STILL BAD FOR YOU | CH. 2

Still Bad for You

Chapter TWO

Old Flames

Having a sit down with Brenda was the last thing Mega ever thought he would do. Especially since they kept their distance from each other after their fallout. He called that woman every demeaning name he could think of, and she did the same. All because her daughter played the game like an almighty champion. Mega realized the apple didn’t fall too far from the tree.

“Long time no see.” Brenda looked him up and down as she welcomed him into her home again.

“Yeah. How you doing?”

In his head, his greeting didn’t come out so dry. But when his ears heard it directed at Brenda, it made him cringe.

“Where’s MJ?”

“She’s safe.” He replied, taking a seat on the same couch he once fucked her daughter on.

“I thought you would have brought her with you.”

“I mean, if she is my daughter, I should be able to spend time with her. Right?”

The words poured from his mouth with zero emotion behind them. Mega wasn’t ready to accept MJ as his own just yet, and he certainly didn’t trust Brenda. So, he kept his guard up until he knew for sure he had a chance to be a part of his daughter’s life.

“Of course,” Brenda forced a smile. “I just wanna make sure she’s alright. Mila too. Have you heard from her?”

“No. And quite frankly, I don’t wanna talk about Mila. She put a hit out on me, and that has to be dealt with.”

“What?” Brenda laughed. “You two have been at each other’s throats since the day you started.”

“Nah, I’m serious,” Mega frowned. “I found out about Polo.”

The room grew quiet. Brenda knew about Polo all along, and while she didn’t care for him too much, she understood the measures of Mila playing the game to get what she wanted. Brenda’s mother taught her the game when she was a teen, and she passed it down to her own daughter.

“And what happened with that?” She plopped down in her recliner and lit up a cigarette. “Is that why she went MIA?”

“Probably.” Mega shrugged. “She took some money for a hit she couldn’t come through on. I don’t doubt she got some real killers on her trail by now. And I should be one of them.”

Mega saw Brenda’s heart shatter through her eyes when he said that. He thought she hated him. But after seeing some sort of unwillingly expressed compassion for his life, he felt a little different about his old frenemy.

“Wow,” she shook her head. “I can’t believe she would stoop that low. I’m really at a loss for words right now. I have no idea what’s come over her lately.”

If Mega felt like arguing that afternoon, he would have told Brenda exactly what came over her daughter. The parenting skills of a heartless gold digger was what it was. But he wanted things to be different for them moving forward. MJ made them family. So things had to be different.

“Anyway. The baby. MJ? What is it that I need to know about her?”

Brenda let out a light sigh before she dove into her tell-all. Truthfully, she was happy that MJ belonged to Mega. Had she turned out to be Polo’s, Brenda knew her own life would have been a living hell. All he and Mila did was argue, fuss, and fight. And each time he put his hands on her, Mila ran home to Mama.

“Mila was pregnant when you left New York,” Brenda said. “She was afraid to tell you, because she wasn’t sure if you were the father or that boy I hate to even think about. That’s where a lot of the anger and hostility came from between the three of us.”

She waited to see if Mega would chime in and give his own input, but he didn’t. His eyes were empty, and his ears were open, but his lips remained sealed.

“She didn’t find out the baby was yours until a few months ago. Before then, Polo did little things here and there. I knew she was yours, though. Mila should have told you a long time ago. There wasn’t a day that went by that I didn’t want to tell you myself, but that’s my baby. I couldn’t overstep my boundaries there.”

Loyalty was big for Mega, so he wasn’t mad at Brenda for holding out on him. Besides, he strongly believed the news should have come from Mila anyway. She was the one he lay down with at the end of the day.

“I respect that.” He nodded.

“How are you feeling about all of this?” Brenda asked. “I know it’s like being hit out of nowhere, but there’s a baby involved now. She needs her mother. And her father.”

“I agree.” Mega relaxed into the sofa. “I don’t really know what I’ma do at the moment. I can’t even believe I’m somebody’s dad. That’s crazy.”

“Can I… I can trust that my granddaughter is safe with you, right? I won’t have to worry about her?”

If looks could kill, Brenda would’ve dropped dead in her chair. Her question sounded like an insinuation that Mega would’ve done something to hurt MJ. Although he was a ruthless kingpin who didn’t think twice about pulling the trigger on anybody who crossed him, he loved kids.

“I guess we’ll see.” He replied, getting up to leave. “Hopefully we can both trust that she’s ok with me. I’ma get up out of here, though. I got a few errands to run. I’ll let you know if I hear from your daughter.”

Brenda knew better than to think Mega would ever do anything to hurt a child. He was cutthroat in the streets, but she’d seen him with his nieces and nephews enough to know that he had a soft spot for children. He also had a steady stream of available funds coming in, so she knew MJ would’ve been perfectly fine with her daddy.

Once Mega was inside the privacy of his jeep, tears of rage and aggression rolled down his cheeks and stained his shirt. He was mad at the world. Hurt. Scared and confused. Although he was more than willing and able to step up and take care of his baby girl, he wasn’t ready to be a father.

He still had his fists full of the street life, and that wasn’t something he planned on letting go of any time soon. He grew even angrier when he thought about missing the birth of his firstborn. As if trying to set him up wasn’t enough of a reason to kill Mila, her keeping such a heavy secret from him was.

“Yeah? Who is this?” He wiped his eyes as he silenced the ringing of his cellphone.

“It’s me, Layton. Where you at?”

“Shit! Layton!? Where you at!?

“They finally released me from the hospital. Can you come scoop me?”

“Hell yeah! I’m on my way.”

Layton was Mega’s comfort zone. His best friend. The person he turned to when everything seemed to be too heavy and out of place. They were so close that people often accused them of being a couple. The accusations didn’t bother Mega, and the only time they bothered Layton was when she had to defend her sexuality against it. She was gayer than a straight man wearing a dress, and she needed everyone to know it.

On his drive to her, Mega felt himself self-soothing, thinking about their friendship and how she was always there when he didn’t know what to do. He was sure she would help him with the baby if he needed it, so he didn’t know why he was so stressed and afraid of being a father.

Once he finally made it to the hospital, where he thought Layton would die, that heaviness in his heart seemed to lose a few pounds and he was able to crack a smile for once.

“Booooyy, I thought your ass was a goner!” he joked, hopping out of his Jeep to greet his best friend.

“Shit, me too, nigga! This shit right here is way worse than anything we had to deal with.”

“I guess you earned your stripes now, Killa.”

“Yeah, whatever, fool!” Layton laughed as she struggled to get up into the Jeep. “Goddamn! Why you got this damn car jacked up like this!?”

Layton was fucked up. But, internally, it didn’t seem like the hitman was really trying to kill her. He sliced her up a great deal. Broke her hand, so she wouldn’t be able to tattoo for a while. Even laid a few good punches to her gut, but still missed all the major organs and arteries. She was thankful for that, but it made her remember the dreadful truth that he was her real father.

Before making it to Layton’s house, Mega stopped at the grocery store to grab her a few things for the next couple of days. Doctors said she might’ve experienced a lot of pain while recovering, and Mega wanted her to be as comfortable as possible when he wasn’t there to help. So, he took her list, checked it twice, and shopped for her most prized possessions after her hospital stay.

“You get my beer?” she asked, rummaging through the grocery bags.

“I got you, big dawg. Got you the biggest box I could find.”

The car was silent for a while after leaving the grocery store. Mega was in his head, trying to figure out how to tell Layton he had a baby. And Layton was busy on her phone trying to prove to her hoes she wasn’t out sleeping around. Even fresh out of the ER with what looked like a thousand stitches, Layton was a smooth operator.

“Bruh, females crazy!” She laughed and blacked the screen of her phone. “This damn girl don’t believe that I almost just died! She swears to God I was out fucking with another bitch. What the hell, man?”

“That’s how they be, dawg.” Mega shook his head, thinking about all the times he had the same argument with Mila.

“What’s wrong with you? You were all hyped to see me not too long ago. Now you looking all sad and sappy. You good?”

Aside from finding Mila, MJ was the only thing Mega thought about. His responsibility to be a good father and whether he was actually going to kill Mila collided like oil and water. He thought that if MJ’s mother died by his own gun, he would’ve been the biggest hypocrite in her life. Even bigger than Mila and Brenda.

“Man, you ain’t gon’ believe this shit,” he sighed.

“What?” Layton grew nervous. “What happened now?”

“I found out Mila had a baby a year ago.” He looked over to see if she knew where he was going with the story.

Layton looked as if she did know where he was going, but she waited for him to tell her just in case she had it wrong.

“The baby’s mine.”

“Hold up. Hold up,” Layton shook her head. “Mila had a baby? Mila Santana?”

“Yes.” Mega nodded.

“And the baby’s yours?”

“Yes.” He nodded again.

Layton scratched her head as if that would help her brain process the information faster. It all made sense, but at the same time, it didn’t. So, even though Mega seemed turned off by the conversation, she had to ask more questions.

“How didn’t you know she had a baby? “Weren’t you blowing her back out every night?” she asked.

“Nah. Remember we fell off for bout a year when she was living in New York. I saw her a few times here and there, but she never said anything about being pregnant.”

“Well, where the baby at? That’s crazy as hell, man.”

“With Jordyn.”

Time stood still in Layton’s world after his confession. She had only been in the hospital for a few days, but being caught up on all the drama that happened while she was laid up made her feel like she had been gone for months.

“What you mean she with Jordyn? Don’t Jordyn and Mila hate each other?”

“Right.” Mega shook his head. “When all the shit went down, Jordyn came up with her own plan and pretty much kidnapped her, thinking that was gon’ help the situation.”

“YOOO!” Layton roared with laughter. “That’s a real rider right there, boy! She kidnapped your ex-bitch baby to make her fall the fuck back? That’s what I’m talking bout! I know we sisters now. Fuck that!”

“Lay, this shit is serious, bruh. I got a lil girl. I don’t know what the fuck I’ma do about this shit.”

Layton knew the situation was serious, but it was so ridiculous she couldn’t help but laugh. Mega loved kids, and he always talked about having a baby anyway. He had the means to take care of her, and even though Mila was a bitch, Layton knew she would take care of things on her end too. So, she didn’t really see why Mega had so much doubt about being a father.

“What you gon’ do?” she asked. “You gotta be in her life, regardless. I ain’t gon’ let you NOT be there.”

Mega gave her an unsure look, but he knew she was right.

If there was one thing Layton hated, it was a deadbeat father. Because after her own terrible relationship with a woman who had kids, she got an inside glimpse of just how deadbeat a lot of fathers were.

“Don’t give me that look,” she said. “You knew having unprotected sex could lead to this. Yeah, Mila was grimy as hell for not telling you, but what else is new? The baby has no fault in this, and besides, I got me a lil niece now. What’s her name?”

“Mecca.” He nearly whispered. “They been calling her MJ.”

“Nigga! Put some respect on my niece's name. Say it with your chest!” She patted his firm chest for emphasis.

Mega laughed, feeling lighter about the situation. Layton always eased his mind when he was lost and didn’t know what to do. And he appreciated that more than she knew. It wasn’t often that he came across friends who were trustworthy and just as family-oriented as he was.

“You crazy as hell, you know that?” he laughed.

“I know,” Layton replied. “That’s why we’re best friends. You got this, dawg. Don’t second-guess it. Shit, you already know Jordyn gon’ hold you down through whatever, and I always got your back. You need a babysitter; fuck with me. Need diapers, clothes, or whatever, man, I’m right here with you. Alright?”

It took Mega a minute to answer because his voice was so full of tears, but once he got himself together again, he nodded and took everything in.

He had a baby. It wasn’t the way he wanted things during that time, but he had to be there for her. His own dad was nowhere to be found when he was growing up, and he made a vow that when he had his own children, that road was one he would never turn on.

“I love you, Lay,” he said. “You always got a nigga back. Loyal to the bone.”

“I love you too, my boy,” Layton gave him a fist bump. “You gon’ be alright. Mila made some fucked up decisions, but at the end of the day, she was a real one. So you know she gon’ do what’s right for that baby.”

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