Page 157 of Own It

Once I was able to mentally peel myself from the couch, I hurried to pee and take a shower, unable to hold in my tears as I cleaned up.

* * *

ALMOST A WEEK LATER . . .

“You know I could’ve driven myself, right?” I asked as Rakim helped me up into the passenger side of his truck.

“Had to be sure you ain’t try to pull some shit.” He shut the car door in my face, leaving me to inspect the nice ass and clearly custom interior of his vehicle.

“Why would I wait until the day of the DNA test to pull some shit, as you say?” I queried once he was inside of the car, wanting to chuckle at his hypothesis.

Pulling off from the curb, he replied, “Some criminals do dumb shit. Only a select few are actually intelligent.”

“I’m not a criminal though.”

“We ’bout to find out if that’s true or not.” He gave me a quick glance before focusing on the road.

The rest of the ride was quiet except for Tupac’s All Eyez On Me album playing in the background. I loved Tupac, but some of the songs playing heightened my anxiety while riding with Rakim. The latter was no stranger to taking lives, and I had a gut feeling that the murder of Judd Jenkins was just the one he was caught up for. A man didn’t randomly kill another in the way that he did when it was his first time. Judd was undoubtedly not his last either.

I knew that this was Zaire’s baby, but what if something happened with the test and it came back incorrect? I didn’t even think Rakim would give me the opportunity to explain myself before he offed me.

Rakim let me know that he’d initially asked for his brother and Zaire’s twin Josias to take the test since they had the same DNA but Josias refused. That little tidbit told me Zaire’s twin had an issue with me and most likely because he was protective of his brother; or so I hoped.

I scoffed, thinking about how I was giving up cat to Mylo, yet if it came down to his homie wanting to kill me, he most likely wouldn’t say a mumbling word.

We finally arrived at the big, beautiful doctor’s office in the heart of Santa Monica. I knew this place was legit simply by the affluent location. While Santa Monica wasn’t exactly Beverly Hills or Bel Air, only the rich or soon to be rich resided over here.

Rakim helped me from the car, and we entered the seemingly all glass building before he told me to have a seat while he checked in. It wasn’t long before we were called to the back and into a room with a pretty, young white girl who was clearly in charge of our test.

“Okay, so we will be testing the baby’s DNA against yours, Mr. Godfrey. And you are the brother to the alleged father, right?” she asked, and he nodded to confirm.

I didn’t like that she used the word alleged, but in this instance, what else could she say?

“And how badly could this harm the baby?” I questioned. “Like, they won’t be born with anything, right?”

“It’s unlikely it will affect the baby at all. Everything should be fine, but of course we recommend babies be tested once they are fully formed and out of the womb. Also, it’s much cheaper,” she expounded. “Any more questions?”

“How long?” Rakim inquired of course.

“It’ll take a couple weeks, but we offer rush for a fee if⁠—”

“We want rush.” He cut her off, and I rolled my eyes on the low.

“How often do you make mistakes?” I chimed in, feeling Rakim look at my side profile pensively.

“Never, Miss Gates. I can assure you of that.” She smiled and then waited, eyes toggling looking between Rakim and me to see if we had any more inquiries.

We didn’t, and so the procedure commenced. It was pretty quick, them drawing my blood and then swabbing him. Afterwards, Rakim made sure to pay extra for rush service, and then we left.

“So if they make a mistake and it says you aren’t related to my baby, then what? You’re gonna kill me?” I asked somewhat in jest. I truly wanted to know but was hopeful no mistakes would be made, and therefore, no consequences would be faced.

Rakim was silent, driving as his hand glided across his healthy beard.

“I don’t know,” he responded, shocking me.

“Last time I talked to you, you threatened my life.” I folded my arms, astonished by his answer this go-round.

I wondered what made him change his mind because he seemed adamant about killing me when he pulled up at the beauty shop. Not to mention, he didn’t appear out of it and instead levelheaded.