#2 :: Royal By Name, Loyal By Blood Pt2.

Ch 32.

LISA
Building Back Bonds.

It had been a month since Romaine took me in. I loved my mini house because I liked my space but I appreciate that I could just open my door and walk into the kitchen. I was building back bonds with all my kids and I was even able to help out Tanayah and Coco by taking care of my grandchildren.

One day we were all in the house, even West had come over, and I was cooking. I had just finished putting the food in the oven when all my kids came to the kitchen. They looked like they were up to something.

"Hey mom. We got a question..." Layla started.

"What happened with you and our dad? How did y'all get together? We wanna know everything. Before us, during and after. No bullshit." Romaine finished.

I took a glass of the wine and gulped it down.

"I guess now is a better time than ever. I lived a life with lots of secrets and bad choices..." I stopped. "...Go get West." I said.

Layla went and got him and he came in with a frown on his face.

"What, what, what? I'm tryna watch the game." He said.

"The kids want to know everything." I told him.

"EVERYTHING?" he asked.

"From scratch." I said.

"Okay. I'm sitting. I'm here." He said.

I sighed.

Everyone sat down on the breakfast bar and I began.

"We all used to go same high school. We formed a crew. There were three girls, me, Tammy and JaJa; I don't know if you know JaJa, but she's a cop now. Then there was West, Tyrone, Terrence, Tony, Smurf and a few others. We were the main eight though. We did everything together. I met the boys first and I was already friends with JaJa and Tammy so I told them to come and hang out too. Tammy already knew Terrence because they were neighbours. It was all good to begin with, until Tyrone made Tammy his girl on her sixteenth birthday. Everyone knew Terrence liked Tammy but he never made a move. After that Terrence turned into a completely different person. Anyway, I had a crush on one of the other guys but he was way out of my league, well... so I thought. So I ended up dating Terrence. He just wanted to make Tammy jealous but she was head over heels with Tyrone so that never worked. Then Tammy got pregnant and that made Terence completely mad. Only I ever saw this side to him though. I knew I was second best, but I always thought if I broke up with him it would ruin the group dynamic. Then Tammy fell pregnant for the second time and not long after, they got married. Well that pissed Terrence off even more. That was the first time he hit me. But yo momma ain't never let a man beat her. I buss his lip and warned him never to put his hands on me like that again. He begged me to forgive him, so I did. Then we had the trip to Vegas. We were living large. On the trip I caught him in our room with some bitch... I even heard him repeatedly say Tammy's name. It wasn't her though because she was searching for me and had found me just as I closed the door on what I had seen. I then realised; that no matter what, he was always going to want her. I left him that night and got my own hotel room. The guy I had a crush on had heard everything and came to check on me. That was the first time I cheated on Terrence. But it wasn't the last... it continued and I never once felt guilty. He cheated on me all the time and he was in love with Tammy, I was just second best. Anyway I continued my affair and he continued cheating. Every time I gave birth; I knew you weren't his kids..."

I was interrupted by Romaine.

"Wait? He ain't our father?"

"Lemme tell the story, Romaine. As I was saying, I don't know how... but I just knew. Romaine, I had you with me for about a year. You most probably wouldn't remember, but I did. You stayed at your grandmas but I was always there. We had been fighting non-stop before I got pregnant with you; whilst I was pregnant with you and even after. He made a threat to kill you. That's why I had to keep him away from you. My affair kept going and along came the rest of you. I couldn't believe it; every time each of you were born, I saw the same thing you all had in common with the man I was sleeping with. I thought if I could tell, he would be able to as well. He had no reason to accept you as his children and if he wanted to, could do you harm. So your grandma's was my best bet. She had already disowned him so he wasn't allowed around there. Anyway we just got on with life; it got better when Tyrone took over and gave us half the business. I even sent money to your grandma, she knew where the money came from, so she would never take it. I started giving it to West instead. I needed y'all to want for nothing. Owning half of the business wasn't enough for Terrence... he wanted it all. He tried to scheme all the time but it never worked. He started getting distant with me. He was so rough. I could tell he had lost all feelings for me. It was fine. I started feeling the same. I wanted out. I thought maybe I was being too hasty but the first time he forced himself on me I knew I couldn't stay around..."