He looked at his dad, shaking his head.
“And if I do this?” Hank asked. “What else does the police commission get?”
I walked back toward the door, already knowing what the fuck this was all about.
“I will send a nice check to you, just get this shit off me.”
I looked at Hank Jr., Hank looked at Hank Jr., and he finally nodded.
“I guess I will take care of it.”
“Get on it then.”
I walked outta there and went back to the hotel, and as soon as I was alone, my mind focused back on Islah. I sat on the couch and drank while flipping through the channels, wanting to talk to her but honestly not knowing what to say, when I heard a knock at the door.
I got up and stumbled to the door, swinging it open to see Keith and Sammy standing there.
“Oh shit,” they both said at the same time.
I sucked my teeth and turned back around to go sit my drunk ass down.
“I told you that nigga wasn’t right,” Sammy said, closing the door behind him.
“What the fuck is going on?” Keith asked as he sat down across from me.
“Islah…Islah don’t know if she wants to marry me.”
Sammy and Keith looked at each other.
“I know you are fucking lying!” Sammy yelled out as he threw my pack and my blunts on the table in front of me.
“What the fuck happened?” Keith asked.
“I don’t fuckin’ know. We were at Katie’s, people were asking her a wedding date, and she didn’t know. But I was watching her expression. It wasn’t how it used to be. It was like…she wasn’t happy.”
“Did you try to talk to her?” Sammy asked.
I nodded as I started to roll up. “I did. She kept sayin’ she didn’t know and some shit about Gio. How she thought about me doing what he did to her.”
“What the fuck,” Keith expressed. I nodded. That’s the same way I felt.
“I have never stepped for a girl the same way I stepped for her, and it feels like she is telling me that it’s not good enough.”
“I feel that,” Sammy added. “So, what are you going to do?”
I took another sip from the bottle and shrugged.
“I don’t know. I love her…I love her. I want a life with her. She’s carrying my damn baby. I don’t want to let us go. Does that shit make me a simp?”
Sammy and Keith laughed.
“Nigga, you know damn well you ain’t no damn simp,” Sammy said.
“You are just in love,” Keith added. “You love Islah, and she hurt your feelings.”
I chuckled to myself. “Hurt my feelings?” I repeated. “I ain’t ever had my feelings hurt.”
“It’s a first for everything,” Sammy said. “And they say the closest one to you is the one who hurts you.”
