Page 34 of Back in Blood

I frowned. “It’s nine p.m.”

“Okayyyy,” she replied slowly. “When I got in from work, I took a shower and went straight to sleep. Now I’m up and hungry.”

“You’re not going out this late for food. What do you want? I’ll go get it.”

“Capri, I’m pregnant not handica”

“Lisa,” I cut her off in an assertive tone.

“Fine,” she huffed. “I want steak fried rice and vegetables from the Hibachi place off Lancaster. Oh and a lobster eggroll. I’ll call and order it.”

“You do that. I’m about ten minutes away from Lancaster. Text me your address too.”

“Okay. I moved, so I no longer live with my parents.”

I frowned as she ended the call. I had no clue when she moved, and I wondered why she didn’t tell me. But then again, we rarely talked if it wasn’t about her and how she was feeling.We hadn’t even had sex since she found out she was pregnant. The realization made my dick brick up. My sex life had been trash. Kenya and Lisa were the only women I’d slept with since my relationship with Robin ended. There were times that I’d been out and women tried to talk to me, but I was never interested. All of that might need to change. Lisa was already pregnant, so I damn sure wouldn’t use condoms. Only having sex with one person and having unprotected sex with one person was too much like a relationship. Feelings were sure to get involved, but I wasn’t worried about them getting involved on my end. Or maybe they wouldn’t. It was obvious from the way I’d seen Sage eyeing Lisa that a man wasn’t hard for her to get.

Her being pregnant by me didn’t mean her life was over. At the thought of another man penetrating her while she carried my seed, a glower contorted my face. Yeah, that would be a problem for sure. I scrubbed a hand down my face as I realized that I was already acting pretty damn confident that Lisa’s kid belonged to me. I wanted to believe that she wouldn’t lie and play games with me but shit, Robin had. I’d never again be dumb enough to trust a woman. If a paternity test proved that Lisa’s kid wasn’t mine, I was going to get a vasectomy. Fuck that.

When I entered the Hibachi restaurant to pick up Lisa’s food, I had to do a double take at the man that I saw sitting in the waiting area. I hadn’t seen him in more than two years, but of course, I’d recognize my father anywhere. What messed me up the most was that he looked better than I’d seen him look in years. The last conversation that I held with my father was more than four years ago, and he was so drunk and belligerent, calling it a conversation was a reach. His pecan-colored skin was clear and didn’t look dry and ashy. He had a fresh haircut and a full beard. His attire was neat and clean. We had a brief stare off, and it took me a second to realize that he was with a woman. A woman that looked to be at least ten years younger than him.And with them, was a toddler. The woman also donned a baby bump. She was pregnant. This nigga had a whole new family and hadn’t reached out to me or Bianca in years.

“Hi, can I help you?” the cheerful hostess greeted me and made me tear my gaze away from the man that had terrorized me, my sister, and my mother when we were growing up.

I walked over to the counter and gave the hostess Lisa’s name. I was all set to ignore my sperm donor until he walked over to me. “Capri. It’s good to see you man. You look good.”

“Yeah,” I kissed my teeth refusing to give him the respect of eye contact.

“Look, I know we don’t have the best relationship. I know that but as you can see, I’m better now. I haven’t had a drop of alcohol in thirteen months.”

Those words caused my eyes to dart in his direction. “Well that’s real good for you.” I chucked my chin at his companion. She was staring at us as she patted her child on the back. “I assume this new lil’ family got the better version of you. You stopped drinking for them meanwhile, you beat me, my sister, and my mother black and blue. We didn’t get family outings to dinner and shit. We got yelled at and abused. Nice to see you’re being a stand-up guy to them though.” I was sure that I sounded bitter, but I gave zero fucks.

“I’ve known Monica for three years son. I’ve only been clean for thirteen months. I’m not proud of it, but I put her through hell too.”

“Son,” I snorted as the hostess passed me the bag containing Lisa’s food. I had already paid for it, so I turned and walked towards the door. I didn’t have shit to say to that man.

“Capri!” He was following me, but I kept walking. Aside from letting him know that he wasn’t shit, I didn’t have anything to say to him. “If you ever feel it in your heart to forgive me, comeby the auto shop on Everson. I work there. It’s never too late to make amends, Capri. I want to be in you and your sister’s lives.”

Aggressively, I pressed the button on my key fob to unlock the car door. There wasn’t anything that I wanted or needed from him. If he wanted a chance to get it right, he’d better do so with his new kids. I kissed my teeth and chuckled angrily at the idea of him having new kids. He had some nerve. My jaw muscles flexed as I yanked my gear into reverse and backed out of the parking space that I’d been occupying. My father was irrelevant to me. Irrelevant as hell, so I wasn’t sure why I let seeing him ruin my mood. My mother died five days after I turned eighteen. She was the one that kept the bills paid in the house. My father got paid by direct deposit, and she had access to the bank account. She had until he got off work that day to get the bills paid before he clocked out and blew half the check in the ABC store and bars.

It didn’t matter that he drank cheap liquor, when gallons barely lasted him three days. He woke up drinking and went to bed drinking some days. It was nothing for him to spend $20 on a bottle of alcohol at the ABC store, then go out to a bar hours later and spend $30 on more drinks. That was $50 in a matter of hours, and that went on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The damn near $200 that he could spend in three days on alcohol was money that could’ve went toward food or other expenses because he barely made above minimum wage as it was. My mother couldn’t work due to health issues but thankfully, she got an SSI check and when my father’s money was gone, hers kept us afloat as much as possible.

Without my mother around to run the ship, I didn’t want to know what would become of him or the house. I packed my bags and moved in with Bianca. I got a job at a local carwash and a part-time job at a grocery store. I worked seven days a week for months until I saved enough money to buy some dope. After amonth of working two jobs and selling dope, I had huge bags underneath my eyes, and I was exhausted, but I had enough to move into a one-bedroom apartment. A month after that, I got a car and quit both my jobs. Dolph and I stole cars and sold dope and guns. Working myself to death for chump change wasn’t appealing to me but that fast cash gave me an adrenaline rush.

My mom wasn’t around, my father wasn’t shit and technically, I was grown. Bianca was the only one that tried to talk some sense into me, but I wasn’t trying to hear it. The only person that was able to get me out of the streets was Caprice. By the time I arrived at Lisa’s condo, I had calmed down a bit. She answered the door wearing black yoga shorts that hugged her thighs that had gotten thicker, and a black baby tee.

“Thank you. I’m starving,” she took the bag from me, and I stepped over the threshold. Her place was nice.

“You’re welcome. How’ve you been feeling?’ I didn’t like the fact that Lisa worked so much, but I didn’t know for sure if she was carrying my child. I damn sure didn’t want to jump out the window and offer to help pay her bills.

“I’ve been feeling pretty good. I’ve been taking my supplements, staying hydrated, and resting as much as I can. It hasn’t been too bad.”

I gave a slight nod. “You know we can take a blood test before the baby is born.”

Lisa looked up at me as she lifted the lid on the Styrofoam tray. “Yeah, I know. If that’s what you want to do, I’m fine with it. I’m off Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday this week.”

That was easy. I pulled out my phone and went online to make an appointment at a lab. “Wednesday at one pm?” I asked.

“I can do that.”

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