Co-Workers With Benefits

D I O N

Shit.

Lloyd is pissed.

And I mean, I ain't seen him like this in the longest time.

He walks back into the kitchen and I follow behind him as he grabs a plate, piling food onto it.

"You good bro?" I check.

He hums, scratching his neck then he scoffs.

"You sure?" I ask again.

"Damn these wings bomb as hell." He ignores my question, walking out the backyard and plopping himself down onto one of the couches, ripping up his plate.

I watch him eat angrily for a couple minutes before he gets back up and walks back into the kitchen to get himself a bottle of water.

I follow behind him to get the babies outside some juice and watch as Lloyd watches Cashton and Trinity head out the back door.

He walks over and grabs the box of Caprisun out of my hands taking it outside to give it to the kids himself.

I notice him glaring daggers in Cash's direction and I can't help but laugh as I take a couple juices out the box to help him.

"Here you go sweetheart." I hand one to one of Kyrie's twin girls.

"And Nevaeh." She points to her twin on the bouncy house and I hand her another one.

"Thank you." She runs back over to her sister, handing her her drink.

"Who's the goofy-lookin nigga?" Lloyd finally speaks up.

"Hm?" I ask.

He nods over to where Trinity is laughing with Cash by the bar.

"Oh, that's Cashton, he's Venice's cousin."

"How's he know Trinity?"

"Ion know. Childhood friend probably?" I shrug. "Bro if you so curious, go ask her bout it."

"Nah, it's cool."

Clearly it's not though.

"Y'all fight again? I seen the way she mugged you when she saw you."

"Yeah." He nods.

"Y'all always fighting. What's it bout this time?"

"Just something stupid."

"It's always bout something stupid." I laugh.

"Shut up." He glances over at them again and I follow his gaze.
Trinity has got her hand in his, measuring the difference in size.

I practically feel Lloyd tense up beside me and he squeezes the empty cardboard of the Caprisun so hard that he dents the box with his nails and his light knuckles turn white.

"Ay nigga chill." I grab the box off him. "You gotta calm yo ass down or you finna make a scene. You ain't bout to start nothing at my girl's baby shower. Either go over and talk to her or go out the front of the house and cool down. Don't be pulling none of this hulk shit in front of these kids nah."

He takes a deep breath and walks back into the kitchen for more food. Trinity watches him storm inside, rolling her eyes before she turns to look back at Cash.

"Dang, whatever's going on between those two is so toxic." I mumble to myself before I cross my arms and head back inside to see if I can finally get to my girlfriend.

When I get into the living room, Venice is still surrounded by her dad and her brothers, whilst her mom is playing with her other grand babies.

She notices me walk in and gets off the couch, saying bye to her family and speed walking in my direction.
She grabs my hand, pulling me upstairs to our room where it's way more quiet and the music is faint.