Try Me

18.

-is you shittin me?

"Hello, this is Theodore Price." TJ's jaw ticked as he said his full name. "No, don't let him in." TJ spoke firmly into the phone. My blood was boiling at that man's audacity and thankfully, TJ possessed more patience than I did. "Thank you, sir, if you have to escort him away please be discreet, this is an important night for my sister, and we don't need any drama." His eyebrows furrowed and he handed the phone back to me.

"Hello?" I was trying my best to remain calm, but the image of that man standing a few feet away from me, only separated by a wall was making it difficult to do so.

"Miss Price the man is demanding that you and your brother talk to him. He said the media will hear about this if you don't." The security guard sounded as agitated as I felt.

Classic Theodore, "Have someone bring him around to the back door please." I sighed.

"Understood ma'am." With that the line went dead.

Jasmine gave me a quick hug and then went over to fill Lea in. I walked towards Jason to let him know what was going on and then TJ and I went to the back door which was nowhere near the party. I pulled my phone out and discreetly started to record the conversation, because a threat of blackmail had already been mentioned.

Theodore was already standing there with a smug look on his face; a security guard was making sure that he didn't venture further into the building.

"Look at my kids man, all grown up and shit." Theodore smiled as he spoke, but it didn't reach his eyes.

"Yo what do you want man? We're in the middle of something important." TJ was attempting to hold onto his composure, though it was fading fast.

Theodore scoffed, "I came to support my baby girl." He turned to the security guard, "You know that I'm the one that came up with the name for this store? We planned it over Sunday dinner."

He must've been drunk; it was good to see that he hadn't changed.

"Get the fuck out of here! Did you come here to lie Theodore? You know that you've never done anything for me unless it benefitted you in return." I was growing tired of the exchange and just wanted to have fun at the party that I'd worked so hard on. It was almost as though my father could sense when me and TJ were happy and had to show up just to remind us that he could ruin our days with a few words.

"I just wanted you to know that I would be in town for a while so that we can spend some time together like we used to." He paused and smirked, "And to give you a chance to repay me. You wouldn't be shit without me, neither of you would have done anything but end up on the streets so I think that I deserve compensation for that." Theodore was slightly slurring his words.

TJ and I looked at each other before laughing, "You are insane, security can you escort this man out? If he doesn't leave feel free to call the police." I said as I got ready to go back to the party.

"Aight I guess that all those nice reporters are gonna hear about how one of the owners had security drag her own father away." Theodore chuckled; his smile dropped when I raised my phone which was recording our conversation.

"You were saying? Just go Theodore, you're embarrassing yourself." I sighed. My darling father's demeanor changed in an instant, he snarled at me before trying to lunge, thankfully the security guard had a firm grip on him.

"Fuckin useless bitch, you prolly kept ya legs wide open for every nigga out there just to pay for this shit anyway. Both of y'all just wastes of space, yo momma shoulda swallowed you both. Get the fuck off me bruh!" Theodore was then taken outside by the security guard.