9. Blake
Sometimes You Have to Let Go . . .
This whole thing was crazy as hell. None of this was on my bingo card of life.
I was sure that it wasn’t on my man’s either.
We’d had in-depth conversations about how he felt about not having a father and slight conversation about his piss-poor mother.
I never understood how a parent could just not be in their child’s life.
As a person who wanted children, it was like a slap in the damn face.
When Scotty told me that his mother had a part in the arson of his property, I almost didn’t believe him.
Well, I didn’t want to believe him, because what the fuck do you mean?
As we walked through the house that was once his but given to his mother, I watched him desperately try to keep it together.
There was so much anger, hurt, and disappointment in his eyes.
Now here we were, about to get in a car with his father who he had never met until today. What in the world is happening? I couldn’t imagine what he felt in the moment.
The explanation of Killian’s absence gave me mixed feelings.
On one hand, my heart said that there was no reason that a person should be absent from their child.
On the other hand, my mind told me that, based on his need to protect a lot of other people, he made the sacrifice.
The reality was that I fully understood this street life, and sometimes, when you neglect to protect others who are affiliated with you, it could put a target on your or your family’s back.
Based on what he told us, he tried in his own way to stay connected, even if it was from afar.
I wasn’t sure of my definite feelings about Killian, but I was absolute about my feelings about this Lashonda bitch. Her ass had to fucking go. I never took kindly to people who fucked with anyone that I held dear. It was needless to say that I held the love of my life very dear to my heart.
“Blake, I heard that you’re a baby whisperer,” Killian said after we were on our way to the hotel where this bitch was. “Your business is very unique.”
My forehead creased. “How do you know about my business? I only service clients in Charlotte and Georgia. I mean I have a few one off, elite clients, but they are mainly in New York.”
He needed to tell me something because now he came across as a weirdo. Killian nodded. “Valid question. When Scotty moved to Charlotte, I had eyes on him. The spark of your relationship was seen and reported back. Once I found out about you, I did my research.”
“What fuckin’ eyes do you have on me?” Scotty blurted.
When I glanced at him, I had to do a double take. My eyes bounced between him and Killian. Oh my God! They look alike.
Killian snickered. “I want to lead this with the person doesn’t report back to me in a way that he really knows that he is.
To him, he is simply telling me and his father about his life in Charlotte.
He respects and admires you, so it causes him to idolize you in some ways.
When you taught him how to wrap cars, he called his father, Logan, the same night with so much excitement. ”
My mouth dropped open. I know you fucking lying. In my mind, I lined Logan and Ace next to each other. This was crazy.
Scotty moved in his seat before he chuckled. “That shit is wild. So, basically, you’re telling me what?”
“I’m telling you that Ace is your cousin. Your little cousin, clearly, but he doesn’t know that.” Killian’s attitude was nonchalant.
My head knocked side to side. “I’m confused. How the fuck did you plant Ace in the shop? I feel like I’m missing something here. Does Ace know his father is the fuckin’ connect? From my interaction with him, he seems green as hell to the shit that goes on around him when it comes to the streets.”
“You are right about your assessment of him. We worked hard to keep him away from the streets. Ace is a good boy who always had a thing for cars. He moved down there to attend the Universal Technical Institute to attend the NASCAR technology and motorsport program. After he graduated, he wanted to work in a shop for a little longer before he dived deep into the racing scene. It took a few calls from a connect to a connect to make the connection between Ace and Derrick for a job.”
For an absent father, Killian seemed to be knee deep in Scotty’s life. “All of that you were doing, you could have just made yourself known to Scotty. That’s a lot of work on the backend, don’t you think?”
“One could say that, but Lashonda, to this day, has still been a concern,” he responded.
His attention turned to Scotty. “I know that your relationship with her has been turbulent, but that does not negate the fact that if she was turned into a hell-bound soul, you wouldn’t avenge her death.
That was not the introduction to me that I wanted. ”
He had an answer for everything. How far is this damn hotel? I tuned back in when Scotty asked his father, “Why now?” I guess I can say that this man is his father.
Killian paused as if he had to think of his answer. Something told me that it wasn’t so much that he had to think of the answer, rather he wanted to say it in a correct manner. He came across as a man that was well calculated, obviously.
He cleared his throat before he responded.
“I’ll be frank with you. After this stunt, there is no way that I can let her stay on the earthly plane, so that is why now.
It was one thing when she was a potential threat to me, but regardless of my absence, you are still my son.
Her action must be met with swift actions. ”
The attention came to me when I huffed. My eyes fell on Scotty. “Baby, I hate to admit that I agree with him. If she’s willing to do this, there is no telling how far she will go for whatever her reasons are.”
Scotty’s face reddened slightly before he gazed out of the window near him. In a mumble, he said, “I agree. Is she strung out?”
That was a good question that would explain a lot. Why the hell would a person just burn down their own damn home and their son’s business? Crack had to be the damn answer.
“Based on what I know, yes. She has been dabbling with powder for years, but it was more recreational. When she got with this last guy that she was with, that was when it turned up to heroin. Now she has escalated to meth. That is where the money that you have delivered to her goes,” he told us.
Crazy as hell. Scotty’s eyes closed tight.
The tightness didn’t stop the lone tear that escaped, but he smacked it away quickly.
My body reacted to my love for him. I turned my body toward him, wrapped an arm around him, then laid my head on his chest. I snuggled into him when his arm wrapped around me, and he kissed my forehead.
We all rode in silence the rest of the way to the hotel.
When we finally pulled up to the hotel, my lip turned up.
I wasn’t sure what I thought we would pull up to, but it wasn’t a place that was obviously a crack den.
Since I was the only one that reacted the way that I did, I’d assume that Killian and Scotty knew the kind of place this was.
The driver came around to open the door for us.
Scotty helped me out of the car. Behind our car was an entourage of black and royal-blue vehicles.
I knew that the royal-blue ones were associated with Scotty.
When Logan stepped out of the car behind ours, I assumed the black vehicles were associated with Killian.
Grady and Logan walked over at the same time. Scotty stared at Logan for a beat. “So you’re Ace’s father?”
“Well, I’ll be damned. As in Ace that works at the shop with us? That shit was not in my crystal ball,” Grady admitted.
Logan smiled softly. “Yeah, that’s my boy. He really looks up to you. I’m sure once he finds out that you’re his cousin, that will only make things better.”
I could tell that Scotty wanted to feel some kind of way about the news that Ace was his cousin, but I also knew that a part of him would settle into the news just fine. There was a deep affinity for Ace, almost as if his subconscious knew there was a deeper connection.
“So how we gonna handle this shit?” Scotty ignored Logan’s comments. “I want to be done with this shit and go home. I don’t have time for this.”
Killian’s eyes softened. “We’ll take your lead. However you want to handle it is how we will handle it.”
Scotty gave me this look, and I knew what it meant. A simple nod was all that I gave him. I would do this for him because I knew he couldn’t do it himself. I would do anything my man needed without question or reservation.
We were directed by one of Killian’s men and one of the men that worked for Scotty which room that we needed to go to. I walked beside Scotty as we approached the room. Killian, Logan, and Grady followed closely behind. When we were a few steps away from the room, guns were drawn.
The door of the hotel room flew open when Scotty’s foot connected with it.
Pew. His gun lifted, and a bullet came through with a silencer.
I wasn’t sure who the recipient of the bullet was since I hadn’t stepped into the room yet.
Seconds later, I concluded that it wasn’t Lashonda since she was the one screaming.
I stepped into the room after Scotty, with the others on my heel. It didn’t seem like anyone was concerned about the police being called. That wasn’t surprising, based on the kind of area we were in. I wouldn’t drive an early 2000 vehicle in this area for fear of being car jacked.
“You killed him! You killed him! You fucking bas—” Lashonda’s words clearly were caught in her throat at the sight of her baby’s daddy.
I know this heifer didn’t just smooth her hair down and lick her lips! Her druggie nigga was laid out with a bullet in his head, and her pussy was steaming. That shit was wild to me.