She shrugged. “I don’t know.”
Sometimes I forgot she was almost three and not Sparkle’s age.
“It means they are your siblings. Your sisters and brother.”
She didn’t say anything. Just looked at me with dipped brows, just as clueless as Sparkle was about cheating.
I grabbed her hand. “Come on, let me introduce you to them.”
With a deep breath, I walked into the kitchen, and all eyes fell on us. Well... all eyes fell on Diary.
“Diary, this is your big sister, Aubry,” I said, standing next to Aubry who had the corners of her mouth turned up.
“Hi Diary,” she flatly said.
After they spoke, I did the same with the other three kids. Diary was shy but she spoke back. The energy was weird. Very awkward. I wondered how long it would take before things were normal between the five of them. With a deep breath, I crossed my arms over my chest and asked God to at least look out for me in this department. Maneuvering through this change was going to take a lot of strength and patience. And from where I stood at the moment, I didn’t have neither.
25
CRESCENT
“She didn’t wake up.”
I sat up and rubbed my eyes. “Hello? Huh?”
“She didn’t wake up,” repeated my pops, this time a little louder. This time with a lot more pain behind his voice than before.
I looked over at Daija and shook her awake. Swallowing, I put my attention back on the phone. She didn’t wake up. I didn’t need him to elaborate on who. Didn’t need any clarification at all about that. She was moms and if pops was calling me, with tears in his voice talking about she didn’t wake up, she was dead. She was gone.
“Shit,” I mumbled. “I’m... pops... I’m on my way.”
“She didn’t wake up,” he repeated. “She didn’t wake up, Cres. I?—”
“I know, dad. I hear you. I’m on my way, okay?”
“What am I supposed to do?” He asked, ignoring me.
“Did you call 911? When... when this happen?”
“I called you. She just... laying there. I tried to hook the oxygen up. Tried to um... tried to wake her up but...”
Instead of telling him I’d be on my way again, I just sat on the phone with him while I got ready. I took the phone from my ear to check the time. It was five in the morning. Daija got here about three hours ago. A stress reliever. Something to take my frustrations out on. It didn’t work but I tried to anyway. Damn near fucked a new hole in her pussy, I was drilling her shit so hard. She seemed to enjoy it though. Squirted all over the towels I put down.
I don’t know how the fuck I fell asleep. Would have never fallen asleep with her still here. Stress and lack of sleep had me out without even realizing it. Yeah, I was stressed. Stressed about the projects. Stressed about the situation with ol’ girl. Stressed about moms. Moms.
She didn’t wake up.
I brushed my hand over the top of my head and called out to Daija.
“Ay! Daij’!” I yelled, since she still hadn’t woken up. Her ass was drained. I didn’t give a fuck. She needed to dip so I could go.
She flinched awake. “Huh? Shit. Sorry.” She sat up and ogled me. “Is everything okay?”
“Nah. I need you to leave. Like... right now. No disrespect or none of that. I got a family emergency I need to get to—thank you.” In the middle of me talking, she got out of bed and hurriedly grabbed her shit.
She didn’t ask any questions. Didn’t ask if I needed anything from her. Didn't say anything. Just put her shit on, rushed over to me, kissed me on the side of my jaw and told me she hoped everything would be okay. That was the dynamic we had. The dynamic we been had. Daija knew there were no emotions tied to our connection. I knew. So, when she didn’t pry or try to make it better, I didn’t feel away. I understood and honestly wanted shit to be just like that. There was nothing she could do to make shit better. There was nothing anybody could do.
With my phone on my shoulder, I jogged down the stairs and headed for the kitchen to find my keys. Pops stayed on the phone, mumbling about how she didn’t wake up. I wanted to hang up. I needed to hang up. I had to call 911 since he hadn’t but I didn’t want to hang up on him. Needed to call my siblings too but... I couldn’t hang up on him. Not while he was incoherently going through it. So, I stayed on with him.
