10. Lennox #2
“I think there’s a real good fucking chance that he is,” I admitted as I looked at Rhyse’s picture again. “I’m not calling it one hundred percent until I talk to Reiana, but I know what the fuck I’m looking at.”
“What else you find out?” Rook asked.
“Reiana has a whole life out here,” I explained as I closed one of the windows on my laptop. “She lives in Ashmere Park, owns a cleaning company, and the shit is doing numbers. Mona moved out here with her and you wouldn’t believe the shit I found out about her ass.”
“What’s that?” He asked.
“She’s married to that nigga Quentin. Ain’t that some shit?” I expressed. “I’ve been that close to Reiana and my son all this time and didn’t even know it.”
“Damn, that is some shit,” Rook agreed.
“She also has a friend named Taryn that started out as Rhyse’s nanny and ended up becoming her best friend.”
“Damn, this shit is deeper than you thought before you left,” Rook said exactly what I was thinking.
“That’s what it’s looking like,” I agreed as I looked between Rhyse’s picture and the information on the screen. “I came out here for Pierce and found Reiana, then turn around and see a little boy that might be my fucking son.”
“What you planning on doing?” Rook asked.
“I’m going to see Reiana,” I answered without hesitation. “I need to hear the shit from her mouth. If Rhyse is mine, she needs to tell me why the fuck I didn’t know about him.”
“Just go in there ready to listen, bro,” Rook advised. “I know you’re pissed, and I know how you are about your family, but if she knew you back then like you say she did, something about this shit ain’t adding up.”
“I know it ain’t,” I replied as I rubbed my hand over my locs. “That’s why I’m going to hear what she has to say before I decide anything. But if that’s my son, almost eight years of my life with him is gone. I’m not taking that shit lightly.”
Rook agreed before shifting to the initial reason I was in Arbor Point. “So where all this leave Pierce and the contract? Because now the nigga you came to kill is walking around with Reiana and a little boy that might belong to you.”
“The shit is still on,” I answered as I pulled up one of the pictures with Pierce beside them. “Cyrus paid me to handle that nigga, and I’m still handling him. Only difference now is this shit might become personal depending on what I find out.”
“I knew you was gone say that shit,” Rook replied with a low chuckle. “Just get your answers from Ree first.”
“That’s the plan,” I confirmed as I closed the picture of Pierce and went back to Rhyse. “I’ll call you after I talk to her and let you know how the shit went.”
“Aight, bro,” Rook responded. “Handle that shit and keep your head right. I got everything covered here, so don’t worry about nothing back home.”
“Bet,” I replied before ending the call and setting my phone beside the laptop.
I stayed where I was and clicked through the pictures again until I landed on the clearest one of Rhyse.
A few hours ago, I didn’t know the little boy existed.
Now I had questions that needed fucking answers.
I looked at the picture a little longer before closing everything else on the screen.
If Rhyse was mine, I had spent almost eight years not knowing I had a son while he spent almost eight years not knowing he had a father.
I reached for my phone and called my mama before I sat there too long thinking about shit I couldn’t answer yet.
“Hey, baby,” Mama greeted when she answered. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah, I’m good,” I assured her as I leaned back in the chair. “I was just checking on y’all. Everything straight?”
“Everything is fine,” Mama replied before I heard Lennyn talking in the background. “Your daughter is over here doing what she does best, but other than that… we’re good.”
I chuckled because that sounded exactly like my baby. “Let me talk to my baby.”
“Daddy!” Lennyn yelled excitedly. “Queenie said you was calling me.”
“I called Queenie, and you just happened to have you over there terrorizing her,” I joked as I glanced back at the laptop.
“I’m not terrorizing nobody,” Lennyn defended. “I’m being good.”
“That’s what you always say then Queenie says otherwise,” I replied. “What you been doing today, pretty girl?”
My baby girl immediately started telling me about everything she had done since she got to my mama’s.
I listened and responded when I needed to, but my mind kept going back to the little boy who had my face.
I knew all this shit about Lennyn without having to think twice about it.
I knew when she was lying just by the way her voice changed.
Being her father was part of every day of my life and I took pride in that shit.
If Rhyse was mine, I didn’t know shit about him.
“Daddy, are you listening to me?” Lennyn asked as her voice pulled me away from my thoughts.
“Yeah, baby… I’m listening,” I assured her. “You said Auntie LeLe took the remote from you because you wouldn’t stop changing the channel.”
“She wasn’t even watching nothing,” Lennyn argued. “She was on her phone.”
“That still doesn’t mean the TV belonged to you, Lenny.” I told her as I laughed lightly. “Stop giving your auntie a hard time.”
“She gives me a hard time,” Lennyn complained before changing subject, like she always did. “When you coming home?”
“I might be gone a little longer than I thought,” I answered as I glanced back at the picture of Rhyse. “Daddy has some stuff to handle first, but I’ll be back real soon.”
“How much longer?” Lennyn questioned.
“I’on know yet, pretty girl,” I admitted. “But you keep being good for Queenie and Auntie LeLe until I get there.”
“I’m always good,” Lennyn insisted as I heard Mama laugh because she knew that was a lie.
“That’s debatable,” I teased as I smiled. “I love you, baby girl.”
“I love you too, Daddy,” Lennyn responded before she lowered her voice. “Can I get something when you come back?”
I couldn’t even stop the laugh that emitted from my chest. This little girl always wanted something. “What you want, baby?”
“I’on know yet,” Lennyn replied. “I gotta think about it.”
“Aight, well think about it and give Queenie her phone back,” I instructed as I looked at the time. “I’ll call you later.”
“Okay, Daddy. Love you,” Lennyn repeated.
“I love you too, pretty girl,” I replied before Mama came back on the line.
“That child has you wrapped around every finger she has,” Mama joked once she had the phone again.
“That’s my baby… she can get that.”
“I know it,” Mama replied. “You sure you’re okay out there?”
“Yeah, Mama, I’m straight,” I assured her. “The job might take me a little longer than I expected, so I just wanted to let you know I may be out here a few extra days. Nothing for you to worry about, though.”
“As long as you’re being careful,” Mama responded, and I already knew she wasn’t going to press me for details.
“Always,” I assured her. “I’ll check in later and let you know what’s going on.”
“Alright, baby. I love you,” Mama replied.
“I love you too, Mama,” I responded before hanging up and setting the phone back on the desk.
I opened the laptop again and went back to Rhyse’s picture.
If that was my son, he had almost eight years of his life behind him already, and I wasn’t in one fucking memory.
Not because I didn’t want to be there, but because I didn’t even know there was somewhere I was supposed to be.
I still needed Reiana to confirm it before I let myself go too far with what I thought I knew, but once she did, she was going to have to explain everything.
There was no version of this where I found out I had a son and simply accepted that I missed almost eight years without knowing why.
I looked at Rhyse’s picture one last time before closing the laptop completely. If that little boy was mine, whatever happened eight years ago had taken more from me than I ever knew.
And I was about to find out exactly how the fuck that happened.