Page 71 of Another Constant

I cheesed hard, about to respond, but a knock in the doorway broke that up. When I looked up, a dark skinned man with piercing eyes glared at Kinga. The room immediately grew cold and hate emitted from both men. Something told me this was the infamous Memphis.

“The fuck you doing here?” Kinga was on his feet fast.

The man laughed. “What am I doing here? Ask yourself.” He then looked away from Kinga to me.

Kinga moved in front of me, sure to block his line of sight. “Yo, you really wanna lose your life in here, huh?”

“That a threat, Mr. West?” he asked in a tone heavy with animosity.

“Nah, it’s a promise. Now, you wanna tell me why you just walked up in my shit like you're not at the top of a list?”

“Was my nephew on that list? There is no proof but I know it was you. You vile, scum ass nigga.”

Kinga laughed. “I don’t know what you talking about, but the only vile motherfucker in this room is you and you got about five seconds to get ou?—”

“You gonna let your girlfriend here see the real you? Because I’m sure she doesn't know you the way I do.”

I cleared my throat. “I do know him, enough to know you should probably be on your way instead of standing here antagonizing him.”

I could tell by the way he clenched his teeth my words irritated Kinga and the fact that Memphis didn’t move out of the way bothered him even more.

“You fucked up, Kinga, just remember I warned you for fucking with me.” He was gone seconds later, leaving me and Kinga alone in his office.

“I assume that was Memphis.” Well I knew that was Memphis because I’d recently seen his fake smiling ass on my TV as he announced his bid for mayor of Chicago.

He finally turned to me, and his expression said it all, but before he could open his mouth and speak, I was talking.

“Test confirmed we’re possibly having a baby. Handle your business before we confirm the news. I don’t want to be stressing about your freedom, or worse, your life.”

He just looked at me, probably looking for the words to say, but he settled on just nodding. There was honestly nothing he could say because though I didn’t know what was going on, I knew there was something. Nothing about me was naïve, I knew the type of life Kinga lived, not in depth, but I was aware of it. I knew most men with his hood status perished before thirty or found themselves chained and locked up like wild beasts. Kinga was different though. He was content with sliding back and forth under his cars rather than running the streets. He barely kept long nights, even with whatever was going on. He was a lover boy who kept his nose clean. So I believed that exempted him from the shit every street dude dealt with.Hate, envy, and deceit from those around… Those who wanted what he ultimately suffered to attain.

“You think you're running shit?” He was seated back next to me.

“Nope. I just know you love me enough not to let whatever is going on swallow you.”

“Yeah, you right. Only wanna be swallowed up by you, shorty. Now eat up so we can get out of here.”

* * *

Afew days later…

I hated that once again I felt like I was imprinting on a puppy. First Bleu, now this standard blue. I didn’t need any more dogs but with the way I knew I was gonna let Aja have Bleu, my mind made excuses for the fact that I had yet to list the pup on my site. He was cute and cuddly, the type of puppy I kept in my arms even though I knew I didn’t need or want his little ass to be spoiled. Because if I had any intention of keeping him, he needed to be capable of being alone and on the ground.

I moved through the shop, putting out the new items I stocked. That consisted of a few different colored bowls and doggie clothing. Even though I didn’t dress my dogs often, that didn’t mean others didn’t want to dress theirs.

The bell on the door sounded, letting me know someone had entered. “Welcome in.” I was aware that Emelie was in the front of the store while I was at the back. I was just so used to speaking to people that I did it naturally.

“It’s been kind of hard to catch up with you.” A familiar voice made me look up.Why was he here?

I hadn’t heard or seen Zax since OA basically told him to kick bricks. The fact that he was here, let alone trying to catch up, had me baffled, because what for?

“Uh, hey.” I looked around and prayed to God Kinga didn’t walk his ass in here. He was supposed to be bringing me breakfast any minute now because according to him I didn’t feed his baby adequately enough with the banana-nut muffin I’d eaten this morning.

“What are you looking for? I was coming by to see you. Wondering if we could talk.”

“About what Zax?”

“Damn, you don’t even seem happy to see me. You’re acting like I’m bothering you.” He now decided to play confused. “I feel like we nee?—”

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