Page 5 of Don't Kross Me
Taken aback by her question, Kross screwed his face up. “What you mean what I’m doing here? I’m his father.”
“What type of father are you? You left her while she was pregnant and was never around for Aniyis, and now, you walk in here after all her hard work is snatched away from her,” she scoffed, looking him up and down in disgust.
“You act like it was my fucking choice to leave my lady while she was pregnant with my kid. I did what I could for Cassie and Aniyis, and you know that. They never wanted for shit while I was away. I know I wasn’t your first choice for your daughter, but she chose me, and we had that little boy over there.” He pointed to Aniyis. “I wasn’t there then, and I get it, but I’m fucking here now.”
“My daughter is dead, and this shit has you written all over it, Kross.” Joyce remained firm in her stance as she cut her eyes at him, her pupils full of hatred.
“Mama Joyce—” Ezekiel maneuvered between them in hopes of deescalating the blow up that was waiting to happen “—he’s Aniyis’ father, and you need to respect that. What happened to Cassie last night fucked everybody up, and we can only imagine the pain you’re in right now as her mother. However, now is not the time to be at odds with each other. We need to be a support system for ‘Niyis. That’s how Cassie would want it.”
Kross was glad that Ezekiel stepped in when he did because he wasn’t in the right headspace to reason with Joyce. Theynever had the best relationship, especially since Cassie was on the police’s radar more than ever once she started fucking with Kross. He left a bad taste in Joyce’s mouth, and in this current situation with her daughter in the morgue and her grandson in a hospital bed fighting for his life, she seemed to be right about every bad thing she thought about Kross. Ezekiel managed to get through to Joyce, and she walked away from Kross and took a seat near the window in the hospital room.
Slowly, Kross trudged over to Aniyis. The closer he got, the more he felt like his heart was about to tear out of his chest. Aniyis suffered from two gunshots to the chest. He was lucky to be alive, but the fight wasn’t over. He was in a comatose state with tubes down his throat to support his breathing. Kross felt his eyes scorch with tears as he reached down and stroked Aniyis’ cinnamon brown dreads. His last visitation with his son was two months ago. Everything was perfect then. Despite the circumstances, Aniyis still found light in each visitation with his father. Their last visitation was filled with laughter and random conversations about his new interests. Seeing him in this condition turned everything dark for Kross. If Aniyis didn’t pull through, he would no longer have anything to live for.
“Can I have a minute with my son?”
Joyce had her face screwed up in a scowl, not wanting to budge. Kross craned his head up from Aniyis and eyed her with tears threatening to spill from his eyes. “Please,” he croaked out, unsure how much longer he could hold it together.
Joyce stood from her seat and followed Ezekiel out of the room to offer Kross some privacy with Aniyis. Once the door shut behind them, Kross craned down and sat a kiss onto Aniyis’ head.
“I’m sorry,” he weakly let out, defeated by his emotions. Salty tears wet his face as he gazed down at his baby boy. “I wish I was there for you and your mama. It should’ve been me, not y’all.”
Being Aniyis’ father was what kept him going all these years while he was locked up in prison. Knowing that he was going to get out and give his son everything he never had in life was all the encouragement he needed.
“I need you to pull through for me, man. We have so much life to live with each other. I’m out now, ‘Niyis. This what we been waiting on.” Kross took Aniyis’ small hand into his and gave it a light squeeze. He no longer had the strength to hold it together. It had been seven years of him being strong when he was broken. With Cassie gone and the uncertainty of whether Aniyis would pull through weighing on him, he was destroyed.
Tears streamed down his face uncontrollably as he cradled Aniyis’ hand in his. He had no idea how he was supposed to move forward. Cassie was the glue that held everything together. Her being gone had everyone torn. His sobs sounded throughout the room as he implored God to make things right.
“I’m gonna get whoever did this to you and your mama, ‘Niyis. I put that on everything, baby boy,” he promised his son before sitting a kiss on his forehead.
He wiped the tears that stained his face and got himself together. He headed for the door, and once he swung it open to exit, he was met with Joyce and Ezekiel.
“We out,” he told his brother, completely ignoring the lethal side eye Joyce was serving him.
Before Ezekiel could offer him a response, Joyce cut right in. “And where do you think you’re going? Your son is in a hospital bed, and you’re leaving?”
“Joyce, now is not the fucking time! My son means everything to me, but so did your daughter! Let me handle this how I see fit!” he roared down at her, causing her heart to plummet to the pit of her stomach. He never intended to come down on Joyce the way he did, but she was kicking him while he was down. She was making it seem like Aniyis and Cassieweren’t a priority for him when in reality, they were all he cared about.
Kross felt the concerned stares from the hospital staff, who were taken aback by his outburst. With a million and one emotions brewing within, he took a deep breath.
Inhale.
Exhale.
“I lost the love of my life. I intended on marrying Cassie as soon as I got settled. My first day out, hearing that she’s not with me no more after spending seven years dreaming about the life we would live together... I just need some time, Joyce. That cool with you?” He lowered his voice, hoping he could get some sympathy from Cassie’s mother.
Joyce pursed her lips before she walked past Kross to head back into Aniyis’ hospital room. A deep breath of relief aired out of him as he headed down the hall toward the exit.
“Yo, K! You can’t go out there and do anything stupid. This your first day out,” Ezekiel reminded him as he rushed behind him.
“Just take me to the condo,” he requested before pressing the button to the elevator.
The rest of the way to the parking garage, Kross and Ezekiel didn’t share a word with each other. Ezekiel respected Kross’ decision not to talk. It was his first day out, and he endured a catastrophic loss with Cassie’s death. Ezekiel couldn’t even imagine what that pain felt like.
Getting into the Urus, he brought the engine to life and sped in the direction of Cassie’s and Aniyis’ condo. It was a quick purchase that was made once Kross came to terms with the fact that he would be serving a few years. He wanted Cassie out of her mama’s house and put up in a nice area. It all worked out in the end since soon after, she found out she was pregnant with Aniyis. The two-bedroom condo was perfect for them.
Kross kept his eyes glued to the world outside the window as his brother switched lane to lane. “What’s the first thing you did when you heard my lady’s car got shot up?”
Ezekiel was a bit shocked by the question since the closer they got to the condo, the more convinced he became that Kross just didn’t have it in him to utter any words. Knowing that his big brother was just mapping shit out in his mind, he gave him the answers he was looking for. “I put my ear out to the streets to figure out who spun on her and my nephew.”
