I was certain she didn’t know who the young man in the room was either, but anyone with eyes could see exactly who he looked like. The man staring at me looked more like my father than I did. He looked so much like my father that I was sure whoever his mother was didn’t have to have a paternity test done the way my mother had to have one taken for me.
“Devin, you better say something.” My mother’s voice was trembling.
Since my father had obviously lost his voice, his mini me decided to speak up.
“I’m DJ. Devin Junior. I’m Devin’s son.”
Kiwi was in her room asleep, and I was sitting on the couch staring at the television which was turned off, drinking wine. My child was already going through enough so no matter how hard it was, when she got out of school, I didn’t let on that anything was wrong. She’d been asking about her grandfather every day, and I finally told her she could call him. Kiwi shouldn’t be punished because the adults had issues. I forced a smile through dinner and helping her with her homework. I read her a bedtime story and lay with her until she fell asleep. Life had turned into me constantly having to reassurance her that we would be okay and no one was coming to hurt us.
I prayed that my daughter would get past what happened, and I even contemplated putting her in therapy. I just didn’t want a therapist all in my family’s business. I was pissed at my father after finding out that he was behind my home being broken into but learning that he had a son was an entirely different scenario. It turned out that DJ was twenty-four. Three years younger than me. The moment he announced that he was my father’s son, my mother stormed from the room. She didn’t even try to get answers. I didn’t have anything else to say to my father, so I left too.
Of course, over the years my mother had suspected my father of cheating. No matter how much they tried to hide it, I heard the hushed arguments and my mother venting on the phone to her friends. I wasn’t aware of how many times she’d ever actually caught him and what was just speculation. I knew there was atime when I was in middle school that my father didn’t come home for six days, and my mother was livid the entire time. Any time I asked about my father, she said he was out of town for work.
The moment he got back home, they went in the bedroom and locked the door, and I swore I heard furniture moving. They were in the room straight thumping. I later found out that my mother broke a lamp over my father’s head and all. Those were times I couldn’t figure out if it was love that kept my mother there or the money. Maybe it was both.
The ringing of my doorbell snapped me out of the trance that I was in. With a frown, I stood up to see who was at my door uninvited at that time of the night. There weren’t even five people that had my address. When I looked out of the peephole and saw Uno, I was thoroughly surprised.
“Hi,” I greeted him slowly after opening the door.
Uno’s brow hiked. “You good? I called you twice and got no answer. I know there’s a lot going on, but this isn’t the time to be ignoring me. At least shoot me a quick text and let me know you’re good.”
If my life with my father and family wasn’t such a shit show, him checking me might have turned me on. “I’m sorry. It’s been a day from hell, and I haven’t even looked at my phone in a few hours. I have it on do not disturb.”
“Your pops good? He still coming home tomorrow?” Uno looked genuinely concerned, but his questions made me snort.
“I’m not sure. I wasn’t at the hospital long. I was confronting him about having Kiwi’s iPad, and then his long, lost, illegitimate son came in the room and shut shit down.”
Uno’s face contorted. “Wait, what? Hold on. First thing, what do you mean he had her iPad?”
“The one that was stolen from my house. He had it hidden in his office in the bottom drawer underneath books and papers.It’s obvious that he was trying to hide it. He had someone to break into my house.”
Uno was calm, and he had a poker face for sure, but something about the way he didn’t ask any questions or seem shocked struck a cord with me. My body heated up as suspicion made me tense. “Do you know who my father had to break in my house? And please don’t lie to me.”
Uno ran a hand over his curls. “I’ve asked you respectfully not to do that. I work for your father. I’m not going to be dry snitching or giving you inside information. That’s not how this is gon’ go.”
I stared at Uno. He was always so confident and unapologetic. Yet, he couldn’t even look me in the eyes as he spoke to me. My stomach quaked, and I took a step back. “Was it you? He got you to break in my house?”
When Uno looked at me with eyes full of regret, I grabbed handfuls of curls with both my hands and spun around in a circle. “Wow, wow, fucking wow. I am so damn stupid. You’ve been smiling in my face this entire time. Wow.”
“Don’t do that shorty. Your father asked me to do it and maybe I should have said no, but the shit was easy as hell. Break in, take a few items, and get paid a few racks. You and Kiwi weren’t even home. No one would have gotten hurt.”
I glared at Uno with the hatred of ten men brewing inside of me. “You try and act like you’re different, but you’re one of my father’s little minions too. He says jump and you say how high as long as the money is right.”
Uno’s scowl deepened. “Hold up ‘cus I’m not a hoe ass nigga. There’s plenty of things that are off limits that I refuse to take part in. I’m a grown man. Nobody can make me do shit I don’t want to do.”
“Exactly. So, I don’t buy that shit when you say it was just a job. I’m sure you’re not hurting for a few thousand dollars. Thisis the lamest shit I’ve ever been a part of. I’m done with my lying ass father, and I’m done with you. Did he tell you to fuck me too? Was that in the job description?”
Uno gripped the back of his neck. “I understand you being upset. Swear to God I do, but I had never even held a conversation with you. You and Kiwi weren’t home, and I knew we’d be in and out. Everything that we took was replaced. Please don’t mistake me for being out here doing anything for money and doing people I fuck with dirty. How was I supposed to just come out and confess that shit to you once we became cool?”
“It’s all good. Like I said, I’m done. I don’t want anyone around me that I can’t trust. You keep hollering that my father offers you paying jobs. So, you’d sell your soul if the price was right, huh? I’m good. I’m so good on this.” I sucked my teeth and folded my arms across my chest. Everybody had me fucked up.
“I can’t blame you for being upset. I’m sorry that you found out this way. I know I dropped the ball and messed up. You probably view me as a fuck nigga, but I’m for sure not that. Take some time to yourself, but you got to know I’m not letting you go that easily.”
“Please get out,” I practically whispered.
It was going to be hard working for my father and ignoring him, but I was done with Devin Jennings. I had no way of knowing if my mother was leaning toward forgiving him or not, but I knew who wouldn’t be forgiving his ass.
CHAPTER 8
