Page 3 of Through Treacherous Weather
“Bitch ass nigga, you’ve been with Jewel for what? Three months? You shouldn’t even be around my daughter this soon. If her mother was there, her mother should have checked her, and if she needed to, she could have called me, and I would have checked her. Imani came from my nut sack, and I’ve never snatched anything from her. I don’t even have to yell at her to get my point across, so you damn sure aren’t going to do it.”
Wise inched closer to David. “My shorty isn’t disrespectful, and she’s not a liar. She told me she didn’t hear her mother because she had her air pods in.”
David began to trip over his words. He couldn’t get a complete word out before Wise punched him in the face so hard that he knocked David into Jewel. She started screaming for Wise to stop, but her words fell on deaf ears as Wise hit David with a two piece followed by an uppercut that damn near snapped David’s neck from his head flying back so hard and fast.
“Now get the fuck out of my yard,” Wise seethed. “I’ll bring Imani home tomorrow.”
Embarrassed, Jewel led her dazed boyfriend out of Wise’s yard while Justice laughed and nudged Fatima.
“Welcome back to the ghetto, sis.”
Chapter Two
Trinity’s eyesnarrowed as she pulled from the blunt that was nestled between her lips. Truce lay at the foot of her bed while she sat with her back against the headboard. Loyal was beside her, and Justice was on the floor along with Kadafi. Trinity was having movie night with her nephews. She often went shopping, on spa dates, to brunch, etc. with her nieces. Trinity was the true definition of the rich auntie. She loved her nieces and nephews and had come to the conclusion that she’d never have kids of her own, and she was fine with that.
“You ever gon’ get a man?” Justice asked as the movie ended.
Trinity blew weed smoke from her nostrils and rolled her eyes at him. “I bet you stayed getting your ass whopped as a kid. Lil’ bad mouthy ass.”
“I’ve never gotten a whooping,” Justice stated with a broad smile.
“That’s the fucking problem,” Trinity lunged off the bed, and Justice took off running. Once Justice hit the stairs, Trinity pivoted and went back into the bedroom because she wasn’t chasing him downstairs. Loyal laughed and shook his head.
“Movie night was fun. I gotta get home and put my babies to bed.” The devilish smirk that he wore made Trinity aware that he wasn’t just talking about children.
“It’s so much easier hanging with my nieces,” Trinity sighed.
“That’s crazy,” Kadafi shook his head. He didn’t come from Wise or Chicago. In fact, he tried to kill Wise, but he was her nephews’ brother, and if Wise forgave him, she had no beef with him. “When you’re with them you have to spend money. We kick it with you because we love you.”
“I love you knuckle heads too. Drive safe.”
Trinity walked them to the door and hugged them each goodbye. After pouring a glass of wine, she left the kitchen and trekked back upstairs. As she straightened up her bedroom, calling Grey crossed her mind. Ever since Grey remodeled her closet, they’d been talking. Actually, they’d done way more than talk. He was thirty-four and damn near six years younger than her. His age wasn’t the issue, however. Grey made good money working for Truce, but he was still way below her tax bracket, and Trinity knew that most times dating down was a problem. Her $1,800,000 home was paid for. But if it wasn’t, she doubted that Grey would have been able to afford the $8,000 a month mortgage.
Trinity was over the men that tried to clock her spending, that constantly made references to her money, or felt they didn’t have to court her or do anything romantic because she already had everything. One thing she couldn’t stand was a man that lacked creativity. She was also over the men with money that didn’t like the fact that they couldn’t get away with dumb shit because unlike the other women they dealt with, Trinity didn’t need their money. At all. So she had issues with them all pretty much and had decided long ago that she’d never get married.
Grey was cool to hang out with on occasion and to have sex with, but she knew they’d never be serious. Trinity would neveradmit out loud that at times, she felt slighted by him. They could have some of the best sex, yet, it would take him more than a week sometimes to reach back out to her. Trinity played it cool. She didn’t sweat him or do too much. Afterall, it was just sex. She found herself wondering, however, if maybe he had a girlfriend. The way these men acted she wouldn’t be surprised if he had a wife. Reason number 1,245 she wasn’t pressed to get married. A lot of men were dogs. Seeing how much her brothers had changed almost gave her hope until she remembered she didn’t need hope. Not every woman had to get married in order to feel accomplished. Trinity’s parents shared a beautiful love story, and her brothers now had the same. But it just wouldn’t be her story.
Trinity had dated an athlete, stockbroker, lawyer, and an architect. They ended up being lame as hell, a drug addict, damn near impotent, cocky as hell, and or liars. She was officially done trying. Grey was rugged, handsome, respectful, hardworking, and the sex was amazing. If it wasn’t for his income, she may have actually felt like she hit the jackpot with him. Grey wasn’t broke, nor was he flashy. He was a responsible man that took care of home and had his priorities in check, and that was sexy as hell to Trinity. She had warned her niece against dating men with less than her, but it worked out for Winter. It seemed to work out for every damn body except her. The last time she dated a man with less than her, he watched everything she purchased and made comments about the price. He constantly referenced her brothers as if she wasn’t a boss that made her own coin, and he kept hinting that he needed someone to invest in his business. When he asked to drive her Rolls Royce to the club, she blocked him and never looked back.
When Trinity’s bedroom was tidied up to her liking, she went into the bathroom to do her skin care. One thing Trinity did was pamper herself. Monthly facials and the best skincare productshad her cocoa-colored skin radiant. Thank God, her teeth had always been perfectly straight, and using coconut oil for oil pulling had her teeth stark white. People often mistook her teeth for veneers. She never missed a lash appointment, and her full lips were the kind that some women paid for. Trinity was the shortest of the crew at 5’6 because her brothers were well over six feet tall. The entire time she was in the bathroom thoughts of reaching out to Grey plagued her.
With a sigh, she exited the bathroom, retrieved her wine from the nightstand, and got on her high ass bed knee first to hoist herself up. Biting her bottom lip, she sent Grey a short text message asking him if he was busy. Trinity placed her phone on the bed and picked up the remote telling herself that it didn’t matter if he texted back or not. It had been two weeks since they had sex, and she was horny. Grey was the only man she was dealing with because the men that Trinity had been running into lately had given her the ick. Often, she prayed that she was nearing the age where her sex drive wouldn’t be so high, because she was over men and all the headaches that came with them.
Trinity got tired of people acting shocked that she was single because she was ‘gorgeous’ and successful. She could write a book about all of her dating failures, and she was unapologetically tired. But she was still human and had needs. Her phone rang, and heat radiated through her body when Grey’s number flashed across her screen. Men were so disappointing that she didn’t even save numbers anymore, but he’d called enough that she knew Grey’s number when she saw it.
“Hello?”
“Hey. I’m not busy. Just left from watching the game at my homeboy’s house actually. What’s up?”
“I was wondering if you wanted to stop by,” she stated in a sultry tone.
“I knew you weren’t calling to ask how I was doing. When you hit me up, it’s only for one thing. Damn shame you just use me for my body,” he jested.
“That’s not true. I use you for other things like your handyman skills.” Trinity’s lips curved into a smile despite the rim of her wine glass resting against her plump lips.
Her comment made Grey laugh. “Damn that’s foul. Yeah, I’ll stop by. I’m like ten minutes away.”
“Okay.”
