He dropped his hands and glared at me. “How the hell am I stressing you out when you turned on that light and damn near blinded me?” He dared to look upset, which only made me laugh. His attitude didn’t mean shit to me. “The fuck is funny?”
“You,” I answered, then smiled. “Now you can answer my question or…” I turned and reached for my phone. “I can make this call.” I picked up my phone and turned to see him standing on the other side of the bed with a mug on his face. He scared me with how fast he moved, but I didn’t say anything. Instead, I held up the phone and moved it back and forth. “Make your choice.”
He stared at my phone with narrow eyes before turning his gaze on me. He must’ve thought I was bluffing, so I had to prove to him I wasn’t. I sat up and smiled before turning the phone to me and swiping the screen. Without a care in the world, I turned the brightness up and angled the phone. I knew he could see the screen. I went to my contact list, scrolled until I got to Pop’s name, and hit send. The phone barely rang once before it was answered.
“What’s wrong, daughter?” Pop answered.
“Amethyst--”
Amethyst snatched the phone from me. “Pop, it’s cool,” he said, glaring at me.
“Let me talk to my daughter, Amethyst,” he said, not caring what Amethyst was saying.
“Pop--”
“Put my got-damn daughter on the phone, Amethyst!” he fussed, and I laughed. Ever since I’d been back and he found out I was pregnant, he’d been wanting to kick Amethyst’s ass. He was already upset that he’d sent me away, but now knowing that I was possibly carrying his grandchild the entire time sent himover the top. “She called me, not fucking you. I don’t give a damn about what you are talking about.”
Amethyst put the phone on mute and glared at me. “Tell that nigga you’re fine so we can talk,” he said.
“Will you tell me what I want to know?” I said and crossed my arms. Amethyst angrily licked his lips and gave me a quick nod. I put my hand out for the phone, and he gently placed it in my palm. I unmuted the phone. “I’m okay, Pop.”
“Are you sure?” he asked, sounding like he didn’t believe me. “I’m already up. I can slide through there and beat his fucking ass like I should’ve done when he was a child.”
“Yes, sir,” I laughed as Amethyst grunted in annoyance. “I will see you tomorrow for lunch?”
“Alright, daughter,” he agreed. “Have a good night. Call me if you need anything.”
“I’m right here if she needs something,” Amethyst said, grilling the phone.
“Nigga, I don’t give a fuck!” Pop yelled. “I was talking to my got-damn daughter, not your ass.”
“Yes, sir,” I said. “Have a good night.”
“You too,” he said, sounding absolutely normal, not like he’d just gone off on his son. “Love you.” The phone call ended, and I set it on the nightstand, where it belonged.
“Now, as I was saying.” I turned back around to face Amethyst. “You killed Grant?”
He licked his lips again, then nodded. I was going to get the answers out of him tonight. “Yeah, Sunshine, I killed him,” he answered as he sat next to me. He fixed the pillows and stretched his long legs out in front of him.
“Why?” I questioned.
“Because I found out everything was a damn lie,” he answered with a shrug. “That bullshit with the race, the agreement. All of it. The only thing I could think to do was kill him.”
“No, I mean, why didn’t you tell me?” I corrected him. I didn’t give a fuck about Grant dying, especially now, after all these months and everything that I knew. “Why didn’t you trust me enough to tell me what was going on? Why did you leave me to handle all this shit alone? Why did you push me away?”
“I thought I was doing the right thing,” he sighed and ran his hands over his face. “I thought I had the shit handled. That I was that nigga and didn’t have to ask for help from anyone because I had all this figured out.” He stopped talking and just sat there waiting. I don’t know if he expected me to yell, cry, and cuss or what, but I didn’t do any of that. I tapped his leg and waited until he looked up at me. “I fucked up, Sunshine.”
“You did,” I agree with a nod. “You didn’t trust the people around you to be there for you. You didn’t trust me to have your back. To trust that you weren’t alone in any of this, and to some sense, even with you doing all that you did, you weren’t. I was.” I tapped my chest with my index finger and gave him a half ass smile.
“You know you aren’t innocent in all this, right?” he chuckled.
“I never said I was,” I replied, and he nodded. “We are guilty of the same thing.”
“What’s that?”
“Not trusting each other to be who we needed them to be,” I answered. “I had six months to think about everything. You know Berkeley is a therapist, right?”
“Blows my fucking mind,” he chuckled, and I couldn’t help but do the same.
