My head snapped back in her direction. I noticed her looking around the yard nervously. I remained grounded in place. I stroked my beard and folded my arms over my chest. “Nah, yougon’ tell me why you acting so weird. You just told me last night that you couldn’t wait for me to come home, but you ain’t acting like you’re happy at all.”
She tucked her silky, jet-black hair behind her ear and shook her head. “It’s not that . . . it’s just?—”
“What, Star? Spit it out.” My voice was sharper than intended, causing her to jump. I relaxed my stance, only because I wasn’t trying to intimidate her, but I didn’t like this shit one bit, and I was starting to get this inky feeling in my gut that I couldn’t shake. My mind was trying to whisper some vile things I was not ready to entertain. Not yet, at least.
Star finally closed the distance between us, but it was only to grab my hand to pull me away, like she didn’t want me to be seen or something. I wouldn’t allow her to, and she stopped when a familiar voice could be heard behind us. “Star, what is he doing here?” her mother, Tony, questioned.
I glanced over to see her standing there with her arms folded over her chest and a scowl on her face. Ms. Tony never liked me, so I expected nothing different.
“I’m here to surprise my girl and son for his birthday. What does it look like?”
Ms. Tony’s head jerked backward before her eyes trickled over to her daughter, who looked like a deer in headlights. She looked like she wanted to disappear. So, she was trying to get me out of here before anyone could see me.
The next voice to speak wasn’t one I was familiar with, but it was what he was saying that really got me. “Aight, baby. Here you go. These pregnancy cravings of yours are getting out of hand. I thought you were bad with Jr., but our baby girl might be taking you through it way worse.”
A short and stocky nigga wearing too much cologne came over with a cup of ice cream that had a pickle shoved in the side of it like a straw. He was so focused on giving Star the ice creamthat he didn’t notice me. “Pregnancy cravings?” I questioned aloud. “Yo, Star, you better start fucking talking before I lose my shit.”
The short nigga looked me up and down. “Who the fuck are you, and how you know my girl?”
I chuckled humorlessly. I spat on the ground and swiped my nose. “I was wondering the same fucking thing.” I spoke plainly, looking down at him. The nigga looked like a roach I’d stomped out in the corner of my childhood home.
“Um . . .” Star began to speak, then fell silent when I gritted my teeth. She wouldn’t look me in the eyes, and at that moment, I didn’t need the truth to be aired out. Her guilt was suffocating her.
But Ms. Tony was always messy as hell and stepped into the circle. “Apparently, Perfect here came home from prison to surprise his girl and his son.”
The short nigga laughed like Ms. Tony said a joke. “Something funny?” I questioned calmly.
He bent over, chuckling all by himself. “Hell yeah.” He turned to Star, who still hadn’t moved an inch or uttered a word. She could feel me looking at her ass and was too afraid to even give me the decency of eye contact as she broke my fucking heart. “Star, you had this nigga thinking my son was his? My fucking junior?”
The longer I stood there watching Star stare at the grass, the harder it became to breathe. I shook my head and began to back away. “You got it, dawg. Guess I was the fool, but Star . . .” When I called her name, she finally found the courage to look at me. I ignored the tears in her eyes—the same tears that used to bring me to my knees—and felt disgust. “You’re fucking dead to me.”
Without another word, I turned and stomped out of the yard. I couldn’t believe I’d been her fool for seven fucking years. While I was locked down, thinking I had a family to come home to,she was starting one with another nigga. She played her role so fucking well. I never saw this shit coming. I wasn’t sure where I was going as I hit the street, but I just started walking.
My mind was going a mile a minute, so I don’t even know how many honks it took for me to realize El had pulled up on the side of me. She rolled the passenger window down. “What you still doing here?”
She shrugged. “I stayed to make sure you didn’t need a ride back to the city.”
I ran a hand down my face. “I don’t know what made you stay, but thank you.” She unlocked the doors to let me in. I sank into her seat, and the weight of what I’d found out started to press down on me.
“Where to?” she asked.
I shrugged. I didn’t even have anywhere to go, because I planned to move in with my woman. I chuckled dryly in shock. “You can just drop me off at the first motel you see, and I’ll figure out my next move from there.” I went into my pocket and pulled out two twenty-dollar bills from the stash I’d dug up when I was released. “For gas.”
She shook her head. “I don’t want your money, and I’m not dropping you off at a motel either.” I could feel her studying me, but I was still reeling from the revelation that I not only wasn’t a father, but Star wasn’t who I thought she was. “You hungry?” I shrugged because it was hard to even think right now. El eased off the brake. “Alright, you can come home with me. I’ll feed you, and you can figure out your next step from there. Not some ratty motel.”
“Want a shot?”
Perfect was sitting on my front porch staring at nothing, but the weight of his thoughts supercharged the air. I was too afraid to move and be electrocuted by the waves of energy pulsing from him. I still wasn’t sure what went down, but I knew it wasn’t good.
After a second, he slowly turned to find me standing in my screen door holding up a bottle of cognac. “What you know ‘bout that Yak?” he teased, even though his tone was flat. He seemed so defeated, and I hated to see it. Just a few hours ago, there was this light in his eyes, and a smile so sexy it could make the strongest woman buckle at the knees. Now, . . . I low key wantedto go back to Star’s and fuck her up for whatever she did because it felt like she ruined him.
He ran a hand down his face and leaned forward with his arms resting on his knees. He refused to come into the house and had spent the last hour or two sitting outside. I figured I would join him to try lifting his spirits if he allowed me to.
As if he could hear my thoughts, he returned his attention to me and nodded. “Yeah, I could use one right about now.”
I smiled, stepping deeper onto the porch and allowing the screen door to slam shut behind me. I took a seat in the chair beside him and folded my legs under myself. I had time to change into a pair of leggings and a cropped top, so I was super comfortable. Perfect accepted the shot glass I passed to him, then took the bottle as well.
I silently watched him pour himself up to the rim, then tilt the bottle toward me. I smiled, shoving my glass closer to him. Once my shot was poured, we tapped glasses and tossed them back. I made a sour face as the liquor warmed every inch of my insides that it collided with. I shook my head with a scowl, then used the back of my hand to wipe my mouth.
