Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
Surah
Ilaughed at my cousin’s irritation. She was frustrated as fuck and refusing to talk to North, but he didn’t give a shit. He was there every time she turned around and even had her lunch delivered to the shop a few times. It was cute even though she was really giving him the cold shoulder.
“How much longer do you think he can keep this up? He has a life of his own and I’m sure plenty of bitches that miss his attention.” She rolled her eyes while eating the Cobb salad that he had delivered to her. As mad as she was, she didn’t turn down food.
“Probably, but right now you have all of it. Doesn’t that at least make you smile a little?”
“No. It’s been three days.”
“He knows that he fucked up and he’s trying to be there,” I tried to reason with her.
She’d filled me in on her situation with North as well as the baby she was carrying.
Of course, I was ecstatic, but she was the opposite.
Not only was she on the fence, but she was also thinking about not having it.
That along let me know that Omyia was in a bad space, because if anybody was against abortion she was.
“I’m just not feeling like myself and I—”
“Your child’s father killed himself. You got sick yourself. You just found out you’re pregnant after walking in on your baby daddy being a nigga. Being yourself is off the table right now. Right now you have to cut yourself some slack for not wanting to show up,” Luna tried to reason with her.
Omyia shook her head. “Every time I look at him, I see that bitch he was giving backshots to. I feel stupid as fuck because I knew what this was, but I still caught feelings. Nothing I’m going through right now is on him. It’s on me. I have to find myself outside of this.” She laughed at herself.
“Tell him that.”
She just looked at me before nodding her head. “He isn’t trying to hear it. In his mind he can fix this. What if he can’t?”
“Are you even willing to give him the chance to?” Luna asked.
Ommy shrugged.
“I hate to play devil’s advocate here, but at the end of the day you agreed to do this with him without strings and put off telling him how you really felt. How was he supposed to know it all changed?”
“I know,” Ommy soberly responded.
“So, maybe you guys should talk this out and put it all on the table.” Luna shrugged.
From the way she looked I think Luna and I had talked some sense into her. I just hope it was enough to make her use her words instead of huffing, puffing, and rolling her damn eyes.
The rest of the day seemed to rush by. Before I knew it Namari was parked outside waiting for me. When I approached the car, he leaned his lean body across the seat and pushed the door open for me.
“You missed me gorgeous ass girl?”
“Really bad.” I leaned over and kissed his waiting lips.
He laughed. “How is my sister?”
“Still not fucking with your brother.”
He shook his head. Then a few moments later he sped off into traffic. “What’s fucked up is we’re supposed to be having dinner over there tonight.”
“Dinner where?”
“At North’s spot.”
Now it was my turn to laugh. “Ha, I bet she isn’t there.”
“How much you wanna bet she’s sitting her ass there?” He glanced over at me. He seemed to know something that I didn’t.
I looked at him through narrow eyes. “How do you know?”
“Because when a nigga fucks up, he knows how to fix it. It’s just a matter of if he’s willing to do what's necessary to fix it. North knows.”
I just looked at him. Namari was probably the most brutally honest man that I’ve ever encountered, but I always found comfort in his honesty.
He was the one person that I knew wouldn’t lie to me, because dishonesty didn’t live in him.
He’d probably hurt a few feelings when he told it how it was, but that was just him.
“I need to stop on the block right quick. Before we go that way.”
I nodded my head and got comfortable in my seat. I had been on my feet all day, so of course I was about to enjoy the fact that I didn’t have to do anything but be a passenger princess. This was a role that I was born for.
About fifteen minutes later we pulled up on the block and like the hood nigga he was of course he parked in the middle of the street. Then he hopped his hood ass out and like it was nothing. I swear it was just him for me.
“I won’t be long, foe’ head.”
I laughed, before picking up my phone from my lap to occupy my time.
It wasn’t unusual for him to come for my forehead, just like it wasn’t unusual for me to come for his lining.
We joked like that because both of us could take a joke.
I was too busy paying attention to my phone to see the car that pulled up beside me.
I looked up too late, because before I knew it all I could hear was the sound of glass shattering and people screaming.
I wanted to duck, but it was too late. By the time the gunfire stopped I heard tires screeching in the distance and then his voice.
Thank God he was alright, but something was different with me.
I could feel what felt like fire burning through my veins and I was wet.
I felt like a passenger in my own body, then the door opened.
“Baby. Baby. Baby.” He was frantic as he snatched the shirt from his body and pressed it against my body.
Oh shit, I’m hit. That’s when everything started to get fuzzy. Breathing became hard, and he got darker. Everything got darker.
“Surah, nah baby. This ain’t it. Stay with me, we're about to get to a hospital.” I could hear him pleading with me, but he sounded so far away. Why wasn’t he near me anymore?
My vision grew worse as I tried to call out to him, but I couldn’t. I tasted metal as it pushed up through my throat. Was I dying?
Luna
Something wasn’t right and I could feel it in my bones, the problem was that I couldn’t put my finger on it. Something was going on and all I could do was brace for what I didn’t yet know was coming. All I knew was that it had to do with my father.
I looked up from the mug that I had spent too much time aimlessly drying. At this point nothing about it was wet.
The sound of the door opening made me look toward the pistol I had hidden behind the counter.
I needed it clear so I could get to it. I don’t know why, but my paranoia has been on an all-time high as of lately.
My father’s impromptu visit mixed with my own shit was enough to have me checking my doors twice before I went to sleep.
“So jumpy, Luna. Are you good?” Cole’s voice made me look directly at him.
He had a smirk on his face like he knew something that I didn’t. Instead of taking a seat at the table near the door today he opted for the counter. Slowly but surely something about him wasn’t sitting well with me.
“The usual, Cole?” I asked.
“No, I’d like to try something different. How about a mango-banana smoothie?” His voice had an odd tone to it.
“Coming right up.” The thing is something in me refused to turn my back on him. His vibe was off. I mean it had never been on, but something about him was unlike any other moment I had ever encountered him.
“Let me ask you something,” he spoke again. His voice filled the space that was void of anybody other than he and I.
“Ask away.” He usually didn’t talk this much. What the fuck was his deal?
“When is the last time you’ve talked to your father?”
The moment he said father I dropped the utensils in my hand, and I had my gun aimed in his direction.
“Woah! No need to get so jumpy, Lunarius. I hope you really didn’t believe that you were under the radar.” He didn’t move, instead his dark eyes stared into mine.
I pushed the nose of the gun into his forehead. “Who sent you?”
“Why? Are you afraid that there are more sleepers in your life waiting for activation?”
“Who the fuck sent you?” I loaded one into the chamber ready to send it through his head.
“You wo—”
The sound of the door opening filled the space. I couldn’t risk taking my eyes or gun off Cole, so I hoped to hell whoever walked in saw the scene but decided to turn around and mind their business.
“What the fuck is going on here?” Knoxx's voice filled the storefront.
Fuck!