“Aight then, if this baby makes her happy and that’s what she wants, why the fuck not? You do shit you’re uncertain of when you care about people, Troop. That’s how things works. I hate to take it there, but that’s Story’s grandchild. How the fuck you think he’d feel if he knew you walked out on his daughter like that?”
“Damn, that was low as fuck, Los.”
I nodded to agree. “True, but it’s real shit. Just think about it, aight. That’s all I’m saying.”
We rode the rest of the way in silence. I decided to let Trooper process. It was a lot and fucking with him, but he needed to man the fuck up. I had faith in my people so I knew he would do the right thing.
Chapter 34
Trooper
“Good evening, sir, can I help you?” Oscar followed me to the lobby as soon as I pushed through the glass doors.
“Yeah, you can. Get the fuck outta my face.”
He looked at me like I somehow spoke a language he didn’t understand and that irritated the fuck outta me. I had very little patience for people who didn’t know how to mind their business and stay in their lanes.
“Ms. Prescott is not accepting visitors. I’ll be more than happy to leave a message.”
This muthafucker. “She’ll see me, but that ain’t none of your gotdamn business.”
“But she?—”
I turned around and grabbed him by his shirt, pulling him so we were face to face. I leaned down to match his height.
His eyes stretched wide as his hands moved toward mine in an attempt to free himself from my grasp.
“You got a problem minding your own fucking business, don’t you? Your job is to open doors and park cars, not screen my girl’s visitors. The fuck is up with you? You living some weird ass fantasy where you think she’ll want your ol’ creepy ass? Nah,playboy. Ain’t happening. In fact, it’s bad for your health to even think about her at all. She don’t need a watchdog. I got her covered, and that means handling anyone I see as a threat. Are you a threat?”
“No, sir. I was just?—”
“You were just minding your own gotdamn business, right?”
Nodding aggressively, he looked right at me. “Yes sir, Mr. Carter. My apologies. I’ll be minding my business from here on out.”
“Good. Glad we reached an understanding.” I shoved him back and caught the eye of Anthony who usually watched the door to her building.
He looked away and went about his business. I never had an issue with him, so I let it go, but I had a feeling this wouldn’t be the last time I had to deal with Oscar.
Something about him didn’t sit well with me. Sophie thought I was just being extra, but she was just nice. She overlooked shit I didn’t.
After my situation with Oscar, I headed to the elevator and prayed she hadn’t deactivated my key card. When I held it up and the light turned green, I smiled. Maybe I hadn’t fucked up as badly as I thought.
When I stepped off the elevator, the smell of something sweet hit me. It was the little things about Sophie I’d missed. Her place always smelled good, like flowers and fruit. She was a fanatic about that, almost obsessive.
The place was quiet, other than the TV in her room. That was the first place I checked. Her bed was empty but unmade. The bathroom door was open, so I checked there too. No luck.
I then made my way back to the living room and looked around, but didn’t see her until I stepped inside and realized she was asleep on the sofa with a blanket wrapped around her. Damn, I’d missed her. I couldn’t even lie, and not even on somephysical stuff, even though I felt my body reacting. I just missedher. I hadn’t been sleeping well lately. In fact, most nights I was up smoking and staring mindlessly at the TV. It was crazy to me how everything about my life changed when she entered it.
I stood watching her for what felt like an eternity before I built up the nerve to talk to her. Hell yeah, she had me scared to even face her. Mostly because I was wrong for how I reacted, but also because I was afraid she wouldn’t forgive me. I wasn’t used to fear, but when it came to Sophie, she made me hesitant about a lot of shit. That was hard for me to accept, but she was carrying my child. I would have to get over myself.
When I was ready, I pulled the ottoman close to where she lay and sat down. I leaned down and placed my hand on her face, moving my thumb across her jawline before I kissed her forehead. Sophie’s eyes fluttered a little before they opened and she sat up quickly, almost in a panic.
Her face relaxed when she realized it was me, which gave me hope, but then the tension came. The muscles in her face tightened as her eyes grew dark.
“What are you doing here?” Her voice was low and groggy.
“We need to talk.”
