Page 82 of Defending the Post
“You were young, and I’ve been waiting for this day. I can’t wait to get to know you again,” she interrupted.
I’m glad she stopped me from exposing my father with Marquise holding me. I told him we would talk about it but he hadn’t brought it up. Eventually, I would have to come clean about him, but I wasn’t rushing the process.
“I promise I will put in the work.”
“And how does your father feel about this?” she questioned, and my body stiffened.
Marquise lifted my chin and glared into my eyes. The conversation I was hoping to delay was coming sooner than I wanted.
“Daddy and I are no longer talking. I don’t agree with his lifestyle and the choices he makes. Mom, he hurts people,” I said.
Silence stood between us, but we spoke louder than before.
“I knew something was going on.”
“I’m not going to tell him where you are or disclose your location,” I said as I raised my head from Marquise’s chest, but Mom laughed. Confusion coursed through me as she echoed in my ear.
“Erin, your daddy sends me flowers and diamonds every week. He knows where I live but he also knows what is required.If you give a man conditions, you better stand on it,” she said, and my mouth parted.
I lifted from Marquise as I sat up with a tensed body and elevated heartbeat.
“Daddy never talks about you. I assumed you guys hated each other.”
“I love Eldridge, but I don’t like what he does. When he is ready to give up his lifestyle, he will come home,” she said.
The shock of knowing the truth ran my blood cold. I assumed she didn’t know anything about his illegal enterprise. What I did know was limited.
“Mom, this isn’t adding up.”
“I’m not surprised. He shielded you. We have a lot to discuss,” she said, as I sat back on the couch in disbelief.
Maybe I needed to call my daddy, I thought to myself.
Mom and I talked for another thirty minutes before I hung up the phone. Marquise ordered us breakfast before I could offer to cook. He unwrapped a steak omelet and pancakes as he remained on the couch.
“What’s the deal with your daddy? He does illegal things?” Marquise questioned before he poked a piece of pancakes in his mouth.
I was right, we were having this conversation today. “Don’t freak out but I caught him pointing a gun at a guy I used to date. After that, it snowballed into me unraveling his double life. He hurt people.”
Marquise paused from chewing his food as he stared at me. I bit down on the side of my lip, ready to assure him he was safe.
“Your father is a gangster?” he asked for confirmation.
I rocked my head from side to side to lighten the mood. Marquise’s worried expression formed into a smile. Afterward, I exhaled a hard breath.
“I knew you got that smart ass mouth from somebody, and your mother seemed to be a nice person,” he said.
I squinted in his direction, and he laughed but this wasn’t funny. My father’s reputation and reach weren’t something to joke about. He wasn’t a normal street gangster; he was a crime boss. How did him and Uncle Maalik take two different paths raised in the same household?
I lifted from my seat and straddled Marquise. He smiled, mind traveling directly to sex.
“You are safe,” I said as I cradled his face with my hands.
He smiled as he puckered his lips for a kiss.
Chapter Fourteen
Fourth Quarter
