Chapter 26 #2
Her words hit like daggers, each one landing deeper than the last. “You walked around my house like a victim,” she went on, her voice breaking but her anger still burning.
“And the whole time, you was creeping with him. You didn’t just betray me, you spit on everything I ever did for you. You the lowest kind of bitch there is.”
I swallowed hard, my mouth dry. Part of me wanted to cry, part of me wanted to yell back, but instead, I just stood there.
She took a step closer, her eyes red and wet. “You fucked my fiancé, got pregnant, and you standing here like you won the prize. Bitch, I should’ve let you blow your fuckin’ head off that day.”
I could feel everyone watching. Lyrick started moving toward us, but Nooré’s friend put her arm out.
I finally looked Nooré in the eyes. “You should’ve let me do it,” I said quietly. “Maybe that would’ve saved us both.”
Her whole face twisted, and for a second, I thought she might hit me, but she didn’t. She just stared, breathing hard, then looked down at my belly.
“Karma don’t sleep,” she said, her voice cold. “You better hope that baby you carrying ain’t cursed.”
The silence that followed was loud. My chest felt like it was caving, like her words had slipped inside me and settled somewhere deep. I couldn’t move. I just stood there staring at her, trying not to let my face crack.
Lyrick stepped in front of me, his cousins behind him, creating a wall between us.
He told her to leave, that she was embarrassing herself, but she wasn’t listening.
She kept cussing and crying, talking about how I ruined her life.
Then finally, she turned around and walked off with Soléa, still yelling over her shoulder.
When she disappeared into the night, I let out a slow sigh. My heart was racing, but I forced myself to stay calm. I rubbed my stomach and whispered to my baby, trying to keep my voice from shaking.
Everything around me went back to moving, people loading boxes, doors closing, the sound of engines starting, but Nooré’s words kept replaying in my head.
Karma don’t sleep…
I told myself she was just hurt, and that she was trying to make me feel guilty. But deep down, something about what she said stayed with me. It sat there quietly, waiting, like a warning I didn’t want to understand.
On the way back home, my mind was racing with everything that had just happened.
Nooré’s words were still ringing in my ears, cutting through my thoughts no matter how much I tried to push them away.
I had my hand on my belly, rubbing slow circles over the small kicks that came and went.
I had eight weeks until I became somebody’s mama for real.
You’d think that thought alone would calm me, but it didn’t. All I felt was guilt and confusion.
Lyrick was driving with one hand on the wheel, and the other resting near the gearshift.
The music was low, and had some slow R it was everything.
My mama, my daddy, the way I betrayed people who really loved me, the way people betrayed me, the life I used to have that felt a million miles away.
I couldn’t even find the words to explain what I was feeling because it wasn’t just sadness, but was like my whole spirit was tired.
Lyrick walked in and saw me sitting. “You good?” he asked, coming closer. “You hurtin’ or somethin’?”
I shook my head, trying to breathe through the lump in my throat. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” I said softly, my voice shaking. “I just don’t feel right. It’s like something’s coming. I can feel it.”
He crouched in front of me, resting his hands on my knees. “Ain’t nothing coming, baby. You safe. I got you,” he said. “You and my son good. You don’t gotta worry about nothin’. I’m gon’ protect y’all.”
He pulled me into his arms, and I let him.
His warmth should’ve been enough to calm me, but it didn’t.
I wanted to believe him so bad. I wanted to believe that we could just move forward, leave the past where it was, and raise our baby in peace.
But I couldn’t help thinking about everything that had led me here, and everything I’d done to survive.
As he held me, my mind wandered back to Pressure.
It always did when I was at my weakest. I tried not to think about him anymore, but he stayed in the back of my head like a ghost that refused to fade.
I had shot that man. I had almost taken everything from him, but some twisted part of me still loved him.
I still remembered the way he used to look at me, the way his voice could pull me out of any bad mood. I used to think we were unbreakable.
And even though being with Lyrick felt good, it wasn’t the same.
Pressure’s protection hit different. When he wrapped his arms around me, it was like the whole world disappeared.
It wasn’t just safety, it was power. He carried this weight about him, and this presence that made everybody fall in line without him even having to speak.
When he held me, I felt untouchable, like nothing could ever reach me.
His arms weren’t just strong, they were home.
That type of security was something you didn’t just forget, no matter how much you tried to move on.
Now I was carrying another man’s child and still trying to bury feelings that refused to die.
Maybe that was why I named my son Presslan.
Nobody knew that. Not even Lyrick. But I knew.
Every time I said my baby’s name, I felt that pull in my heart again, like I was trying to keep a piece of Pressure close without admitting it to myself.
I wiped my face and pulled back a little. “I just don’t feel safe,” I whispered. “Even with all these cameras and everything around us, I don’t feel safe.”
Lyrick sighed and kissed my forehead. “You overthinkin’, baby. We good. We gon’ keep buildin’ this life. Ain’t nobody gon’ take that from us.”
I nodded, even though deep down, I didn’t believe him. Something inside me was shifting, and no matter how tight he held me, I couldn’t stop it.
When he finally let go, I looked over at him and tried to smile. He smiled back and rubbed his hand over my belly. For a second, his joy made me smile for real.
But once he walked away to smoke and unwind, I got all the way in bed and laid on my side.
My hands rested on my stomach, feeling the small movements underneath my skin.
This baby was innocent, untouched by the lies and the pain that had built the world he was about to come into. I just hoped he stayed that way.
My thoughts drifted to Pluto for the first time in months.
We used to talk about being grown, married, and having babies one day.
We’d laugh about what our kids would look like, what we’d name them and how we’d still be best friends living next door to each other.
I never imagined our lives would turn out like this. She had Pressure, and I had his ghost.
My life felt off balance, like the universe was correcting itself in ways I couldn’t understand. Everything I thought I wanted was right in front of me, but none of it felt right anymore.
I closed my eyes and tried to breathe, but even in that silence, I could still hear Nooré’s voice echoing in my head, telling me karma don’t sleep.
It was just something about it that bothered the fuck out of me.