Chapter 22 #3
“Contrary to what you and Blue think, I know my child. If she were going to kill Lorenzo, she would’ve done it long ago, but you’re new here,” she smiled, moving her rook with confidence, “I see how you look at her. A lost fuckin’ puppy hanging on to her every mood.
Sitting at her feet waiting on a command because you can’t move without her telling you to.
Or maybe you’re playing her close so you can sabotage her to take the fall for what you did. ”
“Tre, is that what you’re doing?” Rayven responded, grabbing my arm, forcing me to look into her eyes. “Tell me you wouldn’t do that to Vie!”
She looked so much like Navie, I found myself wondering if she thought the same. Sloane was good at spinning the narrative- taking the heat off of her, but she wasn’t better than me.
“They’d all do that. Don’t let the good looks and sweet talk fool you.”
“You got everything right except one thing. I’m no fuckin’ puppy.
I’m a big dog protective and loyal to my owner.
When it comes to her, there’s no line I won’t cross.
Not a soul I won’t put down if it means keeping her safe.
That’s my baby now, and I’m calling the shots.
If you want to see her, wait until she comes home, or get on the visitation list like everybody else. ”
“I’m not everybody else. I’m her mother. She needs me whether she knows it or not! That’s my baby in there, and she’s pregnant!”
“And I’m protecting mine.”
“Wait a minute!” Rayven’s hands clung to her head. “She’s pregnant! Tre, you promised me! You said you’d take care of her.”
Sloane chuckled, “And you believed him?”
“Tre, let me holla at you for a second,” Ward interjected because there was nowhere for this conversation to go but further down the toilet.
Shifting down the hall, my fist hit the office door open. Ward followed so close behind me that it almost popped him in the face.
“You need to chill,” he said, shoving the door closed.
“How the fuck am I supposed to do that?” I yelled, launching the class supposed to hold my whiskey across the room. “Huh!”
“That won’t bring her home.”
My palms pressed into the oakwood desk, trying to figure out my next move while Ward sat idly. I didn’t understand how he wore the same guarded expression regardless of what was going on around him.
“This is my fuckin’ city, but I can’t bring my baby home. Neither of them.” It fell from my lips so faintly, I don’t know if Ward even heard it. “The worst part is she doesn’t think I can do it. She doesn’t trust me to get her out of this shit.”
Grabbing the decanter that Navie gifted me when she decorated my office, I chugged the bottle.
“The look on her face, bro. That shit haunts me every time I close my eyes. I’m turning myself in.”
Ward’s face twisted into a disappointed expression while his nostrils flared.
“Then, what? You got a kid now. You want me raising it or her bringing it to see you in prison. Worse, you want it growing up without a father?”
He expected more from me. Shit, I expected more from myself, but the love I felt for Navie was different. Uncharted territory that I only knew how to navigate with her by my side.
“You sound real stupid and doing way too much crying while my pregnant sister is in jail. This ain’t about you, Tre. She’s allowed to be scared. Pregnant and scared by the way.”
“I know she’s pregnant!”
“Then act like it nigga! She’s never had a man come through for her, so stop bitching, put the bottle down, and prove it.” Ward checked me with an unwelcome frankness that made my temper flare.
“The warrant is bullshit. They don’t have anything on her, but somebody signed it anyway. It’s only one person in this city with juice like that.”
Winston Calloway . It had to be. Not even Lorenzo Strathmore Sr. could pull off a heist of this magnitude on his own. The negative press alone would catapult Victor into the lead because he couldn’t beat me on his own.
“What you wanna do about it?”
It only took a second before I made my decision, “Take his daughter. Get with June and stash her somewhere safe. Call me when it’s done.”
Selah was about to learn a painful lesson, depending on how Winston wanted to handle it. For her sake, I hoped he valued her life as I valued Blue’s. She was innocent, but I refused to add my name to the list of Blue’s disappointment.
“You sure about that?” A skeptical frown pulled at his mouth.
“I need Mom and Gram here in case he tries to hit back. If they push back, tell Mom I’m not doing well and you’re worried. She’ll get Evie’s hard-headed ass on board.”
“I’m on it,” Ward stood, and dapped me up, holding on longer than he usually did, “You’ll find a way to get her out of this, but you have to think smart. Tuck those emotions before you create a bigger problem. She has enough on her plate right now.”
“I hear you, bro.”
“Good, now stop acting like a bitch and get my sister out of that jam.” A smile tugged at his lips. Blood couldn’t make us closer, and he held me accountable when I needed it, just like a brother would.
“Take Sloane with you on your way out.”
Ward nodded and stepped out of the room, leaving me to devise a plan. I had to pull my shit together. Blue was counting on me, so I slid the tie from around my neck and dissected every piece of information on the warrant.
The bass line from Cantaloupe Island filled my office when Rayven appeared in the doorway.
“You good?” I asked, watching her fidget like Navie did whenever something was on her mind.
Rayven shrugged, lifting her head. “I’m worried about Vie.”
“Me too.”
My admission made her comfortable enough to enter the room.
“You being worried scares me more.”
“Why is that?”
“This is your job. You’re not supposed to be worried or scared.”
“I’m human, Rayven, and it’s different when it’s somebody you love.”
“Sloane says you can’t be trusted. Vie is usually my discernment. They speak the same language, so she can tell when Sloane is talking out of her neck, but Vie isn’t here.”
“I think you and Vie are a lot more alike than you think. She’s just better at hiding it. You don’t pretend to be something you’re not.”
“Vie made sure I never had to. She’s never had that. Being the oldest seems like a shitty job. Do you have siblings?”
“Only child.”
She winced like she’d been punched, “That sucks more than being the oldest. I couldn’t imagine surviving Sloane on my own.”
“I’m blessed. I didn’t have a Sloane,” but I did have a coward for a sperm donor that snatched my lady for a victory.
Rayven nodded, examining my degrees on the wall.
“You went to school for a long time.”
“You’ll have me beat in the end, Doc . You ready for that?”
“Not if I don’t get some grants or scholarships. Med school is expensive and now that Vie’s not working-.”
I chuckled at her wide eyes staring at me in regret.
“Relax, I know all about Blue’s work . You didn’t tell me shit I don’t already know.”
Her brows pinched, eager to quench her thirst for knowledge but far too nervous to ask, so she pivoted.
“Anyway, Vie told me not to worry about it, but it’s hard not to worry about her.”
“You worry about school. I got Vie.”
“Is she keeping the baby?” Rayven asked, rattling off more questions, likely because she was in a strange place with a man she barely knew, without her security blanket.
“I don’t know.”
“Do you want her too?”
“I don’t know that either.”
“Then why didn’t you use a condom and don’t tell me it broke,” Rayven pressed.
“I don’t have an answer for that either.” I could’ve used the failed birth control explanation, but I didn’t even find that out until after.
Blue lived up to the name. My calm in the chaos, the eye of the storm, I didn’t even know I needed.
I didn’t forget things, not important stuff like questions about birth control.
That was part of her superpower. She made the world feel simpler, which is why I was considering breaking my own rules.
Blue’s power made me look forward to sleepless nights with a newborn as long as she was on the other side of me.
“What do you know?” Rayven sassed.
“That I love Navie, and whatever she decides to do or not do, I’ve got her.”
Rayven’s smile was contagious, taking up her whole face.
“She always said she didn’t want kids because they’re so much work.
I think she’s scared she’ll be like Sloane.
That’s like her greatest fear in life, so if you really love her, don’t make her raise this kid on her own. Even if you two don’t work out.”
“Much like you, Navie doesn’t give herself enough credit. She’s not Sloane.”
“Are you sure Vie will be okay?”
“Yeah. She’ll be fine.”
Even if I had to give my life to make sure of it.