Capone

10. Erin

10

erin

My eyes fluttered as I tried to get them to stay open. The ringing in my ear was constant, as I reached on the marble nightstand to silence the phone. It was like reality slapped me in the face because I jumped up remembering last night.

The shooting.

The text.

That kiss…

How turned on I was when he twisted my arm around my back and kissed me on the lips. I was so angry with how he tossed my phone into the water and that kiss melted everything away. I was stunned, not able to say a word or make a move. It was the way he gently put my hand behind my back.

He had the right amount of firm and gentleness to his touch. Had I not been so heated and maybe even stubborn, I probably would have fucked him right in his kitchen. Capone was the type that always got his way. Even with me demanding him to call me a cab or take me home, I was wasting breath because he wasn’t going to.

I finally grabbed the phone and looked at the name on the caller ID, remembering that I still had Capone’s phone from last night, or early this morning.

Missed Call: El

I screwed my face up when I saw the name El on the phone’s screen. Who was El, and why was she calling him this early in the morning? Tossing the thought away – for now, I climbed out of the most comfortable bed I had ever been in and shuffled toward the massive bathroom.

The room was the size of my apartment. Decorated in soft grays and beiges, the minute I entered the room last night I felt at ease. The huge, tufted platform bed felt like laying on a cloud. Once I texted Jaiden and Ryai to let them know my phone was broke, I had fell asleep against my will. Why was it against my will? Because I had all intentions to stay up and brew in the anger about my phone.

When I clicked the lights on, I noticed clothes folded next to the sink. It was a pair of sweat shorts and a T-shirt. Capone must have left these in here while I was asleep last night. I smiled at how thoughtful he was. The clothes that I was wearing weren’t good for my walk of shame.

Even though I had no reason to have shame because nothing happened between the both of us.

Besides that kiss.

I quickly showered and made sure my wig wasn’t lifting up from all the steam that was coming from that fancy shower. I brushed my hair and pulled it back in a low pony. I was ready to go home, and I wasn’t looking forward to facing Capone this morning.

I was embarrassed for the way I had lifted my hand to slap him. The drinks I had last night had long wore off and now I was thinking with a clear head and wanted to apologize. On the other hand, I didn’t want to apologize because I was stubborn.

Opening the large wooden door, I slipped out and walked down the hall to the kitchen. This house was massive for just one person. I would be scared to sleep in this house alone and Capone probably slept peacefully with a sound machine.

He looked like the type that slept with a sound machine, and the sounds were gunshots. I laughed to myself as I rounded the corner and saw him standing in the kitchen. As I walked closer, I saw Naheim and a woman who I assumed was his wife.

Capone was at the stove and looked up at me. “Bout time you woke up. I made some coffee, and I’m finishing the eggs now.”

Naheim and his wife were sitting at the table with coffee. I felt so awkward as I stood there, not knowing what to say or do.

I cleared my throat. “Good morning.” I shuffled over toward the counter and slid his phone to him. “Someone called.”

He grabbed the phone with his free hand and scrolled his phone. “Oh, my baby moms,” he nonchalantly replied.

I guess my face must have spoken the unsaid words because he looked up at me with a half smirk on his face. “Whenever you’re ready… can you take me home?”

I walked over, poured me a cup of coffee and sat across from Naheim and his wife. His wife was beautiful, I was stuck at how stunning she was. It was funny because she and Capone resembled each other.

Except, she had a bunch of freckles that littered her nose, and her brown curly hair was pulled up into a messy top knot. I was thankful that she wasn’t some model stick figure that would make me feel ten times more insecure.

Even though she was slightly smaller than me, I was over here insecure as hell. She was dressed down in a pair of leggings and hoodie and she would give even the flyest woman a run for her money.

“You good after last night, E?” Naheim stared over at me, concerned.

I nodded my head. “I was a little shaken up, but I'm good.”

I was assuming they came over here to talk about the events that transpired last night. “Hey Erin, I'm Capri.” She smiled.

“Hey Capri,” I smiled, happy that she wasn’t the type to toss shade or act intimidated because her husband knew me.

I took a sip of my coffee. “Naheim told me that you both know each other from his old neighborhood.”

I choked on my coffee. “Y…yeah, we do.”

Naheim sipped his coffee and leaned back nonchalantly. It felt weird to sit across from the man who had taken my virginity, while in the house of the man that wanted to make me his.

I felt like a homie hopper a little bit and I didn’t know how to feel about it, so I slowly sipped my coffee and desperately tried to find something to switch the subject.

“Did anyone get hurt last night?”

Naheim sighed. “Yeah… one of my lil homies was killed.”

Capone sat a plate in front of me with eggs, bacon, and toast. “Let me find out that you over here making breakfast,” Capri teased her brother.

He smiled and took a seat beside me. While I bit into my toast, he slid an iPhone box over toward me. “Anytime I break something I'm always gonna fix it.”

“You broke the girl’s phone?” Capri blurted.

“Girl, he tossed it in the sink and ran water on it,” I rolled my eyes, still heated about what he did.

“Capo!” Capri scolded.

He sat there with his hands crossed, relaxed as he could be. “If she knows what’s good then she won’t pick up the phone for the next nigga while in my face. Matter fact, never.”

I rolled my eyes. “Whatever… I am grown and can do whatever I want.” My mouth may have said that, but I already knew that my actions would never.

His ass tossed my phone in his sink for someone I had just met that night. I didn’t want to push the limits and see what else he would do.

“Yeah, ight,” he warned, rubbing the side of my cheek with the back of his fingers.

How could a man be so rough, yet, so gentle at the same time? I smiled as I ate my breakfast.

“Yo, Capone, let me run this by you. Me and Capri got brunch plans,” Naheim stood up. He looked over at me once more. “E, you sure you good?”

“I’m fine. Thanks for checking,” I assured him.

Naheim and Capone left me and Capri at the table alone. I finished my food and went to clean my dish and the kitchen. I could tell Capone didn’t cook often from the mess he made in the kitchen.

“They’re going to talk business.” She rolled her eyes and finished the rest of her coffee.

“I figured.” I wasn’t a fool, and knew Capone had to be involved in the streets. From what Ryai told me, plus seeing where he laid his head, I could tell he was doing something illegal. It wasn’t my business so I wasn’t going to ask any questions.

Capri abandoned the table and sat at the counter. “I know you and Naheim have history stemming beyond just being friends from the neighborhood.”

I gulped. “We do.”

Why did I feel like I had been caught doing something wrong. Since the day I had seen Naheim, I hadn’t run into him again or spoke to him. We still hadn’t had our conversation, and at this point I didn’t think it was needed.

“So, Naheim told you.”

“Me and Naheim tell each other everything. We started off as friends before anything. I just wanted you to know so you didn’t feel weird around me.”

I was relieved to hear those words leave her mouth. Capri seemed cool, and I didn’t want us to have any problems because of something that happened years ago. “Me and Naheim were teens. Has it been nice to see him again, yes. I am also happy that he’s married and has a good woman by his side. He deserves that.”

I meant those words. Naheim was a good person, and I knew he would grow to be a good man. I saw how he looked out for everyone when we were growing up. He didn’t care if you were family or not, he would have your back to the end. He was very loyal, and that was what attracted me to him.

“He’s such a good person,” she blushed. I could tell Naheim made her happy from the smile that she wore by speaking of him. “I just wanted to get that out the way… especially since you’re dating my brother.”

Capri seemed to catch me the moment I took a sip of something. I choked on my drink and looked over at her. “Please don’t let your brother fool you. We are not dating. Especially after he ruined my damn phone.”

I could tell from the sly smirk on Capri’s face that she didn’t believe a word that I had said. “When Capone wants something… or in your case someone, he always gets his way.”

I washed the dishes as I shook my head no at her. “Your brother just told me that he has a baby mama. He has never mentioned he even had kids, so it’s a hard no for me.”

The minute Capone finished his conversation with Naheim, I was ready to go home. We’ve had several conversations, and a child never came up in any of them. I didn’t sign up for the baby mama drama. It was never about the man having kids, that was normal for his age, it was the baby mama that bothered me.

I had yet to meet a man that had a cordial relationship with his baby mother or wasn’t fucking her. I’ve dated a few bums in my past that had baby mothers and every last one of them was still sliding up inside of them.

Just as Capri was about to say something, Naheim rounded the corner. “Muffin, you ready?”

Capri grabbed her purse and removed herself from the stool. “I hope to see you around more, Erin,” she winked.

“E, I’m gonna holla at you,” Naheim told me.

“Okay. It was nice meeting you again, Capri!” I called behind them as I finished wiping down the counter.

I waited to see if Capone would come back into the kitchen. When he didn’t return, I continued to clean the kitchen and then went to the guest room to fold up last night’s clothes. I was ready to go home and pretend last night never happened.

My mother had always been big on keeping a clean house. She instilled in me to always clean up after staying at someone’s house. When I entered the guest room, I started making that massive bed. It should have been a crime with how many pillows was on this big ass bed.

“Why you making the bed?” I jumped when I heard Capone’s voice.

He was leaning in the doorway watching me struggle with grabbing the pillows from the middle of this stupid big ass bed. “Because I’ve been taught to clean after myself. Are you ready to take me home?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m not taking you home.”

I paused, putting my hands on my hips. “You cannot keep me hostage, Capone.”

He abandoned the doorway and walked over toward me, stepping closer into my space. I looked up at him as he grinned down at me with that sly smirk. I hated how I was starting to actually like that smirk of his.

The point wasn’t about the smirk or the fact that he was trying to keep me hostage in this big ass house. It was about how he failed to tell me that he even had a kid. Children came with mothers, and the mothers usually came with a host of problems that I didn’t need. He already had one strike when he stood me up, and now he had worked up to two. I wasn’t sticking around for him to get that third strike.

“I been up all night handling business… you really gonna make me drive you home now?” He yawned, staring down at me.

“I could call a cab, but I don’t have a phone,” I made sure to remind him of the foolishness he pulled last night.

“You do. On the table out there… let me take a nap and if you want to leave when I get up, I’ll take you home,” he continued his fake ass yawns.

I didn’t doubt he had been up all night. After whatever went down last night, I could tell he needed to know who was behind it. It was probably the reason that Naheim was over here so early.

“A nap?”

“As in I close my eyes for a period of time and get sleep.”

I folded my arms. “I know what a nap is. You expect me to sit in here while you sleep?”

He looked at me like I was tripping. “Yeah, the fuck is wrong with my crib? The theater is down the hall, and the pool is heated, too…I won’t say nothing if you jump in naked.”

I swatted him and continued making the bed. “Nasty.”

I could either call a cab or sit around and wait for him to wake from his nap. Staying in his house wasn’t the worst place I could be. I knew Jaiden was probably still at his friend’s house and Ryai was up under Tevin, so why was I rushing home in the first place?

“Go take a nap… I guess I’ll watch a movie or something,” I finally agreed.

Capone took the pillow from my hand. “I have people who do that…go and chill. My housekeeper should be coming in any minute… she’ll wash your clothes and shit for you, too.”

“I can was—”

“Didn’t ask if you could wash your clothes or not. My room is upstairs, down the hall… you’ll know it when you see it. Get me if you need anything.”

He stared at me for a bit before he walked out the room. I plopped on the side of the bed and groaned because I was now stuck in this man’s house until he decided to wake up. Instead of making the bed, I went down the hall to the kitchen to set my phone up.

The least I could do was set my phone up while watching movies. As I made my way around the big ass house, I was shocked at how much house there was. Every time I thought I reached the end of one part of the house, there was more to be discovered.

The housekeeper nearly scared me to death when she came in from one of the side doors. She seemed surprised to see me, which in return surprised me. I assumed Capone had a different woman running through here every week.

“Mr. Delgato keeps the good snacks in here,” she smiled as she opened the oak drawer that the concession stand was sitting on top of.

I peered into the drawer of snacks, and she didn’t lie about the good snacks. Capone had a bunch of childhood classics like nachos, and I’m not talking about Doritos. The Old Dutch nachos used to be my favorite as a child.

The nostalgia ran through my veins as I remembered having fifty-cent and being able to get my favorite chips and a quarter water from the corner store. No matter how rough times were, my mother always made sure she had two-quarters to give me after school.

“Thank you, Sonya,” I smiled.

She bowed her head and then quickly excused herself, leaving me in the theater room alone. When Capone said he had a theater room, I expected a small seating area with a decent size TV. Then again, I should have expected more just from his foyer. He had a car museum in the foyer of his home, so it was clear he didn’t do anything on the small level.

As I tossed popcorn into my mouth and watched “Mommy Dearest,” my favorite movie, I messed around with my new phone. Soon as it powered on, I hit Jaiden’s contact and waited for him to answer.

“Wassup, E?” he answered sounding preoccupied. “Come on… that was my kill!” He hollered into the phone.

“Jaiden, please,” I complained, holding the phone away from my ear.

“Oh, my bad. You good?” he questioned as if I wasn’t the older sister in our situation. I should have been asking him that question, and here he was asking me it.

“I’m fine. Are you good?”

“Yeah. We’re playing games and then might go grab some pizza later on.”

“What time are you going to be home?” It was hard asking this question when I would have usually told him when to be home.

I wanted Jaiden to let his guard down around me and not see me as the uptight, strict, older sister. I missed laughing with him and having conversations that didn’t revolve around school or his chores.

“Um, I was going to stay over Rowan’s and go to school from here…I mean… if that’s alright with you,” Jaiden quickly added.

Since they attended the same school, it wasn’t a problem. “That’s fine with me. Make sure you check in with his mother.”

“I did and she said as long as it was cool with you.”

“Alright… I’ll let you get back to your game.”

“Thanks, E.”

“Love you, Jaiden.”

“Love you, too,” he quickly rushed me off the phone and I shook my head. Whenever he was with his friends or had his head in that game, I might as well have been talking to the wall.

I dialed Ryai’s number, and she answered shortly after. “Hey… how did you sleep last night?” she asked.

After the shooting at the barbeque, I struggled with sleeping and tossed and turned for a few nights. Ryai knew how much guns scared me and how much of a trigger they were for me. It took years for me to sleep without hearing the sound of the gun cock back and my father’s shaky hands.

“Good, actually.”

“All up under Capone, I bet you did,” Ryai teased.

I sucked my teeth. “There you go thinking you know everything. I slept in the guest bedroom.”

“Ugh. Boringgg. I would have been in his bed and on his…” she allowed her voice to trail off, and I got the picture very clearly.

“Where is Tevin? ‘Cause the way you chatting is crazy, Ryai.” I couldn’t help but to laugh because she never cared.

Ryai did whatever she wanted and wondered why none of her relationships ever lasted. “Downstairs in the building’s gym. You know athletes… never take a rest.”

“He is a professional basketball player. He has to keep his body in shape,” I reminded her.

Sometimes all I think all Ryai saw was the money when it came to these men. I mean, it wasn’t a bad thing to keep your eyes peeled for. However, she claimed she wanted to find love. You didn’t find love in a man’s pocket.

“I’m less interested in my love life and more into yours.”

“I don’t have a love life.” I popped more popcorn into my mouth as I watched the infamous scene where Joan makes Christina eat that raw ass steak.

“You can be in denial all you want to be. Capone clearly likes you or else he wouldn’t have brought you to his house.”

“He clearly also has a child that you nor he mentioned to me.”

The line grew quiet. “He has kids?”

“I don’t know what he has, but his baby mother called his phone this morning, so he clearly has something that has two legs and calls him daddy.”

“You mean besides you, right?”

“Ryai!” I groaned into the phone.

She was missing the point of the conversation, and I was about five minutes from ending the damn call. “Alright, sorry. I didn’t know he had any kids. Capone is private though, not much is known about that man.”

“I’m starting to gather that.”

“Is that really a deal breaker though? He’s in his thirties, Erin, it’s expected that he would have a kid or some kids… doesn’t everyone?”

“I don’t have any kids… neither do you.”

“Well, that’s because I can’t find a man to settle down with. You won’t find a man to settle down. I think you need to jump off your high horse and stop judging him for everything.”

“I’m not judging him.”

“You are. Instead of getting to know him you’re probably tallying up strikes against him. Is it bad that he didn’t tell you he has a kid? I don’t think so… you’re still getting to know each other. Would you look at a woman wrong if she chose to withhold that she had children from a man?”

“No, bu—”

“So don’t do it because he’s a man. I love you, Erin, but you need to lighten up. Live and see where this takes you. If it doesn’t go anywhere, at least get some dick for the road.”

I giggled. “It always comes back to dick with you, huh?”

“If a man ain’t good for nothing else he’s gonna be good for that pole between his legs. Some spots a rose just can’t hit, and I don’t want to hear you try to convince me either.”

“Not you calling me out.”

“I know that thing is probably tired of you… you’ve dedicated your life to always doing what you felt you had to do. Even when Mommy told you that you didn’t have to. Jaiden is old enough, so enjoy your life.”

“I hear you… sheesh, do I need a full lecture.”

“You’re hardheaded. Tevin just walked in so I’m about to get me some in a few… call me if you need me.”

“Ew.” I shook my head when I ended the call with her.

Everything inside of me was telling me run the other way from Capone. He had the power to make my heart feel again, and I knew it from how it acted whenever he was near me. I was scared to open my heart and give someone else a chance.