Page 44

I looked at her, already feeling irritated.

“Does it matter? Just do what the fuck I told you to do.”

She let out a hard breath through her nose before pushing the car door open.

“Okay, damn. Give me the keys then.”

I dug into my pocket and dropped the keys into her hand, but the second she snatched them from me with an attitude, my temper really flared.

I grabbed her arm before she could even turn away.

“Why the fuck are you snatching shit from me?” I snapped, squeezing tighter. “You lost your mind?”

She tried pulling her arm back, but I held onto her.

“Because you got me out here all damn night after promising me we were going to spend time together at your crib. Then you're sending me home by myself when you know I’m scared. That’s dumb as shit.”

The second the words left her mouth, I felt heat rush straight through me.

Not just because of what she said, but because of where she said it. Right there in front of my niggas. I’m about to show her ass. I don’t play that shit.

I drew my hand back and slapped the shit out of her.

The sound cracked through the park loud enough to turn every head around us. Her body stumbled sideways into the hood of the car while one hand flew up to cover her face.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I barked at her, stepping closer while she looked up at me, shocked. “Get your ass in my car and do what the fuck I said. Instead of making shit hard, you need to be figuring out how to make shit easier for me! Figuring out how to make more money around here and not be so fuckin useless.”

She held her cheek, staring at me like she couldn’t believe what had just happened. Her eyes started watering immediately, but she didn’t say anything else this time.

“Now get your ass in the fuckin car and act like you know who's running shit over here!” I barked at her, letting the whole park hear me reprimand her ass. She was going to learn quickly; no bitch of mine is talking back to me.

After I took the wings off the car and watched her drive off, I turned to Sky and Webb.

“Now, show me where this nigga is.”

“For sho, follow us this way,” Webb replied

Time to see what this little supposed Quatar nigga talking about and if I’m going to slap another mutha fucka before I put a bullet in his ass. Speaking of the bitch I just slapped, I just thought of a way that Maleka could help get some money around here too. Make me not have to work for anyone anymore and not even Vivo. I can start my own enterprise if she listens to me.

After all, women and children are supposed to be left out of war, but not where I come from. They are the greatest casualties and can make the other side weak. That’s exactly what I want Crew and them to all be. Weak, broke, and grieving if they don’t comply.

Chapter 10

Delilah

The next morning

7:00 am

I slid my phone into my purse to go to the store after Amir didn’t answer yet another call. I grabbed my keys from the kitchen counter before heading out of the house. Sitting around waiting for him to call me back was only making me think too much, and lately, my mind had already been all over the place with this pregnancy. One minute I was excited, the next minute I was nervous, and then, somehow, hungry in the middle of both.

When I got to the grocery store, I was happy that it wasn’t too crowded because of the time of day it was. I still moved slowly through the aisles, trying to figure out what exactly pregnant women were even supposed to eat because my parents didn’t have anything Google agreed with. Now every time I grabbed something in this store, I ended up putting it back after reading the ingredients on the side. Too much sodium. Too much sugar. Too much caffeine. At this point, it felt like carrying a baby came with a thousand rules nobody warned me about, but this baby was a big investment for me, so I was going to stick to the rules, even if I didn’t agree with them.

I left the snack food aisle and went over to the produce section, where I knew my selections would be safe. I grabbed a container of strawberries before tossing it into the cart along with grapes, yogurt, almond milk, and some healthy cereal I normally would’ve never touched in my life. Half the stuff I was buying looked nasty, but everybody online kept saying the baby needed nutrients, especially with having lupus.

While standing in line to check out, I pulled my phone back out and stared at my last messages with Amir.

The last message I sent him was at 12:00 last night, and he still hadn’t responded almost nine hours later.