19. Merci #2
“Oh God,” I groaned, hopping from my seat. “I have to go.”
“No, you’re going to stay,” Ariel insisted. “And you’re going to act normal and enjoy your night. Just like I enjoyed myself when you tried to get me out of my funk, you’re going to do the same.”
“Me and my bright ideas. Taking you out that night is the reason I’m in this mess to begin with.”
Her sniggling made me smile, even though I didn’t want to. “That doesn’t sound like a thank you for positioning you to meet the love of your life, but I’ll take it. You can thank me by naming y’all first baby after me.”
“Ariel, please shut up,” I said through my laugh as my eyes locked with Hammer’s.
He looked just as good, if not better than he did before. That tall, wide, milk-chocolate frame. Those tattoos. Those lazy eyes. Those juicy lips. And when he smiled… that gold grill. Jesus. There was no way I’d be able to deny this man in his presence. Hell, I didn’t even want to.
When he and Cujo were done paying and getting their shoes, they made their way over to our lane.
“Wassup, sis?” Cujo spoke, dropping a kiss to my cheek.
“Hey, Jojo.”
“Hey, Cujo,” Ariel spoke, voice syrupy and light.
“Wassup, pooh?”
“Pooh?” Hammer and I parroted at the same time, making them laugh.
“Y’all should be talking to each other, not listening to me,” Cujo said with a smile.
I knew that was true, but it didn’t stop me from avoiding Hammer’s eyes. He made his way in front of me and tilted my head by my chin. The more I looked into his eyes, the more I wanted to cry.
“Ms. Merci,” was all he said, and I crumbled in his arms. Hammer sat down and set me on his lap. When he tried to look at me, I held him tighter and buried my face in his neck. “Sweetheart…”
“I’ma cry.”
He chuckled. “Why?”
“I miss you.”
Hammer kissed my neck. “I miss you too.” His hands stroked my back, providing a comfort I felt like I’d been robbed of for the last month.
“Think about you every day,” he confessed against my ear.
“I didn’t realize I was just existing until I met you.
That was the first time I started to live.
Since you’ve been gone, life ain’t been the same.
It feels like the sun has been stripped away. All I have now is darkness.”
Shifting my face slightly, I looked into his eyes. “Hammer, I—”
“Aw hell,” Ariel said. “Don’t tell me you invited your brothers here.”
“Oh shit! I told them where we’d be when I was talking to Heir on my way here. I completely forgot.”
When I tried to lift myself from Hammer’s lap, he held me there. After kissing my neck, he said, “It’s time,” and for some reason, that made my heart drop.
“Oh, so we finally get to meet yo’ man, yo’ man, yo’ man,” Marz said, rubbing the palms of his hands together.
I laughed as I stood and hugged Heir and then my brothers.
“That wasn’t the plan. I didn’t know he and his brother would be here, but I guess it’s time.”
Hammer stood and extended his hand for them to shake.
“Hammer,” he spoke, looking over at Cujo. “That’s my brother Cujo.”
“The one that beat Raheem’s ass?” Neptune confirmed, shaking Hammer’s hand.
“The one and only,” Cujo replied with his signature mug, walking over to shake their hands as well.
Marz looked from one brother to the other. “Y’all names aren’t familiar, but your faces are. Who y’all daddy?”
“You wouldn’t know us or him, but your daddy does,” Hammer replied. “Gatlin. Gatlin Freeman.”
That was a name I knew all too well. I wasn’t even born when that shit went down, but I knew that situation was how my parents reconnected. Daddy had killed Gatlin and Bart because of a beef Bart had with Rey.
“Wait.” My hands trembled as they lifted while I put space between us. “Your father is Gatlin? The man my daddy killed?”
“Yeah,” Hammer replied casually, as if he didn’t care at all.
“You on some get-back shit, my nigga?” Marz questioned, pulling me behind him while Neptune grabbed Ariel.
“I know yo’ folks been on that for a while when it comes to my Pops.
They love talking shit about how they gon’ get revenge for him taking your people out.
And I’m supposed to believe that ain’t your intention? ”
“It don’t matter if you believe that or not. I’m telling you what it is,” Hammer said. “They might feel some type of way over what Merc did, but I don’t.”
“Nah, that’s bullshit,” Neptune countered. “Ain’t no way you don’t want revenge behind that. You probably been plotting and waiting for the chance to get at my pops through my sister. You can’t convince me that ain’t the type of time you on.”
When I felt Marz reaching for his gun, I gripped his wrist and stared up at him with wide eyes.
“Are you fucking crazy? You bet not pull that shit out in here.”
“He bet not pull it out at all,” Cujo warned.
“Okay, no. We’re not doing this,” Ariel decided, tugging Neptune away while Heir pleaded with Marz to leave.
“Nah. You think I’ma wait around for these niggas to try and kill my daddy or hurt my sister in the process?” Marz argued.
“Hammer would never hurt me,” I reasoned, stepping in front of him. I felt like that was the only way I’d be able to keep my brothers from shooting.
Neptune sucked his teeth as he reached for his gun. “Nah, I’m on that. I’on trust this nigga at all, big sis. I ain’t finna wait around for him to show you what he really on.”
When Hammer laughed behind me, I knew I had to get them separated.
“Let’s just go. Please.” I grabbed Marz’s hand and tried to pull him away. “Please, big brother. Let’s go.”
“I ain’t finna leave no threat alive.”
“He’s not a threat,” I said with tears streaming down my cheeks, finally understanding why Hammer didn’t want me to know who his family was. “Just leave, for me. Please.”
Marz’s nostrils flared as he looked down at me. “Aight, but you ain’t seeing this nigga again.”
“Okay,” I agreed, just to get him to leave.
He damn near yanked me out of the bowling alley, but I was just glad he left.
Marz made Heir drive my car so I could ride with him, and he went on and on about how stupid it was for me to let an enemy come into my life to get to Daddy.
For a brief moment, I felt guilty as hell.
All I could think about was, what if Hammer really had played me and was waiting for me to put him in the same room as my father?
Then I thought about the scars on his back.
And I thought about how unwilling Hammer was to tell me about his family.
And it didn’t make sense.
It didn’t make sense for him to use me to try and get to my father.
But did it make sense for him to hate his enough to love the daughter of the man who killed him?
I was so confused.
By the time we made it to my parents’ house, my head was killing me. The last thing I wanted to do was hear my daddy’s mouth, but I knew that was exactly what I was in for when we pulled into the driveway, and I saw him waiting on the porch.
“Really, Marz?” I damn near yelled, crossing my arms over my chest. “I’m not trying to hear his mouth right now. Why you bring me here?”
“You ain’t got no choice. You literally been sleeping with the enemy, and you thought I wasn’t going to tell him that?”
“Take me home!”
“Nah. That nigga know where you lay your head, don’t he? I’on trust him with you. You either staying here, or you going to my place.”
Growling, I opened the door and slammed it behind me before storming up the walkway.
“Not now, Daddy,” I muttered, trying to walk past him, but he grabbed my arm and kept me from going past the entryway.
“You know that’s not how this works, Merci. Tell me what the hell is going on.”
“Nothing is going on,” I seethed quietly as my body shook. “Marz and Neptune are overreacting.”
“Then Hammer isn’t Gatlin’s son?”
“Well, yes, but—”
“Then they aren’t overreacting. You need to stay away from him, Merci. I killed his father. There’s no way he’s not using you to get to me.”
My shoulders slouched as I stared at him with tears in my eyes. “Because it’s so impossible for a man to love me?”
His head tilted as he relaxed his frame. “Don’t do that, my baby. You know that’s not what I mean.”
“Then what do you mean, Daddy?” I asked louder than I’d planned to.
“What’s going on?” Ma asked, rounding the corner.
“Apparently, Hammer can’t love me or want to be with me. Apparently, he’s just using me to get to Daddy.”
“Why do you think that?” she asked Daddy.
“Because Gatlin is his father.”
Recollection covered her face before she nodded. “I see. That’s why he looked familiar to me the day I saw him.”
“You saw him? When was this? Why didn’t you tell me?”
Now that the heat was slightly off me, I tried to walk away again, but Daddy grabbed my hand.
“You’re not seeing him again, Merci. I don’t care if I have to lock you in this house and move you out of yours.
I will never let you be with my enemy’s son, whether I killed him or not.
Hammer will want revenge. Even if he told you he doesn’t.
I can promise you the moment he sees me, he’s going to want that for his father. Do you really want to chance that?”
“Of course not,” I whispered as my tears fell.
“Then promise you’ll let us handle this and that you’ll stay away from him.”
That was a promise I didn’t want to make. I was firm on keeping my word. But how could I be with a man knowing my father killed his?