The Wrong Side Of Love 3: A Hood Love Story Read online

  The Wrong Side of Love 3

  A Hood Love Story

  Charmanie Saquea

  Chapter One

  Coco had to compose herself when Nina dropped that bomb. She refused to let this shit upset her or her baby so she just laughed at the bullshit.

  “Bitch, you got us so fucked up right now!” Jayliah yelled. “Tariq, I’m giving you one second to explain what the fuck is going on and why the hell you got this bitch in my house before I set it the fuck off.”

  “I think I already told you what’s going on. I’m Zeek’s wife,” Nina said with an attitude.

  “Was I talking to you?” Jayliah asked as she walked up on Nina.

  “Baby, chill out,” Tariq said as he grabbed Jayliah’s arm to pull her back.

  “This is some crazy shit,” Marco mumbled.

  Before anyone knew what was happening, Jayliah reached back and slapped the shit out of Tariq.

  “The fuck?”

  “Nigga, we are supposed to be celebrating a fucking engagement and you pull this shit? Leave it up to you and Zeek to fuck some shit up,” Jayliah said, highly pissed off.

  “Why are you so mad? It’s not like Zeek was fucking you,” Nina said, truly confused as to why Jayliah was so pissed off.

  “And this bitch gon keep talking,” Jayliah mumbled before she tried to snatch Nina up.

  “Jay, it’s cool. Calm down. I’m not tripping so I don’t want you to trip either,” Coco said. She was fed up with the scenario already.

  “Fuck that, Jacole. This bitch got a lot of nerve to be coming in here all bold like that. You clearly can’t beat her ass right now so I will be glad to do it,” Jayliah told her sister.

  “Don’t do it Jay, she not ready,” Marco chuckled while instigating.

  “If Coco say get her, trust and believe, baby, Jay got her,” Jayliah said, ready to attack.

  “Calm the fuck down!” Tariq’s voice roared. “Jayliah, shut the fuck up and let me explain what the hell is going on.”

  “Then explain,” She rolled her eyes.

  “Zeek just went to turn himself in. That’s why he asked me to bring her with me. As you can see, yes, they are married but I don’t know any details myself so I can’t answer that for you. He said he was going to explain when he gets home,” Tariq said that last part while looking Coco dead in the eyes.

  “Zeek can kiss my ass. I’m going home,” Coco said.

  “Riq, get this bitch out of my house. The party is over,” Jayliah sneered.

  “But it ain’t even start yet,” Quadir said.

  “I don’t care. This bitch done came up in here and upset my sister while she pregnant. As a matter of fact, everybody get the fuck out. Coco, you’re not going anywhere,” Jayliah told her.

  “How the hell you kicking me out? I ain’t do shit?” Marco asked.

  Coco mumbled obscenities at an absent Zeek as she gathered her stuff to leave. At this point, she was really feeling foolish for thinking that she and Zeek could ever have anything serious. Sad to say, she was even starting to regret the fact that she was pregnant by him.

  “Jacole, what do you think you're doing?” Jayliah questioned.

  “I'm sorry your day didn't turn out as planned, Jay, but I'm gone,” Coco said.

  “What? Where are you gonna go, Coco?”

  “Home,” Coco said as she tried to waddle to the door.

  “Home where? The last time I checked, you lived in California and there's no way in hell I’m letting you go back there right now,” Jayliah fussed.

  “What do you want me to do, Jay?” Coco yelled. “Zeek—”

  “Fuck Zeek!” Jayliah yelled, cutting her sister off. “Ain't nobody thinking about his black ass right now. He can rot away in that damn jail for all I care. You didn't come back to Michigan for him so don't leave just yet because of him.”

  Coco was standing there fighting back the tears she refused to let fall. She felt as if she always received the short end of the stick when it came to Zeek and it wasn't fair. Here she was pregnant with his first and only child while he had ran off and gotten married to some unknown bitch.

  “Look, Coco,” Jayliah said in a softer tone, “I know you're hurting. Trust me, I know, and you have every right to be upset right now but don't let that cocky nigga take your happiness away, once again. You've come a long way in the past four months and I'm so proud of you. Please don't let this stress you and my nephew out.”

  “How do you know it's a boy?” Coco smiled. She hadn't told her sister or dad the sex of the baby yet because she wanted to come home and surprise them.

  “The way you're carrying it, that's the same way I carried Quaid. Your stomach is low.”

  “Is that stuff really accurate?” Coco laughed.

  “It was for me and obviously you, too,” Jayliah smiled as she rubbed her sister’s belly.

  Coco knew her sister was right. For the past four months that she had been away from Detroit, she had been in a good head space and the happiest she had been in a while. Zeek always thought about himself so therefore she wasn’t about to let his selfish ass decision put her back in that dark space again. Coco just couldn’t help but to feel as if nothing she did was ever good enough for Zeek. Knowing that she was about to bring his child into the world in less than three months but he was officially another woman’s before he was even hers hurt her to the core and she couldn’t deny that, but she would never let a man break her down to the point where she became weak.

  Chapter Two

  Zeek let a low growl escape his lips as he silently counted what number pushup he was on. He had only been in the county for a total of three days and he was already over it. He would never forget the look of satisfaction on Elias’ face when he walked into the station to turn himself in. If only that snake bitch knew that the joke was really on him, Zeek thought to himself.

  Zeek felt as if neither prison nor jail were any place for him. Not that he couldn’t take it, because he could handle anything that came his way but because of his status. He was a boss, people of his caliber didn’t get locked up.

  “Clay! You have a visit.”

  Hearing that made Zeek pause the pushup he was in the middle of. He raised an eyebrow wondering who it could be. He knew he was on everyone’s most hated list right now and his mom was on the other side of the country. Knowing it could only be one of his cousins, he was really hoping it was one of them and not Nina’s ass. He wasn’t in the mood to deal with her until he got out.

  As he followed the guard to the visitation room, he smirked when he saw his right-hand man sitting there. He knew if he had no one else in his corner, Tariq was going to be there no matter what.

  “I guess orange really is the new black,” Tariq cracked.

  “Fuck you. I see you got jokes,” Zeek laughed.

  “Nah, but seriously, nigga, I gotta get you the fuck out of here. So much crazy shit done popped off since you been back.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Oh, you mean besides the fact that Jay tried to kill your little wife?” Tariq questioned sarcastically.

  That caused Zeek to chuckle because he could only imagine how Jayliah went off when she found out. That girl was certifiably crazy and known for going from 0 to 1000 real quick. Fuck 100. “Tell your girl to chill. I need Nina till I get out of here.”

  Tariq shifted in his seat because he knew what he was about to tell Zeek would fuck him up a little especially since it had something to do with Coco.

  “Coco’s pregnant, dog, and I mean really pregnant,” Tariq said seriously.

  Hearing the words ‘Coco’ and ‘pregnant’ in the same sentence made Z
eek’s heartrate speed up. He knew he had been gone for a while but never did he think Coco would go out and get herself knocked up by another nigga. He had to keep himself calm because all he was seeing right now was red. He knew he had no right to be mad at Coco seeing how he was in a situation himself but he could easily get rid of Nina but a child wasn’t something that you could just get rid of.

  “By who?” Zeek asked in a voice that came out in a low snarl.

  “By you, nigga. Fuck you mean? She’s due in like two months I think.”

  Zeek did a mental calculation in his head and he knew exactly when he knocked her up. It was that night at the hotel, he thought to himself. To his knowledge, Coco was still on the pill, not that it would have mattered to him either way because he had no plans of pulling out regardless. Even though he was relieved, he still felt some type of way that he could possibly miss the birth of his firstborn that he didn’t know shit about.

  “Yo, nigga where the fuck she at?” Zeek asked. “Tell her to bring her ass to see me and answer the damn phone.”

  “I don’t know, dog. She supposed to be leaving in a few hours. You know how Coco is, Zeek. Once she makes up in her mind that she’s going to do something, she’s going to do it. She and your wife already had an exchange of words. I don’t know how your little exotic bitch knew who Coco was but she couldn’t wait to drop the bomb on her and flash that big ass ring in her face,” Tariq explained.

  Zeek waved Tariq off, “All that is fucking irrelevant to me right now. You tell Jacole that she better not leave this fucking city while she’s carrying my seed, Riq. I don’t give a fuck what she talking about. I’m not going to be in here for too much longer and I don’t want to have to fuck her up.”

  Tariq just shook his head. He knew that Zeek was going to flip when he found out Coco was pregnant but he was not about to force Coco to do a damn thing. Coco had been hurt by Zeek enough in the past few months and Zeek knew that. So he should’ve known that Coco wasn’t going to sit around and wait for him, especially now that he’d given another bitch a spot that should have been hers.

  ___

  “I really wish you wouldn’t leave, Co. I don’t feel right with you doing all this traveling back and forth while you’re pregnant. Not to mention this is the first time I’ve seen you in four months,” Jayliah said as she stood at the train station with her sister.

  When Tariq told her that he was on his way to see Zeek, Jayliah knew without a doubt that he would tell Zeek about Coco being pregnant. She called Coco to tell her and that set a fire under her ass to quickly leave Detroit.

  “I know, Jay, but I can’t stay here. I just can’t.”

  “Jacole, you’ve never been the type to run from your problems. You always challenge them head on. Are you really going to let that arroz con pollo bitch have this much control over you?” Jayliah asked, pissed off. Jayliah was far from dumb. She knew Coco wasn’t running to get away from Zeek because he was locked up and couldn’t do shit to her. No, Coco was running because another bitch had come in and fucked up what she thought she was going to build with Zeek. Her little sister could do all that talk about not wanting anything to do with Zeek but she could see right past that.

  Coco snapped her head back as if she were offended. “Excuse me? Jay, this has nothing to do with that J-Lo wannabe. She has no control over me, boo. Know that.”

  Jayliah rolled her eyes. “Shut up. You’re letting her win by running you off. You definitely didn’t get that shit from me.”

  “Everybody can’t go around shooting all their opponents in the back,” Coco said just as they announced the final boarding call.

  “Whatever, you’re grown. Do what you wanna do,” Jayliah said, feeling some type of way.

  “I still love you, though,” Coco said as she kissed her sister on the cheek and hugged her. Even though they had just exchanged some words, Coco wasn’t about to depart from her sister on a bad note.

  “I love you, too.” Jayliah watched as Coco wobbled away to get on the train. She really didn’t want her to leave but she also knew she couldn’t force her to stay.

  When Coco made it to her seat, she sat back and prepared herself for the two day train ride from Detroit to California. She vowed this would be the last trip she took until she had her son.

  Two and a half days later, Coco was back in California. Walking off the train, she winced at the pain that was coming from her lower back. She was so uncomfortable on that train and she figured that was her karma. Instead of bothering somebody to come pick her up, Coco rented a car that she would bring back tomorrow. Walking into her house, Coco stopped dead in her tracks when she heard noises coming from the kitchen. Just as she was about to run, a figure came around the corner.

  “Oh shit! You scared me, Ishy,” she said with her hands over her heart that was about to jump out of her chest.

  “What you doing back here so soon?” Ishmael asked. Ishmael was Megan’s husband’s best friend. Over the past four months, the two of them had gotten pretty close. He would always come over to check on her or fix something for her when she couldn’t in her condition.

  “That shit was a complete disaster.” Coco rolled her eyes as she sat on the couch.

  Ishmael pulled her feet into his lap and gently massaged them. “Your sister’s engagement party?” he asked with his face scrunched up.

  “She didn’t even get to have the damn party before she shut it down, Ishy. It was the guest appearance we had that made her shut it down.”

  “Your mom?”

  “No, Zeek’s wife.”

  “Huh? Stop playing, Co,” Ishmael laughed. When he realized Coco wasn’t laughing, he stopped. “Oh shit, you’re serious? When the hell did he get married?”

  “That’s a good ass question that we don’t have the answers to. My sister’s fiancé had to hurry up and usher Zeek’s wife out the house because Jay was about to wring her damn neck. Not only did she come in the house like she was doing something, announcing she was Mrs. Ezekiel Clay while flashing that big ass ring, but she started talking out the side of her mouth to my sister. In Jayliah’s eyes, that’s punishable by death. She was ready to jump all over her Cuban ass,” Coco explained with her eyes closed as Ishmael continued to massage her swollen feet.

  “Where the hell was Zeek?”

  “Apparently, he’s in jail.” Coco shrugged.

  “That’s crazy. I thought he left to avoid getting locked up,” Ishmael said, shaking his head.

  “Obviously he left for more than that but something just don’t seem right to me. Honestly, I don’t even care at this point. I’m in pain and the only thing I want to do is soak and lay in my comfortable bed.”

  “You need to eat too,” Ismael told her. “I made chili. I’ll fix you a bowl for you to eat while I run your bath water,” he said.

  “You’re the best.”

  Ishmael hit Coco with a wink before he went on his way. Coco laid back on the couch and thought about what Jayliah had said to her before she left. You’re letting her win by running off. Coco didn’t know exactly what her sister felt like she was letting Nina win. Was it Zeek’s bullshit? His inability to commit? His games and lies? If that’s what she was letting her win then she had no problems walking away and bowing out gracefully. As long as he stepped up to the plate and took care of his son, Coco had no complaints.

  Chapter Three

  Things between Jayliah and Tariq had been rocky lately. Their once happy and peaceful home had been turned upside down within the blink of an eye. The two of them were arguing and going at each other’s throats over the simplest things. The root of their problems was something much deeper and it was causing a major strain on their relationship. Ever since Tariq saw Coco’s round belly, he had been trying to put a bug in Jayliah’s ear as well as a bun in her oven. Unfortunately for him, she wasn’t having that.

  It was to the point that Jayliah went as far as withholding sex from Tariq because she knew he would try to trap her and get her
pregnant simply because he didn’t know how to take no for an answer. Jayliah had even been thinking about getting her tubes tied but she wouldn’t dare tell Tariq that because she knew that would really drive him crazy. In her eyes, she didn’t see what was wrong. She felt as if Tanae and Quaid were all they needed considering they had one of each; a son and a daughter. Too bad Tariq didn’t think like that.

  Even though Tariq felt his family was complete with Jayliah and the kids, he wanted to share a child with the woman he was planning to spend the rest of his life with.

  “Ms. Jay…I mean, Jay?” Tanae asked. Tanae was still trying to get out of the habit of calling Jayliah Ms. Jay. She understood the fact that Jayliah and her daddy were planning on getting married.

  “Yes, sweetie?” Jayliah said as she placed a plate of food in front of her and Quaid.

  “Am I going to have a little brother or sister?” Tanae asked innocently.

  Hearing Tanae say that caused her to stop dead in her tracks. She looked into both Quaid and Tanae’s questioning eyes, shaking her head just as Tariq entered the kitchen.

  “No sweetie, you will not be having a little brother or sister,” Jayliah told her sweetly, cutting her eyes at Tariq. “Let me talk to you for a minute,” she told him.

  “Let, me eat first,” he said as he fixed his plate.

  “No, we need to talk…now,” Jayliah gritted.

  “Maybe you didn’t hear or understand me the first time. I’ll talk to you when I’m done eating and not a second sooner,” he said as he sat at the table with the kids.

  Tariq had let Jayliah slide so much that he had to remind her that she wasn’t running shit. He didn’t give a damn about her having a funky ass attitude. Whatever she wanted to talk to him about was going to have to wait because he was pretty sure that she didn’t want to do anything but argue anyways and he was over that shit.

  Jayliah slammed the spatula she was using down on the counter and went upstairs. She was so sick and tired of Tariq that she could scream. She didn’t appreciate him using the kids to try to get her to have a baby. She didn’t know how many more times she had to tell Tariq she didn’t want to have any more kids before he got it through his thick skull.