“Nah,” I shot back. “I bought you a few fits and the body wash and shit that you like to take a shower. I bought your favorite food and some flowers. I wanted us to talk.”
Islah walked up on me; the look in her eyes was not the Islah that I knew.
“I need you to understand this and get it through your skull. Gio, I don’t love you. I haven’t loved you in a while. I love—I am in love with somebody else. You taking me hostage, buying me shit to wash my ass and a meal that I don’t even like anymore with some cheap ass corner store flower is not gonna change how I feel about you. You are a nigga that cheats, and I will never spin the block on you. I am happy with who I am, with who I am with, and that is not going to change.”
I looked her up and down. “Where that nigga at now? You think that nigga loves you that fuckin’ much? I am proving to you that he don’t, and when he don’t come looking for yo’ ass, and all you have is me, I want you to think about this conversation.”
I walked over to the door that connected the rooms and opened it as she laughed at me. As I walked to the other room, closing the door behind me, she yelled, “Love is going to kill you, like I told him to do!”
I opened that door back up fast and walked over to her, snatching her up by her arm again.
“What the fuck did you just say?!”
She laughed at me again. “You heard what the fuck I said. Love is going to kill you, like I told him to do.”
That shit killed me faster than any bullet could. That nigga had my baby brainwashed. I had a lot of work to do.
“You can think that all you want, baby girl. I’ma make sure you never leave again.”
Chapter 4
Be Smart
It’s been about four or five days, and I was low-key going crazy without my girl by my side. A nigga wasn’t eating and was living off water and thoughts of my mamas. The longest I’ve gone without Islah in my life was before I met her, and I didn’t like that feeling.
Between being at the store and taking care of Amir, I was out on the streets, driving the same blocks, asking some of the same people if they had seen Gio or Islah by this point.
It was Thursday. I kept Amir out of school, and he rode to the store with me. When we walked in, the staff greeted him like he was the owner, and Keith looked at me like I looked as rough as I felt.
I walked into my office, sat down at my computer, and looked at the pieces I needed to get done when Keith walked in.
“What’s been going on?” he asked. “Any word yet?”
I shook my head.
“Nah…Islah hasn’t called. That nigga hasn’t called. I’ve been driving around every damn day looking for them and haven’t found them.”
Keith sat down, shaking his head.
“What are you going to do?”
“I have no clue,” I said low. “I feel like I can’t think straight because I am worried about her and our baby. I am worried about her eating. If she is stressed, what the fuck is he doing to her? All of that is clouding my thoughts to figure out what to do in this situation.”
“I get you,” Keith said. “I know I don’t understand what you are feeling. I know this shit is a lot on your plate, which is why you need to step off and let some of the gang handle this shit for you, at least let them look for you.”
I nodded. “Yeah, that shit sounds right, but what the fuck am I supposed to do while waiting for a word? Sitting around is killin’ me.”
“Prepare for her to come home, get shit that she likes, do it big like you always do.”
I shook my head. “I can’t do that right now, I need to know she is okay. I need to have her in the car with me, or coming to me.”
“Okay, okay, I get that. I have to ask a question tho, and don’t get mad at me… What if she went back to that nigga?”
I looked Keith dead in his eyes, wanting him to feel the words coming outta my mouth.
“Don’t play, sayin’ no shit like that, unless you want to die, nigga. Don’t fuckin’ play!”
Keith raised his hands in the air. “I am sorry, the thought just crossed my mind, and I had to ask.”
