Page 35 of Pieces of Us

“It’s complicated. Nehemiah, I’m so sorry. I should have never listened to my father. Everything he’s ever said to me is a lie. And me trying to follow the word of God on top of feeling guilty about fornicating before marriage…I just did whatever he asked me to do, and I’m so sorry for that.”

Her tears resurfaced as I walked back over to her, pulling her into my arms. She wrapped her arms around me, and I nuzzled my nose into her neck. We stood like that for almost a minute before I kissed her collarbone.

“I don’t know if I can continue the visit, Mo. I’d be inclined to tell her who I am. I’ll have the other doctor on call check her out, but Iwillsee her again…very soon. So, you need to tell her about me because there is no way I can walk this Earth knowing I have a kid. You’re going to be mad at me, but I don’t care. As soon as I see your pops again, I’m beating the fuck out of that nigga.”

“Ne—”

I held my hand up to stop her from speaking. I paged Doctor Simpson then opened the door for her to walk out. I didn’t give damn what she said. I was going to bust that nigga’s head in for what the fuck he did.

“I’ll expect a call by the end of week. If you don’t, I’m going to find you. You don’t want me to disturb your home, Mo, even though I’m going to disturb that shit anyway. Have a good day. Doctor Simpson will be in in a moment.”

She stared at me for a moment before her lips touched mine. I wanted to slip my tongue into her mouth, but we were in my place of business, so I chilled on the PDA.

“I promise to make it right.”

“You better.”

She nodded and left my office as I closed the door and released the tears I was holding in.

What the fuck?

“Huh?”

“Are you serious?”

“I knew something was off with her when I saw her.”

The plethora of reactions after telling my family what had occurred this afternoon rang around the room in sequence. My father, Shanise, Shelby, Chelsea, and Loon all sat in my father’s sitting room. I sat and nursed a glass of bourbon while I tried to wrap my head around the fact I had a thirteen year old. The love of my life bore my seed, and I wasn’t there to watch her grow. She didn’t know me.

“Yeah…” My voice trailed off, head fell against the couch, and my eyes went to the high ceiling.

“So, what are you going to do?” my father asked.

“I’m going to get my daughter and my girl back. Then I’m going to beat the fuck out of Gio for all the years he stole from me.”

“I want in on that shit, brodie. I love me a good fight,” Loon said, cracking his knuckles.

“Lawrence, please stay out of this. Don’t co-sign the madness,” Shanise voiced.

Loon smiled at her. “I won’t if you agree to let me take you out.”

“Nigga, please.”

I shook my head and chuckled.

“Hemi, this is messed up. I never mistook Morgan to be so reckless,” Shelby countered.

“I’m positive her pops is to blame for all of this. However, once she left that hypocrite’s home, she should have tried to find me. She claims that he threatened to get Pops locked up if she told me, and she didn’t want that.”

“Clearly, I’m going to have to see about him. He keeps making these idle threats and kept my granddaughter away from her father. I may not be perfect and made some bad calls, but one thing I don’t play about is my fucking kids. You ain’t gon’ have to see about that bitch nigga. I think it’s high time we start going to church on Sundays. We need to get reacquainted with the man of God,” my father spat.

“I agree, Pops. We need to lay some holy paws on ’im,” Loon countered.

“Why are you here?” Shanise asked.

“Because you’re here.” Amusement played on his face as he licked his lips and did the Birdman hand rub.

I laughed. “Loon, chill.”

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