Page 26 of Tangled Hearts
Hov pulled back onto the block, still thinking through the moves he had to make to stretch a kilo into more. His mind was all numbers and next steps until a voice cut through the noise.
“Hov!”
He slowed down when he saw Shakeisha flagging him down from the corner. Her face was pale under the streetlights and he could tell she’d been crying, probably sad about Rock being gone.
Rock was Hov’s brother so although he kept his comments to himself, he always tried to tell Rock he was playing a dangerous game when it came to Knycole and Shakeisha. Still, Rock was going to do what Rock wanted to do and Hov wasn’t in the position to pretend to be anyone’s father.
“You good?” he asked, rolling the window down.
She shook her head, stepping closer to the driver’s side. “I need to talk to Rock.”
Hov frowned. “He just went in, Shakeshia. It’s been what, a week? You know he ain’t touching no phone right now.”
“I know,” her voice cracked as she pressed her palm to her stomach. Tears escaped and she didn’t even try to stop them. “That’s why I need you to tell him for me. I’m pregnant, Hov. I can’t hold this in no more. He gotta know.”
The weight of her words hit him.
Hov climbed out the car, pulling her into his chest. She broke down against him, sobbing hard enough to shake both their bodies. He rubbed her back, unsure of what else to do or say. “You sure?”
“Yea, I’m sure,” her words came muffled against his tee. “I can’t do this by myself. He needs to know he got a reason to come home.”
Hov nodded, pulling back enough to look her in the face. “A’ight. Gimme your number. I’ll make sure he gets it when he call. You’ll have mine now too, so if anything comes up, hit me.”
She sniffled, digging in her bag for her phone. Their hands brushed when they swapped numbers.
Shakeisha was a mess, but she wasn’t stupid. Being a teen mother wasn’t anything she ever dreamt about. She didn’t play with baby dolls wishing they were real or talk about family life like it was her ticket out the hood. Nah. She had other dreams. Better ones. Dreams that lived in school notebooks and late-night talks with girls who thought they had time.
But time was up.
She was pregnant.
Her mama always did her best and Shakeisha loved her for it but “doing your best” didn’t mean she wanted that same struggle. Her mama’s version of strength was survival. But Shakeisha wanted more than that. She wanted structure. Safety. Softness. And maybe, if God ain’t done with her yet, love too.
She looked at Hov as he typed his number into her phone.
He wasn’t Rock, but he had that same kind of hood calm that said,I got it.The kind of presence that made you feel like even if everything fell apart, somebody still cared enough to try to hold a piece of it together.
“I barely graduated,” she admitted, thumb fidgeting on the edge of her cracked screen. “Played around in school… didn’t think I needed it. I was tryna be grown but I ain’t know grown came with this.”
Her voice trembled, but she pushed through it.
“I just… I want my baby to be proud of me one day. Even if his daddy ain’t around. I want to give him somethin’ better than what I had.”
She didn’t know what she was having but saying he and him felt right.
Hov looked at her before responding. “Then do that. Don’t let this be what breaks you. Let it be the reason you move differently and show everybody that you bigger than the hood.”
She nodded, wiping her face with the back of her hand.
“You gon’ be alright, Kesh,” he told her. “And if you ever feel like you not, hit me. I ain’t got all the answers, but I know what it’s like to come up from nothin’. So I’ll remind you if you forget.”
She laughed a little, wiping her face again. “I don’t even know you like that.”
Hov grinned. “You ain’t gotta know me. Just know I don’t say shit I don’t mean.”
That stuck.
He stepped back, nodding toward the sidewalk. “You good to get home?”
