Chapter 7
“Hey, Graham!” my mama said as she hugged me and kissed my cheek.
“Hey, Ma. How you doing?”
“I’m good, but I’m even better now. Sonya told me she saw you.”
“Yeah. She was tryna work a nigga to death . . . her and Sharee’s ass. Where’s Dad?”
“He’s on his way home. He, WJ, and Corey met at Buffalo Wild Wings to hang out for a bit. Erica and Mila are out of town. Otherwise, Shannon and I would have gone over there.”
“Aunt Shannon’s here?”
“She was. She left about ten minutes before you got here.”
I nodded then got my duffle bag from the back seat and followed her inside. I was tired as fuck. Arlie had me doing shit I said I wasn’t gon’ fucking do. Her pussy was just so good. It was hard to resist her sexy ass.
She was igniting my crazy, though, and I didn’t like that shit one bit. I was possessive as hell. Her being so much younger than me had me on high alert. She told me she didn’t have any gigs, but that could all change after her talk with Noah tomorrow. He would have her ass all over the creation.
“You okay? You look like something heavy is on your mind.”
“There’s a couple of things, but I wanted to wait until Dad got here so I could talk to y’all at the same time.”
“Oh. So it’s serious. I hope it’s nothing we did.”
“It’s not.”
I could see the relief flood her. Her shoulders had gotten tense just that fast. Their asses were always involved in some shit, and they wondered where I got that shit from.
As I passed the kitchen, I could smell something delicious.
I closed my eyes briefly, then said, “Ma! I know good and got damn well you ain’t make smothered potatoes. ”
“I did. I know you love my smothered potatoes and beef tips. When you said you were coming, I knew I had to make your favorite.”
I slowly shook my head. I swore, every time I was home, I gained five pounds. I went to my room and set my bag down, then went back downstairs to see my dad walking through the door. “What’s up, big dawg?”
He chuckled and extended his hand for me to slap. I slapped it, then hugged him.
“How’s everything going, son?”
“Good.”
“Uh oh. That didn’t sound promising.”
“Yeah, he said he needed to talk to us,” my mama said.
“Well, let’s get this shit out the way now, so we can enjoy you while you’re here,” my dad said.
I took a deep breath and followed them to the front room. We all sat on the sectional, me facing them. Not wasting time, I said, “I met a woman on the flight from LA that said she was my sister.”
Both of their eyebrows lifted at the same time.
I continued. “Yeah. I never really wanted to know my bio parents. I never felt like I was missing anything by not knowing them. It’s just, this woman seemed broken that I didn’t really acknowledge her.
She said she always wanted a sibling. While I’m intrigued by what all she has to say, I don’t want to be roped into meeting my bio parents.
I feel like it will be something I will regret. ”
“Why?” my dad asked.
“I don’t know the circumstances around why I was put up for adoption.”
My mama scooted forward. “Well, we can enlighten you. However, people change. It’s been thirty-five years, Graham.”
“Yeah, I know. I just . . .” I huffed.
“I had a hysterectomy at a young age due to abuse. So I knew I would never have my own children. At first, we were going to go through a private agency to adopt a baby. I knew I wanted a baby that was younger than six months old. Then, we decided we would go through CPS. Kids were less likely to be adopted through CPS. That was how we met you. You were four months old and had been with CPS for three months.”
“So where was I for the first month of my life?” I asked with a frown.
“With your bio mom. She brought you to the CPS office with all your things. She said she could no longer care for you.”
She fidgeted slightly, so I knew there was more that was gonna fuck me up.
“Tell him, Sid,” my dad said.
“She said she was raped, and she just couldn’t bare raising you.”
I slid my hand down my face. “So I was the product of a rape?”
My mama shook her head. I was confused. I glanced over at my dad as he grabbed my mama’s hand.
“No. She was raped like right after she went home from the hospital. Your bio dad was drunk and wouldn’t take no for an answer.
She was still bleeding. She was in so much pain, the CPS worker said.
Thankfully, she didn’t suffer any internal injuries.
She didn’t have help though. Her mama was a crackhead, and she never knew her father.
She refused to give you to your bio dad.
She pressed charges on him, but he wasn’t in jail long.
When he got out, he tried to give us problems.”
“After what he did to her, he was still trying to get me?”
“Yes. When he saw how much that shit was gonna cost, he let it go. We weren’t going to just hand you over.
We’d had you for like a month or two at that point.
We were attached to you after the first day.
Nobody could tell us that you weren’t ours.
We have similar features, and we’re all dark complexioned.
Hell, sometimes I forget we adopted you,” my dad said and chuckled.
I gave him a tight smile. “There’s no telling who I would have become had y’all not adopted me. So . . . you kept up with her, Mama?”
“Yes. She reached out first though. She checked with CPS to see if you’d been adopted, then left her info with them for me to contact her.
I was a little skeptical at first. I didn’t want to have a repeat of what your bio dad tried to do.
I eventually contacted her. I shared pictures with her until you were like seven or eight.
After she stopped reaching out, I called her to find out her number had been disconnected.
I don’t know if she couldn’t pay the bill or if she lost the phone and got a new number. ”
“So you never heard from her again?”
“No.”
“This woman had a picture of me as a kid. She seems slightly ratchet. Was her mom that way?”
“Yeah, slightly, but she was nice,” my mama said, then chuckled.
“Did you get her number?” Mama asked.
“Her friend sent her number to me. She was on the plane with a rapper named SOLA. They are best friends.”
“Oh! That’s the one Sonya told Noah about,” Mama said excitedly.
“Aunt Sonya talks too much.”
My dad chuckled. “I dare you to say that shit to her face.”
I frowned. “I ain’t crazy.”
“Well, you know I’m the attorney for YKMN. So, I can know official business. Noah is supposed to call me tomorrow after their Zoom meeting.”
“Awww shit,” my dad said.
I frowned. “What?”
“You’ve ‘been’ with her,” he said, holding up air quotes.
I huffed. “Yeah, man. A couple of days ago and again before I left Houston.”
“And you feelin’ her. I know that shit, because you ain’t looked that way about a woman since you were in high school.”
I slowly shook my head. I fell in love easy in high school. I was chunky in school until like my senior year. I didn’t get a lot of attention from girls. So when I did, a nigga was all in.
“That’s another thing. I was feeling her . . . well, I am feeling her, but she said she didn’t want any attachments. She just wanted sex.”
“And I’m gonna excuse myself now. Sounds like this convo needs to be between you and your dad,” my mama said.
I chuckled, but I was grateful she left. I hated having to filter myself. That was something I didn’t have to do with my dad. The moment she was out of earshot, I said, “She so fucking fine. I wanted to be in her upon sight.”
“But?”
“I felt some shit I wasn’t ready for after the first time.
I want to believe she felt it too. It was like my entire body wanted to be engulfed by her.
I got chills every time I stared at her too long, not to mention when we were having sex.
She kissed me, and man, a tingle went up my spine.
Had she said she wanted a relationship with me, I probably would have agreed to it. ”
He laughed. “Are you even capable of being monogamous?”
“Hell, I don’t know, but her ass got me wanting to give it a try.
The problem with that is that she said she didn’t want attachments.
I ain’t finna try to talk her out that shit.
I deleted her number and everything. But then today, she texted me, wanting to see me.
After she sent a picture, my dick led me straight to her house. ”
He shook his head. “I guess it was a naked picture.”
“No, it wasn’t, but it was definitely sexually charged.
I mean, I sent her a picture first. I suppose I was tryna make her see what she was missing.
She’d already asked me to fall through, and I’d told her I was going out of town.
I sent the pic after that. Then she responded with a picture of how I caused her to come undone.
When I got there and we kissed, she nearly fell to the floor.
Her knees buckled. You can’t tell me that ain’t chemistry. ”
“Damn.”
I looked over at him. “That’s all you have to say?”
“I mean, what else you want me to say? You said you ain’t finna try to convince her to change her mind. So unless she changes her mind, y’all just gon’ remain fuck buddies, right?”
I huffed and sat back on the couch. “I guess so.”
“You can always do shit to make her change her mind.”
“You know I ain’t the romantic type. I told her that she was mine, whether she got a man or not. All that shit belongs to me now. Of course, I said that shit while I was deep in it. She agreed in the heat of the moment.”
He rolled his eyes. “I swear, you more like Shawn than you are me. That sounds like some shit he told Sonya. He was her side nigga for a while.”
Those niggas’ pasts were complicated as fuck. Deciding to change the subject, I asked, “So you think I should talk to Kimaji?”
“Is that your sister’s name?”
That sounded weird as fuck. I glanced at him. “That’s the young lady’s name that says I’m her brother.”