For three weeks, I contemplated how I wanted to humble the intruder who confronted me outside of Kannon’s house. For a youngniggato believe he could confront me was wild, but for one to claim to be my little brother was almost unbelievable.
With my eyes covered with a pair of sunglasses, I climbed the bleachers of the indoor gym. Though it was a Saturday, Ishowed up as theVarsity basketball teamwrappedup practice. Even on school grounds, I gripped the burner in the pocket of my hoodie when I saw the young buck walking toward me. He texted me and asked me to meet him at the park later in the evening, but I popped up on him instead. When I put my ear to the streets and learned that the boy played basketball for Jefferson and put up impressive numbers, I was shocked. I was disappointed that he almost lost his life trying to save a ho that never wanted to be saved.
“What the hell are you doing here?” he asked while peeking over his shoulders. “I thought we were meeting later?”
“You thought wrong. Have a seat.”
His light-brown eyes raced to my pocket. “If you shoot me in here?—”
“Sit your ass down before I push you backward.”
The young giant flopped down a few bleachers away from me. His silence gave me time to examine his features under something brighter than a streetlamp. I couldn’t deny our brown skin was the same shade, and his dimples were as deep as mine.His curly lashes reminded me of Valerie’s, and I assumed he inherited his height from his father.
“You know theone shot you letoff hit my homie?”
“Does it look like I came here for a status report on your weak-ass friend? Tell me what you were talking about before you almost lost your life?”
He stared at the basketball court like it held the answers, then rubbed his hands together like a man with a lot on his mind.
“Me and my mom moved to Slyde City almost three years ago. She always claimed this place as her hometown, but I never knew the reason she left. Not until I heard her mention your dad one night.” He stared me in my eyes. “I wasn’t trying to rob you that night. My brodie got beside himself.”
“Sounds like you’ve got the wrong brodie. Did your mom tell you to come look for me?”
He shook his head. “She’s your mama too.”
“Nah. The lady you know, and the one Iknew,are different people. My mama left me because she was too weak to accept the special child she birthed.”
“That’s not what happened,” EJ suggested. “Your dad is a bitch who couldn’t take rejection. He threatened to kill her if she didn’t leave once he found out she cheated on him. There’s more to the story, but that’s a conversation for you and her to have.”
I grimaced. “No the hell it’s not. I’m not hard to find. Just like you found me, she could’ve. Sounds like she’s on the same bullshit.”
“Man, I’m not going to letyou disrespect her. My mama has had enoughpeopledoing that.”
A sharp pain shot up my chest at the idea of someone touching a woman attached to me. “What was the purpose of you coming to me? How the hell you know where I was?”
“Like you said, you ain’t hard to find.” He smiled. “I came to you because my mom is sick, and my sperm donor is in jail for trying to kill her. I don’t have no other family. I’m not looking for no handouts, but...I don’t know, man.”
All the hot shit I thought about EJ went out the window when a familiar tone hit his voice. It was a tone I remember touched my voice for years after Valerie left. From the night he popped up, I knew EJ was my brother. Outside of our similar features, I could feel it. When he pulled out his phone and shared pictures of Valerie, he practically confirmed it. The photos he showed me ranged from when she was younger to recently. Not much had changed about her except her weight loss. Her long hair still hung down her shoulders, and her long lashes were still eye-catching.
“She’s still beautiful, though she ain’t shit,” I declared.
“Your old man ain’t no better. I fuck with a freshman at SCU. Her peoples have connections to law enforcement, so I had her look into my mama’s past.” His eyes went dark. “I could really put a bullet in your dad for what he did to my mama. If the report wasn’t enough, the pictures were.”
I leaned back and looked EJ up and down. “You’re a bold little one.”
“Ain’t shitlittleabout me. I’ve been looking after my mama for years. Respect mymanhood.”
I smiled at the younger version of me. “Don’t ever in your life show up to where I lay my head unless it’s a life-or-death situation. You almost got your head knocked off because you wanted to have a family reunion.”
“To make my mama happy, I’ll do anything.”
Chapter 11
Kannon
“Baby! Please come zip me up!” I exclaimed from my bedroom.
I tried to calm my nerves, but for the third time, I wiped my hands on a rag. I found out I was pregnant three weeks ago, and every time I thought about telling my loved ones, I became a sweaty mess.
