Chapter 6 #2
“Nah, what you gone do is catch a domestic violence charge, and then I’m gonna have to square up with your young ass for putting your hands on a woman. We don’t do that.”
Kill the fuck out of them? Yeah. But beating? Nah.
I was going to have to have Tunan sit down and talk with Neltz about the consequences of fighting women. My teeth scraped against my bottom lip when I thought about how just hours ago I’d lost control and roughed up Solana.
Solana.
She had me ready.
I genuinely was ready. I was prepared to do whatever I had to do to ensure I was the only one in the race for her.
Then, once I got rid of Felipe, I planned to court her and make her my wife.
She just had to fuck it up by being a cokehead.
Now, I didn’t want her. I would’ve left her ass right in Mexico if it wasn’t for Don.
Don.
That nigga didn’t know when to quit. He had given me an ultimatum where Solana was no longer the prize and now a contender. She or Bahati would be my wife, and the fucked up part was that I didn’t have my bet on either of the women.
Pinching the screen to zoom out, I slightly moved the camera, then zoomed back in.
We had dropped Solana and the baby off at my house, but Bahati protested until Nel volunteered to stay with them until we got back.
Bahati had made it clear that she wasn’t fucking with Solana at all.
I wasn’t really fucking with her either, or at least, I wasn’t trying to.
Nel was in the living room, knocked out, and since viewing the cameras, it was clear he’d volunteered to only get some sleep because he hadn’t bothered Solana and the little girl once since he walked into my house.
My reasons for wanting him to stay and Bahati’s reasons were completely different. I didn’t know what headspace Solana was in after the night we’d had, and leaving her alone with the baby wasn’t an option.
Watching her in real time, I waited to feel that tingling I’d grown accustomed to pertaining to all things her.
However, there was none, but I still stood, staring at the screen.
She was curled up in bed, her butt cheeks hanging out of the shorts she was wearing, while the baby slept next to her, at a safe distance.
Shya had been changed into dry clothes and fed, but Bahati insisted on bathing her herself, so Solana skipped the bath.
Although I had a bone to pick with Bahati, she was still Shya’s mother, so I didn’t protest her request. However, caring for the baby was going to be tough with a broken arm now, but I figured we’d take it day by day.
Solana’s hair was tangled all over her head, and her shirt had ridden up, exposing her flat belly.
My desire sharpened at the sight of her.
I was clearly out of her league, and I could say that confidently.
Seeing her hit those lines sealed the deal, and it was a shame because, baby was a fighter.
She fell into the routine today without question or fear.
As a cartel daughter, there was no telling what she’d seen, but that didn’t mean she was automatically supposed to have heart.
She proved that she did today, and I was surprised because the Solana I’d gotten to know was lost and in need of direction.
Today showed me she had buried her true nature under all the bullshit she’d been on since she touched down in America.
She’d been with the baby since we rescued them, and even though Bahati was nasty to her, her nurturing Shya hadn’t stopped.
If I didn’t have the image of her high out of her fucking mind, I would’ve enjoyed seeing her with the little girl that was supposed to be my daughter.
I didn’t need my woman to be a “Bonnie,” though.
All I needed her to do was fuck me, suck me, and spend my fucking bread.
When she revealed that she was going to give herself to me, it didn’t move me.
I would have politely turned her down because we weren’t ready for all of that.
I’d meant what I said when I said I wasn’t pursuing her until I was the only nigga in the race.
I wasn’t pressed to fuck on anything, including Solana, who was untouched.
As much as I loved the feel of a woman, I could go longer than most without it. Pussy didn’t run me.
But, again, that was over with. Solana’s virginity was no longer a concern of mine.
Watching as her arm crossed her face, she shifted her legs and revealed more of her stomach.
Then she stilled, sat up in a frenzy, and reached over for Shya.
Placing her hand on Shya’s back, she listened and laid back down.
I wanted to like what I was seeing, but I couldn’t.
The dancing, the white nose, the smeared makeup, the uncontrollable laughs—Solana couldn’t be my wife.
Pretty little fucking sinner.
“Shio, I’m ready.”
Locking my screen and pushing my frustrations aside, I turned to see Bahati standing beside me. Her tears had disappeared, and her eyebrows were raised. They must’ve given her the smallest dose of morphine possible because she was coherent and looking at me with questioning eyes.
Neltz looked over at her, then at me, then back at Bahati, and then back to the TV. “I choose Mexi-Mami.”
“Hunh?” Bahati asked.
Ignoring her and him, I walked to Grind’s bed. Bowing my head, I inhaled. “The Lord will sustain him on his sickbed and restore him from his bed of illness. Psalm 41:3.”
“Amen,” Neltz responded as he kept pressing buttons on the controller. “You know he can’t look up the verse in the Bible, so telling him the chapter is pointless while he sleep, Unc.”
Taking one last look at Grind, I turned to see Bahati smirking.
She dropped her expression as soon as she realized I had noticed.
Her arm was in a green cast that went from her knuckles to the crease of her elbow.
It was unfortunate that she had broken bones, but things could have been much worse for Bahati. She was blessed, as we all were.
“Aye, let me take you to the crib.”
Neltz shook his head at my suggestion. “My grandfag nearby. He gone scoop me in a few hours once he’s done handling business.”
I shook my head and ran my hand over my face.
Neltz said whatever came to mind, and although most of the shit shouldn’t be coming from his mouth, he was funny as hell.
He and Nel were so much alike that it was scary.
You’d think that Nel was his biological daddy, but as handsome as Neltz was, I could still see some of Hobo’s ugly ass in him.
“Besides, Daddy Number Two said we on that Selena later, so I’m gonna go home after my grandfag take me to the mall and then shooting.”
I smiled to stop my laughter as Bahati looked like she had too many questions from Netlz’s few sentences. Ruffling his hair, he snatched away before I dapped him up and walked out of the room. Bahati was on my trail, of course.
“Shio… Back in Mexico, who—”
“Not in here, Bahati!” I gritted my teeth as I kept my stride.
Hitting the elevator, even though I preferred the stairs, I let her enter first. Once the doors shut, I pressed the “G” button that led to the underground garage.
We made it to the Maybach, and I skidded out of the tunnel and onto the Jagoda Bay streets.
Turning the music up because I wasn’t ready to talk to Bahati just yet, we rode to my house as she gazed out of the window.
Jagoda Bay was beautiful, and judging by how Bahati was tuned in, she had never been.
After about ten minutes of driving, she turned the music down and faced me. “Shio. We have to talk.”
I knew we did. I was just processing everything and wasn’t in the fucking mood. My night went from thinking I’d found my wife to finding a baby mama and a daughter.
I kept my face toward the road as I replied, “And we will Bahati.”
“When?”
“Soon.”
“But our daughter—”
“She’s safe, fed, and dry.”
“Thanks to your girlfriend, right?”
“Bahati, we were just in a fuckin’ shootout. I went on a suicide mission to get you and Shya… One that could have resulted in all of us being killed, and since you’ve touched down, you’ve been tight about Solana when she ain’t did shit to you but make sure Shya straight.”
Defending Solana felt like the right thing to do, but the words tasted vile leaving my mouth.
“Don’t do that, Shio. You only came because they told you about Shya. Had it not been for her, you wouldn’t have come. Let’s be real.”
Her African accent was still strong and deepened when she was worked up.
If we were in any other circumstances, I would’ve enjoyed hearing her speak with such passion.
Shifting in my seat as I scanned the road for anything unusual, I tossed my eyes at her, finding her already eyeing me.
Bahati was supposed to be dead to me, yet she was here because of my decisions.
Or was she?
What a fucking coincidence that when she popped back up, the chess pieces were knocked all over again?
“But I came, Bahati. You sitting next to me, right?”
“I wouldn’t have gotten kidnapped had it not been for you!”
I rubbed my hand down my face and squeezed my eyes shut as we approached a red light.
Every vein in my body was twitching. It felt like a dark cloud had been looming over my head lately, and that it was only a matter of time before the rain poured.
Everything felt wrong. My life had been intentional, strategic, and calculated.
I’d made sure of it. So much of my world had been controlled by the men I came from that it nearly drove me crazy.
Then, the Cuppacio men were killed. I went into tactical mode.
Life still didn’t feel like my own when my cousins and I were grinding to feed our family, so I started creating more structure.
Religion, fitness, reading—those helped center me in the chaos.
I was grounded by routine and discipline.