Chapter 31

I frowned as I pulled into my mama’s driveway. That square ass nigga was here again. Since we met at the charity, I’d been trying to find something wrong with him and it was pissing me off that I had nothing.

He’d been working the same job for twenty years. He didn’t have any secret kids or wives. His financial situation was impeccable. He owned his home and his cars, and his record was clean. The man didn’t even have a parking or speeding ticket.

I had one of my guys follow him for a week and he never did anything that would make me put a bullet in his ass. He seemed damn near perfect.

Getting out of my car, I headed up to the front door. Before I could open it, it swung open and there he stood with a grin.

“Stanley. Nice to see you.”

“You answering doors like you live here.”

He laughed. “I was actually on my way out.”

My mother appeared at the door with an identical smile.

“Hey, baby. Honey, you forgot your wallet.”

Aaron slapped his forehead. “Thank you, my love.”

When he leaned in and kissed her, I almost gagged.

“I’ll see you later,” he said, tipping her chin. “I love you.”

That was new.

“I love you, too.”

He slapped my shoulder as he walked out the door. I frowned as I brushed my shoulder off and stepped inside.

“You love that lame ass nigga, Ma?”

She slapped the side of my head. “I’ve told you about talking to me like I’m one of your little friends, Stanley. Show me some damn respect.”

“Dang, Ma! I’m sorry!”

She walked back into the living room and took a seat on the couch. I followed behind her and sat across from her.

“What brings you by?”

“I can’t come see you?”

“You can always come see me. I’m just surprised to see you since you’ve been stuck under Salima.”

“I just had to make sure she understood ain’t no breaking up.”

“Stanley, you can’t force her to be with you.”

“I’m not forcing her. She’s right where she wants and needs to be.”

She shook her head. “If you aren’t Senior’s son.”

“I am nothing like your baby daddy.”

“Like hell you aren’t. You don’t believe she’ll leave you, just like he didn’t believe I’d leave him. You know he had the nerve to come over here the other day.”

“For what?”

“Talking about life is too short. He said Salima being kidnapped made him realize how much he still loved me. I asked him how the hell did he come to that conclusion cause there is no love here for him. Not in a romantic way, at least. I’ll always love him as your father, but I’m done with that phase of life. I’m choosing the man the chooses me and only me. Speaking of which, you need to show Aaron some respect. He’s a good man, and he makes me happy. I love him, Stanley.”

I noticed she was messing with her hand. That’s when I noticed the ring on her left ring finger.

“What is?—”

“He asked me to marry him.”

“Since when!”

“Last night.”

“And what did you say?”

She frowned. “Who’s the parent here? Me. I pushed your big-headed ass out so don’t question me. I said yes.”

“The nigga didn’t even think to ask me.”

“Why did he need to ask you?”

“As a sign of respect. Ma, you kept that man a secret for six months and now you’re gonna marry him? The least the nigga could have done was ask for my blessing. That’s all I’m saying. I don’t have no beef with him. Do I like him? Hell no. But he’s good to you and he makes you happy, so he can live for now.”

She dropped her head in her hands momentarily before looking up at me.

“What am I gonna do with you? You know what this is, Stanley?”

“I’m sure you’re gonna tell me.”

“You’re so used to taking care of me, that you don’t like the idea of handing over the reins to somebody else.”

She moved to sit next to me. Cupping my face, she kissed my cheeks.

“I love you. You’re a good son and you’ve always made sure I was straight, but you are a grown man who’s now in a serious relationship. Mama has to have a life too, baby. I wasted so many of my good years on your father, and it’s beyond time for me to have my happy ending.”

I stared at her for a moment. She did deserve that. I was just protective of her. It didn’t matter how good a nigga was to her, he would never be good enough for her. I guess that was selfish, though.

“I ain’t calling him my stepfather or nothing like that. The nigga is Aaron and if Aaron hurts you, he’s gon’ have to see me.”

“He understands that, but you have nothing to worry about. I know you’ve been checking up on him and I also know you haven’t found anything. Your mama ain’t no fool. I had Jaeda check him out when I first met him.”

“Woooow! So that’s why she wouldn’t do it. She already had the tea.”

My mother giggled. “You know that’s my baby.”

“I got something for her ass.”

She slapped my chest. “Leave that girl alone. Enough about me. How is my girl? How’s she been holding up? How’s school?”

I sighed. “School is going good. She’s been studying and working hard. As far as her holding up… I don’t know, Ma. I feel like something is up with her.”

I explained to her the way Salima had been feeling lately. She was brushing it off like it was just stress or nothing, and it was pissing me off. I’d almost snatched her up and took her to my cousin to be evaluated, but I let her live.

“You think it’s stress, Ma? Can that shit be that bad?”

“It could be stress… or it could be something else.”

“Something like what?”

“It’s funny how you know everything else, but you can’t tell when you might be about to become a father.”

“You think she’s pregnant?”

“I do.”

“Don’t you think she would have said something?”

‘Maybe she’s in denial, baby. I mean, that’s life changing news. Everyone doesn’t take it the same way. Does she even want kids?”

“She does, but not right now.”

I frowned to myself as a feeling of anger washed over me. What if she was pregnant? What if she hadn’t said anything because she was planning to have an abortion? Would she really get rid of my child?

“Ma, I gotta go.”

I stood abruptly and went to the door.

“What? Why?”

“I need to know if she’s pregnant, and if she is, why the hell she didn’t tell me?”

“Don’t go over there acting a damn fool. Act like you have some sense.”

I heard what she said, but fuck that. I had tunnel vision. All I could focus on was getting over to Salima’s and seeing what the hell was up.

W hen I got to the apartment, it was around three. Salima was still in class, so I made my way up to her place and used my key to get in. When I walked in, nothing was out of place our out of the ordinary. I headed straight for her bathroom.

I didn’t know what the fuck I was looking for or why I was even going through all this shit. Kids had never been heavy on my mind. Sure, I wanted one or two, but I wasn’t in a rush. Still, the idea that Salima might be pregnant and hiding it from me didn’t sit right with me.

When I mentioned her seeing my cousin again, she immediately said no. I thought about all the times she said she wasn’t feeling good. All the times I had to hold her hair back while she threw up her fucking guts in the toilet. The headaches. The fatigue.

All the signs were right there in my face and I ignored them, thinking she was just having anxiety or a trauma response to what she’d been through.

The sound of my phone ringing halted my searching. I pulled it out to see that it was Maceo.

“What?” I answered.

“Damn, nigga. Did I catch you at a bad time?”

“Hell yeah. I’m dealing with some shit.”

“You need some help?”

“Nah, man. I got this.”

“Well, what’s up?”

“Salima might be pregnant. I’m gonna strangle that damn girl if she’s hiding my baby.”

Maceo laughed.

“The fuck is so damn funny?”

“You, nigga. I’ve never seen you like this. Do you even want a baby?”

“If she’s carrying my seed, damn right I want it.”

“You down bad, my dude.”

“Fuck you, Mace. I know you ain’t called to shoot the shit. What do you want? You’re wasting my?—”

I paused as I caught sight of a pregnancy test box in the trash can. The top stuck out like she’d tried to cover it up, but it was still visible. When I pulled it out, I could hear the test rattling around inside. I emptied the contents into my hand and sure enough, there was a positive test.

“Muthafucka,” I mumbled.

“What?”

“She’s pregnant.”

“You swear?”

“I’m looking at the fucking test.”

Just then, I heard the front door open.

“I’ma call you back.”

I didn’t give him a chance to protest before I hung up. Shoving the phone and the test in my pocket, I made my way back out front. Salima was on the phone when I stepped into the living room, so she didn’t see me at first, but when she did, she jumped.

“Jesus, Deuce! You scared the shit outta me!”

“Call whoever that is back.”

She frowned. “Excuse you?”

“Call them back, Salima. We need to talk.”

“Shar, I’ma call you back. This man has lost his damn mind. Bye girl.”

She hung up the phone and placed her things on the kitchen island. Turning to me, she folded her arms.

“Well?”

“You got something you wanna tell me?” I asked.

She shifted a bit but kept her composure. “What are you implying?”

I pulled the positive test from my pocket. “You pregnant?”

“You went through my trash?”

“That ain’t the point. Are you pregnant?”

She sighed. “Yes.”

“So, you wasn’t gonna say nothing? Were you even gonna keep it?”

She scoffed hard as hell. She brushed past me, almost taking my damn arm off in the process as she stormed off to her room. Her skirt bounced angrily, almost distracting me as I followed behind her, fully prepared to argue… some shit I never did.

When I walked into her room, she was in the closet looking for something. Just as I opened my mouth to speak, she walked out and shoved a box into my chest.

“Open it,” she said firmly.

“What the hell is this?”

“Open the fucking box, Stanley!”

I frowned as I lifted the lid. Inside was a gold Cuban link chain resting on top of a black note with gold letters. It read:

D ear Daddy,

I may just be a bump, but I love you more than you’ll ever know. Keep this close to your heart until I can meet you and rest in your arms.

Love, Kisses, and Kicks from Mommy’s Tummy

I looked up to find Salima glaring at me.

“That fact that you think I would ever hide or abort your child is like a slap in the fucking face.” She shoved me hard. “I wanted to surprise you, asshole!”

“I’m sorry?—”

“You should be fucking sorry, Deuce! You know me better than that! Why would I do some bird shit like that! I love you!”

I sat on the bed and beckoned her to me. She refused, standing firm when she stood.

“Come here, Salima.”

When she wouldn’t move on her own, I reached out and gently pulled her between my legs.

“I’m sorry, mama. The thought of that fucked me up for a minute.”

“I would never do that to you, Deuce. I would give anything to have my father back. There’s no way I could ever keep my child from theirs. How could you even think that little of me?”

“I apologize. You’ve been having these symptoms and refusing to go to the doctors. I sat in my head about that shit, and it got the best of me, baby. I was fucked up for coming at you like that. It won’t happen again.”

She looked at me for a moment before straddling my lap and wrapping her arms around my neck, hugging me tightly. When she pulled back, she kissed me softly.

“You really having my baby?” I asked, gripping her ass.

She giggled. “Yes, I’m having your baby and I’m beating ass if they act anything like you.”

“Bullshit. My lil’ nigga is gon’ be a G and my baby girl is gonna be a no limit soldier.”

“No, the fuck they aren’t. They will be respectable?—”

“Until they are disrespected. I’m not raising no soft ass kids. They will be Dillingers. Their last name will always have a muthafucka thinking they can try them. They don’t have to start shit, but they damn sure better finish it.”

“Oh, they are gonna love you at parent-teacher conferences,” he said sarcastically.

“As long as nobody is trying my kid, I’ll be cool. I can do school activities, field trips, and all that shit.”

“You are gonna scare those kids.”

“I bet those lil’ bastards won’t act up.”

“Oh, my God.” She shook her head. “I guess I’ll be apologizing on your behalf.”

“No, you won’t and if I catch you doing that shit, it’s gonna be me and you.”

Her hand clasped around my throat, and she looked down at me with a smirk.

“Are you threatening me, Mr. Dillinger?”

“Whatchu’ gon’ do about it?”

She pushed me back until my back hit the mattress, then leaned over to give me the nastiest kiss. My dick immediately bricked in my pants. As she kissed me, she reached between us and into my pants to pull it out.

She moaned against my mouth. “Mmm… you wanna know what I’m gonna do about it, Daddy?” she asked as she stroked my dick.

“Fuck, yeah.”

My hands worked overtime undo the buttons of her shift. There were way too many for my liking, so I just ripped that shit open. Buttons flew everywhere as her titties popped out in a red, lacy bra.

“Shit,” I muttered. “Put that pussy on me. That muthafucka been marinating my favorite juices all day.”

She giggled as she lifted her hips. She didn’t bother taking her panties off. She simply pulled them to the side and eased down onto my dick with a satisfactory moan. Her pussy was so fucking wet that it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out just how I fucked around and got her pregnant.

I remembered the first time I entered her with no barrier between us, and it dawned on me that I’d made peace with becoming a father in that very moment. I’d said that shit out loud, too. It was funny shit now that things had come full circle. My fuckin’ baby was having my fuckin’ baby.