Chapter 10 #2
“I’ve asked you to do that for a month, and you keep putting it off. Next to having you piss in my mouth and spitting it on a stick, this was the best option.”
“Ugh! You damn right. That was a horrible option.” She balled her lips. “I feel terrible for interrupting another Sinner party. Your family probably thinks I’m a bad luck charm.”
“I don’t care what they think, and you shouldn’t either. I love them for making me solid, but some of their views are tainted. That doesn’t have anything to do with you or me.” I slipped my hand under the cover and squeezed her leg. “I’m just grateful you’re okay. You scared the shit out of me.”
A somber expression mixed with her makeup, yet the nurse returned before I could pick her brain.
“Mrs. Blackstone.”
“Mrs. Sinner.” I corrected her without thinking. “What did the test say?”
The round, black lady smiled and hugged the clipboard to her chest. “Oh Lord. Are you daddy?”
“Daddy? The test was positive!”
“Clear as day. Now, let’s run a few tests to make sure mommy and baby are well. I hope I can send you home to celebrate in a few hours.”
“Kitty, why are you giving me a hard time? I only left the house because you had plans to meet your girls.”
“I know,” she whined. “I don’t know what’s wrong. One second, I was picking out an outfit, then I got caught up in this emotional-ass movie about cats. Next thing I know, I’m laughing and crying.”
“Mama, your hormones are out of order. You only have five months to go.”
“Only?” she yelled. “Ugh. Come home. Let’s lay in bed and eat snacks while you rub on my booty.”
“All right. If I turn around, you can’t change your mind. No lunch with the girls.”
The line got quiet.
“If I don’t go, I’ll never hear the end of it. My girls feel like I’ve abandoned them since we got together.”
“All right, let’s do this. You go to lunch but skip the movie. We can meet at your place by four.”
“Are you sure you’ll be done by then? You told me after the meeting with your family, you have another stop.”
“I do, but it won’t take long.”
“All right. I’ll let you go. I love you.”
“How much you love me, Kitty?”
“Enough to have your baby.”
I grinned. “My girl.”
I ended the call and headed to a meeting I didn’t plan to attend when I left Kannon’s home.
I had plans to pull up on the nigga who ran up on me a few weeks back, but Echo called saying the old heads wanted to meet.
It had been two weeks since Kannon found out she was pregnant, and I’d been too far off the radar for folks to reach me.
I went to the casino when my elders weren’t around, and I still helped stock shelves at our family’s liquor store, but outside of that, I was with her.
Any other day, I would’ve gone to my father for advice on how to integrate Kannon into the family, but his moves lately made him questionable.
Though I was under dressed in streetwear, I walked through the upscale restaurant like I had on Prada.
Since I spent many meetings in the Mediterranean spot, I knew my family was sitting outside in a private area.
I was grateful the sun was out since the moment I laid eyes on the group a cold feeling came over me.
Even with my brewing resentment, I pushed the chip off my shoulder and greeted my loved ones before sitting next to Pluto.
“What’s good, y’all,” I spoke to the group. “What did I miss?”
Uncle Lester leaned forward and looked at me cynically. “You tell us. We haven’t seen you in a few. How’s the girl doing? We ain’t seen her since she fell out at the party.”
My eyes snapped in his direction. “She’s fine. Where’s your bum-ass son? He went missing again?”
“There you go again, down talking your family to defend that bitch.”
I jumped from my seat at the same time as my dad.
“Neptune, sit down, and show some respect.”
I scoffed, recalling the accusations against him. I wouldn’t confront my father in front of other people, but I couldn’t pretend shit was sweet. I planned to have a conversation with him about the claims, but the family meeting came faster than I could figure out the truth.
“What are we doing here? I have somewhere to be,” I announced.
Uncle Lester groaned as he shuffled around in his seat. “I’m sure somewhere involves that girl. That’s exactly why we don’t take bitches seriously. They become a distraction.”
“Yours was a distraction. My lady is motivation.” I sat back and smiled. “Now that she’s having my baby, she’s the answer to a Sinner’s prayer.”
Excitement and shocked stalled my father’s features. All the ways I planned to announce Kannon’s pregnancy were put on hold when Uncle Lester kept picking. I knew the information would have him too in his feelings to speak.
My father walked over and squeezed my shoulders. “That news is right on time since I’ll be out of your way at the top of the year.”
“I will too.” Echo and Pluto’s father chimed in.
My cousins and I maintained our chill, but I could feel the eagerness from across the table.
“There’s one thing we need to discuss before we bow out. We can’t ignore this partnership with the Denvers like it doesn’t exist,” my father continued.
I frowned. “It doesn’t!”
“Why are you testing me, boy? I’ve never done shit to make you question how I operate.”
“Are you sure about that?” I blurted out. “Listen, I’m not opposed to building lucrative connections. I plan to keep working with Michael Delano and his family. But you’re not asking us to do that. I can’t let a man dictate what’s sold when we aren’t getting cut in.”
“So what do you believe we should do, Son?”
I intertwined my fingers and rested my hands on the table.
“It’s obvious the Denvers are pressed for cash for a reason they aren’t telling.
Cut them a check since y’all want to do charity and connect them with Michael.
The way he flips investments, they should be loaded and satisfied in a few months. ”
The twins’ dad smiled and nodded. “I like how you think, Nephew.”
“Good. Is that all?”
The crushed look on my father’s face almost made me apologize for my harsh tone, yet the unknown led me to dismiss myself before I said something I regretted.
I left my dad where he stood and headed to my car as fast as I got out of it.
I gave my two cents about the partnership, and I wasn’t changing my mind.
If my elders didn’t feel obligated to lend the Denvers a helping hand when they were running shit, I wouldn’t either.
From the parking lot of the restaurant, I checked Kannon’s location and saw she never left the house.
Part of me wanted to go home, yet the nagging that kept me up at night led me to Jefferson High School.
For three weeks, I contemplated how I wanted to humble the intruder who confronted me outside of Kannon’s house. For a young nigga to believe he could confront me was wild, but for one to claim to be my little brother was almost unbelievable.
With my eyes covered with a pair of sunglasses, I climbed the bleachers of the indoor gym.
Though it was a Saturday, I showed up as the Varsity basketball team wrapped up practice.
Even on school grounds, I gripped the burner in the pocket of my hoodie when I saw the young buck walking toward me.
He texted me and asked me to meet him at the park later in the evening, but I popped up on him instead.
When I put my ear to the streets and learned that the boy played basketball for Jefferson and put up impressive numbers, I was shocked.
I was disappointed that he almost lost his life trying to save a ho that never wanted to be saved.
“What the hell are you doing here?” he asked while peeking over his shoulders. “I thought we were meeting later?”
“You thought wrong. Have a seat.”
His light-brown eyes raced to my pocket. “If you shoot me in here—”
“Sit your ass down before I push you backward.”
The young giant flopped down a few bleachers away from me.
His silence gave me time to examine his features under something brighter than a streetlamp.
I couldn’t deny our brown skin was the same shade, and his dimples were as deep as mine.
His curly lashes reminded me of Valerie’s, and I assumed he inherited his height from his father.
“You know the one shot you let off hit my homie?”
“Does it look like I came here for a status report on your weak-ass friend? Tell me what you were talking about before you almost lost your life?”
He stared at the basketball court like it held the answers, then rubbed his hands together like a man with a lot on his mind.
“Me and my mom moved to Slyde City almost three years ago. She always claimed this place as her hometown, but I never knew the reason she left. Not until I heard her mention your dad one night.” He stared me in my eyes. “I wasn’t trying to rob you that night. My brodie got beside himself.”
“Sounds like you’ve got the wrong brodie. Did your mom tell you to come look for me?”
He shook his head. “She’s your mama too.”
“Nah. The lady you know, and the one I knew, are different people. My mama left me because she was too weak to accept the special child she birthed.”
“That’s not what happened,” EJ suggested. “Your dad is a bitch who couldn’t take rejection. He threatened to kill her if she didn’t leave once he found out she cheated on him. There’s more to the story, but that’s a conversation for you and her to have.”
I grimaced. “No the hell it’s not. I’m not hard to find. Just like you found me, she could’ve. Sounds like she’s on the same bullshit.”
“Man, I’m not going to let you disrespect her. My mama has had enough people doing that.”
A sharp pain shot up my chest at the idea of someone touching a woman attached to me. “What was the purpose of you coming to me? How the hell you know where I was?”
“Like you said, you ain’t hard to find.” He smiled. “I came to you because my mom is sick, and my sperm donor is in jail for trying to kill her. I don’t have no other family. I’m not looking for no handouts, but . . . I don’t know, man.”
All the hot shit I thought about EJ went out the window when a familiar tone hit his voice.
It was a tone I remember touched my voice for years after Valerie left.
From the night he popped up, I knew EJ was my brother.
Outside of our similar features, I could feel it.
When he pulled out his phone and shared pictures of Valerie, he practically confirmed it.
The photos he showed me ranged from when she was younger to recently.
Not much had changed about her except her weight loss.
Her long hair still hung down her shoulders, and her long lashes were still eye-catching.
“She’s still beautiful, though she ain’t shit,” I declared.
“Your old man ain’t no better. I fuck with a freshman at SCU. Her peoples have connections to law enforcement, so I had her look into my mama’s past.” His eyes went dark. “I could really put a bullet in your dad for what he did to my mama. If the report wasn’t enough, the pictures were.”
I leaned back and looked EJ up and down. “You’re a bold little one.”
“Ain’t shit little about me. I’ve been looking after my mama for years. Respect my manhood.”
I smiled at the younger version of me. “Don’t ever in your life show up to where I lay my head unless it’s a life-or-death situation. You almost got your head knocked off because you wanted to have a family reunion.”
“To make my mama happy, I’ll do anything.”