"You 'posed to go to the animal shelter." Hakeem told Josiah as he followed behind him through PetSmart, "That's where they take all the lil dogs that used to get beat and shit."

"Ion want no dog that used to get beat 'cause that's all I'ma think about when I'm beating him."

Josiah had a bad habit of saying things loud enough so that the people around him could hear. The problem with that was people didn't know him to know that nearly everything that came out of his mouth was a joke.

A worker's head came up at the sound of Josiah say he was going to beat whichever dog he brought home, "Excuse me?"

"I'm talking shit," Josiah replied with a fake smile. "It's bad karma to hit on dogs, women, and babies."

Hakeem couldn't help but laugh, "Oh that's the bad karma you worried about?"

"I haven't done nothing else worth no karma so what you tryna say?"

"Nothing at all. Let's go pick a dog."

Josiah was attempting to do something nice for Kyra by getting another dog after he'd demanded that she get rid of the other one that she randomly brought home, "I want a pit or some."

"Nigga PetSmart don't have no damn pits. You gotta look on Facebook... Matter fact Derrick dog just had some babies. Write him on Instagram."

Josiah made a face, "Ion fuck with him like that. Kyra was tryna prove a point one time and showed me that nigga tryna fuck with her but he speak every time he see me. Hoe shit."

"What make you special?" Hakeem asked as he stopped to look at a dog collar, "Ain't nobody safe out here..... You think Bri wanna dog?"

"A dog ain't gone get you no pussy, and I know everybody free game but shit if I'm tryna fuck with somebody bitch, Ian gone speak."

"I'll name the dog 'Pooh' or some. She like lame shit like that."

Sighing, Josiah realized Hakeem was going to be little help, "Who else you know got a pit?"

Hakeem could be said to be the more social friend, knowing a person for everything. Connections were important, and Hakeem had a lot of them.

"I can't think of nobody else off the top of my head. Why you buying a dog for anyway? What happened to Chico?"

"Bitch the dog name was Bella. Y'all some racist ass niggas boy I tell 'ya."

He'd only seen the dog once, and that was when Josiah tried to give it to him because she peed outside of his door, causing Josiah to step into a puddle of urine in the middle of the night. He tried to give the dog to multiple people before simply asking Kyra to take it back where it came from.

After Kyra did what he asked, Josiah felt bad about making her get rid of it. She'd had a slight attitude ever since and he just wanted her to be happy again. He also intended on talking to her about Raelyn later and wanted her to be in the best mood possible.

Ignoring Josiah's comment, Hakeem took the lead and started walking towards the dogs, "I think I'ma get her a dog."

"She gone teach that motherfucker how to bite you and I wanna be there when it happen."

He paused and looked at Josiah, "You dumb as hell but sometimes you be speaking facts. Lemme gone let that idea go."

Josiah's phone vibrated in his pocket, the pattern of the vibration alerting him to the fact that it was Raelyn texting him, "I done thought this girl up." He mumbled, pulling out the phone that wasn't even designated for conversations with 'regular' people.

It worked out though, mainly because Kyra knew he had two phones, and in the time that she'd been with him, he'd never given that number to a female before.

Three phones would've been pushing it, but this way he'd always be able to know if something went wrong with Rae.

So maybe it could be viewed as luck, on Raelyn's part, that her mother was able to reach Josiah to convey the message that he was needed at the hospital.

• • •

"Bri?!" Alisha shouted when she walked into the house, "Come here!"

Setting the spoon down, Brielle walked out of the kitchen to go meet her mother by the door, "Wassup?"

"What's up." She mocked, "Why you sound so hard? How you supposed to find somebody and you act like a boy?"

Brielle wouldn't classify herself as a tomboy, she just didn't care for all that extra stuff. Spending copious amounts of time doing makeup just wasn't appealing to her.

"I don't know." Brielle replied while shrugging her shoulders, "And I'm not looking for anybody so that doesn't really matter to me."

Alisha turned her nose up, observing her daughter more closely, "And why you won't put a perm or something in your head so it'll lay flat?"

"It's a twist-out. it's not supposed to 'lay flat'."

"Hmmmm."

Once she realized her mama didn't want anything other than to critique her appearance, Brielle went back into the kitchen to finish making dinner for her and her younger sister, Kayla. She wasn't too concerned with Alisha following behind her, her focus on making sure the pot of yellow rice didn't become mushy.

Smelling the beef tips that'd just finished, Alisha nosily leaned around Bri to see what she was cooking, "That better not be the meat I just bought."

"It's not. I bought this myself."

"With what money?" Alisha asked, "You ain't got a job that I know about."

"I borrowed some money from a friend." Bri lied easily.

"And what you gone do when that 'friend' want his money back?"

At this point, Brielle felt like Alisha was nitpicking.  She literally walked through the front door ready to start some shit with her. Bri also didn't like what Alisha was insinuating by asking what she would do when she had to pay the nonexistent person back.

She wasn't sure what details Alisha knew about when she ran away, but Brielle could only assume that her mom knew nearly everything, just like her siblings, and was trying to slyly insult her.

Even with these thoughts running through her head, Brielle knew nothing but an argument would come from a continued conversation with the lady still standing behind her, so she simply stirred the spoon around the pot, "I guess I'll just pay them back."

"I hope you plan on having a job by then."

She's just looking for a way to piss you off,  Brielle told herself, Don't fall for it.

"I hope I have a job by then too."

10/10, She applauded in her head, A convincing queen.

When Brielle went to reach for plates to begin placing them on the table, Alisha finally revealed her motive for calling her into the living room, "How much food you made?"

"It'll be some left over after we eat."

"Good. Company coming over tonight and they'll want a plate."

It's amazing, really, that Alisha would have the audacity to tell Brielle to share her food with company that wasn't even for her when she'd just gotten done asking if the food Bri was cooking was purchased by her.

"......I guess?"

"You know Ms. Hattie Mae? The one in the wheelchair?"

"That lady who look like she hide pickles under her tongue? Yeah I know her."

Alisha let out a genuine laugh at the description, "I've been going over there to help her when I get off work, and last weekend her grandbaby was over there."

Not realizing where this conversation was headed, Brielle called out for her sister, "Kayla come eat!"

Feet pattered down the hall as she came running into the kitchen, climbing into the chair her plate sat in front of, "Thank you."

"You know he a welder." Alisha continued, "Underwater or whatever he said."

"How nice."

"I showed him your picture and, surprisingly, he liked you. Well not really surprising since I don't have any funny-looking kids, but still."

"I'm confused as to why you showed him my picture. Nobody about to play matchmaker, and he probably look just like his grandma: Bad built and ugly."

Kayla shifted in her chair, "Can I get a juice?"

"Let me tell you some. When you get older, looks and all that other shit don't matter. You find somebody who'll provide for you and your kids and stop thinking like a child."

"Kids? I'm 18 and I haven't even started working towards a degree or anything. I don't want any kids."

"What you need a degree for when I just told you he go underwater and fix on them pipes? Then he hardly ever be here, so you'll probably only have to deal with him for two weeks out of the month."

Alisha and Brielle had two very different outlooks on life. While Alisha was content living on her counterpart's dime, Brielle never wanted anyone to have that much reach or control over her life. It was evident in the way that she always 'paid' for things in her own little way, making it feel like an even trade to her.

She also wasn't keen on being in a relationship where she felt like she had to deal with somebody. The way she viewed relationships was as having a best friend, someone she looked forward to seeing and coming home to.

"I'm good on that." Brielle replied, getting Kayla a bottle of water in place of the requested juice.

Placing her hands on her hips, Alisha looked Brielle up and down, "Ion know where you get the big head from, but you gotta contribute something if you gone be staying here."

As previously mentioned, Bri and Alisha had come to an agreement that she would give Alisha $100 a month as contribution until she got a job, but now that Alisha had this thought in her head, she wanted Brielle to do what she told her to.

"If you give me time to find a job then-"

"Time don't wait for nobody. You wanna be grown? Then do some grown woman shit and get it how you live." 

Jacoby entered the kitchen then,  side-eyeing his mama because of her statement, "So basically you want her to be a prostitute?"

"You in my business and don't know what's going on. If a man can ask her for pussy, then she can ask for some help with these bills."

Brielle's eyes drifted to Kayla who was intently watching their mother, soaking in everything that was being said, "I'm not talking to him."

"Then make sure you have $200 on the power bill next week. And that's on top of the other hundred I'm still expecting."

It'd only been two weeks in this house, and Brielle just knew the next 52 would be nearly intolerable.

• • •

"I was thinking of grey." Kyra replied, holding different shades towards Travis, "Or maybe like a light purple?"

"I'll be damned if you have my lil boy inna purple room. Do black. Or blue."

They sat on the floor in the room that would soon be a nursery looking at paint colors, trying to decide on a color.

"I hate the 'boy' colors. I want something different."

"Ion want no gay son Kyra."

She sighed in irritation, "You can't make somebody gay by having them in a certain color room. You deadass just sounded so stupid."

Certain days were easier than others for Kyra, and today was a day where even a modicum of ignorance was going to get a rude response.

"My bad then shit. Gone paint it purple and I'ma think of Barney every time I walk in that hoe."

"What color you wanna paint it then, Travis?"

"I just told you black or blue and you wanted to beat my ass so we can just do purple. Whatever  you want."

Majority of Kyra's attitude dissipated in a matter of seconds, "That's sweet."

"I be telling you none of that shit matter. I'm just tryna see you happy."

Travis... liked or tentatively loved Kyra. When he was with her, Brielle failed to cross his mind, and if she did, the thought was fleeting. There was also the fact that Kyra was carrying his child.

They'd confirmed Travis as the biological father when Kyra asked for a paternity test as soon as it was available. How she felt about it didn't particularly matter because Travis made it perfectly clear that no matter what Kyra decided to do, he'd be keeping his son.

Some days Kyra saw herself being a family with Travis, only to go home and feel guilty when Josiah would do nice things for her such as rub her feet or attempt to cook so that she wouldn't have to.

What started off as revenge turned into something way more than she wanted to be, and as badly as she claimed to feel, she couldn't stop herself from continuing on with it.

"How about a jungle theme?" Kyra suggested 

"Whatever you want, Kyra."

And Travis meant every word. 

• • •

omg what's wrong w/ the baby 😓 i don't like the suspense at all.

okay so tea: that other baby don't belong to josiah. whew chile who gone tell 'em 😩

thanks for reading 💕

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