Page 54 of Ony If It's You
Si had been asking me if I would take him down to one of the weigh-ins. I was happy that his mother had finally caved in and let him go down. Nothing dangerous went on at them, but she needed to see that for herself, I guess. Jocey’s little cute ass stole the show too. She was seated at the table beside the one I was at with a mic in front of her, so she both answered and asked some questions of her own.
Everyone loved it, well except for my father. He kept leaning to my ear telling me to get control of the interview and a whole bunch of other shit that I ignored. He got beside himself often trying to control me and my fucking career, but I planned to set his ass straight as soon as we got back to the crib.
“All of you guys dressing alike is genius. So many people have been reaching out to Zach and I about possibly working with you. I told you this was the perfect look for you,” she continued.
“Yeah, that’s all Lani, the clothes and shit.” I tossed my head in the direction of the room that she was in.
“Ugh, I just love her. Okay, I just wanted to come by and touch bases with you. I know you have to get ready for the fight. I’ll see you guys there.”
Nodding, I stood so that I could walk her to the door. Everything that she had come by to tell me could have been said in a message or over the phone, but Cheryl was adamant about coming herself. She reminded me a lot of Ms. Phyllis with her nurturing nature. She was older so it made sense.
Once she was gone, I went to the balcony and took a seat on the chair, putting my AirPods in. I needed to clear my head and prepare for the night. Tonight’s fight was going to be different because it was against the same opponent that had me suspended for three months. I knew all they were going to be talking about was what happened then as opposed to what was to come.
I really wanted to tell my pops not to come because I knew he would be adamant about being ringside since this was my final fight before we went home. I knew he would want to be seen, but I didn’t want to potentially be triggered again. He didn’t know how to be seen and not heard.
A text from Kecia came through breaking me away from my thoughts.
Zoey is really going crazy!
That’s her problem, not mine.
What did you say to her, JV?
I told her ass the truth.
You’re an asshole, dude. You know how sensitive she is and you know even better how she feels about you.
That’s no excuse or open invitation to blackmail or disrespect me and mine.
You and yours?
That’s what the fuck I said.
You and your marriage are a joke lol.
Yep.
Are you going to talk to Zoey or not? I mean we don’t even know if she’s dead or alive.
Not. I got a fight tonight. I’ll see y’all around.
Not wanting to allow her the opportunity to write me back, I blocked her number. Kecia didn’t give a fuckthatmuch about Zoey, at least I didn’t think so. Yeah, they rocked when we all messed around and without me, but I was a pretty good judge in character so I could confidently say that she was only fucking with Zo because I was.
I wasn’t trying to be an asshole or be insensitive about her mental health, but I wasn’t going to let either of them use that as an excuse tomakeme deal with them. I tried being nice and letting them down easy, but Zoey fucked that up. I knew if she was in my crib while I was out of town, then Kecia’s ass was too.
I chilled outside for another hour or so before I headed inside to get my shit so that I could go downstairs. Pres was all on a nigga’s back about talking and shit beforehand, so I was going to do that.
Kehlani was in the kitchen when I walked out of the room that I had been staying in alone because of her stubbornness. She was still dressed in lounging clothes, so it was obvious that she wasn’t planning to go to my fight, but I still wanted to ask so I could at least hear her voice.
“Lani?”
Her movements stopped as her head slowly turned in my direction. She didn’t turn all the way around, so I only got the profile of her pretty ass face.
“You coming tonight?”
“I’ll take a hard pass on being approached by Thing One, Thing Two, or possibly both tonight.”
“They’re not going to be there, baby,” I argued.
