Page 24 of Breaking the Rules
“Why not?” he bellowed.
“Because you won’t lose your reputation behind our decisions. Daddy did a lot of shit to get you in that position. You can’t lose because of it. Areli is safe with you. She’s going to grow into an amazing human being because of you. I need you to promise me that. I need you to love her like she’s yours. Please,” Kymber pleaded tearfully.
Noble released a few tears of his own. Some of disappointment, some further proof that his pride was dying in layers. He sniffled, rid his face of the evidence, and nodded.
“Areli will be fine. I promise you that. What do you want me to tell her?”
“Tell her I had to go away. Tell her I love her. Tell her if she looks up at the stars at night, I’m looking up too. When she’s old enough to know what I did, tell her I’m sorry. I can give her that since we never got it.”
“I can get you out, Kym.”
She swayed her head. “No. I told you no. Go live your life and make sure Areli has the best life ever. Okay?”
“Okay.”
“They’re going to offer a plea deal; I’m going to take it. It’s not going to make much of a difference. Just keeps all of this out of the public view. I’ll call you when I get to the desert. Send me pictures, please?”
“I’ll send you everything. I’ll keep your books stacked. Whatever you need.”
“I know. I love you, Deucey. I’m sorry,” Kymber whimpered, swiping the tears from her face.
He stood to receive her one last time. He kissed the top of her head and promised to do right by Areli and then knocked on the metal door. He could do a lot. He couldn’t watch his baby sister walk away from him into a life sentence. The ride back to Ms. Patty’s was long and quiet. When he arrived, Sincere and his sister, Remi, were in the living room playing with Areli.
Sincere stood and motioned Noble to the backyard. “You want to smoke?”
Noble shook his head. “Practice starts next week, I got to lay off that shit. Tell me something, you knew my daddy was in the game?”
“Not actively. I thought that nigga was like us. Affiliated but timed out.”
“Well, he was the plug. Pretty much supplying this radius with product. He dies from a heart attack, and Kymber picks up the torch. Fuck being a chef. Fuck being a mother. Fuck asking me for help to dead all of this. She deep dives into this shit. No life raft, no protection. No fuckin’ backup plan. Who the fuck is Zay?”
“Hustler, regulator. He kept CK shit moving. He got shot last night, I heard. I’m thinking it had something to do with this.”
Noble stared into the distance and grunted. “Hm. Is he good people or is he going to let her fry?”
“He’s stand up, and if she’s been moving like this for this long, he’s been looking out. That’s just how he is. The fact that there was that much product makes me think it was a setup.”
“Yeah, but I can’t dive into that. I just became a single father to a niece who’s going to beg, plead, and cry for a mother she may never see again. Plus, I’m about to leave her for ten days.”
“Happy you said that. Remi is a nanny. We got you. You gon’ be alright, and Areli damn sure is going to be fine. You know youmy nigga, my brother. I got you.” Sincere pulled Noble into an embrace only a brother could give. “We got this shit. Aight?”
Noble nodded. “Aight.”
“I tell you, I’m happy I took yo ass out last night. You a daddy now.”
“Fuck you,” Noble said, laughing and moving back into the house. “Thanks, bro.”
“Don’t mention it. It’s a village.”
TEN
Burying her head under her covers to drown out the incessant ringing of her phone and knocking on her door. Tired was an understatement. The emotional rollercoaster on top of whatever undoing that was happening with her was draining her energy. It was either that or the encounters with Noble were unnerving her in a way she’d never experienced before.
After another sixty seconds of the phone ringing and the banging on the door, she huffed and kicked the covers off her. She grabbed a t-shirt, slipped her feet into a pair of fuzzy house shoes, and stalked toward the door. The unknown number still calling.
Hair peeking from under her pink bonnet, sleep mask haphazardly pushed over her brows, Savanhi unlocked the series of locks and yanked it open. She squinted at her brother’s left-hand man, simply known as Manny.
“Why don’t you answer the phone? I’ve been out here for ten minutes sweating my balls off,” he fussed. “Put some clothes on, we got to go.”
