29. Givens
GIVENS
“How much is this going to run me?” I asked Morning as we pulled off from the police station. I ran my hand over my face and shook my head. For the last five hours, I’d paced that little ass cell, ready to go. I needed to check on Faylin. Shai was going to get hers, but she wasn’t my concern.
“It’s taken care of,” Morning replied without looking up from his phone. “Mercy said it was a parting gift.”
“Parting gift?” I questioned with a humorless laugh as I shook my head. She had me completely fucked up if she thought what we had was over. I understood she had a reputation to uphold, but this shit would never touch her.
Morning looked at me over the rim of his glasses and smirked. “Yeah, that’s what was told to me,” he said. He went back to looking at his phone as if our conversation was boring him.
“Not happening,” I snorted. “Just take me to my car.”
“It's in impound,” he replied. “You’ll have to get it out tomorrow.”
“Then take me to Hood’s,” I said as I tried to come up with my next move. I would have him take me home and get one of my other cars. “He can take me where I need to go.”
“No,” he laughed, and he shook his head.
“The fuck you mean, no?” My face twisted in anger.
I know this nigga was used to dealing with people who didn’t question him, but I wasn’t one.
I was a grown-ass man who wasn’t about to be ran by another grown man.
“Nigga, take me where I need to go or drop me the fuck off so I can get there on my own.”
“I was instructed to take you home, so that’s where I’m taking you,” he said.
“Instructed by who?”
“Mercy,” he answered, tapping on the partition to get his driver's attention. “ETA?”
“Ten minutes,” the driver answered.
Morning turned to me and set his phone in his lap. “I was asked to get you out of jail and take you home, and that was it. Any other request is going to be denied.”
“Nigga, what?” I laughed. “Let me the fuck out.” I grabbed the handle and pulled it, but nothing happened.
“Childproof,” he chuckled. “Now sit the fuck down and just chill.”
“I’ll break the fucking window.”
Morning sat forward, resting his elbows on the top of his leg and dropping his arms. “Nigga, I understand you a thug on the court and are about that life but don’t act like you don’t know my fucking name or how I move.
I respect you because of how you move and your relationship with Mercy, but let's not front out here. I’m that nigga because I’m a killer, don’t let the suit and tie fool you.
Stop trippin’, enjoy the ride, and when you get home, check on your jit.
This shit with your baby mama is being handled. ”
“I don’t need no nigga handling shit for me,” I said, shaking my head. I respected Morning for keeping it a buck with me, but this nigga was not about to boss up on me. I wasn’t a little nigga that was about to let another grown-ass man handle shit for me.
“I’m not handling shit,” he said as the car came to a stop. His driver got out and came around to open my door.
“Who the fuck is handling it, then?” I questioned, and Morning smirked.
“That ain’t my ministry,” Morning answered with a laugh. “Have a good night.”
I left the car to see Hood’s car in the driveway. I jogged up the stairs and made my way into the house.
“Hood!”
“In here,” he called from the living room. I closed the door and headed to the living room to see him sitting on the couch. Faylin sat at the island, eating a bowl of ice cream. When she saw me, she dropped her spoon and ran to me.
“Daddy!” she cried into my chest, and I wrapped my arms around her.
“I’m so sorry, baby girl,” I said, kissing her head. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“I’m glad you’re okay,” she said, then leaned back to look up at me.
I grabbed her chin to get a better look at her face, and I immediately saw red. “The fuck happened to your face, Faylin?”
“Mommy hit me,” she answered.
I let out a humorless laugh and let her face go. Shai having a restraining order against me didn’t mean shit now. I was going to see her about my daughter. I wiped my hand over my mouth and nodded.
“Chill, Givens,” Hood said when I walked away.
“That bitch hit my daughter, and you think I’m about to chill?
” I shook my head and then looked over at Faylin.
“You know I ain't a perfect nigga, right? But understand something, baby, I ain’t ever played about you. Yo mama can play games with me all she wants, but she crossed a line when she put her hands on you.”
“Daddy-“
“Nah, mama,” I said, shaking my head. “Yo mama gotta see about me.”
I walked out of the living room and took the stairs two at a time to get to my room. I could hear Hood following behind me, but I didn’t care. That nigga knew how I was about my daughter, so anything he said was going to fall on deaf ears.
“She needs you to be level-headed right now,” Hood said as I grabbed my gun from the closet.
He blocked the door, and all I could do was laugh.
“She has been through some shit; her mama said some fucked her shit to her. She has questions, and you’re the only one who can answer them.
You go after Shai right now on some anger shit; you’re going to fuck with her mental.
Take a minute, check on your daughter, think this shit through cuz if you go out there right now, you letting Shai win. ”
“What did she say to Faylin?” I asked.
“That’s a conversation for y’all to have,” Hood said, shaking his head. “Just give me the gun.”
“Nah,” I denied as I stuffed it into the back of my shorts. “Tell Faylin I’m going to get in the shower, and then I’ll be down to talk. I gotta get the smell of jail off me.”
Hood stared at me for a few seconds before nodding and walking away.
I paced my room for a minute, thinking about how I wanted to move, but my first thought was to make sure Faylin was straight.
My daughter’s mental health was the most important thing.
After I got her together, I was going to see Shai.
I pulled my gun from my shorts and set it on the nightstand beside my bed.
My phone lit up on the bed, and I picked it up to see I had a bunch of missed calls and texts.
I didn’t give a damn about any of that shit, though.
I swiped the screen, and my heart slammed against my chest when I saw a picture of Mercy, me, and Faylin from her open house a few weeks ago.
Sighing, I swiped the screen and dialed her number.
“The number you are trying to reach is no longer in service-” I hung up before the message ended.
I grabbed some clothes from the dresser and headed to the shower. After I handled this shit with Shai, I was going after my woman.
My eyes slowly opened when I felt my bed start to rock, and then there was pressure on my lap.
I took a deep breath, and the smell of chocolate and oranges filled my lungs.
A smile pulled at my lips as my eyes adjusted to the dark room, and I could see the outline of Mercy sitting on me.
I didn’t expect the cold piece of steel that pushed against my chin.
“I told you not to fuck with me,” Mercy said coldly. My hands went to her waist, and I tried to settle my heartbeat. “I begged you not to hurt me.”
“Let me explain,” I said, and she shook her head.
“No,” she denied. “It’s my turn to talk.
” She pulled the gun from my chin and tapped it against my chest. “I wanted your heart, respect, and trust. I’m not the type of woman who needs anything else because I’m grown enough to know that asking for the impossible is a setup.
” A sad smile graced her beautiful face.
“I had my cousin pull Shai’s medical report; she’s pregnant.
” Her dark eyes filled with tears, but I knew she wouldn’t let them fall.
“You want to know how far along she is?”
“It ain’t my baby,” I said, shaking my head. “She might be pregnant, but it ain’t my baby.”
“You fucked her, huh?” she laughed humorlessly.
“In Chicago. The same night we were texting, and you said you missed me, you fucked her.” I started to say something, but she set the tip of her gun against my lips.
“I saw the video from the hotel; she came to your room and didn’t leave until the next morning.
Right before you did, she walked out of your room, dressed in the same clothes from the night before and with a freshly fucked look on her face. ”
“That ain’t my baby.”
“It ain’t gonna matter who the daddy was,” she said, then shrugged.
“I’m pretty sure I stomped that bitch right out of her.
” She climbed from my lap and stood next to the bed.
I sat up, and it was the first time I realized that her cousins and Xoey were also in the room.
Cross leaned against the dresser with an axe resting against her leg.
Corinthians sat in the chair opposite my bed and twirled a straight razor around her index finger.
Psalms stood next to her sister with shears in her hand.
And Xoey sat on the floor against the bed with a bat next to her.
I reached for Mercy, but she sidestepped me. “Let me explain.”
“I’m telling you right now to stay the fuck away from me.” She shook her head and let out a humorless laugh. “This is your one warning, Givens. The next time, I’ll do you like I did your baby mama.” She grabbed my chin, kissed me, and rested her forehead against mine.