Chapter 7

7

D ali

It took everything inside of me not to punch that nigga’s lips and teeth down his throat when I saw him kiss Kas. I stepped outside, needing to calm myself down. The last thing I wanted to do was scare her. Ken and I had triggered her enough last week.

Both Kassadee and I dated over the years even when we had those moments where we flirted and expressed our feelings for each other. I never felt possessive of her in an insecure way that made me want to act out or get violent. This was the first time I saw her with a man, and it actually affected me negatively.

In the past, there was a part of me that felt like, regardless of what happened between them… Kas was going to be mine. Between her saying she didn’t know how I felt about her and Ken warning me that her feelings might change because she was unsure of mine… I wasn’t as secure as I used to be when it came to Kassadee.

Just the thought of her moving on had me feeling weak in the knees, but I regained my strength when I saw the man who’d tainted her lips with his leaving the bar. Unable to stop myself, I followed him to his car. When he opened the door, I slammed it and stepped in front of it. He looked at me as his brows wrinkled and mouth opened slightly in confusion.

“You know who I am?” I confirmed. His head bobbed. “Then you know what I can do to you, right?” He nodded. “If you want to keep your face structured the way it is now, you’re going to stay away from Kassadee and never come to this bar again.”

“But I—”

“If you kiss her again, I’m going to hit you so hard your jaw will be permanently wired shut. You won’t be able to move that motherfucker to kiss anyone else. Do you understand me?”

He nodded and swallowed hard as he took a step back. I opened the door wide enough for him to get inside as I said, “Good, and don’t tell her about this conversation, or I’ma have you walking around looking like Martin when he stepped in the ring with Tommy Hearns.”

“Y-Yes, sir,” he stuttered, quickly plopping down in his seat.

If I wasn’t still slightly irritated, I would have laughed. I waited until he drove off to make my way back inside the bar. Instead of going back to my table, I went over to the bar and sat down. When Kassadee’s eyes landed on me, she smiled.

“I’ll be with you in a sec,” she said as she poured cherry grenadine into a glass.

I waited patiently, cracking a few jokes with Mona as she worked the bar. When Kas got a free moment, she made her way in front of me and leaned against the countertop.

“I thought you left,” she said. “Thank you for the marketing idea. As you can see, it worked.”

“I’on know what got into you, but if you value these niggas, you bet not ever let me see you kissing one again.”

Her mouth opened and snapped shut as she stared at me. “Huh?”

“You heard what I said, Kassadee Smith. I didn’t stutter.”

With a nervous chuckle, she squeezed the back of her neck. “I’m a grown ass woman, Dali. I can kiss whoever I want.”

“Aight.” Chuckling, I stood. “If you think this shit a game, put a nigga’s life on the line if you want to.”

“Dali, I—”

“Even when you ain’t mine… you mine. Don’t disrespect me like that again.”

She groaned and walked away as she shook her head. “I’m not about to play with your delusional ass, Dali. Go home.”

“I’ll be that. You just make sure you don’t forget you ain’t single.”

“Yes, I am!” she yelled as I walked away through her smile.

“Yeah, aight. You heard what the fuck I said.”

The growl she released caused me to chuckle as I headed out.

I’m not sure what she thought this was, but I’d show her better than I could tell her.

We might not have been in a committed relationship, but Kassadee was mine and would always be mine. I wouldn’t let anyone get in the way of that—not even myself or her fears.

That Weekend

Sweat dripped down my body as I put my weed eater on the back of my truck. My lawn care service was the one I was least hands-on with. All the summers as a kid cutting grass with Pops and my brother made me despise it. It was a great money maker though, so it was an amazing business to have.

Even with that being the case, I still cut my grandparents’ and parents’ yards. That was a responsibility I’d probably never age out of.

Mama came and handed me a bag that I was sure was filled with a sandwich, chips, and some kind of fruit. I told her I wouldn’t be able to stay for dinner, but Pam Ingram wasn’t going to let me leave this house without feeding me something .

With the way the sun was beaming down on me, I’d gladly scarf down whatever was in the bag.

“Thanks, Ma.” I gave her a kiss on the temple as I accepted the bag.

“You’re welcome, baby. And thank you. I know you hate doing this, but it’s really helpful now that your father has slowed down some.”

Pops had a heart attack earlier in the year, and even though he was slowly getting back to himself, me and Dynasty tried to take care of as much as we could for them.

We talked for a while longer as I sat in the truck and ate the turkey sandwich, loaded up with tomatoes and pickles like I liked, then headed out.

On the drive, I checked in with my crew, saving Kennessy for last. I wanted to get in his head about his sister. Since what happened the last time I saw her, I hadn’t been back to Ever’s Pub . I felt bad about threatening the men she entertained but I also needed her to know what was at stake. I knew I couldn’t stop her from dating altogether, but I didn’t want to see that shit.

“Wassup, bro?” Kennessy answered, and the sound of children’s laughter in the background immediately filled my ears.

“Where you at?”

“At the park with Sam and her friends. I’m not sure how I got talked into this, but here we are.”

I chuckled and loosened my grip on the steering wheel.

There wasn’t too much Ken wouldn’t do for Sam, but he hated taking her and her friends to the park because they would always want to stay for hours.

“You talked to your sister lately?”

“Every day, but you know that. Wassup?”

“Did she… tell you about what happened the other day?”

He chuckled and took his sweet time responding.

“About you threatening some dentist that kissed her? Yeah. She told me about that.”

I groaned and palmed my mouth. “I fucked up. I know she got a thang about fighting. I don’t know what came over me. It felt like the responsible thing to do.”

The boisterous laughter that seeped from his lips made me feel better about the situation, even though it was clear he wasn’t taking me seriously.

“Warning her about what you’d do to a man she kissed or dated felt like the responsible thing to do?”

“Yeah, basically. That was fair, right? I mean… I could have told her not to date at all. Instead, I told her not to let me see it. Compromise.”

The line was silent for a while before he laughed even harder. After sucking his teeth, he said, “Mannn, say. Your life would be a hell of a lot easier if you just told the girl you loved her.”

“I’ma get to that eventually. I just… need to make sure it’ll be worth it. Based on her reaction that day—”

“Her calling you delusional?”

“Yeah, that.” I cleared my throat and chuckled. “She might not even take a relationship with me seriously. I need to take my time with this. And what was delusional about what I said anyway?”

“Dali, you told her she wasn’t single even though she is. That’s not sane.”

“Regardless, even without a title, I said what I said, and I meant that shit. So if she cares about these niggas, she better do whatever she gon’ do in private. Matter fact, she can’t even date. The time for that was pre-2024. That’s done now. Only man she gon’ be dating going forward is me. You tell your sister that since she ain’t answering my phone calls.”

“I ain’t telling her ass shit ,” he said through his chuckle. “ You go tell her. She at the house now. I was supposed to go cut her grass, but Sam got me out later than expected so I told her I’d come do it tomorrow.”

“Which means she more than likely over there trying to do it herself.”

“Exactly.”

“Aight, bet. Good lookin’ out.”

After disconnecting the call, I changed directions and headed to Kassadee’s home. Cutting her yard wasn’t going to make her less mad, but it would at least give me an excuse to be in her presence.