9. Lyrius
“Go ahead.” KO’s voice pulled me out of my head.
I looked up to find him holding open the door to the clinic, Dae-Dae halfway hanging off his arms like he had no intention of letting go.
For a second, I just stood there, staring before nodding and stepping past him.
We barely made it inside before Nurse Nikki at the front desk called us back.
“Y’all can come on,” she said, playfully pushing Jaylen off the counter as she stepped from behind it. I glanced at Jaylen and shook my head a little. Whatever he had going on had allowed us to get a DNA test done in the middle of the city falling apart, so I wouldn’t judge.
“Watch him for a minute,” KO said, already shifting Dae-Dae on his arm. “I need to handle this.”
My eyes darted to Jaylen, then back to KO. He was right. Dae-Dae didn’t need to be in the room for this. But that didn’t mean I was comfortable leaving him with someone who was practically a stranger to him.
“I can stay out here with him,” I said, stepping in a little. “You can go back—”
“I’ll stay with Daddy,” Dae-Dae said quickly. He’d already decided. That stopped me in my tracks. KO glanced down at him, then crouched in front of him without missing a beat.
“I need you to stay with your uncle for a second, aight?” he said, steady. “We’ll be right back.”
“Okay.” Dae-Dae looked between us, nodding just as Jaylen stepped up behind him and rested a hand on his shoulder like it was nothing.
“I got him,” he said.
“KO . . .” I hesitated. This still didn’t sit right with me.
“He good,” he said firmly, like his decision was final.
His words stung in my chest as the realization that I wasn’t the only one making decisions for Dae-Dae anymore hit me.
I wasn’t used to that. I wasn’t used to sharing my son.
I wasn’t used to him having anybody but me and sometimes Nia.
Before I could say anything else, he straightened and nodded toward the hallway. “Come on.”
Jaylen gave Dae-Dae a little nudge. “Okay, Nephew, you like boxing?”
Dae-Dae glanced back at me for reassurance, and I forced a small nod before turning to follow Nurse Nikki. She led us into the same room as before, shut the door behind us, and walked over to the desk.
“All right,” she said, picking up the folder. “Do y’all want me to read it, or y’all wanna read it yourselves?”
“I’ll read it,” KO said. She nodded and handed him the paper.
I watched him take it, watched his eyes move over the page, watched the shift hit his face before he said anything at all.
His jaw tightened at first. Then his eyes dropped back to the paper like maybe he needed to make sure it was saying what he thought it said.
He didn’t look shocked, not really—more like something he had already started believing had just been proven.
I stood there quietly, already knowing what the results said. There had never been a doubt in my mind that KO was the father. He was the only man I’d had sex with since the day we’d met.
“You want to see?” KO exhaled through his nose, then handed me the paper. I looked down at it just to see, and sure enough, the paper confirmed what I already knew to be true.
Probability of Paternity: 99.99%
Conclusion: Dakota Knox cannot be excluded as the biological father of Dakoda Knox.
I exhaled a deep breath because there it was, confirmation.
“Yo, how accurate are these rapids?” KO asked as he swiped a hand down his face.
“These rapid tests are highly accurate,” she said. “If y’all want a second test done through a different lab later, that’s always an option. But this one is pretty solid.”
KO didn’t say anything. He just took the extra copy she held out, folded it once in his hand, and took off out of the room. I stood there for a second longer before I followed, forcing myself to move.
“Thank you,” I said, a little awkward, glancing back.
“No problem,” she replied as I turned to walk away, but I felt her hand lightly catch my wrist.
“Girl,” she said quietly, like we were besties. “You done trapped you one.” I blinked at her, and she smiled like she was proud of me. “KO is fine and rich. And you got his first seed. Yeah . . . city girls up.”
I stared at her for a second in disbelief that she’d even said that to me. “This ain’t that.” I rolled my eyes and pulled my hand back. She gave me a look like she didn’t believe a word of that.
“Mhm. That’s what they all say.”
I shook my head, already turning toward the door.
She was saying out loud what everybody was going to think.
I trapped him. If anything . . . I’d lost him.
And now I had to figure out what it meant to share a child with him.
I blew out a deep breath and stepped out into the hallway after KO.
By the time I reached the front, he had Dae-Dae in his arms. The two of them were wrapped up in their own little moment, like nobody else mattered.
“So.” Jaylen looked between us. “We fighting, or we celebrating? ’Cause I can do either.” KO didn’t even answer him, just tightened his hold on Dae-Dae. “Okay. Guess that answers that. Guess I should get you a celebratory drink or something.”
“My daddy don’t drink.” Dae-Dae lifted his head from KO’s chest.
“That’s right.” KO looked down at Dae-Dae with a huge smirk on his face.
“Your daddy don’t drink.” Dae-Dae nodded like that made perfect sense.
I just stood off to the side for a second, not really sure where I fit into their little moment.
It was sweet. It was heavy. It was new. And though I was watching something I had wanted for so long finally happen right in front of me, I hurt to know that I still didn’t know what it meant for me.
I reached into my bag and pulled out my phone just to have something to do.
To my surprise, there was a signal. Finally.
As soon as I swiped across the screen, it lit up almost immediately with missed calls, texts, and notifications from Nia.
I stared at the screen for a second, then opened my messages just to make sure I could actually get one out.
Nia probably already had the coast guard looking for us by now.
Before I could type anything, KO’s voice cut in.
“You good?” I looked up to see him watching me. I glanced around the room, trying to figure out where Dae-Dae had gone that fast. I smiled when I spotted Dae-Dae and Jaylen over at the front desk, getting a lollipop. “You good?” KO asked again.
“Yeah.” I locked my phone screen. “I’m just trying to figure out how we finna get home. I don’t even know if we still have a home.”
“I’ll take y’all.” He said it like it was that simple. “We can assess the damage and figure something out.”
“No, it’s okay. The roads are probably crazy. We’re six hours out, probably more with all this flooding.” I shook my head. “I’ll figure it out.”
“We not driving.”
“Then what are we doing?”
“We flying.”
“Private!” Jaylen called over his shoulder. I bit down on the inside of my lip. Of course he had access to a private jet. I looked at KO, trying to figure out a proper rebuttal, but nothing came out.
“You got a private jet?” Dae-Dae cut in.
“I can get one.” I stared at him for a second, trying not to feel overwhelmed by how fast all this was moving. Yesterday, it was just Dae-Dae and me; now his father was a part of our lives.
“You don’t have to—”
“I said I’m taking y’all home.” He stopped me midsentence. “That’s not up for debate. I need to know where my son lays his head.”
I wanted to argue with him, but how else was I gonna get home? My car was on the other side of town, buried in flood water.
“Jaylen,” he called. “Set that up.”
“Already on it.” Jaylen grinned, pressing on his phone screen. “Plane can be ready in an hour.”
“Wait! We going on an airplane?” Dae-Dae looked between us.
“Yeah, baby. We flying home.” I watched as his whole face lit up.
“Wow! We went on a boat, and now we going on an airplane.”
“Your daddy rich, little man. And yo’ uncle ain’t doing too bad for himself either. Get used to it.”
“Shut up.” KO shot him a look.
“What? I’m just letting him know he in a new tax bracket.”
Dae-Dae laughed at Jaylen, completely locked in. I pressed my lips together, trying to catch up to how fast my life was moving. None of this felt real.
“You ain’t doing this by yourself no more,” KO said, and I looked up. “You not figuring shit out by yourself no more. I’m here now.”
Dakoda was dead asleep when KO pulled up to our apartment, and I was gonna be right behind him once I hit my bed. Between getting to the airstrip, waiting for clearance for three hours, the flight, and the drive home, the entire day had slipped by.
“This building right here.” I leaned forward and pointed as we turned onto my street.
KO slowed down and pulled into a spot near the front.
It was after seven at night, so most of the lot was full, and the porch lights were on.
It was crazy to think about how people were moving around here like life had kept going while everything was underwater six hours away.
I barely waited for KO to turn off the car before I hopped out of the front seat and opened the back door to get Dakoda out.
He’d passed out before we’d fully pulled off from the airport lot.
“I got him.”
I looked up, and KO was already standing next to me.
I moved out of the way, and he lifted Dakoda out of the car.
I tried to grab our bags, but he grabbed those, too.
“Lead the way,” he said, and I turned around and led the way inside my apartment complex.
I was taken aback as we made our way through the front door and down the hallway.
It looked normal, like the storm had barely made landfall.
When I opened my apartment door and stepped in, I just stood there for a second.
Everything was . . . fine. Nowhere near what KO’s training facility looked like.
I glanced around the room. My living room window had a crack running through the corner, and there was some water damage near the frame where rain must’ve pushed through.
My lamp was knocked over, and one of the curtains had come loose.
But that was surprisingly it. I could’ve stayed put.
That thought hit me so fast it lowkey pissed me off.
I could’ve stayed right here in my own home with my son and been uncomfortable for one night.
“Where is his room?” KO asked, and my eyes shot to him carrying our son.
“Down the hall. First room on the right.” I pointed toward his room.
KO took off down the hall, and just like that, the thought that I should have stayed changed.
If we’d stayed put, I never would have had the courage to find KO, and Dakoda wouldn’t have had his father, so maybe it happened exactly how it needed to.
I shut my front door and followed behind them, watching as KO bent over and laid Dakoda down on his bed carefully. He stood there for a minute, just staring at him.
“He likes dinosaurs, huh?” KO asked as he glanced around Dakoda’s Jurassic-themed bedroom before pulling the blanket up over him.
“Yeah,” I said from the doorway, watching him.
“All he talks about.” There was something about having him here in our son’s bedroom, in my home, after all these years that had me backpaddling down the hall to the kitchen to get a drink of water.
If I hadn’t been worried about KO thinking I was an alcoholic, I would have poured something stronger.
“Relax, Lyrius,” I whispered to myself, attempting to steady my thoughts, but they were racing. KO was back in my life. Dakoda had his father. It was so surreal, my brain couldn’t stop circling it.
“You could’ve stayed, huh?” KO’s voice startled me, and I quickly turned around to see him glancing around the living room.
“Yeah. Looks like it.”
He glanced toward the window. “This all the damage?”
“Yeah.” A little silence passed between us. He reached into his pocket and pulled his phone out.
“Put your number in.”
I took it and did it without question. He saved it, then called my phone so I’d have his.
“We need to get a visitation schedule going. I want to be here for everything,” he said. “For real.”
“Okay.” I nodded. I wasn’t about to argue that.
“I wanna start seeing him. Being around. I know my schedule crazy sometimes. I’m about to train for the biggest fight of my career, but I’m gonna make it work. I’m not missing no more of his life.”
“Okay.” I looked into his eyes, hoping he could feel that I would not fight him on this. He rubbed his hand across his face. He looked like he had more to say, then thought better of it. Or maybe he had more to say and just didn’t wanna say it to me. Either way, I understood.
“I’m gonna head back. I don’t want to crowd your space.”
I frowned a little before I could stop myself. “Tonight?”
“Yeah.”
“You sure?” He looked at me with a controlled look on his face. I knew what that meant. He didn’t want to be around me anymore than he had to. “You can stay here until the morning. My couch isn’t much but—”
“Yeah, I’m sure.” He shut it down quickly, and I couldn’t do anything but look down as he made it to my front door and swung it open.
“I’ll call you in the morning.” He took off, and I closed the door behind him and just stood there for a second with my back pressed against it.
The apartment was quiet, but my heart was pounding out of my chest. My secret was out.
KO knew the truth now, and there was no going back.
I couldn’t push it off until later when it felt safer or easier or more convenient.
This was it. This was my reality now, and I had no clue what the hell came next.