Lyrius had really built a whole life down here, and I didn’t like that shit—not because she hadn’t done a good job, but because she didn’t have to do it alone. My son shouldn’t have gotten used to his mama doing everything by herself. I didn’t think about having kids much, but when I did, I’d always imagined a two-family household. One in which I provided, and my wife looked fine as hell dillydallying and taking care of my children.
“Daddy!” Dakoda called, bringing my attention back to him. “You think Ali could beat a shark?” he asked seriously and broke out laughing.
“What kinda question is that?”
“I think he can,” he said confidently.
“You think Ali can beat everybody.”
“Because he can,” Dakoda defended immediately. “Ali is the strongest turtle ever. Plus, he got hands.”
“Turtles don’t got hands.”
“He got turtle hands,” Dakoda replied, and I shook my head laughing. This little dude was funny. I watched as he crawled across the carpet, making dinosaur noises loud as hell.
“Daddy, make a T-Rex noise.”
“Nah, I ain’t no T-Rex.”
“You gotta imagine it, Daddy.” He sighed dramatically, like I’d offended him. I huffed out laugh and grabbed the T-Rex lying in front of me.
“Alright. T-Rex, T-Rex, T-Rex.”
“Daddy!” Dakoda cackled. “That is not a T-Rex sound!”
“Oh, you can do better?”
“Yes! I’m the best at T-Rex sounds.” I leaned forward, grabbing him around the waist and tickling him before he couldescape, and he squealed so loudly that I knew Lyrius’s neighbors probably hated us already.
“Daddy! Stop!”
“I can’t hear you. You’re speaking in dinosaur.” Another fit of giggles broke out of him as we wrestled in the middle of the floor just as a knock sounded at the door. Dakoda looked up first. My eyes narrowed toward the entrance. Maybe our loud laughing had summoned a neighbor.
“Somebody’s at the door,” Dakoda said just as the knock came again.
“See. You got us in trouble.” I pushed back from the table and walked toward the door, ready to cuss whoever was complaining about a kid enjoying himself clean out. I swung the door open to see some skinny, dread head nigga about the same height as me standing at the door, holding a box of groceries.
“May I help you?” I asked, and his eyes moved over me quickly, a hint of jealousy in them, and I peeped it immediately.
“Uh . . .” He frowned a little. “Lyrius home?”
“Nah.”
His eyes narrowed just slightly. “Aight.” He adjusted the box on his shoulder. “You her people?”
“Who askin’?”
The nigga looked me over again, clearly trying to figure out who the fuck I was, and I immediately caught on to what type of visit this was.
“I’m Mekhi. I stay downstairs. Was just checkin’ on her and lil’ man after the storm. She wasn’t answering my texts. Wanted to make sure they were okay.”
I gazed at him. He was saying something else, but my brain was stuck on how the fuck this nigga knew my son. Was he Lyrius’s lil’ boyfriend or something? Nah, couldn’t be, because I knew damn well Lyrius hadn’t hidden my son from me just to have him around the next nigga.
“Mekhi!” Dakoda popped up off the floor and made his way to the door.
“What’s up, lil’ man?” This nigga smiled immediately, and it irritated me to my core. “You good?” My eyes darted to him.
“Why wouldn’t he be?”