Page 4 of Do You Right

His brown eyes studied me before he gave me a curt nod. I hugged the bag with my clothes to my chest, then walked around the woman who still behaved like she wanted to attack me. My heart rate sped up when I had to walk past JoJo in the doorway. The way his eyes bore into me sent chills down my spine. I stumbled a little before I recovered and raced quickly down the hall and out of the door. Thankfully, the rain had stopped for the time being.

“Hey, slow down,” a deep voice called from behind me.

My instincts were telling me to keep running, but that voice had power over me. I stopped in place, and KC rushed around to stand in front of me. He slid a wad of money into my hand. “I’m sorry. This is all the cash I have on me right now.” I shook my head, refusing to accept, but he tightened his grip, forcing me to look at him. I saw kindness in his gaze that made me stop resisting. “I’m sorry for the trouble. If you have any pain or lingering effects, come and find me. I will cover your treatment.”

Seeing that he was being so genuine with me, I got ready to say what I really wanted to, but that woman stopped me. “KC!” she hollered from behind us.

I glanced over my shoulder to find her and JoJo on the porch watching us. I tucked in my bottom lip, deciding to mind my business. I could only pray he would find out the truth about those two sooner than later. It wouldn’t come from me, though. I had my own problems to figure out.

“Thank you,” I whispered, taking the money. “Could I get my bag from your car please?”

He headed to his car to grab it for me. My heart raced when our fingers brushed against each other. Still feeling the heat coming from the two on the porch, I turned and rushed down the street. It felt like I had a target on my back, and the sooner I got away from those two vicious monsters, the sooner my heart would dislodge from my throat.

The salty aroma of bacon woke me up out of my sleep. I forgot I wasn’t in bed alone, until I shifted to get up and felt the weight of a body draped across me. I shook my head at Tycelyn sleeping peacefully beside me. I couldn’t get her ass to leave last night after she started throwing up all her liquor. Because I wasn’t a completely heartless nigga, I allowed her to stay the night, but I had already decided it was the last time. Our relationship was over as far as I was concerned.

After finally maneuvering her off me, I went to the bathroom to handle my hygiene. When I was fresh and clean, I followed the bacon scent all the way to the kitchen, where I found my mother, Karissa, humming at the stove. “Ma, what are you doing here?”

She glanced over her shoulder to smile at me. “It’s Sunday, Son,” she reminded me. “Since you missed service, we came over to have brunch with you.”

“Sunday again?” I scratched my eyebrow because the week had certainly gone by quicker than I realized. I took long strides to close the distance between us. My arms went around her waist to hug her, and I bent down a little, because of our height difference, to kiss her on the cheek. “Oh, word. Where’s Pop?”

“Outside trimming your hedges,” she replied quickly.

I shook my head as I released her. “I thought I told him not to worry about doing that. I planned to hire someone to handle it for me.”

She waved me off, moving around the kitchen with ease. She’d been here before and done this routine plenty of times since I’d moved into this townhome a year ago. Walking over to the refrigerator, I grabbed a bottle of water before taking a seat at the floating island. Even at my big age of twenty-eight, my parents still spoiled me in any way they could. Back when I was still a child, they showed up by supplying my every need. Now as a successful MLB player for the Solaire Sonics, I no longer needed money from them, so they liked to spoil me with home-cooked meals and doing chores I could pay other people to do for me.

I’d lost count of how many times I’d told them to chill because I’d gotten this far thanks to their support, and it was my turn to take care of them, but they wouldn’t hear anything of it. To Riley and Karissa Carter, I would always be their baby boy, and they would forever take care of me. I wasn’t born to rich parents, but what they lacked in money, they surely made up for in character. Our home was loving, and even though both of my parents worked hard year after year, they never complained. Whenever I needed new equipment or membership fees for a training camp, they made sure I had it. I wouldn’t trade either of them for any other pair of parents in the whole wide world.

My little sister Kava walked past me while snapping her fingers and singing along to whatever song she was listening to. I smiled down at her climbing onto the stool beside me. Leaning closer, I pressed my ear to her headphones to find out what had her moving and grooving. The lyrics of “Get Up On It” by Keith Sweat blasted from the other side and I started howling.

“Your child,” I told my mother with a point.

She glanced at Kava and smiled. “Who she listening to?”

“Keith Sweat.” I shook my head and frowned. “When I was her age, I would’ve gotten whupped for listening to grown folks’ music.”

My mama couldn’t help but to laugh. “That’s true, but she’s such a sweetheart. I can’t bring myself to do it.”

I folded my arms over my chest and pouted before I kept pressing her about it. “I’m a sweetheart too, though. I never gave you any issues. You could’ve let me sing Keith Sweat too.”

She swatted me with the dish towel from the other side. “All the problems you didn’t give me growing up, you’re surely repaying me for in adulthood. Every time I turn around, my spades group is bringing up some blog article about you. I swear it’s like those people don’t have nothing else to talk about but my son.” She pointed at me, making me laugh harder. “I’m witcha when you’re right and wrong, but I be so sick of it. Please try to stay out of trouble, Son, and keep better friends around you.”

This wasn’t my first time hearing my mother warn me about the things happening in my personal life. As an athlete, there was hardly any privacy when I was out and about, so imagine how quick the phones came out when there was drama involved. Between Tycelyn and JoJo, I was always in some unnecessary mess. When I was younger, I could just sweep it under the rug, but the older I got, the more I understood how detrimental the drama could be for my name. I hadn’t worked this hard to be thrown off course by some negative public slander. Granted, I knew I couldn’t control what people said about me, but I could do my part by ensuring I didn’t put myself in situations that didn’t properly represent my character.

“I know, Mama. Don’t worry. I’m staying out the way. Won’t be any new blogs about me. I promise.”

“Good.” She smiled, seemingly satisfied with my reply. I pulled my phone from the pocket of my shorts to distract myself. “I noticed it’s quiet on the block today,” my mother said after flipping a pancake.

I pulled at my chin hairs with a nod. If she hadn’t said anything, I wouldn’t have noticed. “That’s because I got rid of that violin playing girl. We can finally have some peace and quiet around here,” Tycelyn said, flaunting into the kitchen with a grin.

My mother’s entire body became rigid, hearing Ty behind her. When she turned to face her, she sported a deep frown. There weren’t many people my mother didn’t care for, but somehow, my childhood sweetheart was on the top of the list. I wasn’t sure if it was because we’d dated on and off since sixteen or the constant toxic drama, but my mother couldn’t stand her. She didn’t mind letting me know any chance she could either.

“What are you doing here?” she asked Ty, who picked up a piece of bacon from the bowl. My mother popped her hand, causing her to hiss and drop it. Ty’s eyes darted to me for support, but I couldn’t help her. She knew better than to dig in my mama’s pots and pans.

She rolled her eyes while folding her arms over her chest once she realized she was on her own. “I stayed here with my man last night. Is that okay with you, Mrs. Carter?”

Before they could begin arguing, I abandoned my phone and hopped up to drag Tycelyn out of the kitchen. “Don’t worry. She’s not staying, Ma. I’ll be right back.” My mama sighed in relief while I pushed Ty out of the kitchen and toward the front of the house. “Look, I meant what I said last night. We are done, Ty.”