Page 48 of The Deed to a Gangsta's Heart

And I did.

By the time we were done, there was a puddle underneath her. We showered and she headed to the kitchen to make breakfast. I’d been wrestling with asking her to move in with me. Starting and ending my days with her tremendously increased my peace.

While she cooked breakfast, I decided to finally call my brother. I honestly didn’t know how he was going to respond to the news, but I really didn’t care.

“Damn, nigga,” he answered. “How you gon’ give me an ultimatum then take all this time to call me back?”

That made me laugh. “My fault. A new development came about that I had to tend to. So… How do you feel about what I said?”

Adam sighed into the receiver. “It’s not that I don’t want you in my life. I just don’t like how our relationship is. You’ve never really felt like a brother to me, and I didn’t need a daddy.”

“You didn’t need a daddy because you had me.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t ask for that.”

“You didn’t have to.”

“Look… I’m not about to go back and forth with you. I’m being honest with you about how I felt and why I’ve been acting the way I have.”

Inhaling a deep breath, I sat on the edge of my bed. “Aight. Continue.”

I listened intently as he admitted to the resentment I felt he’d always had about the role I played in his life. When he was done, I expressed the resentment I had to play that role in his life. We both acknowledged that it was in the past and that we wanted to try and work on having a healthy brotherly relationship that didn’t have Mama at our center.That we’d individually work on our relationships with her and then try to be a family unit once we were in a healthier place. That led me to say…

“There’s something you need to know. What I found out about yesterday.”

“What is it?”

“I’ve been seeing someone this summer and… I love her. She’s the one.”

He chuckled. “Okay?”

“It’s Luci.”

“Williams?”

“Yeah. We didn’t find out you were her ex until last night when she answered your call.”

“Damn. Ain’t that some shit.”

“I’ma be with her regardless but you can let me know how you feel.”

“Honestly… I don’t feel no way. Luci and I weren’t going anywhere, that’s why I broke up with her. Shit might be a little awkward in the beginning when we’re around each other, but I’m cool with that if she is. I don’t value what we had at all.”

“Seeing as she knows about the lil shorty you got in Atlanta, things will be more awkward for you because of that than me.”

“Nigga!”

“Aye! What was I supposed to do? Lie?”

“Yeah! I’m your brother.”

“And that’s my wife. Besides, you didn’t care about her anyway. I wasn’t about to lie to her to protect you.”

He groaned. “Fine. Fuck it. It is what it is.”

We talked a little while longer before ending the call with a promise of linking up in a couple of weeks. As I headed toward the kitchen, I felt a sense of pride. All Icould do was pray things continued to get better between us. When I made it into the kitchen, I wrapped my arms around her and kissed her neck.

She giggled as she wrapped her arms around me.

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