Page 20 of Disrespectfully, Relic
“Hell, that’s a start. We need to go out for drinks soon, so we can build you a roster, though,” Savvy said with a sneaky grin while rubbing her palms together. “For now, get dressed because you’re hanging with us for the day.”
“And we’re not taking no for an answer.” Treasure endorsed her sister’s stance. “I can’t fight, but I’ll grab my nephew so Savvy can drag you out of here if she has to.”
“Girl, stop telling people you can’t fight! You beat up Chalise, so that counts for something, shit.” Savvy sucked her teeth as Kennedy gripped her belly, hunching over in laughter.
“Y’all are too funny, but I don’t know, Savvy. This is a family thing, and—”
“Girl, you’re basically family! Even though you’re a recluse and don’t mess with outsiders like that, we definitely see you as more than our hair stylist. You know better than that.”
Kennedy blew out a breath and tussled her braids. “Who all gon’ be there?”
“We don’t have time to deal with the potential drama from Shabu’s family, so we kept it to our siblings. Pierre is there because he’s taking Relic’s spot as a groomsman.”
“Wait, Relic isn’t going to be up there with his brothers?”
“Nope. Since I don’t have a father to walk me down the aisle, I asked him to do it. It took Shabu pressing his ass for weeks, but he finally agreed.”
“Thank goodness, because I did not want to walk with him,” Treasure replied with obvious relief in her tone that Savvy fanned off with a laugh.
Kennedy didn’t add her opinion in the conversation because Savvy was better than her. If she were in their shoes, she might’ve ended up in jail behind the same nigga touching both her cousin and baby sister. Kennedy couldn’t give one damn who Relic was related to.
“You don’t find it awkward or uncomfortable?” she couldn’t resist asking while tidying up her rolling station. “Being around Relic after what he did to y’all.”
Savvy folded her arms as her expression hardened. “What’d he do to us? I can already tell you’ve been chatting with the peanut gallery, and they’ve told you some bullshit. Let’s hear it.”
Kennedy paused, glancing over her shoulder while debating whether to defend Lexi and Nubia about the slick remark Savvy made. Before Treasure and Pierre started dating, their girl group was tight knit, but that situation had caused tension within the clique. It seemed like she was the neutral party, while Nubia and Lexi hung close, and Savvy stuck with either her sister, husband, or Michi. Anytime they got together, the brewing hostility was impossible to miss.
“Why do they have to be the peanut gallery? They don’t talk any more than we do when we’re together,” she said with a shrug. “But they didn’t tell me anything you already haven’t. You thought he raped you—”
“But he didn’t. He was the one that put me in bed after my supposed best friend and her cousin drugged me.”
“But his baby mother played a part in it, right? He didn’t tell you the whole story to protect her. She’s the same girl who brought your sister to him.”
“And Relic didn’t touch me that night,” Treasure voiced. She didn’t care for him, but she wasn’t petty enough to let him carry blames that weren’t his. “I told y’all that. He figured I was underage and refused, even though Jessica kept pushing him to. It’s not his fault that she was trifling.”
“I heard it is, actually.”
“Damn, bitch! What didn’t you hear?!” Savvy snapped with a roll of her neck. “Those hoes run their mouths like water. Do they tell you their business, though? Do you know Lexi is really mad ‘cause she got pregnant by the nigga she was fucking with, but he made her get an abortion and then cut her off because he has a wife? She wasn’t even pressed ‘bout Pierre and Treasure dating anymore until then.
“I won’t even get on Nu because if Los snatches that skin care salon and house from under her ass for fucking another nigga, I ain’t gon’ say shit. She doesn’t even know that business she’s about to run isn’t Relic’s spot. That’s Los’s shit. He just didn’t want to tell her because he knew she wouldn’t take it.”
“Oh, wow.” That was as much as Kennedy could muster about the bombs being dropped on her.
Lexi hadn’t once mentioned an abortion or the reason for her split with a man Kennedy had never even met. That should’ve told her something wasn’t right, but she didn’t care much about her friend’s business. She merely listened and didn’t judge.
“I knew about Nubia having a friend, but I didn’t think it had gone as far as sex,” she admitted, and Savvy hmphed.
“That’s straight from Los’s mouth. He went through her phone. He just hasn’t said anything because he doesn’t know how to play it. They are divorced, so Nu isn’t doing anything wrong.”
“She sure isn’t, but I get him being upset when he’s trying to reconcile and doing so much to show her that he wants her back. Your husband’s family has a lot of damn drama with them.”
“They do, and most of it seems to revolve around or land in Relic’s lap, when he doesn’t even speak to most of them. I’m going to tell you what Shabu told me when we first met.” Savvy redirected the topic back to where it started, figuring her girl needed some coaching. “Shabu told me not to let another person tell me shit about him. He said to take it as a grain of salt if it isn’t from his mouth or if I didn’t experience it from him. I didn’t understand it when he told me, but I sure as hell do now. Keep that in mind when you’re dealing with Relic.”
“I’m not—what?” Kennedy’s words stumbled over each other as Savvy twisted her mouth to one side.
“You don’t give a damn about other people’s business, Kenn, and that’s what we like most about you... you worry about yourself. You seem real invested in Relic and his business, though. It’s like you’re trying to weave through the bullshit for truths. Why?”
“Girl, that’s not what I’m doing. I just wondered if you all were uncomfortable around him, especially Treasure because you know she’s too sweet to speak up.”
