Page 19 of Girl, We Go Together
Instantly, I thought of Zynea saying that he might have a bitch?another thing in the back of my mind that I hadn’t seriously factored in. Men like him were too good to be true, and I feared with every knock on the door, it was someone on the other side coming to drop the other shoe. Since I had been here, I had built up a little fantasy in my head that was slowly diminishing.
“Orion,” I whispered as I nudged him, “somebody’s at the door.”
My thoughts bounced from it being a bitch on the other side of the door to someone he had problems with. I quickly looked around the room and panicked when I didn’t see anything that I could remotely use as a weapon. I nudged him again because the banging wouldn’t stop.
He groaned, rubbed his face, and sat up.
“Man, it’s early as hell.”
He stood and pulled on the pair of black briefs that he had been wearing the night before from the floor. His muscles stretched as he moved. Even irritated and half asleep, he looked good enough to make me forget why I woke him.
He looked good enough to give me instant flashbacks of the night before. I watched how his dick swung as he stepped into his drawers. The banging came again, louder this time. He stalked out of the bedroom, muttering under his breath, and I strained to listen. When the front door opened, I heard it. There was a woman’s voice, sharp and angry.
“You really think you can just disappear and not answer my calls, Orion?”
My stomach tightened.Zy was right,I quickly thought. I was trying to think how quickly I could throw on clothes and go out the back door. I didn’t have getting into a fight with a bitch over her nigga on my bingo card for the year.
“Hi, Daddy,” I heard a small child say before the sound of feet from his little boy ran up the stairs after his greeting.
I could only imagine that he was probably running to his room to get comfortable in this home. His home. Instantly, I regretted staying here. I had a house of my own that for sure would never have a ghetto ass baby mama banging on the door. I already knew he had a son. I was grateful for knowing that much. But what he didn’t mention was this. The anger. The chaos. The baby mama drama that echoed down the hallway loud enough for the whole neighborhood to hear.
My chest sank. I pulled my knees up to my chest and pressed my forehead against them. I wasn’t blind to what this was: a piece of his life I hadn’t factored in. Not the boy, I could respect him being a father. But the woman at the door? That was something else. I thought back to how safe I’d felt only minutes ago, wrapped in his arms. And now, here I was, staring at the reality that peace might be too much to ask for with a man like Orion. With a man who had a problematic baby mama period.
I sat frozen on the edge of the bed. Mello was still pacing by the room door like he could feel the tension too. Muffled voices spilled through the walls. Orion’s low and tight, the woman’ssharp and bitter, like she wanted the whole block to know her pain. Then silence. A door slammed, shaking the frame, and heavy footsteps padded back down the hall.
My heart jumped when Orion pushed the bedroom door open. He rubbed a hand down his face. His expression was blank, but his jaw clenched like he was grinding the hell out of his teeth. He dropped onto the bed beside me. His chest was still rising and falling with irritation.
“Man… some people just think they run shit for real.”
I studied him quietly, pulling the sheet tighter around me. My voice came out soft, edged with something I couldn’t hide. I was annoyed. Dealing with a man with a kid who came with a problematic mother meant exactly this. Listening to him vent when the bitch went bananas. Silently, I wondered if I was even ready for something like this. If I even wanted to deal with some shit like this. Although I already knew exactly who was at the door, I couldn’t help but ask. Over the years, I’d learned to not assume shit. Whatever I wanted to know, I opened my mouth and asked, so there was never any confusion with the men I decided to date.
“That was your son’s mother, wasn’t it?”
He glanced at me, his eyes narrowing slightly like he was trying to gauge how much I heard. I could tell he was trying to read me. I felt like running for the hills, which was impossible because I was currently limping. I wondered if he could read the discontent all over my face.
“Yeah. Shenell. She always on some bullshit. She hates that I don’t pay her any mind and that I put my peace first. Trying to drag me to her level is her main goal.” He leaned back on his elbows, staring up at the ceiling. “It ain’t even about my son. I take care of him. It’s about her wanting control.”
I nodded slowly, chewing on my bottom lip. I never wanted to be the kind of woman who put out non-negotiables when itcame to dating someone with a different lifestyle. I would date a lawyer and then a street pharmacist. In one year, I had dated a cop and then a felon. I promise I am not the kind of person to judge, and I didn’t have an in between. I didn’t care if a man had one or five kids. As long as everyone was taken care of, it wasn’t a problem with me. I just knew that any man with more than three kids, when it was time to go somewhere, the kids had to play rock, paper, scissors for a seat. I wasn’t into the fashion of riding around in a minivan.
Orion being a father wasn’t what had me at a standstill. I already knew he had a son. That part didn’t surprise me. What hit me was how raw and ugly it sounded in real time. How his baby mama acted. The way she was banging on the door like she had every right was concerning. It made me think about how she would act when she found out that someone else was in the picture. If I wanted to stay in the frame. I didn’t say anything else; I just sat there in silence, processing.
Orion finally turned his head toward me, his gaze softening a little. “Don’t let that shit spook you. You with me now, Cay. That’s all that matters.”
All he got was a little bit of coochie, and he was claiming me as his. He reached over and brushed his hand across my thigh. I could tell he was trying to smooth things over with that easy charm of his. But the words stuck in my chest, heavier than I wanted to admit: You with me now. I forced a small smile, but inside, I couldn’t shake the thought. Maybe being with Orion meant inheriting every piece of his mess, too.
I sat there, clutching the sheet against me, my mind racing even as Orion leaned back like he’d already moved on from the whole scene at the door. Mello finally settled down, but my chest hadn’t. I forced myself to breathe and broke the silence with a small, careful smile.
“Well… I probably should get up and put on something presentable.”
Orion turned his head toward me, one eyebrow raised.
“You know, since your son’s here,” I explained while slowly swinging my legs over the side of the bed, “it doesn’t feel right meeting him in a night gown,” I quickly added as I took my time getting off the bed.
When I got up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night, I had tossed my Miu Miu back on. The intimate moment had passed, and when the sun rose, I didn’t want him to look at my figure and regret the night before. He smirked a little while shaking his head.
“You’re overthinking. OJ’s a kid, Cay. He doesn’t care about that.”
“Maybe not,” I said softly, avoiding his eyes as I reached for some clothes on the chair, “But I do.”
