22. September
ONE WEEK LATER
“Come on, let’s grab something to eat.”
Priest sat on the edge of the bed and reached back for my hands. I wrapped them around his neck and wrapped my legs around his waist. Naked, we headed straight for the kitchen to prepare something to eat. We had just finished having sex, and we’d worked up an appetite.
When he set me down on the counter, he asked, “You want this leftover spaghetti?”
“Yeah.”
He stepped closer and pressed his head against mine. With one hand in my hair, he brushed my lips and commented, “I got you, okay?”
I nodded.
He turned to prepare our plates.
“Priest.”
“Yeah, baby?”
“How long did you know that my father was the same man who hurt your family?”
“I’ve always known. I knew his name back then. I just watched and waited.”
“Why did you wait so long to ruin him?”
“It’s all about timing, baby girl. I knew in my heart that when the right time came, it would fall into my lap. It did. You were never a part of the plan, but you were the icing on the cake.”
“How do I know that I’m not just a pawn?”
“’Cause, I didn’t need you to execute my plan. Like I said, you were the icing on the cake.”
He walked back to me with my plate and kissed me.
“I want you, Ember. It ain’t got shit to do with your daddy. Every time I saw you around town, I wanted you.”
“I wanted you, too, but was your desire for me related to your desire for revenge on my daddy?”
“No. I told you that shit. I ain’t gotta lie to you, princess. I want you because of your beautiful heart, your fiery spirit, and the passionate way you move when you’re on top of me, under me, and all around me.”
“Oh. Okay. Priest?”
“Hmm?”
“If you don’t mind me asking, what happened to your mama?” I asked and took my plate from him.
“She OD’d when I was twenty-one,” he stated and pulled the refrigerator open.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be,” he replied and poured our soda.
“Did you… get to say your final goodbyes?”
“Yeah. We peaced it out before she died.”
“Do you think she knew she was going to do it?”
He placed the soda back in the refrigerator and turned to face me. Priest took a sip from the glass, leveled those coal-black eyes on me, and announced, “I did it.”
“You did what?” I asked, unsure if I heard correctly.
“I killed her.”
“What?”
“She’d been diagnosed with cancer three years before. That, paired with her heroin addiction, was more than she could withstand. She said she took it to eliminate the pain, but I knew that shit wasn’t true. One day, some cats called me out to check on her. I went to see her, and I didn’t even recognize her, but I could tell she was in a lot of pain. She told me that she’d always loved me, but I told her that she’d loved the drugs more. She said it was hard to kick the habit after she’d let that monster kill Trina. She apologized and cried so hard. In the end, she said she didn’t have any money, she was tired of hurting physically and mentally, and she was ready to end it all. I told her I wasn’t giving her shit, and she begged me to bring her some heroin. I walked up out of there, and that shit bugged me for a week.
“I finally returned with what she asked for. She was even worse than the last time I saw her. I gave it to her and sat with her while she took it. Talked to her the entire time and reminded her of the good times we’d shared. I was with her when she took her last breath. It was the tenth anniversary of my sister’s death.”
It felt as if the oxygen had seeped from my lungs. I bent forward and struggled to breathe. My fingers clenched my thighs tightly until my nails pierced the skin. I took several deep, ragged breaths in before I rocked back and forth.
“Ember. Ember,” Priest called.
I felt his arms on my shoulders and then felt him rub my arms up and down.
“Breathe, baby.”
The next thing I knew, gut-wrenching sobs poured from me. Priest lifted me into his arms and carried me out of the kitchen and back to his bedroom. He laid me on the bed and covered me.
“I’ll be right back.”
When he returned, he carefully balanced our plates and glasses. Once he set them down, he climbed into the bed with me and pulled me close.
“I know you think I’m a monster, Ember, but?—”
“No! Don’t say that.” I cried and turned in his arms to face him. “My heart broke for you because I cannot imagine how difficult that was for you. It was cruel of her to ask you that but so damn brave and loving of you to sit with her and watch her go through it.”
He reached out and wiped the tears from my face.
“Don’t cry for me, princess. I made my peace with my life and the shit I’d gone through long ago. That’s what led me on this path. The shit I do ain’t because I’m just an evil nigga bent on breaking the law. The shit I do is to help the ones that the government, the wealthy, and the elite don’t give a fuck about. The arms dealing and gambling are all so that I can give back to the ones in need.”
I allowed Priest to pull me back into his arms again, and he held me close. I cried some more and he wiped my tears. I cried for the little boy he had been, his sister, my mother, his mother, and me.
The food was forgotten as I drifted in and out of sleep. At some point, as I lay on my side, wrapped in his arms, I woke up again. And the realization of what I felt hit me square in the chest.
“I love you, Priest,” I whispered before I fell asleep again.