Page 29 of A Kingpin's Weakness
“Why you always got to be like that?” I asked as soon as the elevator doors closed.
“Be like what?” she asked, genuinely confused.
Which I knew she really was. Jo was Jo, and she was never changing.
“RJ and I are just friends. I don’t want him,” I said firmly.
“Do you want anybody, Stormi?” she asked.
“I date. You just don’t know about it.” I shrugged.
“You dating Seth? I promise you, he a jackpot,” she said, like that was the only thing that mattered.
“That’s all you care about?” I asked, feeling the frustration bubble up.
“You want a broke nigga?” she shot back.
“No, but you do,” I said, staring her down.
“Exactly. Do better than me,” she said with a smirk.
“Whatever, Jo,” I muttered, already tired.
“Are you fucking?” she asked, more like a nosy friend than a mother.
“Why?” I asked. “This is not a mother-daughter conversation,” I said flatly.
“Yeah, you’re not. Lena talks to her daughter all the time about sex. She’s 30, just like you. She says she got this one boy toy that makes her come faster than Amazon Prime. I’ve never ordered from them, but Noah has and that shit came to our door fast,” she laughed, completely shameless.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, wishing the doctor would bring some good news soon. Because right now, all I wanted was to get as far away from my mom as possible.
By the time we made it up to Noah’s room, he was back inside. But he wasn’t alone. I stopped cold in the doorway.
“What the fuck are you doing in here?” I snapped the moment I saw Ronnie’s grimy ass sitting like he belonged.
He turned slowly, calm like he wasn’t the exact reason my week had already been a disaster. “Wanted to check up on Noah.”
“He good now. Bye.”
Ronnie leaned back like this was his office and not a hospital room. “Stormi, chill. We got business to handle.”
I looked over at Noah, who wouldn’t even meet my eyes. “The same business that got you laid up in a hospital bed? You don’t do business with the devil, Noah.”
Ronnie chuckled like he found me cute. I wasn’t joking.
“I don’t know why y’all get this child started,” Jo muttered, rolling her eyes. “Noah, you know how she is.”
Noah let out a low sigh. “Yeah, Mom. I know.”
Jo strolled over to his bed, planted a kiss on his forehead like she had been here all week. “Boy, don’t scare your mama like that again. I thought God called you home and left me down here stuck with Stormi ass.”
I groaned. “Jo, please.”
He turned to me with arms open. “Come here, Stormi. Give me a hug. I miss you. No lectures.”
“There wouldn’t be no lecture if you was out here doing what you supposed to.” Still, I stepped in. Hugged Noah tight, and Jo wrapped her arms around us both. We hadn’t hugged like this in years. For a split second, it felt like home even in this raggedy hospital room with too much pain in the air.
Then the doctor walked in and brought us all back to reality.
