The timing of me finding out was perfect though, low key. I had to take Diary back tomorrow. If God gave even an inkling of a fuck about me, he’d let that nigga be there too.
The next day,we were up bright and early. We got dressed and I ordered breakfast from Door Dash. All night and morning, a nigga was anxious as hell to leave. Couldn’t leave when I wanted to because Ms. Rochelle had a doctor’s appointment so I had to wait for her to get back to the crib before I could drop Diary off. Shit had me on edge. Waiting for the opportunity to see dawg. It was up. No words, straight action when I saw him. Regardless of what the fuck was going on, what he did was foul. Type of nigga was he? Straight bitch.
I was going to handle my business when I saw fit, him sticking his nose in business that had nothing to do with him was out of line. It was aight though. I’d been itching to put hands on the nigga since I met him. I knew it was something about him off back. He had some serious hate in his heart for me over what? I didn’t know. Didn’t give a fuck neither. What I did give a fuck about was him spending time with Diary. We had an arrangement. I got her during the week and while she spent time with Ms. Rochelle, Justin could come by and see her. After the shit he pulled, I was starting to think like nah… he didn’t need to have access to my daughter. Not on no ho shit neither. What he did was reckless as hell. He didn’t know what the fuck was going on at my crib just to pop up, talking about she was mine. What if my wife was crazy? What if she would have done somewild shit? Regardless of all of that, I wasn’t feeling dawg. Didn’t trust him. And because I didn’t trust him, I didn’t want him around my daughter. Bold move to make, considering he’d been in her life longer than I had but I didn’t give a fuck. We shared blood—not the two of them. She was young; she’d adjust to not having the nigga in her life anymore. Couple years she won’t even remember the nigga existed.
After checking a few work emails and watching a couple of episodes of Blippi with Diary, it was one o’clock and time for me to take her home. Home. Every time I had to take her back to the house, it was bittersweet. For a couple of reasons but mainly because home was supposed to be with me. I’d never get used to this… having a child outside of my fantastic four.
“You ready?” I asked Diary, who sat on the bed, backpack strapped on.
She nodded. “Yeah, I’m ready.”
I grabbed my phone, the key to the hotel, my wallet, and we headed out.
When I pulledup at the house and peeped two cars out front, I prayed like hell that one of them belonged to dawg. Before I got out of the car, I hit the glovebox and grabbed my blick. Looking through the rearview mirror at Diary, I made sure she hadn’t seen and was distracted by whatever she was watching on her iPad. She was. After unhooking my seatbelt, I got out, grabbed her and her bag and walked up to the house.
Because it was pretty warm out, Ms. Rochelle had the front door open. I could hear her laughter on the way up the stairs and two other voices I couldn’t make out. Briefly, I looked up to the sky and begged God to let one of them be that nigga. I tappedon the screen door a couple of times before someone came to the door. Older lady I recognized from the hospital when Erika was still alive.
She opened up and let us in, greeting Diary with a big hug.
“Hey, how you doing, Duke? You remember me? We met at the hospital,” she spoke with a warm smile.
I nodded. “Yeah, I remember you. How you doin?” I spoke back, looking around the house as soon as I walked in.
I was on go. Ready for whatever with either one of them niggas. Yeah, Aaron included. Why? Because him and the nigga Justin were cool so to me that meant that nigga knew some shit about what had happened too. I wondered for a second if Ms. Rochelle knew he’d been to my house too. I wondered if they put him up to it. Ms. Rochelle didn’t strike me as the messy type though. Probably was just them niggas.
“Hey baby! Did you have fun with your daddy?” Ms. Rochelle asked Diary, pulling her into a hug.
“Hey Nana. Yes. I had fun!” Diary shrieked.
I was pissed off, ready to murk shit, but hearing that she’d had a good time with me warmed my heart. We didn’t do much of anything for real. Ate fast food, went to the mall, chilled and watched her favorite cartoons and shit. Apparently that was enough. The smile on her face when she said she had a good time made a nigga feel good. I couldn’t even lie.
Still.
I was on a mission, mean mugging and all. Ms. Rochelle peeped. Asked me if I was okay and how things had gone. I simply told her I was cool and that me and Diary had a good time. Before sitting, I carried Diary’s overnight bag to her room, looking around for the other voice I heard. A male’s voice. House wasn’t that big. So, whoever it was had to be in the back, kitchen area. After I put Diary’s things away, I made my way back to theliving room just as Aaron turned the corner from the kitchen. Damn. This bitch nigga.
“What up doe?” He spoke.
I chucked my chin, eying him up and down, seconds away from asking where his boy was. Before I could, Justin emerged from behind him, wearing a smile I couldn’t wait to knock off his face.
“Diary say she had a good time y’all,” Ms. Rochelle said, moments before I went off in Justin’s shit. Punched him in the face, catching not only him but everyone else off guard too. He stumbled a couple of times and before he recovered, I hit him another three times. Aaron went to grab me; I dodged him and was on Justin’s ass again.
“Get him Aaron!Oh lawd, Edna, take her to her room! She don’t need to be seeing this!” Cried Ms. Rochelle, as I stood over Justin, giving him blows to the face.
“What is going on!? Duke, sweetheart stop that!” Ms. Rochelle yelled.
I didn’t give a fuck about none of that. Could barely hear her over the sound of my fist connecting with his face. With every punch, I thought about what I was losing. Thought about him speaking to my wife about shit that had nothing to do with him. Every hit, I thought about seeing him on that ring camera. Thought about him putting my daughter in an uncomfortable position. Hell yeah, it was an uncomfortable situation. Again, bitch nigga didn’t know what type of time my wife would’ve been on. Shit could’ve gone in a completely different direction, for real.
Aaron went to wrap his arms around me. I snatched away, reached in my pants, and pulled my burner out, aiming at him. He backed away with his hands up and I switched my attention to Justin who was on the floor with a bloody mouth I stuffed thegun into, knocking his two front teeth out. All I saw was red as the video of him standing on my porch replayed in my mind.
“Ay nigga! Chill man! What the fuck wrong with you?” Aaron yelled.
I glanced over at him. “Fuck wrong with me? What the fuck wrong with this nigga? Showing up at my crib with Diary, putting his nose in business that ain’t his? Hm? Fuck wrong with this nigga?!”
“He did what?!” Ms. Rochelle shouted. “Father God… Duke, baby, it ain’t worth it. Please Lord!”
Aaron sucked his teeth and threw his head back, annoyed. “Please tell me this nigga ain’t do that shit… Ay… Man… he wasn’t… he didn’t mean—ay, chill bro. He didn’t know what the fuck he was doin. He thought he was helping.”
Underneath me, Justin squirmed, and mumbled, groaning in pain. With wide eyes, he pled, with his hands up, scared as fuck. I clenched down on my jaw and pushed the gun further in his mouth, forcing him to gag. Staring down at him, my mind moved a million miles per minute. Tears wet the backs of my eyes as I thought about Mahogany and the last time I saw her… the last words that left her lips. I thought about the last time I touched her. About the last time I kissed her. Thought about the shit I did in the midst of everything. And it hurt. So bad my chest ached and the tears wetting the backs of my eyes threatened to come to the front.
