Menace had both his hands planted on the countertop as he looked over at me. “Zoya, it’s late… go to bed.”
I didn’t bother to argue with him or them about it. Whenever they sent me and Landon away, I knew it wassomething they didn’t want us to know about. I couldn’t figure out what they were hiding half the time.
All I knew was that Menace was able to pull us from the public school my uncle had forced us to attend and put us in private school. Groceries or meals were no longer an issue because food was plentiful in this house.
Menace made sure of it.
“Night, guys.”
“Night, Zoya Bean,” Kora walked up the steps last, slowly, and avoided eye contact with me.
For that quick second before she looked away, I saw her eyes, and she shared the same crazed eyes that Maverick had.
I slowly took the stairs and tried to stick around to hear what they were talking about. They were smart enough not to speak, and I continued up to my bedroom. Closing the door, I checked my phone to see if maybe I had missed a call or a message on my way up the stairs.
Sitting at my vanity, I pressed his name and held the phone to my ear, nervously shaking my foot while I heard his voicemail pick up instead.
I picked it back up and blocked my number and called again. “Yo?”
My breath was snatched from my chest as I held the phone with my shaky hands when I heard his voice. “Hi…Hello? You ignoring me now?”
“Fuck.” I heard him mutter. “Aye, baby give me a minute.” I could hear him say to who I assumed was a woman in the background.
“You’re with another chick?” I blurted, pissed that he had the nerve to be with another woman while ignoring my calls.
He laughed into the phone. “Zora, chill the fuck out… I’m a grown ass man.”
“My name is Zoya... and why haven’t you answered your phone?”
As I was about to say something else, he hung up on me. I tried calling back, and it was clicked to voicemail. My chest felt hollow as I slowly removed myself from my vanity and walked toward my bed.
Sitting on the edge, I hugged myself while tears fell from my face.
I was stupid.
My chest burned as the lesson I learned was being branded onto my heart. Trusting a man was like putting your hand in fire.
You ended up with burns, and it was stupid.
CHAPTER 7
GOON
Recommendation: Blueprint (Momma Loves Me) by Jay-Z
It had beena few days since I had seen my moms, so I pulled my bike onto the block and rested my helmet on the seat. When I was staying under her roof, I woke up to breakfast and coffee every morning.
We shared our mornings together before I had to handle business, and she went to the supermarket. She never missed making me breakfast, even if she had something to do that same morning. After I finished my run, I could always count on having a warm breakfast and a hot cup of coffee waiting on me.
When my mother lost her leg, it was tough on all of us. I was locked up, and hearing my brother tell me what happened broke me. It broke me because there wasn’t shit that I could do. The fuck did they mean they had to take her leg from her? I’ve only known a mother with two legs, and she got around perfectly fine.
Moms was very independent and never wanted any pity or help. She was used to doing it on her own, making a way out ofnothing. Seeing her in a wheelchair when I came home was an adjustment.
She would never admit it, but she went through a depression from the loss of her leg. I could tell she wasn’t the same woman that I had left before going to serve my time. It changed her and forced her to depend on people.
My moms was the type that would be ninety and still getting around without help. She was still independent, but she also had to depend on people, which was something she hated.
Required help.
