“You could’ve stayed, huh?” KO’s voice startled me, and I quickly turned around to see him glancing around the living room.
“Yeah. Looks like it.”
He glanced toward the window. “This all the damage?”
“Yeah.” A little silence passed between us. He reached into his pocket and pulled his phone out.
“Put your number in.”
I took it and did it without question. He saved it, then called my phone so I’d have his.
“We need to get a visitation schedule going. I want to be here for everything,” he said. “For real.”
“Okay.” I nodded. I wasn’t about to argue that.
“I wanna start seeing him. Being around. I know my schedule crazy sometimes. I’m about to train for the biggest fight of my career, but I’m gonna make it work. I’m not missing no more of his life.”
“Okay.” I looked into his eyes, hoping he could feel that I would not fight him on this. He rubbed his hand across his face. He looked like he had more to say, then thought better of it. Or maybe he had more to say and just didn’t wanna say it to me. Either way, I understood.
“I’m gonna head back. I don’t want to crowd your space.”
I frowned a little before I could stop myself. “Tonight?”
“Yeah.”
“You sure?” He looked at me with a controlled look on his face. I knew what that meant. He didn’t want to be around me anymore than he had to. “You can stay here until the morning. My couch isn’t much but?—”
“Yeah, I’m sure.” He shut it down quickly, and I couldn’t do anything but look down as he made it to my front door and swung it open.
“I’ll call you in the morning.” He took off, and I closed the door behind him and just stood there for a second with my back pressed against it. The apartment was quiet, but my heart was pounding out of my chest. My secret was out. KO knew the truth now, and there was no going back. I couldn’t push it off until later when it felt safer or easier or more convenient. This was it. This was my reality now, and I had no clue what the hell came next.
The drive back to my place from the airport felt quiet as hell. Hell, the whole flight back to Azalea was quiet—well, except for Jaylen’s loud-ass snoring. I actually missed Dakoda’s little voice asking me questions every five seconds. I missed his little cartoons playing too loud in the background. I even missed Lyrius watching me every time she thought I wasn’t looking at her. They’d only been in my space for about thirty-six hours, and I could already feel the difference.
By the time I pulled into my gated community, it was a little after ten and nearing twenty-four hours since Hurricane Imani had touched down. The streets were quiet, as usual for this time of night, and appeared virtually untouched except for a few tree branches that were scattered around the neighborhood. I pulledinto my driveway and immediately killed the engine before sitting there for a second, staring at the house I’d bought four years ago. As soon as I was out of recovery, I’d put my other house up for sale and bought this one. It was twenty miles south of Downtown, Azalea County, in Oleander Crest, and it was quiet. The majority of people who lived out here were tied to the Mercyr family, and nobody ever tried them.
I grabbed my bag from the passenger seat and headed inside. The second I walked through the door, Ali’s filter greeted me, and his ass had the nerve to lift his head from his rock like he was expecting me to have snacks or some shit.
“Greedy ass.”
My eyes landed on the box of Froot Loops still sitting on the kitchen counter, and suddenly, I was thinking about all the snacks I’d promised Dakoda I would buy. I made a mental note to add Froot Loops, Takis, and gummies to my grocery list. I didn’t know when his mother would allow him to come over, but I would be ready when the time came. I stared at the shit longer than I should’ve.I’m somebody’s daddy. I dropped my bag by the island and walked deeper into my house. I needed a shower and some sleep and just a few minutes to clear my head, because everything about today had flipped my entire world upside down.
I loosened my shorts as I headed upstairs. Every step up felt slower than the last. By the time I made it to my bedroom, I was already pulling my shirt over my head. I stripped down and headed straight for the bathroom. I barely remembered cutting on the water and stepping inside. I closed my eyes and let the warm water hit my shoulders as I tried to sort through everything in my head.
A few days ago, I was just KO, and Lyrius was far in the back of my mind. Now we shared a son. Images of Dakoda played in my head on repeat. He was a little mini me, and I could tellby the few hours I got to spend with him that I was his hero. I leaned my head back against the shower wall and scrubbed my wash towel over my body. What if he woke up tomorrow thinking I wasn’t coming back? Thinking I’d disappeared on him already?
“Nah,” I said immediately, turning the water off and stepping out of the shower. There was no way in hell I was going to let my son think I’d abandoned him by choice. I grabbed a dry towel and wrapped it around my waist before exiting the bathroom and heading straight to my closet to pull out two huge duffel bags. If my son was in Shoreline, then I was going to be in Shoreline. I grabbed a few shirts and basketball shorts and tossed them into the duffels along with whatever else I could grab fast enough without thinking too hard about it. Shit, my mind was already six hours back down the highway.
Before I could zip the first duffel bag, my phone started buzzing on the nightstand, making me pull it out of my pocket and gaze at the name blinking across the screen. It was a video call from Pops and Jalen. I answered quickly, already suspecting that something was up. Unless I had a fight or was training, Pops and Jalen rarely FaceTimed me together. Besides, Pops wasn’t usually awake after 7 p.m.
“What’s the word, old man?”
“What’s this shit Jalen talking about? You got a kid?”
“Dude, you couldn’t wait to snitch on me.” I huffed a laugh under my breath as I eyed Jalen and continued packing. I should have known Jalen’s ass was going to snitch me out.
“Man, you knew I was telling Pops.”
“So it’s true?” Pops asked.
