10. Global “Dice” Jamerson
Global “Dice” Jamerson
Iwas glad Coca talked me into coming. When Ritz first asked me to come, I had my reservations.
The last time I let this man get close, I walked away pregnant and carrying secrets that changed both our lives.
Then he popped up at the cabin, and what should’ve been a conversation damn near turned into a faceoff.
But watching Revv light up every time his father called his name, then getting that collect call from my daddy, shifted something in me.
Everybody in my family wanted me to stop being selfish, when all along I thought I was being protective.
I kept telling myself I’d tell the truth when I was ready.
But after losing so many people, ready never came.
My daddy was still here, but he was sitting behind a glass window, not even able to give me a finger touch.
That kind of loneliness will have you convincing yourself you’re doing the right thing when you’re really just holding on out of fear.
I chose this lifestyle. Revv didn’t. It wasn’t fair to make my baby live with the consequences of my decisions. At some point, I had to give this to God, trust my instincts, and pray Ritz wasn’t on no flaky shit that would get me hemmed up.
When I finally told the girls about Revv, let’s just say they cussed me out so bad my thug ass wanted to cry.
Kash felt slighted because we’d been rocking together since the beginning, and Rebel got so pissed she hung up on me.
I gave everybody a day to cool off before calling back.
This time, I laid everything on the table—from Rose’s funeral to the casino, Ritz’s proposition, and finding out I was pregnant.
That part had they ass so quiet I kept saying, “Hello?”
Rebel finally said she was popping popcorn, and Kash claimed she needed a glass of wine before I kept talking.
Once I explained everything, they understood why I disappeared, even if they still didn’t agree with how I handled it.
They knew me better than anybody. They knew when I shut down, it wasn’t because I stopped loving them.
It was because I didn’t know how to carry everything I was feeling and still let people in.
We all knew me going quiet was my way of surviving.
After we got off the phone, we were back like we never left.
Hearing the front door open pulled me back to the present. I looked down at Revv curled against me, his little eyes getting heavier by the minute. It was about time for us to head home.
“Sorry ‘bout that,” Ritz said as he swaggered through the door.
Lord...
The way this man carried himself ought to be illegal.
His broad shoulders filled the doorway, and those eyes found mine the second he stepped into the room.
He walked over and stopped in front of me, studying my face like he was waiting for my eyes to tell him something my mouth wouldn’t.
I held his stare, hoping this good evening didn’t turn sour now that everybody had gone home.
“So... would they like a DNA test?”
“Huh?”
He leaned his head back.
“Come on, Ritz—or should I say Radar? I’m a mother. If Revv walked in here one day talking about how he had a baby, I’d be a whole mama bear.”
A grin tugged at the corner of his mouth.
“Oh, man. Not my little man got one of them on his hands.”
“Yes, he does. So... what’s the verdict?”
Instead of answering, he walked around the couch and reached for Revv. My baby went right to him, laid his head on his father’s shoulder, and settled like he’d been doing it all his life.
“We need to get going. It’s getting late.”
Ritz didn’t respond. He simply turned and started walking down the hallway.
I pushed myself off the couch and followed. As much as I was starting to trust him, there was still a little voice in the back of my mind whispering fears I’d carried for two years.
“Where you taking my baby?” I asked, closing the distance between us.
My words had him stopping so fast I almost planted my face in the middle of his brick wall of a chest.
“Listen, Global... or should I say, Dice?” his voice stayed calm. “Don’t play with me, love. Get used to saying ours. And if you must know, I’m taking our son to his room.”
His room?
“What you mean, room?”
“G-Baby, your eyes tell on you more than you realize if somebody’s paying attention. I watched you scan this house all day. You noticed the outlet covers, the baby gates, and the swing set outside. I made sure that when Revv came over, he’d feel at home. Now come on.”
He turned and continued down the hallway.
I guess he checked the hell out of my ass.
But where were we going?
Well... they were going.
My nosy ass had invited myself on this little field trip.
We made it to a door, and I looked back, wondering just how big this damn house was. Ritz opened it and spoke into the room.
“Lights on.”
The room instantly came to life.
“Night light.”
The overhead lights dimmed, leaving behind a warm glow.
And I thought I was fancy.
For a moment, I couldn’t say a word. My eyes wandered from the walls to the rug, the little pillows, then finally the toddler bed.
There was so much to take in that I didn’t wait for him to say anything.
I walked in behind him as he laid Revv on the bed and pulled up the safety rail so he wouldn’t roll off.
This man had thought of everything.
I wandered over to the walk-in closet, and my jaw damn near dropped. Clothes. Shoes. Toys. More clothes. Hell, things I hadn’t even thought to buy yet—and that was saying a lot because I was a certified shopaholic.
“Wow... you really went all out.”
“Just a little something-something.”
I turned and looked at him.
“I swear, you're not much of a talker.”
A corner of his mouth twitched.
“I mean… Ion say allat. I just talk when needed.”
I rolled my eyes, and I’m glad I did, because they landed on Revv Monroe, plastered on the wall, big and bold. I wondered how the hell I missed all this.
“Not only did you recreate the casino in a toddler room, which I have never seen, by the way, but you changed his name on the wall?”
“No change. I just dropped the Jamerson. It’s correct now. You just gotta get that shit on paper.
He said it like it was nothing.
“Dang. My.. I meant our son can’t have some part of me? You hijacked my womb, his face, my life… shall I go on?”
“Get used to it.”
He kissed Revv on the forehead and started for the door, waiting for me like I was going to wake his son.
This man.
I walked out, and he quietly shut the door. When he pulled out his phone, there was my baby resting peacefully in a big boy bed. I swear by now Revv would have popped up, wondering where the hell he was. This boy was a straight-up traitor.
“Hmm. I guess your little girlfriend has you thinking of everything,” I sassed, no longer able to bite my tongue because there is no way this man thought of all of this.
“World record.”
“What?”
“You been wanting to know about a girl. Well, shawty, I didn’t have one. Looks like my BM is about to pull rank.”
“Whatever.”
I fought not to grin.
“Fix your lies, but sweetheart, you wouldn’t have asked.”
I wanted to slap him because I felt tied to this man, and truth be told, him having a girl would have made my heart cry.
“So you not going to ask if I have a man?”
“Nope.”
“Why?”
“We shouldn’t speak on the dead.”
He was crazy.
He started walking back up the long hallway, the dim lights illuminating the baseboard at the bottom of the wall with each step.
My heels clacked behind him as I followed.
While I clacked, he was removing his buttoned-up shirt, exposing his big arms and revealing his wife-beater.
I was ready to climb on top of his back like a damn jungle monkey and swing around to the front and bounce on all ten inches.
Hell yeah, a bitch remembers all the inches of that two-tone.
Each step felt like torture. I was sexually free, and he was fucking with my inner freak.
Fuck it.
I stopped, looked back to make sure Revv’s door was still closed, and lowered my ass to the floor. Just like I knew it, his ass noticed and turned back around, but what he wasn’t expecting was for me to be down on my knees.
He furrowed his brow.
“Wassup G-baby?”
I took a page out of his book and didn’t answer.
I waited for him to make his way to me, but he just stood there.
He never moved. For a split second, I started to doubt myself, but that wasn't how I rolled.
If I was gonna do it, I was gonna do it.
He would have to open his mouth and tell me.
Only then would I get up, let his son spend the night, and take my ass home.
I waited on my knees without a word. He had on jeans, and when my eyes landed on his package, I smirked because he was growing as I waited like a sub waiting for her next command.
“Shawty, you might want to get up. You ain’t ready for that kind of action.”
I remained silent.
I waited, my eyes still locked on him as I took in the person in front of me.
I saw a man
I saw a father.
I saw him changing his world to fit Revv in without a second thought.
I mean, the man never even asked for a DNA test. Here stood a millionaire with all the rights in the world to doubt me, but he didn’t.
Even though Revv has his whole face, it was like I came in second place in my little bugger’s life overnight.
He loved him hard. It has been two years since I saw him in person, and two weeks since I knew I never wanted to go a day without him.
The turn-on was real.
“G-baby, answer me.”
I ignored what he said and asked a question of my own.
“Do you want me to leave?” I asked.
He mugged me. I got my answer, but if that wasn’t enough, my question got his legs moving.
I gulped.