Page 80 of Pen Me

I heard her chair sliding on the floor as she started moving quickly.

“Meet her on the way. On the main road from the cabin. She has her.”

“I’m on it. Bye.” Auggie always sounded like she was slamming the door in someone’s face when she ended a phone call.

At least with me anyways.

We’d never gotten along, and hell, I’d never talked to her like Zig just did.

Fuck me.

“My daughter found her mother—” I tried to process what he’d just said.

Octavia wasn’t clean cut or bougie, but she wasn’t a party girl, either.

“Unresponsive,” Zig confirmed. “Cancer.”

“Octavia doesn’t have cancer,” I flippantly dismissed.

“According to your brother, she does.”

“My br– Menace? What the fuck does Menace know about my daughter and her mother…”

Zig stared at me, and I felt my blood boil. I’d ate that shit once, my daughter was too little to remember, but if that little fucker was out there railing Octavia now, while Rumi was in middle school…

I’d fuck his entire world up.

I sucked my teeth and stewed until Zig mumbled, “I can’t believe Sammy hid out there with him.”

“Sammy?”

He nodded, “I heard her in the background, telling me to have you call Auggie. She said to get you out there, that Rumi needed you. All Menace could do was fuckin’ panic. He wanted your ass to come and handle shit. Sound familiar? He fucks shit up then cries for someone to come pick up the mess.”

I raised a brow, and nodded, not trusting my own mouth for the moment. My anger rose, and my thoughts drifted back to my first incarceration.

“There is the Mt. Vernon exit sign,” I pointed out, only to discover Zig had a tense expression himself. “Breathe, brother. We can’t unload on him in front of Sammy and Rumi.”

He huffed and shook his head.

“I just can’t fuckin’ believe all this. He’s out here droppin’ bodies, with my daughter riding bitch. What the fuck is he thinking?”

I shook my head, he was my little brother, but I couldn’t defend that rogue shit he’d been on lately. It was affecting all of us. I directed Zig to the cabin, where Sammy’s car was sitting behind a bush. There was a tarp nearby. I assumed my brother had been hiding it under, but no one had reconcealed it yet. I said nothing and made my way inside.

The sound of Rumi sniffling, her breath hitching and coming on audible sobs made my heart physically hurt. Menace stepped out of the bathroom, and despite my pep talking Zig, I could stop my instinct to rush toward him. My right fist curled, and he froze, his gaze dropping to it.

“I just want to see her, please,” Rumi cried, stepping out of the bathroom behind him.

Instead of punching him, I shoved him out of the way with my left hand and snatched Rumi against my chest.

“Daddy,” she sobbed, wrapping her arms around me.

“Henny’s here?” Sammy asked, stepping out of the bathroom.

Her eyes widened when she saw not only me, but her own father.

“What are you doing here?” Zig demanded.

“She just got back.” Menace explained.

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