Chapter 30
CHAPTER
THIRTY
LOOT
Two-Pump and I don’t move. We don’t speak to one another until after Destinee has jumped into the club van and Dare has taken off. I still don’t know how the fuck we got here, but here we are. My phone vibrates in my pocket, and I reach for the device and look down at the screen.
It’s a text from Cade’s caseworker. She’s going to be showing up for an at-home visit next week. No telling when, just next week sometime. She doesn’t have to give me a heads-up, but it’s nice that she has.
“There’s no hope for her,” Two-Pump states. “I know it, but I still look for her.”
“Dare’s just thinking about Wrath’s sister. She was lost and on drugs. They were young, the love-of-his-life kind of thing, at least that’s what he thought at the time. Brings up bad memories, is all. But not everyone is a lost cause.”
Two-Pump jerks his chin upward once, inhaling a deep breath before he lets it out slowly, and then turns to look at me. He claps his hands together, rubbing them a few times, and takes a step backward.
“Enough of this depressing shit. Let’s take care of the bitch that fucked with your kid, get drunk, and then get laid, in no particular fucking order.”
It’s like preaching to a goddamn choir. I want to do all of the above, but in a particular order: Destinee, a shower, Jules, and a drink. Then I want to go home and hold my son. I’m not sure I’ll ever tell him about his mother—about my connection to her impending disappearance.
I wish I could erase all the bad shit she’s put him through. He’s innocent. A kid. An extension of myself. And I’ve let him down. I’ve failed him. Never again. Not ever again. I hate myself for what I’ve done, and I’ll never be able to make it up to him.
My phone buzzes in my pocket as I straddle my bike. When I slide my thumb across the screen, it’s the exact person I’ve been thinking of. He shouldn’t be calling me right now. He should be in class.
Bringing my phone to my ear, I clear my throat as my heart begins to slam against my chest. I don’t know why he’s calling me in the middle of the day. If something is wrong, this is the worst fucking day for it to happen.
“Dad?” he calls out when I don’t speak immediately.
“Are you okay?” I finally ask, my heart not slowing down at all. In fact, I think it’s beating faster with each passing moment. He’d better start talking, or my fifty-year-old heart is going to give out. I just know it.
“I’m okay,” he sighs.
He sounds exhausted or maybe annoyed. I can’t quite tell, and my interest is now piqued. I start to ask him what the hell is going on, but I decide to let him tell me, even if he’s not going fast enough for my liking.
“It’s just… I got into a fight.”
I blink, unsure that he’s said what he has. “A fight?” I ask.
Two-Pump snorts next to me. “A fight?” he hisses, trying not to laugh.
I press my lips together because his laugh is easily contagious, and this seems somewhat serious. My son isn’t a fighter. He doesn’t even get mad, or at least I’ve never seen him that way. Even as a toddler, he never even threw a tantrum. Cade has been the most even-tempered baby.
“Kid said something, and I backed it up.”
Well, at least I know he’s mine for sure, because that is something I would say, one hundred percent. I lift my hand to my forehead, and my head falls back slightly as I close my eyes and attempt to remain strong and not burst out into laughter.
“I’ll be right there. Don’t say shit to anyone.”
Ending the call, I look over at Two-Pump. He’s watching me, his eyes dancing and a huge smile playing on his lips. Motherfucker thinks this is hilarious, and he doesn’t even know the best part yet.
“He just told me that a kid said something and he backed it up.”
Two-Pump doesn’t even try to hold in his laughter. It bubbles up his throat and out of his mouth with a boom. His shoulders shake and everything. It is contagious. Completely and totally.
“He’s yours,” he says between laughs. “Go get your kid. Come to the clubhouse when you’re ready. We won’t even talk to her ’til you get there. I’ll let Dare know that you’re handling your little Mayweather.”
I roll my eyes, chuckling as I start my engine. Fucking hell, I can’t believe that I’m headed to the elementary school because my kid got in a fight. I shouldn’t be, but fuck me, I’m proud as shit right now.