Page 11 of Heart of a Savage
“I can’t come out in the daytime. I’m a vampire.”
He laughed. “Yeah, a’ight, Kali. Come on. Let’s get cleaned up while I hit that one more time before you ghost me.”
I shook my head and smirked as I climbed inside with him behind me. Yeah, it was time to ease up some. I could tell he was starting to catch feelings, and I had to wonder why he hadn’t taken my advice and seen other women. We fucked three times a week, and I always pulled up in the wee hours of the morning and would be gone before daybreak. I knew if I were a man, there was no way I would catch feelings for someone I knew was emotionally unavailable.
After tonight, I was going to ghost his ass for a minute. There was no way I could allow this sappy shit to take me under. I didn’t love anyone besides my family, and I was positive I never would.
What these niggas wanted from a bitch?
I sat at the table as I watched the inmates file out of the gate. Standing, I watched the influx of prisoners walk to their respective tables to see their loved ones. My father was the last to walk out, and I stood with a smile on my face. Time did nothing to this man.
He had been locked away for ten years, and he still looked the way he did when he walked inside the prison. My dad hadn’t aged a bit, with the only difference being that he’d gained a few pounds from hitting the weights and building muscle. His long, soft hair was braided in four cornrows. His brown skin was blemish-free, and his teeth looked whiter than when he was free.
I missed my daddy so much. Things weren’t the same without him, and I secretly cried at night thinking about how life would have been if he were home with us.
His dark eyes were hard until he spotted me, then they softened. He strolled over to me casually until he reached me, and I tossed my arms around him. He held me tightly as tears gathered in my eyes.
“I miss you so much, baby girl.”
“I miss you, too, Daddy. I miss you so much,” I whispered.
“Logan... ” I could hear one of the guards call out to him. “Come on, you know the rules.”
My daddy sucked his teeth and held me a few seconds longer before he released me. We sat down at the table, but my father’s focus was on the corrections officer. I looked back and noticed the CO looking scared as he diverted his gaze across the yard.
“Daddy,” I called out to him. He finally peeled his eyes away from the CO, and his eyes softened again once they landed on me. “Let it go, Daddy. Okay? Please?”
“Anything for you, baby girl.”
I smiled. “How are you holding up?”
“I’m doing what I can. What about you? How’s Paige and ya moms?”
“Paige is good. She had a job so she couldn’t make it today, and I’m sure you know how Mom is,” I said, squinting at him.
He smirked. “I was going to call you. You didn’t have to drive all this way to come check on me.”
“Daddy, what were you thinking?”
“Arie, I need you and ya moms to move on from me. It ain’t shit I can do for y’all while I’m locked up in here. As promised, I’ll always keep y’all protected, but as far as visitations, I need y’all to stop taking that trip.”
“But, Daddy?—”
“No buts, Arie. I love you, Paige, and your moms to death—you know that—but the longer y’all keep waiting for my return, the longer y’all are locked up right along with me. That business you’re into has a deadline. You have until 2023 to have settled all of your affairs. Ya moms barely even see you anymore, and she’s afraid she’s going to lose you to those streets. Your uncle Lamont has already been given clear instructions on ending your contract?—”
I frowned. “You can’t do that.”
“I can, and I am. I know I introduced you and Paige to this shit, and I was fucked up for that. Back then, I felt like I had to teach y’all how to be savage because this world is cruel. I just wanted y’all to be able to protect yourselves. You have accomplished more than I ever did. You have a whole nightclub, which I hear is doing numbers and doing its thing. What the fuck you need that other shit now for, huh? Clout? Fame?”
I scoffed. “This has nothing to do with clout and fame, Daddy. The money is good?—”
“All money ain’t good money, Arie. You’re damn near thirty-five years old. What the fuck are you chasing? Before you end up in the dirt, I’m ending this shit for you.”
I bit the corner of my bottom lip and nodded. “So… that’s it? You tell Mom to move on from you like you’re not even her husband, then you snatch me out of what I’m doing, all because of what? Why are you doing this? You don’t want her as a wife anymore, and it sounds like you’re dissing me as your daughter too. What the fuck is really going on, Dad?”
“I don’t need y’all riding this shit out with me, Arieana. It hurts my fucking soul to hear and see how this shit is affecting y’all. You don’t know how bad I want to be out there with my wife and my daughters, but because I was young and dumb, I did some stupid shit that I can’t take back.”
Once again, tears gathered in my eyes as I looked away from him. He reached across the table and took my hand.
