Watching Kash walk away, I had to catch myself. She was always like my baby sister. I’d known her for years since Karmen and I were kids. It’s just that now, Kash was a grown ass woman with a grown ass body, and my wife was neglecting me. Of course, I was looking, but I knew she was off limits. Karmen would kill me if she had the slightest idea I was lusting after her little sister. Maybe it was the weed I smoked earlier, but it seemed like she was flirting with me.
Having her in such close proximity had me viewing her in another light. Wrong? Yea it was, but I was still a nigga with needs. Plus, I wasn’t blind. Kash had grown a little ass, some hips, and some nice size breasts over the years. I had never, and I mean never, looked at her in this light.
When Karmen asked what I thought about her staying with us once her folks left, I was all in. I mean, we were all like family and family helped each other. My family wasn’t shit but being around the Howards, I knew family was everything to them. Kash was young and I knew she wouldn’t want to leave her life and head three hours away not knowing any damn body. That would be torture for a twenty-year-old, so I was all for it. Plus ,in all honesty, I hoped it would settle things down on the home front to have her here. I wasn’t a punk by any means, but when Karmen got going, it was hell bringing her back down, so most times I chose to chill and let her have her way.
The truth was, Karmen and I weren’t vibing at all. We were both going in two different directions. She was acting like my mother instead of my wife. I came from the hood and most days, people, including my wife, forgot that shit because of how low-key I was. Being low-key didn’t make me a punk, but my wife was pushing it. I should have put her in her place a long time ago, but I loved what Karmen did for me. I loved how walking in a room full of white muthafuckas with her on my arm made me feel. When I first landed my job at the firm, white people made me feel like I didn’t deserve to be where I was or making what I was making. I wasn’t stupid. I noticed the looks and stares when my wife and I entered the building. Those crackers wanted her. They all doted over her like I wasn’t even there until I made my presence known. I didn’t care how much money I made, they would not cast me out like I was a nobody. Karmen’s skin was the same tone as mine, but the way she acted was just as pale as they were. She knew how to fit in wherever she was. She could be as ghetto as a hood chick in the projects, and then she could turn that shit off and be as white as Dakota Fanning.
They hated on me big time and they all tried to figure out how I ended up where I was. My wife did help me get my foot in the door, but she didn’t help me stay there. It was my smarts with money that kept me on top. I would be forever grateful for her connections, but I was a street dude first and money was my shit. And that’s why I was where I was, not because of Karmen, and the sooner she got that through her thick ass skull, the better off this marriage would be. It hurt me to know that Kash overheard all of that, but it was what it was. She needed to know love didn’t make shit perfect. Usually, it made things more complicated.
Those crackers wanted my wife and my life. I saw the lust in their eyes and it gave me a hard-on knowing I had such a smart, intelligent woman on my arms. So, being with my wife came with a price. The price of letting her disrespectful mouth run without consequences.
As soon as Kash disappeared, I heard the garage door letting up and knew it had to be Karmen. She was having a lot of late nights lately, but I never complained because most nights all she wanted to do was fight. I was drained as hell dealing with Karmen, so if her job made her stay out late until I was damn near asleep, then it was fine by me. I hadn’t spoken to Karmen since I left so I had no idea how she would feel about me just being here with no communication. Usually, one of us would break the ice by texting before I actually came back home during one of our feuds, but this time neither of us backed down.
This house was as much mine as it was my wife’s, so if she wanted to be pissed then cool, but I wasn’t spending another night out when I paid bills here. When she unlocked the door, I watched her on her phone grinning and laughing with whoever she was in deep conversation with, until her eyes landed on me. Her smile instantly turned to a frown. Quickly mumbling something into her cell, she ended her call and tossed it in her purse. Closing the door and hanging her keys on the hook, she walked right by me like I wasn’t even in the room. Jumping up from the sofa, I followed close behind her as she made her way into the kitchen. Grabbing a bottle of Merlot, she faced Kash who was sitting at the bar holding an ice pack on her leg.
“Hey boo, what happened?” she asked her sister, but still hadn’t acknowledged that I was here.
“You know me, clumsy. I bumped my leg coming in,” Kash stated in a low tone, keeping her eyes trained on her leg. I already knew she was avoiding eye contact with Karmen because she didn’t want her to see that she was high and had been drinking.
Karmen had no right to say shit to anyone about their habits, with her AA ass. Anytime I said anything about her drinking, she blew me off calling me dramatic, but my wife had a drinking problem. She had bottles of wine stashed all over our house. There was not one thing going on that didn’t involve wine in her mind. New client meant wine. Bad client meant wine. Not finding the right décor for a client meant wine. Bad day, good day, headache days were all excuses for her to have a glass of wine.
“Poor thing, let me see.” Karmen went to move the bag of ice from Kash’s leg.
“I said I’m fine.” Kash jerked the bag of ice from her sister’s hand.
“Look at me Kash.” Karmen used her wine-free hand to lift Kash’s chin.
“What?”
“Oh my fuckin’ goodness. You’re high. Kash, what the fuck.”
“It’s weed. The shit is harmless. It’s almost legal in every state now.” She shrugged, taking the ice from her leg trying to stand.
“Are you serious right now Kash? If you get caught with weed, Dad will fuckin’ kill my ass. Since when did you start smoking? Damn, you’ve only been with me three days and you are on drugs, dressing like a hoe, cursing, and getting damn belly rings. Fuck!” She filled her wine glass then took it to the head, repeating her actions at least three more times.
“Chill out, it’s not that serious Kar. She’s grown,” I butted in, and all eyes were on me.
“Who asked you Don? Why are you here anyway?” my wife scoffed.
It’s like a nigga blacked out. I was sick of her disrespectful ass. Grabbing her by her neck, ramming her body up against the wall, I began to squeeze. All I heard were the screams from Kash and the blows to my back that I was sure was coming from Kash as well. They were sisters. What did I expect? My wife’s eyes were bulging from the sockets and I knew if I didn’t let her go, she would be dead. My intentions were not to hurt or kill her, but to show her I was a fucking man, her husband to be exact, and she couldn’t keep talking to me any kind of way. I supposed I just snapped. Realizing my wife’s feet were dangling and her body began to go limp, I let her go and she hit the ground like a rag doll. Running to the front to grab my keys, all I heard in the background was Kash crying and Karmen coughing. Dashing out the side door where I parked my ride, I hopped in my candy red Camaro and sped away from my house.
This shit couldn’t get any worse.
Or could it?