Chapter 30
Yanna Joseph
“Girl, if you don’t get from by that window. That boy gon’ be back here before you know it,” My momma scolded me. I had been sitting in the bay window seat looking out the window, for the last three hours. Like a little kid I’d been waiting to see headlights pulling in the driveway.
I don’t know why Niko leaving felt like the end of the world to me.
I couldn’t explain the dread I was feeling not knowing where or what he was doing.
He left his phone on the dresser so I couldn’t even call to check on him.
His stupid ass brothers didn’t take their phones with them either.
I didn’t understand how Reya and Frankee were so calm about this shit knowing that the four of them were up to no good.
I know Niko wanted to get revenge on whoever shot me but honestly I didn’t even care.
Me getting shot was trivial when I thought about the possibility of losing Niko.
Don’t get me wrong getting shot hurts like a bitch.
I had given birth to a human being and I would rather do that fifteen more times than be shot again.
However, I was counting my blessings. I was still alive, I didn’t have any permanent damage done to my body, I could talk, walk, and see.
I had all the reason in the world to smile yet I couldn’t fully be at ease because Niko wanted to go after whoever shot me.
Although he tried to hide it, Niko was hurt by me having a miscarrige.
I was too because the baby was a part of Niko and me.
However, I knew things could have been a lot worse.
Me losing the baby adding more fuel to Niko’s fire.
I got it he felt like it was his job to protect me and all that other stuff, but why go looking for trouble.
I wanted him to let things die down on their own.
It was one thing if whoever came back but I didn’t see the point in seeking them out.
For all he knew this could be a set up to get him to come after them so they could ambush and kill him.
All kinds of crazy scenarios ran through my head and the longer I went without hearing from Niko the more my mind was thinking up crazy shit.
I felt like I was going insane wanting for him to come home.
The only temporary relief I got was when Zuriyah needed to be fed but looking at her didn’t help because she looked just like Niko.
I ended up crying last time I fed Zuriyah.
If my momma wasn’t here I’d be a hot ass mess.
Her presence helped me from feeling alone.
The only thing that truly would help me was for Niko to come back to me alive and unharmed.
I could have kicked Niko’s ass when he told me he loved me.
Like why wait until he was about to leave to possibly get hurt to say some shit like that.
He was trying to make this out like some janky ass tragedy romance book where the main male character dies after confessing his love for the main female character.
I swear I would do some voodoo shit to revive Niko and fuck him up if he died on me.
We literally just started to work on us being a family and now he wanted to risk his fucking like.
I had never been more frustrated than I was right now.
“I know ma, I’m just scared. Like what if he get hurt,” I whined pouting as I folded my arms across my chest.
“He’s going to be fine. Trust me,” My momma replied confidently. I wish I had the same confidence. I guess me getting shot had my nerves on edge.
It made me realize how fragile life is. Literally one moment I was walking up the steps to check on Zaylee next I was on the ground bleeding.
I didn’t wake up that day thinking about getting shot yet I ended up with a bullet hole through my leg.
Nothing in life was promised and I didn’t want to take anything for granted anymore.
“You don’t know that.” I sighed slouching back against the window dramatically.
“Girl you a mess. I don’t know where you get this whiny stuff from cause it can’t be me or yo’ daddy,” My momma snickered as she peered at me.
“Momma?” I said sitting up urgently.
Her speaking about Nate reminded me of everything that had transpired before I got shot.
All the stuff about Zaylee not being Nate had been pushed to the back burner while I healed.
Zaylee didn’t bring it up whenever we talked and my mind had been preoccupied with everything else going on around me.
A part of me put it off because I didn’t believe anything that came out of Malika's mouth. She was a miserable person who thrived off making other people just as miserable as her. I really did think she was spiteful enough to make up a fake story just because she didn’t like Zaylee.
The only thing that threw me off was MJ and Tahiry seemingly knowing about it.
MJ barely came to the hospital to check on me.
He literally came for ten minutes before he left.
He didn’t speak to Zaylee or anyone else while he was there either.
He just stood off to the side looking crazy.
I decided then and there I was cutting ties with him.
MJ was acting like it was an inconvenience to have to come see me in the hospital.
On top of his recent behavior, yeah I needed a break from him.
It was clear he’d taken after Nate a lot more than I realized.
Tahiry’s ass had been in the wind too. Now her fucking with Will shocked the hell out of me.
I didn’t put anything past anyone but her sleeping with Will’s grown ass, I would have never guessed.
What made that entire situation crazy was Will met Tahiry through me.
Before Tahiry had gotten out of control she used to come over my house all the time.
One of those times Will had been there and I introduced them.
I didn’t think anything of it because Tahriy was sixteen at the time.
Seeing how she was acting with WIll, It made me wonder if he'd approached her back then and they’d been sneaking around until she turned eighteen.
Either way it went the shit was despicable and I wanted Niko to beat Will’s ass for him fucking with my sister.
I didn’t even care that I used to deal with him.
It was the fact I felt like he’d been grooming Tahiry.
Will’s grown ass knew what he was doing messing with a girl as young as Tahiry.
As bad as I wanted to drag her ass home I knew I couldn’t.
Tahiry needed a real wake up call and I prayed it came sooner rather than later.
At the end of the day she is my baby sister and I’d always have love for her.
Same with MJ he is my big brother of course I’d always have love for him, I’d just have to do it from a distance.
Since I wasn’t fooling with MJ or Tahiry there was no way for me to ask either of them to elaborate on what Malika said.I figured my momma might know a little more than they would since she was dealing with Nate back then.
“Yeah?”
“The day I got shot, ummm Malika said some real outta pocket things to Zaylee and I’m curious,” I skeptically said poking my lips out.
“Like what?” My momma asked cocking her eyebrow up at me.
Sighing deeply as I said. “Basically, Zaylee ain’t Nate’s daughter. She supposedly got the same daddy as Malika and that’s why he killed himself.”
“Child,” My momma shook her head rolling her eyes. “That girl just as messy as her mama. Ya’ auntie De’anne is a hot mess for telling Malika that mess. I know Nate is turning over in his grave.”
“Okay sooo what does that mean?”
“Nate wasn’t an easy man to deal with. Annie dealt with a lot from him.
It wasn’t a surprise when she started messing with another man.
It was surprising that it was her sister-in-law’s boyfriend but nevertheless it happened.
Nate was pissed when he found out his perfect Annie was creeping.
Boy I thought he was gonna give himself a heart attack. ” She chuckled.
“Zaylee really isn’t Nate’s daughter.”
“I don’t know for sure but there's a good chance she’s not.
Annie and Calvin were messing around for a long time.
You too young to remember but when you and Zaylee were babies Nate and Annie separated.
She was carrying on with Calvin like they were a big happy family.
Nate called himself trying to be with me and you but his attention was on Annie, Nate couldn’t get over Annie leaving him.
There’s no nice way to say this and I hate to speak ill of the dead but that nigga was nuts.
” I giggled at the comical expression on my momma’s face.
“The way Mrs.Cooper was about Nate I would have never thought she’d stepped out on Nate.” I replied.
“Annie felt guilty that’s what made her stay with Nate.
After all the crazy shit Calvin did to Nate once they got back together.
She felt like she owed him something for forgiving her.
Calvin was obsessed with Annie and anything that came from her he wanted parts of.
He loved Zaylee more than he loved his own daughter he knew for a fact was his.
When Annie told Calvin she was going to work things out with Nate that nigga went nuts.
He started stalking all of us. Putting dead cats and shit on our doors.
That’s what really made me stop fooling with Nate.
Calvin’s crazy ass scared me straight. I didn’t want any parts of what they had going on. ”
“Did Calvin really kill himself because Mrs.Cooper didn’t want to be with him?” I asked with wide eyes. I was interested in this story like it was a real movie.