I gulped and slammed my back into the seat. When Port hopped out, I held my breath until he came around to open my door. The force of his slamming the doors woke Precious up in the back seat, and she started crying. He went to get her out while I walked over to Kieran, who’d come down the porch steps.
“Um, hey. What are you doing here?” I asked hesitantly. The last thing I wanted was any drama around my house. This was messy, and I didn’t like it one bit.
I hadn’t noticed the Bluey plushie in his hand until he lifted it in the air. “I know Precious’s birthday is coming up. I wanted to give her a present.”
“Oh, you didn’t have to do that,” I said just as she came running toward him.
“Kiki!” she yelled excitedly. He opened his arms for a hug, and she ran right into them. He picked her up, showing her the gift he’d gotten her. I turned to find Port standing by his truck.
He flinched before shaking his head. He forcefully shut the back door. My nerves filled my stomach, seeing the hurt in his eyes. I took slow and calculated steps toward him. Not once did he meet my gaze, and I knew that meant he was pissed.
“This is the last time I’m sparing this nigga, El. You better get rid of him for good before I do.” His voice was even, and he spoke loud enough for Kieran to hear, but he pretended to be too busy tickling Precious.
“Okay, okay,” I said quickly to assure him. I tried to close the distance between us, but he backed away, and I let him. This looked bad, and I could only imagine what was going through his mind. By the death glare he was giving Kie, I knew murder was one of the topics crowding around in that brain of his.
“Gone by time I come home, Rockel,” he said through clenched teeth. I nodded while nibbling on my bottom lip.Home . . . Hearing him say that settled my nerves, but him calling me by my name told me how serious he was.
He put his truck in reverse then sped away. I watched him until I could only hear the roar of his engine. I took a deep breath before turning to Kieran. He was watching me innocently, but I wasn’t falling for it.
Walking toward him, I took Precious by the hand and led her up the porch. “What are you doing here, Kieran?”
He shrugged while stuffing his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “I wanted to see you. I miss you, Rockstar.”
I took my keys from my purse and sighed. I opened the door to let Precious inside before I turned around to face him. “Listen, I know we had a nice little vibe going on, but you can’t come around anymore. It’s over.”
He nodded and tucked his lips. I watched him look in the direction that Port disappeared in. “Y’all are going to be a family?”
“We are one. I apologize if I led you on in any kind of way. I didn’t know Perfect was going to come back into our lives, but he did, and my heart is with him.”
He tried to come closer, but I shook my head to stop him. Thankfully, he didn’t push my boundary. “How do you know you can trust him? I thought you told me he just disappeared on you.”
I folded my arms over my chest as if it could protect me from his analysis. “Listen. I told you that in confidence, not for you to throw it back in my face and make me question my choice. Perfect had his reason for leaving, and I’ve forgiven him for it.” I took a deep breath and turned to the house. “Thank you for the gift, but please move on with your life. ’Cause that’s what we will be doing.”
“I hope he doesn’t break your heart.”
“He won’t,” I said confidently over my shoulder. “Bye, Kieran.” I went into the house, closed the door, and then locked us in. I pressed my back into the door, feeling a little guilty for ending things so soon, but it would be wrong to lead him on. I knew I wanted to be with Perfect, and he wanted to be with me. I truly believed when I said he wouldn’t break my heart. He was too invested in what we were building to ever leave us again. This was for life, and I stood by that.
I was fucking seething.Seeing my daughter run to that light-skinned nigga had me sick to my stomach. The longer I thought about it, the harder it was to resist the urge to spin the block and wait for the nigga to leave. He clearly thought I was a joke. Fuck whatever El said to him; I was going to make sure that nigga stayed away from my family.
When I saw his bitch ass Prius pull away from the house, I let him get down the block. Then I crept out behind him. I trailed him all the way downtown, where he parked behind a building. I smiled because he’d fucked up. Going into my middle console, I pulled out my ski. I went under my seat next and grabbed my Glock. I double-checked that it was loaded.
Hopping out, I moved quickly down the block. My adrenaline was rushing a mile a minute, and I was low key excited. I hadn’t walked down on a nigga in a long fucking time, but I needed niggas to know that, about my family, it could get like that. “Run me them pockets, nigga,” I said through clenched teeth.
I heard his scary ass gasp when the cold barrel touched the back of his neck. He held his hands up. “I don’t got nothing, man. Please.”
I chuckled. “Please, what?” When he shuddered instead of responding, I cocked back and knocked him across the head with my gun. He dropped to the ground like a dead body, groaning while he rolled from side to side. “Like I said, run me them pockets, bitch-ass nigga.”
“Okay, okay. Damn!” he screamed like a little schoolgirl.
I smiled underneath my mask, loving every second of this. Ain’t no way in hell he thought he could lead and protect my family when he couldn’t even handle a little robbery. He fumbled with his pockets, pulling out his wallet, phone, and some mints. They were the hard kind that were my favorite, so I popped one. “Aye, stop all that hollering and unlock this shit.”
When he didn’t move as fast as I wanted him to, I took the safety off my gun. He unlocked his phone without another word. He was hard down crying now, while I stood there with my gun trained on him, scrolling through his contacts. When I found my woman, I deleted it. I went to the text messages to delete their text thread too. Satisfied with my work, I smashed his shit on the concrete.
“What the fuck?” he yelled.
“Shut the fuck up!” I barked. I snatched him up by the front of his shirt and put my gun underneath his chin. We were eye to eye, and while I felt no fear, this nigga was filled with it. The air reeked with his scariness and got worse when I smelled urine. “Did you just piss yourself, dawg?” That increased my anger’cause he was too damn grown. I hadn’t even done real damage to his ass. I frowned and shook my head. “Aye, you see how easy it was for me to get to you. Ain’t nobody playin’ withchu, nigga. Stay the fuck away from my family.”
“P-perfect?” he stuttered.
