Page 34 of Unexpected Pass

“Excuse me?” She stood from the couch. Her eyes narrowed into slits. “You are my damn business! I gave you life. You think I don’t care about it? Your decisions affect me, too.”

I narrowed my eyes at her. All the stress I had been feeling, grief, guilt, and frustration all bubbled over. I couldn’t hold the shit anymore.

“You care about my life? Riddle me this, Ma. Why does it seem like your only concern is who I’m fucking or how big my contracts are? You never seem concerned about nothing else. I can count on one hand how many times you’ve asked how I’ve been doing since Jeronee died. You care about my life, but you don’t care about my feelings. You can’t even make sure the press doesn’t ask me about my deceased brother.”

My mother recoiled. A look of hurt flashed across her face. “That’s how you feel? You think I don’t give a damn about you, Kellon? You’re my son. I love you.”

“I don’t doubt your love, Ma… But if you really cared, you would have noticed that I’m hurting. I’m not happy. I need to grieve. But that’s never been your priority. It’s always about shit that doesn’t matter.”

“Kellon!”

Her mouth snapped shut, and she stood there in shock. I’d never spoken to her this way. I had always given her the utmost respect, but this shit needed to be said.

“You are not about to sit up here and speak to me crazy. I’m just trying to tell you what’s right. You don’t have to follow it, but dammit, you’re going to listen.” She shook her head and snapped her fingers.

“The only person that needs to listen is you, Ma. You are more flawed than me.”

“You know what? I don’t need to listen to this. I have a home.” She turned on her heels and headed toward the elevator. “You don’t want me in your business? Fine. You don’t have to worry about it anymore.”

Moving quickly, I followed behind her, jumping on the elevator just before the door shut.

“I’ll have Monte bring the car around.”

Mad or not, I wasn’t about to allow my mother on the streets of New York at night alone. The elevator descended to groundlevel without us saying a word to each other. When the doors opened, she stormed off fast toward the awaiting SUV. Monte could barely get her door open in time.

“Get home safe, Mom,” I said as she climbed inside and shut the door. “Let me know when she’s home. Make sure she is good before leaving,” I instructed the driver.

He nodded as he rounded the car and took the driver’s side. I watched as the car pulled away. A wave of exhaustion washed over me. Phileigh leaving and getting into a fight with my mom wasn’t how the night was supposed to go. I made my way back up to the elevator, replaying everything that had been said in my mind.

“Fuck!” I groaned as I entered my home and plopped down on the couch. I allowed my body to sink into the cushions before I pulled my phone out. It only took me a second to end up scrolling through Phileigh’s social media page. I wanted to be there for her, to support her so badly. I had the sudden urge to hop on a private jet and pull up on her, but I had to be patient with all the press commitments I had piling up for the week. Besides, she needed space to sort being pregnant out in her own head, and I wanted to respect that.

I stared at her glowing smile on a post where she talked about her services, and peace swept over me. I clicked on her inbox and typed her a message.

KellonBarnes:

I’m not going anywhere. That’s my baby.

My thumb hovered over the send button before I deleted the message. That wasn’t what she needed right now. She needed time. Sending this message would only bombard her with a flood of emotions. Closing the app, I stood from the couch to head to bed.

“Give her time,” I said to myself.

I would come for her later. There was no way I was letting her go through this pregnancy alone.

“I can’t believeyou ditched that fine ass man,” Lolo blurted out like we weren’t sitting in the waiting room of my OBGYN.

I looked up from my phone and gave Lolo the side eye she deserved.

“Could you be any louder?” I whispered, glancing around the waiting room. Thankfully, nobody was paying attention to her crazy ass. “And to answer your question, yes I did. It was the right thing to do.”

“Blah, blah, blah. Bestie, are you seeing him, though?” Lolo exclaimed, gesturing toward a small television screen showing live footage of the Super Bowl victory parade. I reluctantly looked up at the screen I’d been avoiding since we arrived.There, Kellon was smiling and waving as the confetti rained onto the float he was riding.

I couldn’t deny that he looked fine as fuck up there. That sexy smile I missed radiated through the screen. Four days had gone by since I’d gotten my ass up out of his apartment and gone home. Ms. Barnes was practically planning our entire wedding. That woman was so happy to have a grandchild that it had my conscience going into overdrive. I had to bail.

I stared at the screen. Everyone around him looked happy, but something was missing. He had that same distant look he’d had at the parade at Disney. He was in his head again about his brother. I’d gone to him then and held his hand, but I couldn’t do that from thousands of miles away.

“Look at him out there living his best life while you’re waiting for the doctor.”

I sighed. “Is that supposed to make me feel better?”

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