Page 30 of Brother to Brother

“Yeah, well, you don’t teach my bitchanything, that’s my job.”

“Well you need to teach her some respect, you dig?”

“Well you need to get the fuck out of my place and let me handle these things,youdig?” Archer demanded back, pressing the gun barrel harder into the man’s skull, moving to the side to let him switch places and to put him closer to the door.

“Man, you is makin’ a mistake comin’ at me like this,” the Charger’s driver said, and Archer cut him off.

“Shut the fuck up! Don’t think I don’t know who your fuckin’ boss is. The only mistakeyoumade was coming into a Sacred Heart’s place. Somehow I don’t think that’s a can of whoopass you’re going to want to open. Now you might want to get the fuck out, before I change my mind about redecorating.” Archer said coldly.

I swallowed hard, and the man changed his tune but only slightly, upon hearing the club’s name…

“Alright, alright, we cool, we cool. I’m leavin’. What about my gun?”

“Consider it the cost of doing business,” Archer said, and he already had the man almost halfway out the door, “Newsflash for you, Slick. You tell your homies and the rest of your crew that this apartment, everything and everyonein it, ismine.You get me? There won’t be a next time for any of this shit either.”

He then shut the door in the gang banger’s face and turned to me, asking softly, “You alright?”

I pushed to my feet, bile rising in my throat and gasped out, “Take care of Noah,” before I stepped out of my panties and practically ran for the bathroom, slamming the bedroom door behind me. When I did, I saw Archer picking up my son and cradling him against his chest the way any protective father would.

I threw up, and I don’t remember much, but the next thing Ididremember was sitting on the end of Archer’s bed hugging myself, knees tightly together, one hand pressed over my mouth as I sobbed while trying valiantly to make no noise so my child wouldn’t hear. Archer came in the room and I saw past him that Nox and Rush had Noah. I only caught a glimpse before Archer closed the door but it was enough to send me into more sobs as the adrenaline wore off and I crashed and burned.

Archer sat down next to me and did something unprecedented. He put his arms around me and tucked me tightly into his chest. He breathed out a heavy sigh and pressed his lips to the top of my hair.

“You should have killed him,” I said voice cracking.

“Oh, I’m going to, but I need to go about it the right way,” he said and I knew he was completely, one hundred percent serious, however, I couldn’t bring myself to feel anything but relieved.

“When you calm down, you can tell me what happened but right now, just shhhh,” he soothed and it was just soniceof him and completely out of the ordinary. I was grateful for the reprieve though, so I just soaked it up while I could and let myself calm down.

I swallowed hard, and told him everything and when I was finished, he sighed asking, “Why didn’t you tell me you weren’t sleeping because of that asshole?”

“I didn’t want to be a bother, I guess I figured you wouldn’t really care. I mean, it wasn’t affecting Noah, so why bother, right?”

He went deathly silent for a minute and I could almost hear him thinking, finally he said, “Right,” but it came out so incredibly bitter. I wondered for a glimmer of a moment if I had hurt his feelings with that little revelation.

“What are we going to do?” I asked weakly, fear for mine and Noah’s safety creeping in.

“’We’ aren’t going to do anything.Youare going to stay here with Rush and Nox,Iam going to go have a talk with Dragon. I need you to sit tight. Clean yourself up, and go comfort your boy. I’ll be back when I can.”

I nodded and he let me go; I suddenly felt bereft and incredibly selfish. Of course my son needed me, and here I was, in Archer’s room, hiding from him. I felt deep shame over that, even deeper than I had a moment before. I didn’t have the time or ability to fall apart for myself when Noah needed me, now did I? I swallowed hard and looked up at Archer.

“Be careful?” I asked and he searched my face, his green-gold eyes almost troubled.

“Always am,” he said and got up, going back out into the living room.

Chapter 16

Archer

“She okay?” Rush asked and I shook my head handing him the piece I took off the banger.

“No, I need you two to stay here and keep her and Noah safe, I’ve gotta go see Dragon and get in front of this before it gets worse.”

“Yeah, we can do that, fly low fly fast Brother.” Nox said and with that, I was out of there. I went out, the Charger was gone, and I put my headphones in and plugged them into my phone, dialing up Dragon as I fired up the bike.

“Yeah?” he answered by way of greeting.

“We got a situation, P. One of the Fiddy Street Crew’s boys just busted into my place and tried to rape Mel.”

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