Chapter 4 #2
He hit the ground, eyes wide, lip busted, blood spilling onto his shirt.
“Now wait here, pussy, and make sure no one touches my car while I chase down this bitch.” He nodded, face trembling.
When I looked up the street, Pernelle hadn’t made it far because she was standing halfway down the block, watching as I beat the cabbie's ass for fucking with me.
“Yo, P, bring your ass back over here.” I jogged to catch her.
“Crew, leave me alone. Why you just do that man like that? Yo ass unhinged as fuck!”
“And you have to be too jumping out of the car like that.”
“No, I’m not crazy, Crew. I’m just not for proving myself to someone who I never asked to come around anyway. You came to my apartment wanting to be a father. Don’t act like I reached out to you, lying or no shit.”
“I didn’t say you did, but I told you that I have to have confirmation before I’m all in. If you can’t understand that, then you're selfish. Or you got something to hide.”
“Well, I don’t!”
She snaked her neck, giving me straight attitude, but even with her belly out front and her lip poked out, she looked more like a mad teddy bear than anything else.
She looked curious as to why a smirk was forming on my face, but that’s because I felt like I was arguing on the streets with Winnie the Pooh or Little Bear or some shit.
“Listen, I didn’t come over here to disappoint you.
I came to clear the air on shit so we can move forward in this co-parenting thing with nothing holding me back.
Now, just come and get back in the car. We're going to take this test, and then I’ll take you to get some food.
Even with the results still pending, I’ll feed you and baby Jane Doe. ”
She tried to hold her attitude, but after a few seconds, she rolled her eyes and let out a little snort.
“Whatever. But I can’t wait for you to get these results so you can leave me alone about this.”
Pernelle griped and started her wobble back to the car.
When I passed the cabbie who was sitting on the curb crying, I flicked the bird at his punk ass and burned off down the block.
When we got to the clinic, we waited in the lobby for a couple of minutes, then were called back into a small room with a single chair for each of us.
There was a tray of medical shit laid out on a counter with needles, cotton pads, and tubes with labels on them.
When the nurse entered the room, she explained how the test would work.
Pernelle’s hand started shaking, and when the lady unwrapped the needle, she reached out for my hand to hold.
I'm not going to lie, it felt strange because I hadn’t held hands with a woman in years. Shit, I only did in the past when a female was using my hands to balance herself while she was riding my dick.
The nurse drew blood from Pernelle’s arm first, and then from me, before taping cotton to my arm and telling us to wait for the paperwork.
“Now, that wasn’t too bad, was it?”
“Yes, it was. She tied that rubber around my arm like I was hitting heroin. That shit hurt.”
She complained, but I just let her have it because I wasn’t arguing with her ass.
While she sat there staring at the bandage on her arm, I stepped out and walked to room four, where Cashmier text me they sent her back to.
When I opened the door, she was sitting there with her shirt pulled up over one shoulder and her baby resting against her chest. The look on her face said everything I needed to know.
Cashmier was tired, and motherhood was whooping her ass, and I’m sure she wasn’t getting help from her bougie ass mama or aunts either.
That whole family probably hadn’t changed ten diapers in their lifetime.
“Crew, when are they going to come and swab him? They take their fucking time here I see.”
“Oh, so you are an expert on DNA testing facilities and how long they are supposed to take? How many times has that baby been swabbed for DNA? I mean, does he have any saliva left?”
She rolled her eyes.
“Very funny, Crew, but instead of asking dumb questions, you should be worried about why he’s not latching on to my breast as he should and having to drink formula.”
“I mean, what the fuck am I supposed to do? Whoop the little nigga because he won’t do it?”
“No, of course not. The nurse says it helps if the skin around my nipple is pushed back to extract some milk so that he can taste it and want to suck for more, but it is hard to do while holding him.”
She complained, and as much as I wanted to ignore her, I couldn’t help but notice that the little man was struggling to eat right in front of me. I stood up, walked over to her, and grabbed her breast with my fingertips.
“Ouch, ouch, Crew!” She swung her arm at me.
“Be gentler than that please. My nipples are sore.”
“Alright, I’m trying.” She placed my fingertips where she wanted them.
Surprisingly, he latched on just how he needed to and started to suck on Cashmier’s nipple like it was his last meal, or should I say first. I kind of got caught up watching how this shit worked. I mean, I knew women could breast-feed. I've just never seen it like this up close.
Little man was going to work on his mama when the door opened and snapped me out of the gaze I had on him.
“Okay, we are ready to get started with the process. Since baby seems to be enjoying a meal, we will go ahead and swab the testing adult first.”
The nurse pulled out the long Q-tip and other shit she needed for the testing. First, she stuck the long cotton swab into my jaws to collect my DNA.
After she did that, she disposed of the packaging that she didn’t need in the trash and then made little man unlatch from his mama’s breast, and he started raising hell. He likes to eat, I see. Maybe he could be my son. I laughed to myself.
The nurse wiped his mouth clean of milk, swabbed him, and then, just that quickly, the test was done.
When the nurse left the room, Cashmier stayed seated in the chair that she was in.
“So, what’s next, Crew?”
“We wait on the results.”
“Mmhmm, but when you know he is yours, I would really appreciate some help with him.”
“What did I tell you would happen if I found out that he’s mine? I’m taking him and raising my son alone.”
Cash stood up from the chair, clutching the baby in her arms.
“I can’t believe someone standing in front of me who is a pure mama’s boy is threatening to take a child away from their mother.
You can’t stand me because of shit I didn’t even do to you, but I’m still King’s mother.
I love him more than anything or anyone, and you don’t have to believe it for it to be true.
You are no other man comes before him now, and I would never risk not being here with him to snake anyone anymore. ”
She shook her head at me and then went over to the car seat to place the baby inside.
“How the fuck am I supposed to ever trust you, Cashmier?”
“You don’t have to. Just trust that I will take care of him, and that’s all that matters between us.” She threw the black diaper bag from the ground over her shoulder and then walked out of the room to cut the conversation. I’m glad she did, though, because she was always good at playing victim.
I walked back over to the other room, where Pernelle was still waiting patiently and scrolling through her phone.
“I got the paperwork. I’m ready to leave now.”
“Alright, let’s go.” I opened the door, and we walked out of the office with plenty of eyes cutting my way by the nurses who were judging the fact that I had two women here at the same time getting a DNA test. Shit, at least I care to know about these two mutha fuckas.
Grimy niggas like my pops and some of my sister’s baby daddies didn’t give a fuck if they were the fathers or not.
At least I'm trying to step up for both of them.
Shit Hov's conversation with me had weighed heavily on my mind and he was right; bosses can't be deadbeat fathers.
When we got inside the car, I turned down the stereo, playing the soft R&B I liked to listen to from time to time.
“You hungry, P?”
“No, I’m fine, just ready to go.”
“Nah, I heard your stomach growling the whole time we were in there.”
She laughed, and her belly bounced.
“Well, sure I'm hungry, Crew.”
“Okay, what do you want?”
“Whatever we pass by is fine.”
“That’s not a good answer. What do you want, ma? Don’t make me choose. I’ll go get your ass some frozen broccoli pops or sum shit.”
“We'll I guess I would enjoy Dack’s Cuisine in Eastchester. It’s a Caribbean restaurant I've been seeing all over my TikTok. They have fried lobster loaded with mac and cheese and fried shrimp.”
Her mouth was damn near drooling talking about that food.
“Okay, I will take you and baby Jane Doe there.”
“Stop calling her that, Crew.” She shoved me playfully with a smile on her face. Pregnant women seem to be easy to deal with because the mention of good food made Pernelle forget that I had just had blood drawn from her for a DNA test that she claimed we didn’t need. Only time will tell, though.