“If you're pregnant, bitch, it ain’t mine.” I couldn’t help but take that shot.
“Ghana, baby, I know I was wrong?—”
“Stop, Nich. If you called me to talk about us, I swear I’m going to come back to Memphis and make that baby a motherless child. Leave me the fuck alone. You made your choice. I will apologize for kicking the baby’s bed, but I’m not sorry for what I did to you. I wanted to do more, so don’t tempt me to come handle that.”
“Okay, I get it. But you should know that Nico is plotting against you. I don’t know when he’s coming, but he’s planning to come for what you did to the baby and me. I told him not to do this, but he wasn’t listening. I’m sorry, Ghana. I’m sorry for everything.”
The line was silent for a beat, and I could feel my skin heating. Her telling me that nigga was plotting on me sent murderous thoughts through my mind. It was like a switch had flipped, and now I was on demon time.
“Hello? Are you there?”
“Don’t call my phone again. The next time you do, that baby is going to one of your family members or foster care.” I hung up and powered my phone off. I stood there for a moment, trying to erase this burning feeling in my chest, but the shit wasn’t going away.
I could hear Autumn’s heels coming back down the hall, but still, I stood, staring at the wall, thinking of a million ways to gut that bitch-ass nigga.
“Okay. I’m ready,” Autumn said, placing her hands on my shoulders and running them down my arms. I snatched away from her.
“Don’t touch me.”
“Wha-Ghana. What is going on?”
I turned to look at her. I saw the confusion and nervousness written all over her face.
“Ghana . . .” She swallowed. “Talk to me.”
“We need to go.” I walked away from her and shut off the music. “Let’s go.”
“N-no. You need to talk to me. What just happened?”
My heart hammered in my chest because I knew I was scaring her. I took a few deep breaths before I took her hands. “I’m good, Autumn. Something just came up, so I have to end our nigh?—”
She snatched her hands from mine and grabbed her clutch.
“It’s fine. Let’s go.”
“Autumn—”
“I’m fine, Ghana. I don’t know what happened, and I don’t want to upset you. If we have to go, then I’ll give you the space you need to handle whatever it is you need to handle.”
I shook my head of the fog that tried to creep in.
Chill, nigga. Don’t let that shit consume you. Relax. Relax.
“Nah . . . No. We’re going to finish this date. I’m sorry.”
“Can you tell me what happened?”
“Another time. If I keep thinking about it or talking about it, we’re going to have to take a rain check, and I can’t and won’t do that to you. I’m sorry.” I kissed her lips and wrapped my arms around her waist.
She wrapped her arms around me tightly, kissed my neck, and whispered in my ear. “You’re safe with me, Ghana.”
I felt my body relax, and the tension in my chest eased.
“I know,” I replied, kissing her forehead. I shouldn’t have answered that call, but I was glad I did. That niggaPicowas going to see me real soon.
Nichelle was stupid. She knew what I was going to do to that bum when she told me that. She didn’t want her baby to have a father was what I got out of that phone call. She knew I was coming for that bitch’s head. He was plotting against me, so he had to go. I was going to play it smart, though, because it could be a setup. But his days were now numbered, and I was going to be sure he had a closed casket.
The Following Week . . .