Chapter 17 Steel #2
“I’m sorry I kept Nayelli away. You just . . . you have to understand that I thought I was protecting us from the inevitable. I can’t take that back, but I’m trying to be better. I just want her to know her father and know all of you. She deserves that.”
Pops nodded. “I understand both sides. My youngest daughter was kept a secret from me too.”
Neha sniffled. “Did you forgive her mother?”
Pops opened his mouth to speak, but Smoke answered for him.
“Ended up dating her ass until he broke up with her because he’s still in love with his first baby mama.”
“Damn!” Dinah exclaimed, laughing. “How many baby mamas do you have, sir?”
“Four!” me and my brothers answered.
“Oh, so Papa was a rolling stone. I see you with your handsome old ass.”
Neha shot her a look. “Dinah, please.”
“Girl, I’m just saying. He knows he’s fine. Don’t you, Pops?”
Pops chuckled. “I like you. Don’t tempt me, though.”
“Ooop! Let me go sit my ass down.” She reclaimed her seat and crossed her legs.
“Look,” Pops said, “it ain’t up to us to forgive you.
We just want to know Nayelli. I can see you did a beautiful job raising her.
It’s clear that she is loved and well taken care of, and I, for one, thank you for that.
Now we might be a bit rowdy, but we love hard in this family.
We protect each other with our lives. Baby girl is a part of that now. ”
“Gang gang!” Smoke said, throwing his D’s up. “We got her for life.”
“Facts,” Maceo agreed. “I already know I’m gonna be her favorite uncle.”
“Don’t start that shit,” Deuce said. “Nigga always wanna be the favorite.”
“You sound like the hating ass nigga you are,” Maceo shot back.
I palmed my face because you really couldn’t take us any damn where. Neha stifled a laugh as she watched my brothers argue over trivial shit.
“Would y’all shut the fuck up!” Pops yelled. “Goddamn! The older y’all get, the more y’all get on my damn nerves.”
“We get on your nerves, but I see you at my house every damn day,” Deuce said. “Make it make sense, Senior.”
“Right,” Smoke added. “Seven o’clock in the morning, this nigga be in my kitchen cooking my kids breakfast. Mind you, ain’t nobody let him in.”
“I know y’all ain’t complaining because you have a good father,” Dinah interjected. “It’s the ungratefulness for me.”
Smoke pointed at her. “You basically family now, so don’t fuck around and get roasted right along with this nigga.”
Dinah laughed. “Baby, you ain’t ever met nobody like me. My mouth is lethal. Don’t have me send you crying to your wife because I done hurt your ego.”
My brothers all looked at each other, then her and laughed.
“I fuck with you,” Smoke said, giving her a head nod. He pointed to Neha. “You . . . we gone see.”
“Aye, what’s y’all daddy name?” Deuce asked out of the blue.
Neha swallowed hard. “Timothy Oden.”
“Where he at?”
“Thornfield Federal Penitentiary . . . why?”
“Just asking for future reference.”
“Are . . . are you gonna do something to him?”
“I mean, the nigga traumatized you to the point where you kept my niece from her father and family. I feel some type of way about that, and when I feel some type of way, I gotta handle shit.”
“You need a picture?” Dinah asked. Her ass was with the shits.
“Nah. Jaeda or Quaid can get everything I need. You ain’t gon’ feel some type of way if I off yo’ daddy?”
Dinah scoffed. “Hell no. Fuck that nigga.”
He turned to Neha. “What about you?”
Again, she shrugged. “I only claim one man as my father, and it’s not him. I don’t care what happens to that man.”
“Say less.”
My brothers all stood and started filing out of the room. Pops walked over to Neha and pulled her into a hug. I couldn’t hear what he was saying to her, but she nodded like she understood. He kissed her forehead before he walked away. Just as she was about to leave with her sister, I stopped her.
“Can I talk to you for a second?” I asked.
“I’ll see you back outside, Sis,” Dinah said, following behind my father.
“Okay.”
Neha stood there with her arms wrapped around herself, something she often did to self soothe. I walked over and peered down at her.
“You good?” I asked.
“This is a a lot,” she admitted. “I didn’t know your family was this big. I didn’t know what they were involved in . . . I feel like there’s so much I don’t know about you, Kerrion.”
“It is,” I admitted. “I guess we need to have an open and honest line of communication from here on out.”
“We do. You keep it real with me, and I’ll keep it real with you.” She stared at me for a moment. “It’s a teacher workday tomorrow. If you want to keep Nayelli overnight, I’d be okay with that. I think she needs to get used to her new home.”
I found myself blushing. “She called me daddy, man.”
She reached up and palmed my face. “You’re a great daddy. I knew it was coming, and I’m glad you two shared that moment.” She gently stroked my cheek with her thumb. “I really am sorry, Kerrion.”
I grabbed her hand and squeezed it. “I know. I’m done being a dick to you. Nayelli should see us getting along. One thing I learned from my father is to respect the mother of my children. I’ve never seen him be nasty to any of them, and I don’t want to be nasty to you.”
Maybe a little nasty with you, my intrusive thoughts said.
I wasn’t blind to how good Neha was looking today. The way this jumpsuit hugged her curves. The way her ass sat up in it. Shit!
I shook the thoughts from my head and released her hand.
“Will I ever meet the other baby mamas?” she asked.
“Eventually. We’re really one big happy family over here. We’re together for some reason or another. My pops is actually Emmy’s godfather.”
“What?”
“I know. It’s ghetto as fuck. Like I said, it’s family. My siblings’ mothers are like second moms to me.”
“So they beat you with dish towels too?”
I laughed. “Especially Maceo and Smoke’s mama. Don’t let them all get together. They love to gang up on us.”
“I can see why.”
Just then, Grams rang the bell to let everyone know it was time to eat.
“What’s that?” Neha asked.
“Food’s ready. Come on.”
“Wait.”
She hesitated for a moment, then slipped into my arms for a hug. When I returned the gesture, she rested her head against my chest and gave a heavy sigh. I closed my eyes as I held her, basking in the familiar feeling. It was crazy that after all these years, . . . she still felt like home.
There was still something there.
I just didn’t know if I trusted her enough to even think about what it could be.