8. Global “Dice” Jamerson
Global “Dice” Jamerson
Iknew I was going to shake his world up with the news that he was a father. The last—and I mean the very last—thing I expected after coming back was to walk into my house and see him.
He had to be the reason Coca didn’t come to the phone. That was only one shock.
With my front door now closed, my eyes didn’t know where to land first. Too much was taking place in my home.
Ritz was here.
But the biggest thing that stuck out was...Revv.
The way my baby spoke to me and laid his little head on his father’s shoulder pained my heart in a way I wasn’t prepared for.
I’m pretty sure I looked trifling as hell in Ritz’s eyes, but one thing my baby knew for certain... He knew exactly who his father was.
Every chance I got, I showed Revv pictures of him. Whenever Ritz made the news, we watched it together. When they announced he was opening a casino in Vegas, my baby sat right beside me, smiling at the television while pointing at his daddy.
Crazy how I couldn’t escape this man, even in my future plans.
Our goal had always been to make Vegas our landing spot after we pulled off our final bank job.
“G-Baby.”
“Huh?”
“Don’t do that.”
His eyes were cold, but his voice wasn’t loud or harsh.
He didn’t have to raise it. I already knew he wasn’t a man who liked repeating himself.
This was the absolute wrong time for my soaker to decide it wanted to splash.
I shifted my weight, and his read-a-bitch-down ass caught it immediately.
The corner of his mouth lifted into a smirk.
I rolled my eyes.
He was just gonna have to wait for this conversation because I wasn’t sitting my heist clothes on my furniture. Between the flight and the ride home, my mind hadn’t settled once. Every mile brought me closer to explaining why I made the decisions I made concerning our son.
All my life, I’d moved however I wanted to move. For the first time, I had to answer to somebody else about one of my decisions. I didn’t like the feeling. But I was a grown woman, and I knew how to stand ten toes down behind mine.
“I need to take a shower. I don’t get on my furniture like this.”
The flare of his nostrils told me everything I needed to know. He wanted to challenge me. Instead, he swallowed it.
Standing to his feet, he asked, “Where’s your room?”
I frowned.
When he handed Revv to Coca, my little boy wrapped his arms tighter around his daddy’s neck and turned his head.
Oh...
Revv was acting brand new.
“Come on, nephew.”
The other guy held out his arms, and without hesitation, Revv went right to him.
“Boyyyyy... you brand new within an hour, huh?”
“Puffs,” Revv said while staring up at the man whose name I still didn’t know, like he personally had the cheese puffs.
“Ayy, yo, Tinker Bell, go get the doggon puffs. Clearly, you got ‘em."
“Global, this my best friend, Oats. Oats, this Global.”
“What it do?”
He barely looked my way before turning back toward Coca.
“Man, get the mofo cheese puffs.”
I’m guessing Revv had already told him about his bad words because he definitely didn’t look like the type to clean up his mouth just because kids were around.
“Glo, I’m ‘bout to be over yo’ unwanted guest,” Coca groaned.
“Listen, you already got a grown man calling yo’ tall avalanche Coca. What we need is the puffs, and you can go twirl yo’ fairy in the other room. Yo’ Global, pull us up some Paw Patrol before you rock out. I’m on baby duty.”
“Negro, it’s four adults in this house, and you acting like we bout to leave for vacation,” Coca said, heading to the kitchen to get cheese puffs.
The man I now knew as Oats huffed, and Revv did his own little huff.
How long have they been here? My baby was being poisoned too fast for this to be his first time meeting them.
“Come on,” Ritz’s deep voice came slicing into my thoughts.
I put on the cartoon and switched my ass down the hallway, knowing that he was watching. The silent chuckle let me know he knew what I was doing, but he was not going to call me out on it, though.
Walking into my room, it was so beautiful that I knew I’d have a hard time letting it go.
The master ensuite felt like a five-star suite tucked inside the mountains.
A king-sized bed with a thick reclaimed-wood frame sat beneath vaulted ceilings crossed with exposed cedar beams. I loved my comforter set; it was everything.
Floor-to-ceiling windows overlooked a priceless view of the mountains, and I had my very own stone fireplace.
The white double barn doors opened into the ensuite bathroom. I walked to the spacious walk-in closet to grab something comfortable to put on. Grabbing a short lounge set and my fluffy socks, I walked to the freestanding soaking tub and ran a bubble bath.
Ritz just watched, I’m guessing, giving me my space to get right.
I took the remote and played rainforest sounds on volume two.
Once the water was to my liking and I felt like I was drowning in bubbles, I stripped out of my clothes.
If Ritz was still standing, he definitely could see me, and there was nothing shy about my game, and I was too sore to care.
Once I stepped into the tub, I took a second to just pray and ask God for some guidance. My head rested against the tub pillow. I was about to call for Ritz, but I smelled him before I saw him. I opened one eye before deciding to just sit up.
“I was about to call you.”
“Talk, ma.”
I guess time was up. This man wanted answers; I clearly owed him.
“Have a seat.”
I motioned to the benches on either side of the double vanity here.
“Listen, I’m just gonna give you my point of view because I can’t go into this whole thing like we knew each other. I know you have questions, so if you can just let me talk, we can approach this thing like adults.”
I waited to see if he was going to interrupt me, but he just watched me with an intense gaze. So I continued.
“That night, we never spoke about anything other than our little chats during intermission. The day I came to the casino, I had just buried one of my best friends. I come from years of deep pain, and we can get into that at a later date. I kinda have to give you that part of me in dosages.”
I respected him for not pushing and just moving on.
“When did you find out you were pregnant?” he asked.
“Months later. I’m a plus-size girl, so having a fupa is nothing new to me. I honestly didn’t think of grabbing a Plan B. The road is my therapist, and I needed to tell the highway all my problems. So I hopped on Bessie and left.”
“Bessie?”
“Oh, Badass Bessie, that’s my bike.”
“Oh, okay. Who is the guy in there?”
“That’s my cousin, Coreal. But as you can tell, he goes by the name Coca. Do you have a problem with gays?”
“Absolutely not. Shidd, I look at it like we're just in different communities. He's down with them letters. My community straight.”
He offered a shrug.
“But why didn’t you tell me, shawty?”
“I wanted to. I went over several ways to tell you I was pregnant, but every time I worked up the nerve, I talked myself out of it. Before I knew it, months had passed. I didn’t want you thinking I was after your money or trying to trap you.
I will say this, though... if I had ever been struggling, I would've come to you.
My pride would've never let me suffer just to prove a point. If you turned me away, then at least I could say I tried.”
“I think you got me pegged all wrong, mamas.” He widened his stance. “You talking money. I'm talking presence.”
That made my nipples harden.
“Damn the money. Revv's college fund will be set up before I leave these mountains.
My father walked out on my mama and left her to raise three kids alone.
I was the oldest, so I hit the streets trying to make sure we never needed another man.
That's why this hit different. You put me in the same category as that bitch nigga.”
His voice stayed calm, but every word landed heavier than the last.
“I've only known my son a little over an hour, and I'd trade that whole damn casino to get back the time I already missed. A real man don't run from his responsibilities. He runs toward 'em.”
“That got me feeling like shit.”
“That’s not the goal. I ain’t gone lie, though…
I had my tech guy at the casino playing PI, trying to find you, but that ain’t really his lane.
The nigga stayed swamped with work, so every time he came back, it was with bits and damn pieces.
It’s like your ass became a ghost.” His eyes stayed locked on mine.
“I didn’t think no more after that night. I took it for what it was. You said that wasn’t your first time offering a proposition. I for sure didn’t think that night would have you looking for me.”
He shifted on the cabin-style bench. I’m sure because it was too hard.
I mean, I eventually let the shit go. Tom stayed buried running the tech side of the business, so he’d only look whenever he had some free time.
Then your ass bought this cabin. Once he saw your name pop back up, it sent him right back down the rabbit hole.
Only when he looked outside of Magnolia Valley, within a hundred-mile radius, did he stumble on medical records.
I told Coca to put this cabin in his name. I should have spoken with Rebel; she would have had my information sealed.
My heart damn near stopped. I sank lower into the tub, hoping this observant ass man didn’t notice it trying to beat its way out of my chest.
“Stalking again? Should I file charges?”
He lifted a brow.
“Can’t lie. I missed watching my favorite show.”
“I didn’t even come that often.”
“Often enough to catch my attention.”
This man had a way with words.
“There's more to you, Ms. Global Jamerson.”
“I guess you can say that.”
“Man...” He stared off into space while tugging at the end of his beard. “My mama gone shoot to the moon. That lady been waiting on a grandbaby for years.”
That made my heart smile.
If only my mama or Granny Day could've met Revv. The way he played with his invisible friends, I liked to think they kept him company.
“You good?”