Chapter One #4
I couldn’t tell my uterus, “You know, you need to hang tight
for a month or two or eleven while your daddy figures stuff out. You can carry
on gestating after that.”
I mean, I could try, but I wasn’t sure he or she would
listen.
Now, I had that note from him and I didn’t know what was
inside.
It could be him pouring out his heart to me, doing it on
paper, because boys were weird about showing emotion.
And Lord, he loved his dad. I loved my dad too, like, a lot,
but I could see it was a different thing with boys. It was almost worship. And
I understood that. Mister Morris was that kind of man, that kind of father.
He’d deserved it.
It could be something else.
I didn’t have time to wait. I had enough to figure out, so
there was no time to wait.
I unfolded the note.
What I read made my insides go hollow.
I didn’t want to, but I forced myself to read it all again.
Lyrics.
To a song.
Nine Inch Nails’ “Hurt.”
With a note at the end that said, We’re done. If you
know what’s good for you, stay away from me. -D
I knew exactly what was good for me, which was why I grabbed
the phone on my bedside table and dialed his home number.
No one answered.
And later, one of the times Miss Dorothea or one of Darius’s
sisters answered the phone, they were sweet, they sounded sad, but every single
time, Darius refused to take my calls.
Fast Forward – Hit Play
Now…
We stood in the hospital waiting room with
Duke and the gang was all there.
All of the gang was there.
The place was crowded, standing room only.
But I didn’t have it in me to take them in, to look for
familiar faces.
All I could think about was Darius.
And Ally, who was in front of us, her gaze on my son.
“That’s your father’s,” she announced.
I moved close to my boy as Liam’s eyes got huge and they
were fixed to Ally’s bloody hand.
I heard a gasp.
Dorothea.
Damn.
She didn’t know about Liam…
Yet.
Well, now she knew.
“Don’t, Ally,” Eddie bit out.
“Lay down the truth, darlin’.” Duke’s rough voice
encouraged. Ally looked to him. So did I. He nodded to Ally. “Now’s the time.”
“It’s not the fuckin’ time,” Lee bit out.
Ally’s attention returned to my son.
“A bad guy was touching me,” she declared. “Your father had
already been shot in both legs and slammed in the head with a tire iron, but he
still got him off me. He barely got a hand on me, and your father dragged
himself to me and pulled him off. I was drugged. I couldn’t defend myself or
help him. But he kept him off me even when that asshole stabbed him. He kept
him off me until help came. Blood pouring out of him, and he kept him off
me.”
“Ally—” I whispered, my voice pained, because I was pained.
I got her need to do this, I hated what had happened to her,
but my need was finding out if the love of my life was going to
survive all of that.
Ally spoke over me.
“Look around you,” Ally ordered Liam. “All these people, this,”
she jerked her bloody hand in the air, “that’s your father.” She
turned to me. “I don’t know what went down with Eddie and Lee. What I know is
if Darius makes it through this, he’s gonna stay away. From you. From his son.”
She swung an arm out behind her. “From everybody.”
She took a step toward us. Liam put an arm around my waist
and pulled me back just as Lee put an arm around Ally to stop her.
“Don’t let him, please,” she pleaded in a whisper.
“Zano, a little help,” Lee said about two seconds before he
released Ally.
He did this because a dark-haired, fine-looking man clamped
down on her with both arms.
His lips at her ear, he said, “All right, baby, that’s out.
Now come sit with me.”
“Don’t let him,” she repeated to me.
Okay, she was flipping out.
I had other things on my mind, but this was something I
could sort pretty easily.
So, before she could turn away (or be pulled away by her
fine-looking man, trust Ally to score that long drink of hot water), I moved
forward and caught her hands.
“I talked with Liam this morning and he wants to meet his
dad,” I whispered.
Ally looked uncomfortable.
Yeah, her big speech was effective, but unnecessary.
“Well, uh…that’s good,” she muttered.
I tipped my head to the side, and even though I still had
other, more pressing things to think about, I felt a small smile play at my
mouth, because this was pure Ally, and boy…
I’d missed her.
I squeezed her hands. “I see you haven’t changed.”
“Nope,” she agreed, and her gaze strayed to Liam. “Though
I’m not usually this crazy.”
My kid was smart. In this instance, his intelligence showed
in the fact that he looked like he didn’t believe her.
“Yes, she is,” Eddie said.
Ally glared at Eddie.
Then her man pulled her away, but she squeezed my hands back
before she let me go.
I looked to Dorothea.
She was staring at Liam with a face full of wonder mingled
with nuances of hurt.
I’d have to tackle that later.
But for now, I turned to Eddie.
“News?” I asked.
He shook his head, his expression grim.
My heart slid back up into my throat, a place it had taken
residence in since Duke told us what was happening in my kitchen.
And my son pulled me closer.