Page 37

I had to keep saying it out loud so that I would believe it myself. Maylee rested her head against my shoulder and placed one hand over my stomach. Almost on cue, her little brother moved beneath her palm. She looked down.

“He kicked me.”

“He’s been beating me up since yesterday.”

Maylee rubbed the spot gently.

“He probably knows something’s wrong.”

“Maybe.”

She kept her hand there, and I covered it with mine.

For a while, we sat together without saying anything. Maylee was tucked against one side of me, my son was moving inside of me, and my husband was waiting for us across town in a hospital room. Yesterday, I had almost lost everything. This morning, my family looked different than it had twenty-four hours ago. But we were all still here, and I was grateful for that.

Chapter 10

Maliah

By the time Tahari came back to the apartment, I had already showered, changed into one of his T-shirts, and spent more time than I cared to admit sitting on his couch thinking about everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours. I hadn’t heard him leave that morning. After standing outside with him watching the sun come up, I had gone back to bed with every intention of only closing my eyes for a little while. My body apparently had other plans because the next thing I knew, hours had passed and I was waking up alone. I knew he had gone back to the hospital to talk to Daddy, so I hadn’t bothered calling him.

What Tahari needed to tell him was something I knew couldn’t be rushed, and after learning that Ghost was the person he saw driving away from the complex yesterday, I had a feeling there was more to the conversation than I knew. The sound of the lock turning pulled my attention toward the front door. Tahari stepped inside and locked the door behind him before giving the handle a quick pull to make sure that it was locked properly. I watched him from the couch as he dropped his keys onto the table and made his way farther into the apartment. At some point while I was asleep, he had managed to shower and change his clothes. I figured he must’ve gotten himself together before leaving for the hospital because I hadn’t heard him moving around at all.

The shower and fresh clothes did nothing for the exhaustion written across his face. He looked like he hadn’t slept in days.

“How did it go with my daddy?”

Tahari glanced at me before walking into the living room.

“I told him everything.”

Something about the way he said it made me sit a little straighter.

“Everything?” I questioned.

“Yeah.”

He lowered himself onto the couch beside me and leaned back, releasing a breath as he rubbed both hands over his face. For a moment, I simply watched him. I knew there had been things Tahari hadn’t told me yet. I hadn’t pushed earlier because there hadn’t been time. We had gone from finding out Daddy survived surgery, to Tahari disappearing to Ms. Gia’s house, to both of us finally getting back here exhausted enough to barely function. Now we had time.

“What don’t I know?”

Tahari lowered his hands and looked at me. He seemed to consider where to begin before shifting against the couch.

“Ghost been caught up with the feds.”

“The feds?” I asked as my eyebrows pulled together.

“Yeah. It has been going on for a minute.”

Now that I was privy to the street shit that my father and Tahari were in, I was able to ask these questions, but one thing that I did not do was dig. I wanted to know the basics, but there was no need for anyone to go into deep detail with me because I didn’t understand most of it anyway.

“What did Daddy say?”

“He wants to know what the feds know before anybody makes a move. The good thing is that your Uncle Ty said that he will handle the problem we have with the feds. He said he knows some people.”

“What does that mean?”

“Your guess is as good as mine,” he said with a shrug.