Page 17 of Welcome Home

Kee’s and my head bucked back at her unwarranted attitude. With an angled head, I focused on Lloyd. My eyes silently asked what was up with her. “Oh, okay, Miss. Lloyd, what’s up?”

He shifted on his feet. “Um, yeah, so I heard that a lot of promotions came down the pipeline because of the additions of the new properties. I noticed that I wasn’t on the list for a promotion. I wanted to ask why?”

I stared at him to see if he was serious or whether this was a joke. My baby mumbled oh, chile under her breath. There was no way that he thought this was a good idea.

Lloyd was one of my team leads. He started as a valet-trash attendant over four years ago and was promoted to a team lead a little over a year ago. Lloyd’s promotion to team lead was out of necessity, not necessarily because he earnestly deserved it. I told him as such, so the fact that he stood here like he deserved another promotion was beyond me. I was an extremely honest boss and so was his supervisor, James. There was conversation to demote him in recent months.

“Lloyd, this conversation is highly inappropriate to have here. We can have this conversation next week sometime. Call my assistant and get on the calendar. I will make sure that she gets you in next week,” I told him.

My arm wrapped around my baby’s waist so that we could walk away. Our car pulled up in the nick of time. Before we could turn to greet the valet, Kassy voiced her unsolicited opinion.

“Well, I think now is the perfect time for the conversation. My man has worked hard for you, and he deserves a raise and a promotion. It’s giving crab in a barrel.”

I took a deep breath because what the fuck was happening right now. This was supposed to be a celebration. I didn’t come here to have professional conversations. I was ready to go home and fuck my woman.

“Kassy, what is it that you do for a living?” Kee asked. “Are you an employee of St. Claire Property Solutions? I’m trying to understand why you are involved in this conversation.”

My head slowly turned to Kee. This would be the first time that I experienced her in conflict. Well, it was the first time that she would experience me as well.

Kassy sucked her teeth, unlinked her arm from Lloyd, then put her hands on her hip. She was a pretty girl that looked like your typical Instagram baddie. I bet my bottom dollar that she was a social media influencer or some shit like that.

“If you must know, I am a popular influencer that sells hair and makeup. You’re talking about me in the conversation, but I see you have entered the chat,” she quipped. Let me give someone my bottom dollar.

Kee snickered quietly. “You would be correct. When a woman feels that she has the gumption to address my man in business that doesn’t concern her, then I will enter the chat every damn time. See, I’m not sure how you do things in your household, but as for mine, my man doesn’t address women with the shits. That’s what he has me for. I’m his shits.”

A nigga had to adjust his dick. My arm pulled Kee into my side more to put my lips to her ear. “You know I’m going to fuck the shit out of you when we get to our household. That was sexy as fuck.”

She giggled then waved me off. “I’m trying to be serious here. Stop.”

She pecked my lips, then gave her attention back to jokey one and jokey two. “Like my man said, this is not a conversation to be had here. I will say that if a promotion was not given, then it was with good reason. Based on this unprofessional display, he dodged a lawsuit.”

From the tightness of Lloyd’s jaw, I knew that he didn’t like my baby’s input. He peeked at his girl who gawked at him. It was a look that said what you gonna do. I prayed he walked away and did as I asked him to do.

His feet spread apart in a defensive stance. “Yo, you don’t fuckin’ know me. How about you stay in a bitch’s place and mind your⁠—”

His words were cut off by my fist in his face. I was on his ass, because who the fuck was he talking to. I heard Rome’s oh shit. I respected Lloyd for his endurance to fight back. His ass couldn’t keep up with me, but I applauded the effort. No man should get beat the fuck up in front of his woman. Beat up and beat the fuck up were two different levels of beat up.

Rome pulled me off Lloyd, then moved me back. “Calm down, man. Calm down.”

The next person I saw was Kee. Her hands cupped my face. “Baby, look at me. Look at⁠—”

Her words weren’t finished because someone pulled her hair back. She spun around and took off on whoever it was. Before I could blink, Dove and Lula had joined the fight. Shit! We needed to get this shit under control.

Security helped us get the girls separated. Once everyone was separated, I glared at Lloyd who stood there with his arm wrapped around his girl’s waist while she jumped up and down. In the short time of the fight, her fair skin showed bruising. Both of her eyes and her lip were fucked up.

“Mazikeen, calm down.” I spun her around to face me. “Baby, are you okay?”

Her breathing was hard. “Yes, I’m fine. I can’t believe she did that and the night I wore my real hair.”

I tittered. “Come on before I beat this nigga’s ass again.” My eyes turned to Lloyd who had his eyes on us. “In case it’s not clear, you’re fired, nigga.”

A Short Time Later . . .

“Mazikeen, if you don’t put that damn box down. Sit your ass down somewhere. I’m not going to tell your ass again,” I fussed at her.

Today was moving day for us. When all that stupid shit popped off with Lloyd and his bitch, Kee said that we were a household. When we got to her house, I made sure that I asked her which house we would cohabitate in to truly be a household. She said it, not me.

We talked it through and decided that we would move into a three-bedroom home that was on the newest property of her company. My home would be leased out. It made more economical sense to do it that way since she didn’t pay rent.