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“What?”
“We need to talk.”
I didn’t like the way he sounded.
“What now? Your wife complaining or something?”
“Stop bringin’ my fuckin’ wife up. You’re the least of her concern. Are we understood?”
“Yeah, Rah,” I said, rolling my eyes.
It was always my wife. I got sick of hearing the shit, if I was being honest.
“I need you to find you somethin’ to do.”
“Fuck does that mean?”
“It means that I’m ‘bouta be done carryin’ you. Averie got her own shit…”
“What the fuck is Kyenna doing besides sitting on her ass?” I cut him off.
“I swear you the hardest muthafucka to talk to, dawg. I don’t kno’ what the fuck I was thinkin’ givin’ you some dick.”
“Answer the question. Is your wife on a damn budget?”
“My wife ain’t gotta worry ‘bouta budget ‘cause she’s the reason we’re eating the way we are. You too fuckin’ dumb to see that. The hate in yo’ blood keeps yo’ eyes blind.”
“What you want me to do, Rah?”
“Go to school or get a damn job.”
“Get a job,” I laughed. “You’re rich as fuck, and you want me to work. Please!”
“I didn’t call to argue with you.”
“But that’s what you do every time you fucking call.”
“Yo’ condo, Ryleigh’s tuition, health insurance, food, and yo’ car note be paid out of my account. You always callin’ for extra shit.”
“Aight, Rah.”
Neither of us said goodbye. We just ended the call. And just like that, the tears started to fall. Had I listened to him that day, he was warning me. All those deposits for my rent at the condo were spent on material shit just so I could keep up with Kyenna and Averie. Now that he was dead, I thought he was crazy for saying I needed to go to school or find a job. Now it was making sense. I wiped my tears as my phone pinged. It was an email from a law office letting me know I was invited to the reading of the will of Rah’s estate. All of a sudden, my feelings were no longer hurt. I just knew this nigga left his daughter something. I rushed to call Kam back. Now that Ryleigh wasn’t bothering me.
“Hey,” she answered the phone.
“Girl, guess what?”
“Raya, what girl? You always got some shit going on.”
“I just got an email for the reading of Rah’s will. Here I was stressing and crying. I knew he wasn’t gonna leave us like that. We didn’t see eye to eye, but he made sure his daughter was taken care of.”
“And you excited like he leaving you something.”
“Damn, bitch! Get that hate outta blood.”
“It’s not hate. It’s truth, and we both know you hate that shit. Which is why you’re stuck with a three-year-old now. I told you that nigga was never going to leave his wife for you. Look what happened.”
“You bouta piss me off.”
