Page 32 of Give Me Honesty

“You know what, sis, you’ve got a point. Daddy always said to keep your head on a swivel and never put anything past a mothafucka. I guess I’m just ready to settle down and pop out a few babies like the rest of these tricks in the family.” River snickered, flipping her hair.

“Girl, bye. You wouldn’t even know what to do with a damn baby. You’ll mess around and pour Don Julio in the bottle instead of water.” Triniti teased.

“Hey, at least the baby would probably sleep through the night.” River shrugged.

I laughed hysterically because my cousins were crazy, and I loved it.

We talked and cracked jokes for the rest of the night before the men stopped by, one by one, to pick up their women. They could never let us be great because they were all spoiled and obsessed with their women. I wasn’t in a hurry, but I knew when it was time to settle down; I wanted a relationship like my siblings' and cousins'. Of my five siblings, I was the only one without a partner. I wasn’t actively dating, but I was still a hopeless romantic.

“Bye, y’all. I had a good time, but I’m ready to cuddle up with my man.” Peace yawned. Her man, Dreaux, was in the driveway waiting for her.

“Yeah, whatever, heffa. Don’t think we didn’t notice that you only drank cranberry juice all night. Either your ass has a UTI, or you’re pregnant. Either way, something is going on with that lil’ coochie of yours.” Serenity called out.

Peace wore a guilty expression. Her poker face was worse than mine.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. My coochie is just fine. I’ve just been on a cleanse the last few weeks.”

I snickered because she was lying through her teeth and we all knew it.

“You definitely didn’t get your lying skills from daddy because you would fold in an interrogation room. I’ma let you rock for now, but we’ll be revisiting this conversation during our sister call. Goodnight, Chaos, cause I damn sure can’t call you Peace. Lying ass.” Serenity scoffed, rolling her eyes.

“Go to hell, Serenity. I can’t believe you called me that. I’ve brought nothing but light into your life, and you know it.” Peace clutched her invisible pearls, blew Serenity a kiss, and headed out the door.

We all laughed, knowing their history. When we first found out about Peace, emotions were high, and we all did and said some things we shouldn't have. Our father had known about her from the very beginning, but he chose to take his secrets to the grave. Needless to say, when we found out he had not only cheated on our mother, but created a child we knew nothing about, it took some time for us to move forward. I was glad we were able to move past it because I loved our sisterhood even more now with Peace added.

“Damn, Jett, can you let my sister breathe? You act like you’re about to unzip her skin and crawl right inside.” I teased as Serenity’s husband practically swallowed her whole face as they kissed.

“My bad, sis. I’ve been working crazy hours lately and haven’t been able to be up under my baby the way I want to. I just missed her; that’s all.”

I smiled watching how obsessed the two of them were with each other. It was funny to me because Serenity was so tough on the exterior, but Jett had a way of turning her into Jello. I loved seeing her happy and being loved the way she deserved because life hadn’t always been kind to her.

“Okay, dang. The two of you are acting like you’re about to strip buck naked in my living room. I need y’all to remember where you are and act accordingly. I’m the only person who is allowed to get fucked in my house, and since my husband is helping his daddy at the Bishop’s conference, that means this is a rose-only household. Get your things and see your way on out.” Charity pointed to the door as we all laughed.

“Rose-only household, sis? Yeah, it’s time for me to leave too because it’s too grown in here. I still can’t believe you’re in this house letting the Bishop’s son slut you out.” I teased her.

“And do. He knows his way around the bible and this pussy. I get the best of both worlds around here: Prayers and Orgasms. Now hurry up and get out because my mother-in-law has my son and my husband is about to FaceTime me so I can show him how much I miss him. I love y’all!”

I said my goodbyes to everyone and headed to my momma’s house. I wanted my own place, but no one else in my life thought it was a good idea. After the incident from a few years ago, my family became even more protective of me. They rarely let me be alone unless they had my location and could talk to me.

It took a while for them to even allow me to drive my own car because they were worried someone would try to harm me. I tried my best to move on after everything went down, but it was easier said than done. My family had always been overbearing, but now they treated me like fragile glass.

As soon as I got in my car, my brother’s Messiah and Rule called me on FaceTime. They called me at least three to four times a week and texted me daily to check in and make sure I didn’t need anything. If I went too long without answering, they would round up the family to search for me. It was embarrassing at times, but I understood why they did it.

“Hey, brothers. What y’all want?” I hooked my phone up to my car holder and started driving.

“What’s up, honeycombs? Where are you coming from? You’ve been at some nigga’s house?” Rule probed as I rolled my eyes in annoyance.

“Naw, she’s just now leaving Charity’s house, which means it should take her roughly sixteen minutes to get to the house if she drives the speed limit,” Messiah replied.

“What the hell? Are you stalking me or something?” I shrieked. It was no secret my family had my location, but Messiah had taken things to a new level.

“You call it stalking; I call it protection. I need to know the distance of all the places you normally frequent, so if it takes you too long to get somewhere, I can put everyone on alert.” He informed me as if it made all the sense in the world.

“You are insane. What happens if I go get a man and I decide to spend the night with him instead of going home?”

“Well, that won’t be a problem because I already have Solo’s address and the distance it takes for you to get there. Plus, I don’t have to worry about where you’re with him because he’s trigger-happy as fuck and I know he’ll die to protect you.”

His comment was layered because, while he was telling the truth about my best friend, I was confused about why he'd mentioned him in the first place.