Page 135 of Set me Free

I didn’t respond. I was done talking.

Jailah shook her head and grabbed her bag. "You know what? Fuck you, Creed. Fuck you and your baby mama too!" She stormed out, slamming the door behind her, and minutes later?—

The social media meltdown began.

I blocked her on everything. Let her get her shit off. I wasn’t responding. Instead, my focus was on fixing things withSerenity. Except, she wasn’t making that easy. For days, I called. Texted. Nothing.

Every time I went to drop the kids off or pick them up, Ms. June was the only one I saw.

"Serenity still avoiding me?" I asked her when I showed up one evening.

The older woman gave me a pointed look. "I don’t involve myself in y’all’s drama. I just watch the babies."

I sighed. "That’s a yes."

She shrugged. "Wouldn’t blame her if she was."

I didn’t either. I fucked up, and I knew it. But I wasn’t giving up.

"Bro, you fucked up,"Nas said bluntly, leaning back on the couch in my man cave.

I groaned, rubbing my hands down my face. "I know, nigga."

Brodie smirked, nursing a glass of whiskey. "You really told Serenity that Gio wasn’t her son? You know how she feel about that boy. Damn, I know that shit hurt her."

"Y’all think I don’t know that?" I snapped, already irritated.

"Well, you not acting like it," Nas muttered. “Ugly ass nigga.”

I clenched my jaw ignoring Nas’s last comment. "I tried to call her. She won’t answer."

Brodie took a sip before saying, "Maybe ‘cause you ain't giving her anything worth answering for?"

I frowned. "What the fuck does that mean?"

Nas grinned. "Nigga, you been playing this push-and-pull game with Serenity for years. You say you want her, then you got a bitch. You say you over her, but now you want your family back. Pick a side."

I scowled, shaking my head. "Nigga, it ain’t that simple?—"

"It is," Brodie cut in. "You know she fuckin’ wit Iman. She told Ari that she forgot how much she liked him. I heard they ass gossiping after I put the twins to bed last night. "

My blood boiled. I gripped my glass tighter. "She what?"

Nas raised an eyebrow. "Why you mad? You get to fuck with other people, but Sis can’t?"

I didn’t answer. Because hell naw she couldn’t. Especially not with him, not when I knew how she felt about him. She wasn’t supposed to move on.

I wasn’t waiting around anymore.

I needed to talk to her.

Not just about us—about everything.

For ten years, we’d been pulling and pushing each other, caught in a cycle of love, pain, and unfinished business. And I was tired.

So I pulled up to her set the day after, determined to end the cycle—one way or another.

When I knocked on her trailer door, she opened it—eyes wide, surprised but not completely caught off guard.

---