TWENTY-ONE
The stillnessof my home was revealing. Too much, almost. There weren’t any children running around intending to drive me insane. There was no Ever walking around making my dick hard at just the sight of her, no matter what she was doing or what she was wearing. The tightening of my chest as I pulled from the blunt in my hand as I sat on the balcony was the only sign that I was still among the living because since Cane had answered Ever’s phone, I’d been numb.
Dressed in all black, I blended with the darkness of the night. The sun had finally settled and it was time to hunt. I had no plans of returning home or to the hospital if my children weren’t in my arms. There was no way I could look into Ever’s hazel eyesand tell her I hadn’t found Emorey and Essence. I couldn’t and I wouldn’t.
An hour ago, I’d gotten the call that they’d been located and there was a team sitting and trying to wait Dewayne out. We wanted him lured off the hotel premises he was on so that there was less of a mess to clean up after ourselves, but he hadn’t left the room. As much as I wanted to continue to wait, every second that my girls were in his presence fucked with me a little more. It was understood among everyone that if he hadn’t left by the nine o’clock hour, we were moving in. I didn’t give a damn about how much cleaning up we’d have to do. It was time to bring my girls home.
My clock read8:42 p.m.
I dropped the remainder of the blunt on the ground and stepped on it. Seeing my girls’ faces would be the only elevation I needed for the rest of the night. I slid through the glass door and closed it behind me. My perfectly made bed hit a nerve for me. Not seeing Ever waiting for me to return from a quick smoke break was like a dagger to the chest. Instead of obsessing over the pain, I laid my cell down on the throw and headed out of the door.
When I made it outside, I almost circled the entire property before discovering the small parting in the fence that Laike had designed for moments, just like this one. I lifted the latch that was near the ground until I’d let the gate up high enough for me to slide under. The flickering headlights on the car a few feet up the road signaled that it was my ride. I walked the short distance until I reached the black Malibu with out-of-state tags.
No words were exchanged between Laike, Cane, and me as I slid in and laid my head against the passenger seat headrest. Closing my eyes, I began to mentally prepare myself for the task ahead. Taking a man’s life for me wasn’t exactly a walk in the park, but neither was it challenging. I could do it in my sleep andnever think about it again. But the baggage that came with some deaths stuck with you for the rest of your life. And, for Dewayne, it was the case. Not for me, necessarily. He belonged in the dirt.
However, there were two little girls involved. One of whom would remember him, no matter how much he lacked as a father. Essence knew him as just that, and there was no way that I’d ever be able to look her in the eyes and admit to ending his life.
There was also a woman who wouldn’t harm a fly in the equation. The guilt she’d feel from his death was heavy on my heart. An empath by nature, she would always worry more about others than herself, the bum ass baby daddy she had included. Knowing that it was my hands that was responsible for his death could easily backfire and cause tension in our relationship. I didn’t want that. But, even more, I didn’t want this nigga breathing a second longer than it was necessary. He deserved every bullet I was going to put through him and with the extended clip on my waist, there was a total of thirty-one.
Ever.I thought of the woman I’d grown to love in such a short amount of time.
She was an angel, and she didn’t mind dancing with a demon. That’s why I’d move mountains, dry seas, and hydrate the desert if it made her happy. She brought goodness to the world. To my world. It was only right that I made it hers, along with the two tiny beauties that shared her hazel eyes and perfect smile. For them, I’d do whatever. For them, I’d become whoever. For them, I’d lay down whoever. That included the man whose nut sack the girls had come from. Because, as far as I was concerned, Ever and I had created them together. The nigga never existed in my book.
The fact that she was carrying my seed complicated this situation even more. For us, it was simple but only because the baby had survived the brutal beating. Hadn’t my child survived,there wouldn’t even be a place in hell for Dewayne’s burdened soul or the number of pieces that I sent him down there in.
Fortunately for us all, my baby was a fighter. Barely a nub in the womb, and he was holding his own. Einsenberg was written all over him.
We pulled up to the two-story motel with only half the letters lighting up, making it hard to read the name. The sight of Emorey and Essence’s location had my nostrils flaring and my blood boiling. Without a doubt, I knew they were terrified and uncomfortable. I had my babies laying on sheets with six-hundred thread counts and adjustable mattresses for their comfort and a good night’s rest. The hellhole that we pulled up to was far from either.
“You ready?” Laike looked at me and asked.
“Born that way.”
I hopped out of the car with my gun aimed at the door, ready for anything to move that wasn’t supposed to. My trigger finger was itching and my blood was boiling. Laike used the key that he’d swiped from the front desk before coming to get me. It had only cost him five hundred measly dollars.
Masked-up and trained to go, we entered the motel room and immediately spotted the girls. Laike was the first inside, grabbing them both and pulling them toward the door. He placed a finger over his mouth, instructing them to both be quiet. Once the girls were safely on the other side of the door, I proceeded.
“What the fuck?” Dewayne rushed out when he noticed he was not alone.
As much as I wanted to honor Ever and not put the pussy on his ass that emerged from the bathroom, just seeing his sorry ass face sent me into overdrive.
Doot. Doot.The silencer on my gun made his assault a quiet one. He’d made enough noise in the last two nights.
Left leg. Right leg.
They were both hit, one after the other, disabling him momentarily. Before his body could even hit the floor, I was out of the door and scooping my girls into my hand.
“Arghhhhhhhh!”
“Have them bring that nigga to the warehouse,” I instructed Cane.
“Big Homie,” he grunted, “Let me save us all the trip.”
“Nah. I told you, this one is mine. Make sure he gets there.ALIVE.”
“Alright.”
Emorey’s arms were wrapped around my neck so tightly as if she was afraid that I’d let her go. I didn’t have any intention to, not even when I climbed in the backseat with her and Essence. Having them in my arms felt like a dream, and I’d be damned if I ever wanted to wake up from it. Their molly faces and dirty pajamas let me know they hadn’t been properly cared for. Seeing them in what was possibly the same clothes they’d been taken in, had me wanting to go put two more in that nigga.
