“Did we come here to eat or bowl?” he wondered aloud.
Neptune laughed. “Was that a dig at me too?”
Easy laughed and pointed to the plate. “You’re eating too, right?”
“Okay. You want to show out in front of your girl. Keep that same energy when I kick yo’ ass in this game.”
Easy pulled his glasses to the bridge of his nose. “Does it look like I’m scared?”
During the playful shit talking, I saw Neptune dig in his pocket, look at his phone, then put it away. A second later, Easy had his phone in hand.Aheavy sense of worry caused me to put my fork down before taking another bite. All day, Neptune’s gold grill had been on display, but in an instant, a grimace stole his joy. His lips set apart, and his limbs got so loose the phone fell from his grasp.
“Neptune.” I placed my hand on his chest, and the quick pace of his heartbeat spooked me. “Neptune.”
A faraway look packed his eyes. “That was Uncle Luke. My dad died.”
Chapter 12
Neptune
The grass beneath my body was wet, yet it was the only thing I’d felt in eight days. Even after planning my father’s service and watching his brothers grieve, my brain still had a hard time accepting the truth. One second, I was spending time with two of the most important people in my life, and the next, I was getting a call that my last living parent was dead. Truthfully, I didn’t even know ifthatwas true. So much had happened in a short time. The only thing I could be sure of was Kitty having my baby.
“Neptune, it’s getting late.”
I didn’t sit up to address Kannon, but she came to me as if she heard my heart. With no direction, my pretty lady slid between my legs and rested her head against my chest.
“It breaks my heart to see you lost in your thoughts, Neptune. I told you I wouldn’t mind helping plan the service.”
“Yeah, and I told you I didn’t want your help. A pregnant woman doesn’t have any business planning a funeral if she can help it, and you can.”
Since we found out she was pregnant,Kannon had been attachedto my hip. However, the death of my father linked our hearts. Kannon had been by my side since I received the call, andeven when I didn’t vocalize what I needed, she knew how to calm my nerves.
“Do you want to talk about it?” she asked.
“There’s so much I want to say, and so much that doesn’t matter anymore.”
She rubbed her hand back and forth over my thigh, soothing away some of the tightness in my body.
“I met up with theniggawho confronted me outside of your house.”
“For what? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I didn’t want you to know he existed if I had to bury him. We met up about two weeks before my dad died. The story he told me about Valerie and my dad differed from what I’ve always been told.” My eyes held onto the stars above. “He claims Valerie is alive.”
“Do you believe him?”
“Why would someone lie about their mama being alive?” I shut my eyes. “He hasn’t asked me for a dime, and he isn’t looking for a connection to the streets. Plus, he showed me pictures of her—old and new.”
“Damn,” she whispered. “Is this a good or bad thing?”
“I don’t know yet. What I do know is that I feel like shit for being pissed at my dad when he died. I knew about the claim before his birthday party, and I looked at him sideways instead of just asking what I wanted to know.”
“Don’t blame yourself for being human. The respect you have for him made you second guess questioning him.”
Tears threatened to fall from my eyes when I shook my head. “I can’t believe he’s gone. I can’t believe he’ll never meet our baby.”
“Trust me, I know that feeling all too well. I also know with the right tribe around, we can raise our baby surrounded by love. Hell, our baby doesn’t need grandparents. Uncle Easy don’tplay,” she joked, calming my harmful thoughts. “Speaking of him, where’s Easy? I thought he was spending the night.”
“I did too, then Stephanie stopped by my dad’s house with her parents, and that went out the window. I want him comfortable, so I didn’t press the issue.”
