“Hey handsome”

“Why the fuck aren’t you at the house, Joyce Michelle?” Kevin’s voice rang in my ear.

I looked at the phone. Oh shit, the first and middle name? I am in trouble.

“I’m out for a little bit baby” I whined into the phone.

“Out where? For fuckin what? Do I hear niggas in the background?” Kevin hollered with enough bass that I almost jumped in my car and took my ass home.

“Huh?”

“Joy stop playing with me. If you can Huh you can hear.”

“Toni called me and said little sis needed me so I am meeting them at Fox lounge for a few minutes. I would have said no because my man doesn’t want me to leave the house like that without him, but I know how much you love your sister and would want me to be there for her in her time of need”. I rattled my words off as fast I could, hoping that he only heard the part about loving his sister and definitely nothing about me going to Fox lounge.

“YOU ARE NOT SITTING YOUR ASS IN NO FUCKING FOX LOUNGE WITH MY SEED IN YOUR FUCKING STOMACH!”

“Baby I am fine. The baby is fine. Your sister needs me. I won’t be out long. I love you.”

“JOYCE I SWEAR TO GOD YOU BETTER BRING YOUR NARROW –”

Hell if I am already going to have to hear his mouth about leaving the house, I might as well hear it about hanging up on his ass too. If I thought that leaving the house would put my baby at risk I would have been holed up like damn Rapunzel but that just wasn’t the case. I was going to sit at a bar on a stool and listen to my sister in law tell me about her no good ass man. I don’t understand why she stayed with his ass anyway. He was sneaky as hell. He had what my grandma called women’s tendencies. I wish my boo would just let his ass go. But what can I say? She will know when she had enough.