“Bless, I’m trying to keep you safe. If I don’t tell you then I know you safe.”
“Enough with all that keeping me safe shit. I just took a damn bullet for the both of us. I deserve to know what the hell is going on.”
“I don’t give a fuck ‘bout you raising your voice. You will be here to raise my son. If we both in fucked up predicaments, then we leave him out here alone. I ain’t having it.”
I laid there for a minute listening to his heart. I wouldn’t be able to live if something happened to him, but I had to respect what he was saying. That was the first step in me learning how to fall back and trust him.
“What you think about moving. I asked you this before, but we need to have a serious talk about it. What are your plans?”
“I want to open my barbershop back up. As far as me moving away I don’t even know how to feel about it. Everything I know is in Atlanta. How am I supposed to start over somewhere else?”
“Stop worrying about the wrong things. It won’t happen overnight so that should give you time to promote yourself on social media with a new location.”
“What about the barbershop I was building?”
“I sold it.”
“You did what?” I sat up.
“I sold it. You can start over with another one. It was a bad spot anyway with all the construction going on with the highway.”
“You couldn’t speak to me about it?”
“The last time we talked, you didn’t want shit from me, remember. I sold that bitch and put the money up. I’ll give you the money if it's an issue. What I want you to do is trust what the fuck I say and let it ride. Can you do that? Stop being strong and let me be the nigga that wears the pants. I’ve been doing business for a long time, and I ended up making more money off that bitch anyway.”
“I’m going to work on it.”
“That’s all a nigga want from you and we gon’ ride this bitch til’ the wheels fall off.”
A week had gone by, and Lucky was back to doing sneaky shit. This time I wasn’t going to overreact; I was going to wait it out and hope he got caught doing whatever it was he was doing. Since I was no longer pregnant, I decided to get my ass out of the house and go and try to find me something to do. Lucky’s pops had reached out to me to meet him for lunch. I thought it was odd since we hadn’t talked since my mama died but he was still the man that raised me. What could it hurt?
I packed Kani’s bag and headed out the door so I could beat traffic. Slutty Vegan had become one of my favorite spots, so I asked him to meet there. It was always a line, but I thought if we got there in enough time, we could be one of the first in line. I paid for parking and toted Kani’s heavy ass on my hip a block up the road to the restaurant. He had gotten there before opening and got us a table. I was completely out of breath when I sat down at the table so when he reached for Kani, I didn’t hesitate to hand him over.
“He looks just like Lucky did when he was this age. What are you feeding him?”
“I still breastfeed, and he eats certain table foods if it’s healthy.”
“My goodness. It’s good to see you. How you been since the incident?”
“It’s been a struggle. Some days are bad where I have pain in my neck, but I look at my son's face and it gives me motivation to keep pushing.”
“That’s good. How is Merci?”
“She’s good. Why did you want to meet?” I cut straight to the chase.
“I don’t know if my son told you or not, but he took something from me, and I want it back. I’ve tried to call him, but he has me blocked. Is there any way you can get it for me or I can follow you to get it?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Oh, so you in a relationship and don’t know what the fuck going on in your house?”
“I haven’t even ordered any damn food yet and you already on some assuming shit. I trust my nigga enough that I don’t have to know every little fucking detail.”
“I guess your ass didn’t know he had a son either?”
“I know that already,” I stared his ass in the eyes.
“What about the other bitch that’s claiming she pregnant right now?”
