Chapter 10
Rage filled my body as I stared at the woman who once held my heart in her hands. I felt like I was in the fucking Twilight Zone as I gaped at the people in front of me.
“This shit is crazy,” I whispered to myself while rubbing the side of my face. Keyami squeezed my hand, and my eyes dropped down to make sure she was okay.
“Daddy, I really want those shoes.” She pouted. I shook my head because I should have known better. My daughter was a spoiled diva who hated not getting her way. Her mother was to blame, but that was a conversation for another day.
“I already told you that you can get the shoes, but what you did wasn’t nice.”
“What do you mean? That little girl tried to take the shoe I wanted,” she reasoned, clearly missing the point. I guess it was to be expected because in her nine-year-old brain, it made sense.
“It was a display shoe, not the real thing. They only use it to show you what the shoe looks like. She didn’t take anything from you, and you need to apologize for your behavior,” I urged.
“But, Daddy—”
“Now, Keyami. You are older than her, and you had no business trying to fight her over a shoe in the first place,” I spoke through gritted teeth.
My finger pointed over to the little girl who had an almost identical face as Keyami, with piercing blue eyes.
Every emotion I could think of flowed through me as I tried to wrap my head around what was happening.
No one could have convinced me that something like this was possible.
Reluctantly, Keyami shuffled her feet over to the little girl. I stepped a little closer to ensure there were no further issues between the two.
“I’m sorry for snatching the shoe from you,” Keyami whispered. She hated admitting when she was wrong, so I expected nothing less from her.
“Louder, Keyami. She can’t hear you.”
She glared at me before turning back to face the little girl.
“I’m sorry I snatched the shoe from you. It was mean, and I shouldn’t have done it..”
The little girl’s arms remained folded as she stood in front of Keyami.
I sent Logic a text, letting him know I needed him before I lost my cool. My security was there, but Logic was the only person who knew how I could get.
“Do you accept her apology, Teeny?” her mother asked her softly. Her ass avoided eye contact with me, and it was probably for the best. With the way I felt inside, I wanted to put a bullet in her head.
“No, Momma. I don’t accept it. Can we go now?”
I chuckled at her stubbornness, recognizing a trait in myself.
“Now, that isn’t right, Kiaya. She said she was sorry. Let’s show some kindness back to her,” Naiari reasoned. Baby girl shook her head back and forth, letting her know she wasn’t feeling her suggestion.
“Come on, Momma. I need to get my shoes.” The little boy huffed. My heart twisted in my chest as I looked at the two of them. There were so many questions lingering in my mind, and I wanted to understand how we got here.
“I’m sorry, baby. Here I come.” Naiari stood to her feet before reaching for the little girl’s hand. For some reason, the tiny princess couldn’t seem to take her eyes off me, and it made me nervous.
“You have the same eyes as me. She has them too. My momma said they are rare. Does that mean you’re special too?” Her little finger pointed toward Keyami and me.
My heart stuttered as I tried to hold it together. I stepped closer before kneeling to her level. Keyami’s hand remained locked with mine as she stood next to me with questioning eyes.
“I guess that means you’re a part of the cool club. What’s your name?” I inquired.
She looked up at her momma to make sure it was okay for her to answer. Ari nodded her head in approval, which irritated me to no end. This shouldn’t have even been a thing.
“Umm, my name is Kiaya, and that’s my brother, Keyaire. We’re twins,” she informed me matter-of-factly.
“Wow, that’s really cool. How old are you, Kiaya?”
Again, she looked to her mother for confirmation.
“I’m six.” Kiaya held up her fingers as she spoke.
“Daddy. How come she looks like me? My granny told me where babies come from, and she didn’t come from my momma.” Keyami interjected. Her question only fueled the anger inside of me. I got ready to speak when we were interrupted.
“Aye, look who I ran—” Logic stopped in his tracks as soon as he got close to us. “Oh, shit.”
I would have laughed at the look on his face had I not been so pissed off. Nova stood next to her with a bewildered expression on her face. Her eyes darted between us all before she spoke.
“Umm, is everything okay?”
I chuckled angrily in response. It was clear she had been in on this with Naiari, and it pissed me off even more.
“Is everything okay? I just found out this bitch hid two fucking kids from me for seven years, and you want to know if everything is okay. No, it isn’t.
In fact, you might want to get your friend out of my presence before I really show my ass in here.
I’m trying to have some restraint because I have no desire to go back to prison,” I replied through gritted teeth.
“Bitch?” Naiari scoffed with her arms folded.
“Yeah, you heard me. I’m sparing you right now for the sake of these kids, but if we weren’t in public, I would have choked your dumb ass by now,” I hissed.
“You’ve got a lot of nerve, but I guess I shouldn’t expect anything less from you. You can be upset all you want, but I’m not gonna tolerate any more name-calling. I haven’t said anything to disrespect you, and I’m not gonna allow you to continue disrespecting me.”
“Bi—”
“Nauri, chill. I understand where you’re coming from, but this isn’t the way to handle it. Let’s step out of the store so you all can talk,” Logic reasoned.
“I came here to get some shoes for my kids, and that’s what I’ll be doing. It’s obvious he isn’t mature enough to have an adult conversation right now, so it may be better to address this another day.”
The sound of her voice sent me into a rage, so I knew it was time to get out of there. The last thing I needed was for things to go wrong, and I ended up on the news. My label wanted to launch me as the next big thing, and I needed to keep my hands clean.
When I glanced back at the kids, Keyaire and Kiaya were both staring at me. One wore a confused expression while the other mean-mugged me. I shook my head in disbelief, not even understanding how we got here.
“Let’s get these shoes so I can get out of here.”
I flagged down an associate so they could help us get what we needed. Once we got everyone’s sizes, he walked to the back to retrieve the shoes. My head pounded as I tried to hold it together.
“Alright, all three sizes were in stock, so I grabbed them for you. Is there anything else you want to check on, or are you ready to check out?” The associate asked as they handed me three boxes of shoes.
“Do you guys want any other shoes out of here?” I asked the kids.
Keyaire’s eyes lit up, and the frown on his face turned into a smile.
“Are you paying?”
His question made me chuckle, because I could tell he loved shoes.
“Yeah, man. Get whatever you want in here?”
Like his sister, he turned to his mother for the final approval.
“Can we, Momma?”
“Umm, yeah, sure.” I could tell she wasn’t sure how to feel about it, and I found it amusing.
“Daddy, can I get more shoes, too?” Keyami requested with her lip poked out.
“Of course, you can. Let’s get his shoes first, and then we can get your shoes.”
She wasn’t happy with my request, but she didn’t say anything else.
“Umm, I can help her pick out her shoes while you help Keyaire. I don’t know much about boy shoes, so he never likes my help,” Naiari voiced.
I stared at her for a moment. There was a lot we needed to talk about, but now wasn’t the time.
Instead, I nodded my head and made sure Keyami was okay with the plan.
Once she gave me her approval, I headed over to Keyaire.
Keyaire took off racing over to the section that carried Messiah Graham’s latest sneaker release, so I walked over to where he was.
They still had no idea who I was to them while I was trying to figure out how to react.
“Aww, man. These are so cool! I asked my uncle for a pair of these, but he said they were expensive. Can I get them?” When he peered up at me, I almost lost my train of thought.
It was like looking at myself in the mirror, only a smaller version.
Both Keyaire and Kiaya were my twins, with my mother’s toasted-caramel complexion.
Their eyes pierced through the deepest part of my soul.
“Yeah. I told you to get whatever you want, and I meant it.”
“Okay. Thank you!”
For the next twenty minutes, we walked around the store, picking up shoes.
It warmed my heart to see how excited he was.
He rambled about every shoe he picked up, and it made me laugh.
Keyaire called out the stats of different players, letting me know that sports were a passion of his.
It pained me to realize how much time I had missed, but it was clear Naiari had done a great job.
Once we finished at the shoe store, I decided to buy them all some new clothes.
“Alright, your total is two thousand, one hundred seventy-three dollars, and sixty-eight cents. Will that be all for you today, sir?”
“Yeah, I think we’re good. Y’all straight? You need anything else out of here?”
All of my kids shook their heads as I handed the cashier my card. We had spent another hour shopping at every kid’s store in the mall, and I could tell from their faces that they were ready to go. Once she gave me the receipt, I tucked it into my wallet, then turned toward the group.
Ari and Nova were huddled by the store entrance while the kids were with me. I was sure I was the topic of discussion, and I didn’t care.
“Where y’all want to go now? You hungry? Y’all want to grab something to eat?”
“Are you our daddy?” Kiaya asked, sending my heart into a frenzy.
“What made you ask me that?”