Page 36 of I Need It

I ended the call and got out of my truck, still in shock. I was so much in shock, I nearly walked right into Jacob. “Nigga, you wanna watch where you going? What’s wrong with you?”

“My bad.”

He frowned slightly, but he kept walking. I couldn’t bear to tell anyone just yet. If I told one, I may as well get on the stage, grab a mic, and tell them all at once. When I walked inside, Uncle WJ was heading to the front of the room. I took a seat in the back, and Pop sat next to me.

“Business good, son?”

“Yes, sir. You good?”

“Yep. I noticed you’ve been busy. If you ever need help, you know I’m here.”

“Yes, sir. I know.”

He patted my shoulder and gave his attention to Uncle WJ. My attention was way in Houston. Fuck Sunday. I needed to get to her tonight. I could head back early tomorrow morning to work. I needed to be with her and make sure she was okay. She was probably afraid. This baby definitely didn’t get stuck in her tubes though. She’d already had an appointment. I wished I could have been there with her. I wondered if she went alone.

“So no discounts for nobody if they ain’t family. My patience is non-existent. That goes for you too, Christian. I know you still give residents of Nome a fifteen percent discount. Kill that shit. They don’t want to show support for our family and for Storm, it’s fuck them. As much as we love Nome, they should be damn near worshipping our asses.”

Uncle WJ was heated as fuck. I nodded in agreement. Shit, I had Mya to take care of now. Family wouldn’t get a discount either, fucking around with me. Damn. I was about to be a father. Hopefully, Mya wouldn’t be too difficult of a co-parent. If she wanted the baby to stay here with me more often, I would be cool with that too.

I was beyond ready to be a dad. Watching Jakari handle the transition into fatherhood with ease, and then Rylan, only made my fever more intense. I fiddled with my phone while Uncle WJ talked, having a hard time keeping still. Glancing at the time, I noticed we’d only been sitting here fifteen minutes. It felt like an hour already.

“Thanks for having my back, y’all. I know I gave y’all a hard time about calling me mayor and shit,” Uncle Storm said, sounding the humblest I’d ever heard him sound.

“And you still my Uncle Mayor! The fuck you thought, Unc? Fuck those people. Don’t let those fuckers try to steal your thunder. You’re thee fucking Storm, baby!” Jess said.

She ran to him and hugged him tightly, causing everyone else to do the same. I stood and made my way to him. I slapped his hand. “I’m proud you didn’t really fuck that meeting up. I swear I always see Councilman Eric Mays when you’re in those meetings. I’ve always waited for you to say, Point of order, muthafuckas.”

He chuckled slightly then pulled Aunt Aspen close to him. “I wanted to burn that bitch down with them in it, but I was able to control myself.”

I chuckled and shook his hand again then headed to the door. When I saw Courtney’s ass standing there, I quickly detoured. There was a back door I could go through in the kitchen. I knew eventually I would have to talk to her, but tonight wasn’t the night. I needed to get to Mya so I could hold her in my arms and reassure her that things would be okay.

I snuck out the back door and made my way to my truck. Courtney had gone inside, so I quickly cranked up and pulled off the parking lot to head home. I needed to pack an overnight bag, and I didn’t have a second to waste on Courtney’s ass.

By the time I got home and got a small overnight bag packed, I got a text then my phone started ringing. I picked it up from the dresser to see it was from KJ. Courtney asking me to call you. Don’t answer.

I chuckled and slowly shook my head but answered anyway as I headed out of the door. I got in my truck and pulled out as she said, “Christian! Hey! I have been trying to get ahold of you for months.”

“My bad. What’s up? I been busy as fuck.”

“I just been wanting to see you. How you gon’ drop off some dick like that and disappear in the fucking wind?”

I chuckled again. She wanted more than that, and I knew if I agreed to see her, she would tell me. I would hate for her to get my ugly side. She had never met that version of me. It only got worse after that bullshit with Avery came out. I meant what I said, and I said what I meant. I hated repeating myself, which was why I had pushed Mya away. If I had to repeat myself, that meant I wasn’t taken seriously the first time I said it. In that case, why would I want to be involved with someone who didn’t take me seriously?

“My bad, Courtney. I have a lady now. I’m on my way to go see her now.”

“Well, shit. No wonder you don’t have time. Well, umm… you think you have some money I can borrow? I’ll pay you back next week when I get paid.”

“Naw. I don’t lend out money.”

“Not even to your family?”

“My family don’t need to borrow money. I don’t have friends that need to borrow money. Even if they did, I would refer them to a bank or Speedy Cash if they couldn’t go to a bank. I’m neither one of those places. I work too hard for my money to trust other people with it. So it doesn’t happen.”

She started whining, probably producing fake ass tears. She was barking up the wrong tree for that. Like Major Pain said, if she was looking for sympathy, she needed to look in the dictionary between shit and syphilis, because she surely wouldn’t find it this way.

“Fine, Christian. I thought we were better than that though.”

“Girl, I ain’t seen you in years, and the first time I do, we ended up fucking. How you thought we were better than that? I barely know you anymore. I surely don’t know the adult version of you, and you clearly don’t know the adult version of me, or you wouldn’t be asking me for money.”

---