Page 1 of So I Know it's Real

Prologue

Durk

Liar

Sweat made my hands slip from the steering wheel, and my vision stayed trained on the highway. Street racing had been a part of my life for years, and now it seemed like I couldn’t push my whip fast enough. I weaved through traffic, saying fuck the law. If the police got behind me, they’d have to chase me.

“Durk, slow down. If you don’t relax, you’re going to be a patient instead of a visitor.” My cousin Church huffed from the backseat.

“I can’t slow down. I can’t leave Kehlani to have my baby by herself. Fucking with y’all, I probably missed everything.”

Church handed a bottle of liquor to his brother, Shiloh, like they had something to celebrate. After the way they got on my ass about getting Kehlani pregnant, their joy had to be a result of the successful drop we made in Vegas.

The day I told my family I was having a baby, Shiloh and Church pressed me for being reckless. I had just turned twenty-one, and while I made my money in the streets, the chubby cheek cutie I would kill for was completing her last year in college. Kehlani’s birth family wasn’t around, and my familypractically adopted her when she became my girlfriend, so they rooted for her as much as I did.

“Aye!” I shot Church a look through the rearview mirror. “Did you get in contact with my mama and my twin?”

“Didn’t I tell you to relax? Mercy and Auntie are already there with Mama Jo. The squad is en route too.”

“You didn’t need to call anybody else. I don’t want different hands and stank breath on my newborn. That shit ain’t safe.”

Church squeezed my shoulder. “Listen to my little cousin, sounding all grown up.”

“I don’t have a choice. My baby needs a daddy, not a gangsta. I can’t fuck this up.”

“Is that why you’re asking her to marry you?” Shiloh joined the conversation. “You know that’s not a requirement to be a good parent, right?”

“I know, but I love her. I don’t want to be with anybody else. Besides, with the way I live, I want Kehlani to be taken care of if anything happens to me.”

I parked in a spot near the emergency room entrance, grabbed the bouquet of roses and the black box resting on my middle console, then jumped out of the car. Worried and winded, I jogged to the reception desk, avoiding the metal detector.

“Excuse me, sir!”

I ignored the officers, knowing my cousins would take care of them. My burner went wherever I went, and a few dollars always ensured that wasn’t a problem.

“I’m looking for labor and delivery. My girl is having my baby,” I informed a nurse behind a long white counter.

“Congratulations! May I have her name? I’ll also need identification for everyone going upstairs.”

I slid my license across the counter, and Shiloh and Church crept up behind me and did the same. The nurse pressed a few keys on the keyboard and then handed us three wristbands.

“Ms. James is on the third floor—Room 303. The elevator is around the corner. Once you step off, you’ll run into a nurse’s station.”

As we ascended up the elevator, I prayed I hadn’t missed the big moment. I was hours away when I got the call that Kehlani was in labor, and I nearly lost my mind. No matter how much money I made, I would’ve stayed in Silk Hills had I believed I wouldn’t be around when Kehlani needed me. I had bodies under my belt and had handled enough drugs to satisfy Tony Montana, yet the idea of failing my lady and kid made me anxious.

My grandmother, Mama Jo, was the first person I spotted when the elevator doors parted. I hurried over and placed a kiss on her cheek before hugging my mama and pounding my sister, Mercy’s, fist.

“Have y’all heard anything?”

Sadness filled Mercy’s eyes as she looked around the room. “Kehlani is in recovery.”

“Damn!” I grimaced, realizing I was too late. “All right. Let me go check on her.”

“Wait. Let me talk to you before—”

“Ahhh!”

Kehlani’s screams cut off whatever Mercy was about to say and triggered me to sprint down the hallway. I barged into room 303 as a group of nurses walked out. Confused, I stared at them strangely, detecting their somber demeanors even under their mask. I had watched enough YouTube videos to know the energy in the room was too cold for new life to be present.

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