The Roof is on Fire (16 page)

“I wouldn't feed my worst enemy that shit Jada cooked. Who in the hell put pork chops in that much gravy and grease?”

“Obviously, yo mama didn't, mine did,” Jada said, then looked at me. “Roc, if you would like more than just two pork chops, you're welcomed to it. That ole cheese and cracker eatin' fool over there don't have a clue what good cookin' is. His loss, not mine.”

No gripes from me because, as usual, the food looked good from where I was standing. Jaylin could get down on that apple and cottage cheese all he wanted to; I was doing the chops. I helped Jada set the table so we could eat.

“Before we eat, let's give thanks for this wonderful food I done prepared for y'all, while Chase did nothin' but run her mouth and stand around lookin' cute. I don't want her to get any credit when y'all sink y'all's teeth into my chops.”

“I did bake one pork chop and I also smashed the potatoes,” Chase said. “I have no problem giving credit where it's due. You did your thing, so let's pray, especially for you.”

I wasn't about to back away from praying and listen to Jada's mouth. I bowed my head with the others. I closed my eyes, but nobody said anything.

“Roc,” Jaylin said. “Gon' and do your thing. Show leadership and express how thankful you are for all of this mess.”

“Excuse me, Jesus,” Jada said, opening her eyes. “But fuck you, Jaylin, all right? You gon' make me go there with you durin' prayer, so please be quiet for one doggone minute.”

I hurried to speak so this wouldn't go on and on. “I'm very thankful that Jada knows how to throw down, and I'm thankful that as hungry as I am, I didn't have to dive into any of Chase's horrible food. Thank you, Lord. Amen.”

“Amen,” the others said, except Chase.

“Screw you too, Roc,” she said. “You're working me.”

“Not yet. But I will, though. Soon.”

Like a brat, she kicked me from underneath the table. I guess she expected for me to scream like a scared li'l bitch, but all I did was display a wicked smile.

“You scare me when you look at me that way,” she said with sarcasm in her voice. “Please stop.”

“You should be scared. Very scared.”

She threw her hand back at me. “Don't fool yourself, Roc. I'm not afraid of anyone, so you can save those dirty looks for another day.”

“My looks don't have nothin' to do with this. And I'm not goin' to sit at this table and tell you plenty of reasons why you should be afraid. I'll mention one. It's because I'm tellin' you that you should be.”

Jada dropped her fork and wiped her mouth with a napkin. “All these threats are killin' me. Since when do men do it like that? I say if you gon' do somethin' to somebody, then gon' ahead and do it. Stop talkin' all that noncents and show, not tell.”

“Nonsense,” Jaylin said, chomping down on his apple. “N-O-N-S-E-N-S-E. Stop sounding like an idiot.”

“Yo M-A-M-A, momma. She's the only idiot I know of, for havin' someone like you.”

Jaylin sat across the table from Jada without saying another word. There was a crisp silence for about a whole minute before he got up and stroked his goatee. I thought he was leaving the kitchen, but when I saw him grab Jada's hair from the back, it shocked the shit out of me. He pulled tight, causing her to squeeze her watery eyes.

“Let my hair go,” Jada shouted, trying to remove his hands by scratching at them. That made him pull tighter.

He bent down and calmly whispered in her ear. “I'm gon' say this one more time, and you'd better listen to me good. Leave my fucking mother out of your mouth. You can play all you want to with me, but going there will get you in a neck brace. That's no threat, baby, it's a promise.”

Jaylin pushed her head forward, before letting it go. Afterward, he removed her plate from in front of her and dumped it in the trash. Before Jada could process what he had done, he also dumped the remaining pork chops on the stove in the trash.

“Hold the fuck up!” Jada shouted. “Oh, no, you didn't just pull my hair like that and dump my food, did you?”

Jaylin folded his arms and stood defensively. “Stop talking and do something about it. Ain't that what you said you were sick of people doing? Talking with no action.”

“This is so uncalled for.” Chase dropped her fork on the plate. “These damn men in here need to grow the fuck up.”

Yes, I was irritated, so I tore into her. “Bitch, who you talkin' about? You don't have nothin' to do with what's goin' on between them, but you had to throw me up in the mix. Get the fuck out of here with that grow up bullshit. Grow yo ass up.”

Jada rushed into the kitchen. She tried to open the silverware
drawer, but Jaylin blocked her. “If you find a knife, you'd better know how to use it,” he said.

They argued over him blocking the drawer, and Chase quickly got after me. “I'm not going to be another one of your bitches. From what I gather, you already have one who got your sensitive-ass tripping. Leave me the hell alone and go somewhere and find another joint, weed-wacker.”

I tried to be the better person here, but that didn't always work for me. Ladies I respected. Hoes with smart mouths were on my chopping block. But instead of putting my hands on Chase, I smacked her plate off the table, causing it to crash on the floor. The shattering glass caused Jada and Jaylin to stop arguing. They looked to see what was up.

I stood and pointed at the food on the floor. “Since you like being on your hands and knees, I figured you wouldn't mind. Eat up before I shove somethin' else in your foul-ass mouth to keep you quiet.”

Chase's jaw dropped wide open. “I swear to God that I have never met a man as disrespectful and lowlife as you.”

Jada chimed in, too. “I have and he's standin' right here.” She looked at Jaylin. “These tantrum-throwin' niggas done lost their damn minds. All I gotta say is nobody better be sleepin' peacefully up in here tonight. Better sleep with three eyes open, because it's on and poppin'.”

Jaylin looked at me and nudged his head toward the door. He appeared as frustrated as I was. These dizzy-ass broads had crossed the line. It was time to get them the fuck out of here.

“I can't do this much longer,” I said to Jaylin as we stood in the game room. “Somebody about to get hurt up in here. I don't know who the fuck they think they are.”

“I feel you on that, but calm down. You've been upset since your conversation with Desa Rae, but being like this ain't gon' help us one bit. I know the situation at your place of business got you on edge too, but if we play our cards right, this will all be over with soon. The last thing we want to do is put the ladies in a position to win. When we start losing control, that's what will happen. So, take a deep breath and get your head on straight. I almost lost it my damn self. Jada know she be tripping, and it took everything I had not to punch her ass.”

“Both of them be trippin', and I ditto what you're sayin'. I'm gon' laugh my ass off when I see Chase packin' up her shit, and all I'm gon' say about Jada is I will surely miss the food.”

We laughed and started to shoot pool. Jaylin bent over to take a shot.

“FYI, don't go to sleep tonight,” he said in a teasing manner. “Jada will have that knife by her side, and there is a chance that my dick may get cut off or yours.”

He shot the ball into the hole, then waited for me to take my turn. “Jada gon' mess around and find herself asleep in a casket. I'm not goin' to sleep until she does, but she ain't the only one who will have a knife in their possession. What's good for her will definitely be good for me.”

Jaylin agreed. We didn't finish shooting pool until later that night.

I didn't care how fine he was, how big his dick was, how well defined his body was or how smooth his conversation was. Jaylin was a hot-ass mess, and he had no clue how to treat a real woman like me.

I couldn't believe that he pulled my hair like that. My scalp was screaming. He lucky I couldn't get into that drawer to get a knife. I would have cut him up in a thousand and one pieces, but then again, talk was cheap. What threw me for a loop was the argument between Chase and Roc. They were going at it tough. When I asked Chase about it, all she said was angering him was in her plan. I didn't see how his dissing her was in the plan, but for now I had a plan of my own. My plan was stalled because Jaylin and Roc hadn't gone to sleep yet. We were all in the bedroom with the lights still on. Roc sat shirtless against the headboard while playing a video game on a handheld PlayStation. Chase lay sideways in bed. She was underneath most of the cover while paging through a fashion magazine. Jaylin sat shirtless against the headboard too. No cover was on him, and he was reading
The 48 Laws of Power.

With Sylvia being gone, I was on the edge of her bed polishing my toenails. It was almost two in the morning. I figured that Jaylin and Roc didn't want to go to sleep because I'd threatened them earlier. Any other night, they'd be out by now.

I yawned right after Roc did, then I glanced at the wall clock. It ticked away as we chilled in silence. After another ten minutes went by, Chase cleared her throat.

“Jaylin, I don't mean to bring this up, but I'm curious about something. If you don't want to answer my question, you don't have to.”

“What?” he said without looking away from the book. “What are you curious about?”

“About why Jada mentioning your mother upset you earlier. I didn't peg you out to be a woman beater, but you were pretty hot.”

I sat silent because I wanted to hear his response, if he was willing to give one. He kept reading and didn't respond until he flipped the page. “Correction. A woman beater I am not, and I don't get down like that. Calling my mother out of her name or speaking of people that you don't know nothing about angers me. I lost my mother when I was young. Needless to say, I don't like it when anyone disrespects her.”

“I can understand that,” Chase said. “How did you lose your mother?”

“She was murdered. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to get back to reading this book.”

“I'm sorry to hear about your mother and thanks for sharing. Maybe Jada will feel compelled to apologize, and maybe you will also apologize for grabbing her hair.”

Apology my ass,
I thought. I wasn't sure where Chase was going with this, but Jaylin ignored her last comment.

“Hey, Roc,” I said. He kept playing the video game, but nodded his head. “Why did you get all bent out of shape when Chase called yo woman a bitch? Are you gon' take issue with everybody who calls her out of her name, or don't you realize that words are just words and sometimes people say things out of anger?”

Roc set the PlayStation on his lap. “We all say things out of anger, but I take some shit personal. When you start talkin' about the people I love, I got a problem with that. Say what you want about me, but don't cross the line with people who ain't here to defend themselves. That's all I'm sayin'.”

“Exactly,” Jaylin said.

The room went silent for a few more minutes.

“Riddle me this,” Roc said, looking in Jaylin's direction. “Why yo ass ain't asleep? I know I'm tired as fuck, but I'm not about to wake up with half of a dick.”

Shoot! He must have spotted the scissors I had tucked underneath the mattress.

“I don't think nobody is that stupid to cut off your manhood,” Jaylin said. “But if you lose half of your dick, whoever is that bold should lose a titty.”

Ouch. That hurt just thinking about it. I wasn't going to use the scissors to go out like that, but I was going to go into the closet and go to work on Jaylin's expensive clothes. As pricey as they were, I was sure he'd be mad. But after hearing about his mama, maybe I was in the wrong for saying what I did.

I turned sideways to look at him. “I'm sorry to hear about your mama, and I apologize for speaking ill about her. I know how it feels to have a parent murdered. My father was murdered right in front of me when I was seven years old. It's somethin' I'll never forget.”

Truthfully, I didn't know my father, but I'd heard that's what had happened when I was three, not seven. Chase touched her chest. “That's horrible, Jada. I couldn't even imagine seeing anything like that. Did you know the person who killed him?”

“Yep. It was his best friend. He used to come to our house all
the time. I really liked him. Then my father and him got into it one day, and the next thing I saw was him pullin' out a gun and shootin' my father. Shot him twice in the face, then in the chest. That's why, to this day, I don't have too many people I consider friends. To hell with friends.”

Jaylin turned the page in his book and still hadn't said anything. Roc was the next one to open his mouth. “That's messed up, Jada. When I was younger, some similar stuff went down with me and my parents. My Uncle Ronnie had to raise me. I don't think I would've preferred it any other way. I guess some things happen for a reason.”