Show Me You Care (4 page)

“Your mom is really nice; too bad you can’t be like her. Can I borrow your car please?”

“Ask my mom if you can borrow her car. Nah, here.” I handed her the keys. “Don’t scratch my baby.”

              Jayden:

I sat in the café waiting for Treasure to come with my daughter. I had no doubt in my mind that Ivy was my daughter. I just wished I’d known two years ago. I watched as Treasure walked in holding the perfect mixture of both her and I. I didn’t know whether to go to them or to sit and pretend I didn’t see them walk in. I stayed seated so it wouldn’t feel anymore awkward. I waited until they were completely in front of me before I stood up.

“Hey!” I said and greeted Treasure with a hug and kiss on the check. “And who is this little cutie?” I looked at my daughter’s face and there was no denying her. I had passed down my dark green eyes and dimples to her.

“I’m Ivy and I like purple and ice cream.” I took her out of Treasure’s arms. I couldn’t believe I had missed two years of her life. I could feel myself getting upset. My number never changed. She could have called me.

“Treasure, why you bring her to me now? What changed?”

“I’m moving to another city and I can’t afford to take her with me. Besides, I took care of her for two years. I think you could handle it okay. Shit, I got a life too, so when I come back, I come back. If I don’t come back, oh well.” I just shook my head. This was the main reason we never lasted. I picked up Ivy and walked out. Here I was trying to make everyone else happy and no one was worried about me. I headed to my car with now sleeping Ivy. Shit, I didn’t even have a car seat. I strapped her up in the middle with every belt securing her little body in one spot. As I drove over to my father’s house, I couldn't believe I woke up thinking I was just going to be meeting my daughter only for me to end up becoming her sole provider. I picked Ivy up and walked inside the house. My mother was waiting to meet Ivy.
"Ma, I'm here!" My mother and Kayden both ran down the stairs excited to meet our new family member. "Aye, Kayden, let me talk to you really quick!" We walked over to the kitchen. "Look, Kay I know this isn't your responsibility but Trey and I are going out of town on business and I need you to take care of Ivy for me pleases."
"I'll take care of her. I'll even invite Jordyn over to meet her. Maybe go out for a while, I haven't talked to her since the day we dropped her off." In walked my mother with a mean look in her face.
"You will not be bringing that crack head’s daughter over to my house and that is a fact. I don't care what your father thinks. He is doing well for her but you can't help an already lost cause. Now there will be no more talk of getting to know that little girl as long as I live in this house." Kayden and I both looked at each other, and then looked at our mother. I couldn't help but shake my head and laugh at my mother. Here we were, almost 17 years later and she still couldn’t accept the fact that my dad cheated on her.

              Chapter 6:

I sat in the backyard of Trey’s house trying to figure out what my next move was. Although I somewhat knew, I didn’t know how to go about things. Something in the back of my mind told me to finish school and do what I loved, which was hair. But beauty school would cost money and I didn’t have any more. It felt like all my goals and dreams came crashing down in front of me. I had the money that Jay gave to me but I refused to use it. In my eyes Jay was dead and didn’t exist. I had plans on giving the money back but hadn’t gotten the chance to yet. I didn’t have transportation out there since Trey went away on business and Shyla went to L.A. for vacation. I got up and walked to the bedroom I was staying in and pulled out the envelope. I counted it for the twentieth time trying to figure out if I was making the right choice. My phone bill was past due, I lost my job, and here I was contemplating if I should use the $100,000 Jay gave me. My heart and pride were telling me no but my head was saying why not? He had more where that came from. I picked up the house phone and called Kayden.

“Hello, Kayden. This is Jordyn.”

“Why are you calling me from Trey’s house phone?” You could still hear the sleep in her voice. “Never mind. I guess what everyone is saying is true.”

“What is everyone saying? Matter of fact, I don’t care. I was calling to see if you wanted to go to the mall.”

“Sure, I’ll go to the mall with you. I guess I’ll come pick you up. I’ll even bring your niece with me so you can meet her. She looks just like us. I mean she has our eyes and dimples everything. But anyway be ready by 1:00 p.m. It’s 11 now so I’m going to go get ready. Talk to you later, little sis.” We hung up the phone. It was a good thing that Trey and I went shopping before he left. I had got a couple of outfits from Forever 21 and some sneakers from Finish Line. I jumped in the shower and thought about the future. Maybe my future was bright and I just didn’t know it.

By the time I got out of the shower it was 11:45 and I still needed to get dressed. I went in Trey’s room for some lotion and ran across paternity papers that hadn’t been opened. As hard as I was trying to mind my business I couldn’t. I picked up the envelope and placed it in front of the light. Before I could make out what it said I heard the front door open. Here I was standing in my bra and panties ready to panic. I put the envelope down and peeked outside the door to see who it was. I saw two men with masks walking up the stairs. I nearly shit my draws when they walked into my room.

“Aye, man, I think somebody is here.”

“TaKiera told me everybody went out of town. That’s why she couldn’t drop our son off this weekend.” I tiptoed into Trey’s closet hoping to find a weapon. I searched high and low for one. I found a 9 mm in a shoebox and grabbed it. I’ll be damned if anyone was going to hurt me. I looked over at the clock. It was 12:10. I made sure the silencer was on and waited for them to come into the room.

“Aye, man, I’m going to check in here. It looks like this his room.” I heard the door open. I looked through the cracked closet door before walking out and shooting him right in between his eyes. This wasn’t my first rodeo shooting a gun.

“Aye, you found anything in here?” Before he could even walk in I let three shots go. They all hit vital places. One went in his head, one went in his heart, and the other went in his neck. His head was barely hanging onto his body. I rushed to the house phone and call Trey.

“Hello Trey, Trey!”

“Jordyn, what’s going on?”

“Two men broke into your house and I killed them. I don’t know what they were looking for but one of them called little Trey his son and said that TaKiera was the one who sent them. Trey, I am not trying to go to jail for this shit. What the hell am I supposed to do?”

              Trey:

I sat in the car with the phone to my ear listening to Jordyn panic about going to jail.

“Jordyn, Jordyn, shut up, okay? Please listen. I’m going to send over the cleanup crew. Just get out of the house, alright? Someone will be over there later on to check on you. Matter of fact, I’m about to get on a plane back to Atlanta, alright?”

I let out a deep sigh. Here I was all the way in Cuba handling business just to have to up and leave. I couldn’t understand why TaKiera would send someone over to my crib. Shit, what if my mother was in the house. Then what? I followed Jayden and told him what was going on. He looked pissed that he was going to have to handle this one by himself. We usually handled business together.

“Jayden, you sure you want to do this alone? We could always reschedule the meeting.”

“Nah, I’m cool. Just go check on my sister make sure she’s okay. Damn, son, why would your baby mama send niggas to your crib? That’s some bullshit, man. But look, be safe. I got this. We both know who my pops is.” I just laughed and got back in the car and drove to the airport. 

              Shyla:

Here I was with my overly happy mother, in L.A. meeting her new boyfriend. He was old as hell. I mean dude’s wrinkles had wrinkles—that’s how old he was. He had a daughter who was like 40 years old. I looked at my mom like she was stupid. The dude had ten kids; eight boys and two girls. His oldest son was 30 and his youngest son was 19. Now his daughters were old. One was 40 and the other one was 35. I mean this dude had to be like 80 years old. He had been married five times so what made him think this was love? I sucked my teeth when he and all his kids arrived.
Here we go
, I thought. My mother stood up and tapped me on my shoulder, trying to get me to stand. I didn’t know who the fuck these people were and I couldn’t care less. Shit, my daddy was going to be home in a week so I don’t know why they were getting comfortable. I picked up my phone and went back to texting. I wasn’t going to waste my time on irrelevant people. I took a selfie and sent it to Jordyn, forgetting that her phone was off. I put it on my to-do list to loan her a hundred dollars to pay it off. I put my headphones in my ears and turned on French Kixx HNIC.

“Shyla, do not be rude. Say hello.” I looked up at my mother and rolled my eyes.

“Hello!” I said and went back to doing what I was doing.

              Chapter 7:

Kayden and I still decided to go to the mall and shop a little. I didn’t buy anything but I still had fun. I filled out a bunch of job applications and was praying to get called back. We were in True Religion, which was hiring and I didn’t even have to fill out an application. I was given the job on the spot. They paid more than the Waffle House and I didn’t have to wear an ugly ass uniform. All I had to wear was a True shirt, which they gave to me, and a pair of their jeans. I was happy as hell and then I thought back to what I had done earlier. I thanked them and walked out happier than I was when I walked in. we went back to Jay’s house since Ivy was in the back sleeping. I didn’t mind going since I wanted to give him back the envelope. When we arrived, their mother Star was sitting on the sofa drinking a glass of wine.

“Oh good, you’re back. You had fun with your little crack baby sister?” Star never turned around. She just continued drinking. I looked over at Kayden. She mouthed sorry to me. I took Ivy out of her arms. Finally Star turned around and quickly tried to become the woman I met three weeks ago.

“Oh, hi Jordyn. I didn’t know you were here.”

“So if you knew I was here you wouldn’t have called me a crack baby? I may be a crack baby but your husband is a crack head. So when you mix two crack heads together your end result is a crack baby. But I’d rather be a crack baby who, might I add, wasn’t born with an ounce of crack in her, than be a bitter old woman whose self esteem is so low that she stayed with a man who had countless affairs on her, one of his mistresses being her younger sister. So excuse the hell out of me, but I don’t need you nor do I need your husband. Be sure to tell him that next time you see him.” With that I threw the envelope in her face and handed Ivy to Kayden.

“Aye, Jordyn, are you going to need a ride to work tomorrow?” 

“Naw, Kayden. I’m good actually, but thank you anyway.”

“Why don’t you wait a minute for me to put her upstairs then I’ll take you home, alright?” I just nodded my head, walked out, and leaned against the car. I could hear Star screaming at Kayden to get me off her property before she called the police. Just as quick as she walked in she was walking out the house to the car.

The whole ride to the house was silent; I didn’t even look her way. When she pulled up I got out and didn’t turn around. I walked in the house with my True Religion bag in hand. I knocked on Trey’s bedroom door only to have some ratchet girl with a bad blonde weave answer.

“Oh, you must be the little girl Trey told me about. He’s in the shower. I’ll let him know you’re back in the house.”
Tonight has been one hell of a night
, I thought to myself. I walked into my room and took out some clothes to wear after I got out the shower. I thought about the day’s events. I had got a new job, some new clothes, and I was one step closer to living my dreams. I got out the shower and found Trey sitting on the bed with no shirt on. I found myself looking in the mirror to check my appearance all while staring at his chest. He had the perfect body. I noticed a couple of tattoos that I didn’t know he had. He looked up at me. Realizing that all I had on was a pair of boy shorts and a bandeau, I felt the need to go put on more clothes. I wanted to scream for even thinking this was appropriate. I would have never worn something like this when I lived with my mom.

“So you’re not going to say anything about what happened?” he asked. I looked at him as if he was stupid.

“Umm no, but I did get a job, therefore I’m a couple steps closer to moving out and getting some money saved up for beauty school.”

“Where you found a job at? But that’s beside the point. I want to know what happened.”

“I understand you want to know what happened but don’t you have company to attend to?” I asked, sounding jealous.
Am I jealous?
I asked myself. Here I was again trying to know my lane and stay in it. This was one of those moments I wished I could go back in time and change.

“Yeah, you right, Jordyn. I do, I see what kind of shit you on tonight but don’t even worry about it. Everyone thinks they’re somebody after their first homicide.” I literary had to bite my tongue to keep my inner thoughts from coming out. First homicide? He must not know I killed off half his competition before I turned 16. I just watched him get off the bed and walk out the door. I sat for almost five minutes before getting up to go talk to him, only to found him and his blonde ho chilling in the living room.  I rolled my eyes and went back into my room. I looked at the clock to see it was only 9:45 on a Friday. I shook my head at life. Here I was sitting in the guest bedroom of my brother’s right hand man who I had one of the biggest crushes on, bored and lonely with no one to talk to. I sighed. All these years of wishing I knew my father had turned into me wishing I never met him and all the people associated with him. I laid in my bed with my headphones on and attempted to drift off to sleep.