“You sure you’re not going to forgive him this time? You’ve forgiven him for cheating before.”
“I was younger then and had more time to waste. That’s not the case now. And even though I forgave him for cheating, I always told him that an outside child was a deal breaker. I had to have an emergency hysterectomy when you were two. That’s why I never had more kids, but I wanted more children badly. He assured me that one child was enough, and that he would be fine if we didn’t have anymore. And it’s not even like he didn’t know about this child. He got a paternity test done when the boy was two months old. He bought the woman a house, a car, and gave her $20,000 a month, so she would stay hidden.”
“Wow.” My brows hiked from the shock. “Just wow.”
“Exactly. I couldn’t care less about him recovering from being shot. I won’t be there to nurse him back to health. He better get someone else to do it. I have officially removed myself from the situation. I already spoke with an attorney about getting a divorce. I’m going to bleed him dry.”
My mother wasn’t wasting any time, but she wasn’t wrong. She had been standing ten toes behind my father for my entirelife. Many times, she didn’t even voice when she was upset about something. She simply held it in to keep from nagging. My mother walked around for years putting up with things that she didn’t want to all in the name of keeping the peace and being a good wife.
She had every right to be tired. “You deserve to be happy, ma.”
“Yes, I do. I’m going shopping later. I’m replacing my entire wardrobe. I’m replacing Kiwi’s too. Get ready to donate all of her things to Good Will. This weekend, I’m going to brunch with Cheryl. I might try to find a lil’ YN.”
I choked on my own salvia. I thought I was going to meet my maker as I beat on my chest while coughing and struggling to breathe. I coughed until I almost threw up and when I finally stopped, I had to take a minute to catch my breath.
“Okay first of all,” I stated with tears rolling down my cheeks. “Death by choking has to be a horrible way to die. Second of all, please get somewhere and sit down. What in the world are you going to do with a young nigga?”
“Have a shit ton of fun.”
“If I die it’s going to be on you,” I chuckled. “I really don’t even know what to say, but my previous comment still stands. You deserve to be happy.”
“You do too, Apricot. And I’m not saying you aren’t happy, but I see how determined you are to be your own woman. I see you doing what you had to do for yourself and your daughter even while having millions at your disposal. You couldn’t be bought, and I admire that so much about you. I’m not asking you to compromise your morals or values, but the money is here for the taking.Youdidn’t do anything wrong for it. Enjoy it. Spend time with your daughter. Live.”
“I hear you, ma, and I’ll definitely take that into consideration.”
We ended our call, and I poured a glass of wine and went out to my favorite place. The balcony. I loved sitting outside and could do it for hours until the bugs finally ran me back inside. It was funny to me how life could change in the blink of an eye. I knew my mother was going to be okay, and I loved the newfound strength she seemed to possess. My father was going to be my father, and I prayed that Shereeka was right and that he was finally going to walk away from the game. Then and only then would I be able to try and have some kind of normal relationship with him.
CHAPTER 10
UNO
Bri watchedme get dressed with her bottom lip poked out. I could feel her eyes on me, but I continued getting dressed without acknowledging her.
“I want some more,” she finally huffed and placed her arms across her chest making me laugh.
“Bro, you have the sex drive of a nigga fresh out of prison, and I have things to do.”
Bri rolled her eyes upwards. “I know. I have things to do too, but you could have at least broke me off with a quickie. You coming back tonight?”
I stared at Bri with my brow cocked. I had spent two nights in a row with shorty. I wasn’t sure if she was getting attached or what, but that wasn’t the message I was trying to send her. I wasn’t opposed to settling down but when I did, there would be no cheating involved on my end, so I had to be sure about the person that I chose. I hadn’t spoken to Apricot in weeks, but I still thought of her on a regular basis. Until I had that out of my system, I wouldn’t even try to be serious with anyone else. I wasn’t going into a situation on some rebound shit.
Apricot could be a spoiled ass brat, and I wanted to be confident in saying fuck her. But for whatever reason, she stillcrept into my thoughts way too often for my liking. “Tonight, probably not. I’ll hit you up though.” Bri’s bottom lip pushed out even further, and I shook my head before placing a kiss on her forehead and grabbing my keys.
Ken was on his way back in town, and I was glad. Taking over for Mr. Jennings had me running around like a chicken with its’ head cut off, and I was more than ready to go back to my boring schedule. I had never been a scared nigga, and I was always careful, but the amount of money that I was handling was scary. If I got caught with it, it would be more than enough to get me a conspiracy charge. And a charge for something that wasn’t even mine was crazy work. Mr. Jennings had already told me once he was out of dope, he wouldn’t be buying more. And when he was done, so was I.
I had a few runs to make before pulling up at Mr. Jennings massive estate. The moment his mother opened the door for me, I could see the exhaustion on her face. “Hey, Ms. Jennings. How are you?”
“Tired,” she replied in a low tone and released a sigh. “I’m glad you’re here. I’m about to turn in for the night, and the sun hasn’t even set. The night nurse should be here in about an hour and a half.”
I nodded as I stepped over the threshold of the house. Mr. Jennings had been out of the hospital for less than a week when he suffered a stroke and had to go right back. The doctors couldn’t really be for certain, but they were confident that the stroke was a result of the shooting. It was kind of like a delayed reaction. It was a mild stroke, and he only stayed in the hospital for six days. He had been home for two days, and the only people that even knew he had a stroke were me, Ken, and Mr. Jennings’ immediate family. To my knowledge, he hadn’t even told his wife or Apricot.
He had been home for two days, and we were having a time. His mother was in good shape and good health for her age, but it was too much for her to do alone, so they hired a nurse to come in from 8pm to 8am. Mr. Jennings’ left side was weak, so he needed help with certain things like getting dressed. When it came to bathing, he was prideful and wanted to do it on his own. His mother told me that he almost fell in the shower one day. Mr. Jennings was tough. I knew that to be a fact, but seeing him so vulnerable made me feel kind of sad for him. No matter how much money or power a person yielded, no one was invincible.
His circumstances were weighing on him and to me, it seemed like he was giving up. He didn’t have a lot to say. He just stared into space, and he was grumpy as hell. I stopped by because I genuinely respected him, and I wanted him to know that I wasn’t the kind of person to just be around when he was up. When I entered the living room, Mr. Jennings was in his recliner. A tray sat on the coffee table and on the tray was a plate of food. Lamb chops, mashed potatoes and gravy, and asparagus. The food looked delicious and untouched.
“What’s going on?” I asked him, and he stared straight ahead at the television.
Sitting down on the couch, I pulled a blunt from behind my ear. “Can I smoke in here? You want to hit it?” Mr. Jennings cut his eye at me, but he didn’t look in my direction.
