Page 70 of A Beast Captured My Heart

She stepped to the side as I entered, then she looked at me with pleading eyes. She wanted a response. She wanted to see if all the counseling and therapy plus the new meds were working. She was always worried, and to ease that from her, no matter my differences, I smiled and leaned down towards her short frame. Hugging her tight, I placed a kiss on her greasy forehead. When I stood back up straight, her eyes were misty.

“Thank you, mom.”

I walked off as I swallowed down hard. Being affectionate with Leandra felt weird, probably because we both created such a big distance between each other. Today was a start. I sat down on her plastic-wrapped couch and watched her squeeze Stone’s cheeks and embrace him tight. Mattea was most likely taking a nap. She would have been running in here, jumping on me, and asking me a million questions. Once we all were settled in her family room, she went to the kitchen to grab Stone and me a beer. We made small talk until she said some shit I didn’t feel like hearing.

“I need you to talk to Michael, Praise. The boy is going to get himself killed or kill himself. I didn’t want to tell you this and upset you, but I let him visit two days ago, and the nigga stole a thousand dollars out of my stash.”

“That ain’t my concern. What is, though, is you having that nigga around my daughter.”

I could feel my heartbeat pick up. Clamping my eyes shut, breathing through my nose, and releasing the breath through my mouth, I willed myself to calm down.

“Before you jump to conclusions, she was at Kayori’s house while Michael was visiting. I don’t see why he can’t see his niece, though. You know Michael loves her as much as I do.”

“Kayori’s house? That broad shot me and left me for dead!” I jumped to my feet and started pacing. The voices were starting to tick me off.

“Stop being so dramatic, Praise. That girl ain’t mean no harm, and she’s super sweet. Hell, I hate I was such a bitch to her in the beginning. She’s carrying your child, and Mattea needs a mother figure, so you need to pull your panties out of a bunch.”

I stopped pacing and looked at Leandra with disbelief as Stone chuckled and put his focus on his phone.

“You always disregarding how the fuck I feel, Leandra. Mattea is my daughter. You ask me first!”

I didn’t give a fuck how petty I sounded; Leandra needed to stop taking shit upon herself when it came to my daughter.

“Michael is a fucking cracked out nigga. Whether he’s ya son or not, it was stupid of you to let him come here. You better get that nigga in rehab and keep him out my fucking path. I’ll be out here for a while to help Kayori with the baby, so you better warn that nigga.”

“Praise, you got to help him. I don’t want nothing happening to my baby boy,” she begged.

I sat back down on her slippery ass couch and took another swig of my beer.

“Like I said, keep him away from me. You made me get help, make that nigga get help too. I ain’t mental by choice; I was born with this shit. Michael is a crackhead by choice. He ain’t man enough to face his skeletons, so he’s chasing a pipe to keep them concealed. That nigga plotted against me for years! I kill niggas for less, and here this nigga is still breathing because of you!” I pointed my index finger directly towards her as she sparked up another cigarette and started rocking in her rocking chair.

“That was the best I could do for you. Michael should be dead like the rest of them muthafuckas that crossed me, so don’t push that nigga’s luck.”

“But Praise, you got to…” I held my hand up, stopping her from completing her sentence.

“Drop it, Leandra.”

She shut her lips and continued to smoke her cigarette as Stone tried to make conversation while we waited for Mattea to wake up. I was zoned out and in deep thought, ignoring what Leandra and Stone were talking about. My chest grew tight, and my heartbeat switched up as my thoughts were back heavy on Kayori. I pulled out my phone and shot her a text. I was ready to get it over with and let my presence be known to her.

It had been too long since I had even seen her. I was ready to make the shit happen.

Chapter Thirty-Four

KAYORI

My next-door neighbor and his sister stood outside with me in front of my house, laughing hard about the game of Uno we had just played. Icella and her brother, Carlos, were down to earth and really cool. At first, I was not fond of making new friends, especially since Carlos came on strong to me. He didn’t hide the fact that he liked me and didn’t care that I was with child. Once I made it clear that I wasn’t interested, he respected me, and we all started hanging out from time to time.

I got a little close with Icella, although we were like day and night. Icella was real ratchet and ghetto as hell. She had a heart of gold, though, which is why I hired her to clean my Airbnb property. She was heavyset like me and really pretty. Both she and Carlos mixed with Mexican and Black making up their DNA. Icella’s hair was jet black and curly as hell, stopping at her waist. Carlos’s hair was tapered on the sides and cut short in low tight curls. He was handsome as hell, a pretty boy. They both moved in around the same time as I.

I could tell they had hard lives, but they both were real genuine. I didn’t hang with Icella and her group of friends, though. They were crazy as hell, always arguing, and had drama going. It felt good to have new people in my life. I was always tight with just me and Meshalay. It was hard for me to trust, but I took to Icella and Carlos easily.

“So, I need my bread, Mami. I whooped y’all asses three times!” Carlos chuckled as he pulled a blunt from behind his ear.

Icella rolled her eyes as I rubbed my stomach. Feeling my son move always made me happy. He was a busy body inside of me. He moved so much that it started to hurt. My baby was all out of space inside of me, and he let it be known too. I couldn’t wait for him to be born.

“Carlos, shut yo pretty boy ass up. I’ll Cash App you yo funky hundred when I get paid on Friday.”

“It wouldn’t be a funky hundred if you had won three rounds.”