr! Tonight, we getting ratchet for thattttttt!” he clicked his teeth and chuckled into the phone.