Page 63 of Pieces of Us

“I don’t want to keep talking about this, Jo. It’s my daughter’s birthday. I’m just trying to make her happy today.”

“I’m just saying. Why are you dragging this out? Jonathan and I take great care of you. It’s not like you really loved her anyway.”

“So, it’s okay for you to be married, but not me? She has my kids. I won’t let her leave me and take them away from me.”

“I’m not saying that, and I’m not trying to be insensitive to your feelings. But she caught you, Justin. The cat is out of the bag now, so there is no reason why you should fight her on this. Let her have what she wants and split custody. What’s so wrong about that?”

“Can we not talk about this here?”

“Fine. Did she even respond to you taking her out for a few hours?”

“I talked to Megan, and she said she would come over for a few hours. Apparently, herfatheris throwing her a partyat his house. For some reason, I think Morgan is only doing this because of his ass. Fucking coward. He ran away from his responsibility and now wants to come back and play daddy of the fucking year.” He scoffed.

Loon and I locked eyes, and I signaled for him to chill. I couldn’t believe this was the goofy ass nigga Morgan chose to marry. The fact that he was standing in a fucking bakery with a whole other woman talking mad shit was crazy work. This man sounded like he wasn’t just having a regular poly relationship; he sounded like he was getting fucked by her husband too.

Pussy ass nigga.He wasn’t taking my daughter nowhere.

“I’m so sorry for the delay. We had some orders that were backed up.” The baker came back to the front with his little cake.

“It’s fine. How much do I owe you again?”

“Twenty-seven fifty.”

While fuck boy paid for that cheap ass cake, Loon and I went back outside and waited for them to come out. As soon as they stepped out, I bumped into him purposely, making the cake fall out of his hands.

“What the hell, man! You can’t fu—You!” he exclaimed, looking at me.

“Oh, you know me?” I asked.

“Of course, I know you. You’re the deadbeat asshole who now wants to start coming around after fourteen years.”

“You and fat boy seem to have gotten your wires crossed about me. Neither one of you clowns know me. Because if you did, you wouldn’t even exist in my girls’ world.”

“Clown? It seems like you’re the one that likes to do magic tricks, Houdini.”

I didn’t have time to stand here and go back and forth with him. I checked my watch, realizing I only had twenty minutes until the bakery closed.

“Considering you’re standing here with your side piece, buying a cake for your soon-to-be ex-stepdaughter, I’d say the biggest clown out here is you. I appreciate you for standing in for my daughter when motherfuckas like your ex-father-in-law did everything in his power to shut me out, but I got it from here, homie. Daddy’s home, and I’m here to stay.”

“You will never be a father to my daughter. That’ll only happen over my dead body.”

“What color you want baby girl to wear to your funeral?”

“Justin, let’s just go, okay?”

Shorty looked scared. I understood, though. I had shed my lab coat and rolled up the sleeves on my shirt, so I was sure my tattoos and my size were intimidating. I played football in high school and a little in college, so I outweighed homie by at least a hundred pounds. Not to mention, I had two inches on him.

I wanted to squeeze his head like a sponge just from how he looked at me.

He chuckled menacingly. “It’s hard to believe you’re a doctor. You look just like the thug Gio said you were.”

“Fuck you and him. Megan’s good. She don’t need your two-dollar cake or five minute date. Stay the fuck away from Morgan and my daughter. They don’t need shit from you, my nigga.”

“We’ll see about that.” He took ol’ girl by the hand and stormed away. I shook my head and went back inside the bakery.

“You know he’s going to be a problem, right?”

“Yeah…but I’m the bigger problem.”

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