“Hell yeah.” His head jerked back like he was offended I’d even asked him that shit.
“You know what they say about turning a hoe into a housewife, right?” I teased.
“The mothafuckas who said that ain’t have no vision. They were busy worrying about what other niggas thought about their woman and shit. That ain’t me. Besides, I work security at a bar, Selle. Shit. I’m a hoe too. We can rehab together though, baby.”
I fully laughed and threw a piece of potato peel at him. “Shut up.”
“I’m just saying.” He laughed too and shrugged.
“So you’d pay for it?” I asked.
“Do I get a coworker discount?”
“Nah. Full price.”
He shrugged. “Yeah. I’d pay for it.”
“How much?”
“Nah. You’re not about to set me up. You got the product, so you make the prices.”
We both laughed and I climbed to my feet to bring the potatoes to him.
“I’ll let you know when I decide,” I said.
“Alright.” He licked his lips. “Sounds good.”
“But now that we’re out of my family shit, let’s talk about yours.”
“What about it?”
“I don’t know. I showed you mine, so show me yours.” I hopped up on the island and watched as Stone moved around the kitchen like he belonged there.
“Alright. So my pops was a big drug dealer back in the day and you know how that shit goes. He became a hood celebrity and thought he could do whatever he wanted. So he was married to my older brother Elijah’s mom when he slipped up and got my mom pregnant. Me and Elijah were born six months apart. Five years later, he and my mom had Morocco. Then, she ended up on drugs and Elijah’s mom took me and Morocco in and raised us. Three years after that he brought my mom into the house, talking about how she wanted to change and he needed to help her. It was bullshit. A year later she gave birth to Drake. Pops kicked her out after she got too high one night, came home and almost let Drake drown, being negligent. From there, Pops started going in and out of jail. Four years after Drake, he came home with Xy who he had with some bitch who worked at one of the jails he’d been booked at. That was the final straw and Elijah’s mom packed her shit and left, not that we can blame her.
“Elijah was fifteen when it went down and he jumped in the streets behind Pops. I jumped into the homemaker shit for my siblings. I mean, my dad kept us laced with money and shit. He just wasn’t around much to go over homework or nothing. He, uh, he had these two hoes pretty much in love with him who would come through and cook and clean and shit for us for a while. Two years later one of them dropped my baby brother Joss off and we never saw her ass again. I was seventeen when he got locked up on this most recent bid and I guess the courts got tired of his ass going in and out so they put real time on his ass. Me and Elijah graduated and started taking care of shit around the house ten years ago.” He shrugged.
“Elijah got locked up about two years ago at the same time Morocco came home talking about he’d gotten his girlfriend pregnant, she was keeping it, and her people had put her out.” He scoffed and shook his head. “I got picked up at a mechanic shop and started working at the bar. Morocco got a nighttime job to balance his girl’s daytime job. And that’s it. We’re making shit shake for the other three.”
“Damn. I’m sorry for your loss.”
“It’s cool. I’ve dealt with it.” He turned away from the lit stove to face me.
“Six kids with four baby mamas is crazy though, Stone.”
He grinned. “Tell me about it.” He walked over and I spread my legs, housing him between them. His hands went to my waist. “I’m not either one of our hoe ass daddies,” he said simply.
“What?”
“I want you to know that shit. Despite how your dad did your mom and how my dad did the whole mothafuckin’ state, I’m not either of them. I’m me and you ain’t got to worry about me fucking around on you when we take it there, Selle.”
“When, huh?” I lifted an eyebrow. He nodded with his bottom lip tucked sexily. I reached up to link my arms aroundhis neck and he leaned toward me. “That’s good to know because I’ll fuck you up if you play in my face, Stone.”
“I believe you.”
He grinned against my mouth and I tightened my legs around him to pull him closer and press my lips against his.
We kissed a little bit before Stone went back to cooking. When he finished we ate together in the living room while I put on an animated television show I’d been interested in watching.