“So, say what you need to say,” I said, standing with my back against the closed, unlocked door.
He couldn’t come in because the apartment was a mess. I hadn’t cleaned since before Meech. There were food trays all over the coffee table, clothes scattered around. Trash piling up. Dishes in the sink. The roaches were having a field day, honey. I hadn’t put down any boric acid or anything.Iwas a mess, for real.
He ran his tongue over his thick bottom lip, his expression softening more. Stepping forward, he held his hands out. With dipped brows, I looked down at them. He wanted to hold hands with me? Why? The way he held his hands out reminded me of the last time I held mine out for Meech. I swallowed and my shoulders raised a bit, tensed. Pulling my bottom lip into my mouth, I chewed on it before lifting my injured hand. Blood sat in the creases of my fingers.
“Remember?”
He dropped his hands, nodded toward the door. “Oh yeah. Go handle that.”
I turned away, opened the door just enough for me to walk in, careful not to show too much of the apartment. With a deep breath, I hurried to the bathroom to clean my knuckles up. Snatching the junk drawer open, I rummaged through it, looking for band-aids and the little thing of Carmax since I didn’t have any wound ointment. After finding what I needed, I turned the faucet on and ran my knuckles under the warm water, hissing a bit. Delicately, I dabbed at them with tissue, put a nice amountof Carmax on top of them, and slid the Band-Aid on, covering the scrapes.
When I made it back to the door, he was pacing, with his phone pressed against his ear. He looked over at me, put his finger up, and kept talking. I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned against the doorframe. Down the hall, I noticed Dom and Lakeland heading our way. Lakeland tilted her head to the side, looked over at Exodus and then back at me.
I shrugged my left shoulder.
They made it to the apartment and gave Exodus the side eye, eyebrows dipped the same way mine were.
“You good?” asked Dominique.
I nodded and showed her my hand. “I’m good.”
“What’s going?—”
“I’ll be in in a minute,” I said, cutting Lake off, widening my eyes at her, stepping aside so they could go in the apartment.
Lakeland walked by first. Looked over at Exodus and then at me again. They were going to have all types of questions. The same way they did when I told them he gave me money for the funeral. I didn’t tell them how much, but they knew he gave me a lot of money. Vellz’s bitch ass knew too.
When I went back into the bedroom that day, with the envelope and told him it was Exodus at the door he got to talking so much shit. Swore up and down I was fucking him too. Said niggas didn’t give bitches they weren’t fucking money. He kept asking how much it was. Kept making sly comments, saying Exodus was the reason I hadn’t fucked with him. I let him talk, eventually putting him out.
Once Lake and Dom were in the apartment, I closed the door and looked over at Exodus with a sigh. We made eye contact and shortly after, he ended his call, stuffing his phone into the pocket of his dark jeans.
“My bad,” he apologized, holding his hands out again.
I hesitated but I gave him my hands eventually. He lifted the injured one, examining the work I put in on bandaging it up. After a couple of seconds, he lowered it, locked eyes with me and asked, “Can I pray for you?”
“W—what?”
“Prayer. Can I pray for you?”
I drew back with a frown. Not one that said I was disgusted or judging him. I was genuinely surprised. Yes, the Christ family were religious. Growing up, they owned what would be considered a mega church. I mean, it wasn’t the biggest but it was mega in reputation, community, and congregation. They did a lot for the city of Brickhaven, taking care of many families, spreading love and the gospel regularly. But that kind of died with Pastor Isaiah. After he died, things took a turn.
The church was boarded up and the boys… they changed. Before they were always outside but mainly in suits, passing out flyers and stuff like that. They did get into fights often, but they weren’t the way they were today. After Pastor Isaiah passed, they got off in the streets heavy. It was through them that Meech even got into hitting licks. They used to stay out in Wildermere like crazy, hitting mansions, bringing stupid bags home. But… that calmed down a while ago and I think they got into drugs. Whatever the case… thee Exodus Christ asking me if he could pray for me was very, very unexpected.Regardless of his background.
“Y-yeah. I guess. If you want to.”
He shifted his weight and took a deep breath. I watched as he closed his eyes, tightening his grip on my hands a little. Not too much on the injured one, though.
He cleared his throat and I closed my eyes.
“Big G. You know who it is. Today I’m out here with…” he paused and I said my name. “Yeah,Sereia. You know I ain’t never been too good with names. Sereia… she suffered a majorloss. Her brother. Her provider. The person who took care of her. Right now, her spirit is heavy. Her heart… the same. You know they go hand in hand, for real. I come to you, humble, asking you to lighten the weight of her pain. Give her comfort in ways that only you can. Soften her emotions. Fill her spirit with love, light, patience, acceptance and grace. Strengthen her, Lord. When she feels weary, guide her toward you rather than further away from you. Help her understand that this is just a part of her journey—not the journey itself. It’s cloudy as fuck right now, but eventually… shit will ease up and she’ll smile again. Genuinely. From the soul.”
When he cursed, I cracked my eye open a little and looked over at him with furrowed brows. Who the hell cursed during prayer? He didn’t miss a beat though. Kept going like cursing during prayer was second nature to him. Like it was nothing. Got damn heathen.
He ended the prayer shortly after, asking God once again to guide me closer to him, rather than a part. I was shocked. So shocked that when he said Amen, I didn’t say anything for about a second and a half.
“A—amen.”
He released my hand and his eyes met mine.
