Page 110 of Save Room for Us

“Eat, Mommy!” Sophie pointed to my fake pasta.

“Is that my baby? Let me talk to her.”

I was still frozen in place, hoping this was just a cruel joke. I’d been praying he died after the trial was over, but of course, that wasn’t gonna happen.

“Mommy—”

“Hold on, Sophie!” I barked at her unintentionally, making her start to cry. “I’m sorry, baby. Come here.” I tugged her to me, bringing her into my lap.

“Bitch, I said let me talk to her.” Cedric spoke through what sounded like gritted teeth, reminding me he was on the phone.

“I’m not letting you do shit.” I bounced a now calm Sophie in my lap.

“Ooooh.” He laughed. “You think ’cause I’m in here and you out there, you can talk crazy, huh? Think again, because as soon as I get discharged, I’m on yo’ ass. You ruined my life with that stupid ass stunt you pulled.”

“Actually, I didn’t, because you’re still alive, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, but I can’t ever fucking walk again, thanks to you, and I’ll be lucky if I can make my dick work,” he all but growled. I could imagine him seething, spit flying everywhere like it always did when he was irate.

“It wasn’t doing that good of a job anyway,” I said, knowing it would piss him off. “About time it retired.”

“I should let yo’ ass rot in prison,” he said, but I ignored him, letting Sophie down out of my lap. I listened to him sigh, the one he always did when he was about to change his tune. He was truly crazy, only right now I was realizing he wasn’t that scary to me. Could’ve been because I had Asif, but also because I could sense he was weak right now. “Anastazia, baby, I didn’t call you for this. If you come home to me, come back to me, I can make all of this shit go away.”

“How when you’re not even the one pressing charges, Cedric? Your barely got a job, unconnected ass can’t make shit go away.” I kept it real with him.

“Bitch—”

I quickly hung up, knowing the conversation was going nowhere. Knowing he was paralyzed helped me to calm down a little bit, though he was awake, but Cedric was the type of nigga who would find a way around that.

“Come on, baby, let’s take a trip.” I rose to my feet, taking an excited Sophie’s hand as I led her out of the room.

I quickly got dressed, put shoes on Sophie, since she was already dressed, and then left to go see Bashar. I didn’t know if he knew about Cedric, but I doubted it. I was sure the nigga had only been awake for a tiny bit, making sure I was the first person he called.

I chuckled to myself as I pulled into the lot of Bashar’s law office, thinking about how Cedric was caught off guard by our conversation. I knew he expected to get the same bitch he’d been able to control and scare on the phone and was surprised to find the opposite. I could see him now, raging in that hospital bed as we spoke.

Grabbing my baby, I entered the building and rode up to Bashar’s floor. His assistant, Ashlee, gave me no problems this time, telling me I could go back and see her boss after phoning him.

“Shar!” Sophie screeched at the sight of her uncle, damn near fighting me to get down.

Squatting, Bashar welcomed her run to him before embracing her. I smiled, watching the exchange, thankful that even though she’d, in a sense, lost her father, she had male figures around. And an even closer one now that Asif and I had bloomed into something.

“I got plenty of toys for you.” Bashar escorted Sophie to the blocked off area that I was sure he’d accumulated for his own children when they visited.

While Sophie busied herself with the plethora of toys, I said, “He’s awake. He called me.”

“Oh shit. He must’ve just woken up, because they would’ve notified everybody.” Bashar ventured back to his desk. “This is good, Stazi. Not only because you won’t have to worry about murder charges but because of how Cedric is.”

“What do you mean?”

“Meaning he acts like a child, quick to anger and blow up. That’s the worst kind of witness you can have, and best believe the prosecution team is gon’ call his ass up there.” Bashar took out a legal pad and pen, flipping to a clear page. “I can’t wait to cross examine this nigga.”

“Seeing you alone is gonna make him blow a gasket,” I said, making Bashar chuckle with a nod.

“Aight, Stazi. You know Cedric better than anybody. What makes that nigga angry? I can’t come at him how I did when I met him and shit. I gotta be a professional, so I wanna ask him the right shit to hit those tender spots.”

“Right, umm,” I fidgeted, glancing at Sophie, “he hates to be made a fool of. He likes for people to believe he is always in charge, ahead of everyone, and knows what’s going on. So if you ask or allude to him being played or having the wool put over his eyes or like I was running things, he will explode.”

“Aight, this is perfect.” He scribbled as I talked. “I’m gon’ work on some things, and then, next time I see you, we can tweak some shit if need be.” Retracting the pen, he set it down. “If he calls you again, tell him he’s being recorded. If he keeps talking, we can use whatever he’s saying in court. If he doesn’t want to talk, even better because that’ll mean he’ll have no choice but to leave you alone.”

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