Page 43 of A Kingpin’s Weakness

Seth

Jo deciding to go to rehab had shaken her up, and now they were talking about selling the house, buying something new for when Jo got out. I didn’t press her too hard. I knew it was a lot. But still, a part of me wondered if that was the only reason she was keeping her distance.

I missed her. Not just the sex, not just her laugh or the way she curled up in my passenger seat with no shoes on and a Slurpee in her hand.

I missed the way she’d go quiet when something was on her mind, or how she’d flip her hair and look at me like I was the only thing in the room that made sense.

She deserved a real break. Something just for her. Summer vacation hadn’t been a vacation at all. So I hit up Rich, and we found ourselves at the mall, carrying bags like two idiots on a mission.

So far, I’d gotten her a massage membership, one she could use both here and back where she stayed.

A couple of purses caught my eye, so I grabbed them.

Shoes too. I didn’t know if any of it was her vibe, but I was trying.

I just wanted her to feel seen. Thought about what it would look like when she smiled opening this stuff, and maybe, just maybe, looked at me like she used to.

“Jewelry. All women love jewelry,” Rich said it like he’d just dropped the most genius idea of the day.

“I guess we can stop by the jeweler after this. But first let’s grab some food.”

We started heading toward the food court when Rich paused, squinting ahead.

“Ain’t that RJ right there?” He pointed toward the pretzel stand.

Sure enough, RJ and Ari were standing in line.

My stomach tightened. I’d been texting and calling Stormi all damn day with zero response.

Maybe RJ knew what the hell was going on with her.

“RJ!” I called out.

He turned around slowly. “Seth.”

“Hey Ari,” I said, barely glancing at her before cutting to the point. “You heard from Stormi today?”

RJ looked uncomfortable as hell and tried to grab their pretzel quick, like he was about to dip. “No, I haven’t,” he said.

“He lyin’,” Rich cut in. “Josh do the same shit when he lying. Look at him.”

RJ sighed. “Look, I don’t wanna get in between you and Stormi’s business.”

“So something is going on,” I shot back.

“I don’t know, man I’m just sayin’.”

“Stormi’s pregnant,” Ari blurted out. “And she’s thinking about having an abortion. She might’ve had it today. She’s not picking up and wasn’t answering the door when we stopped by. So we just out here killing time, trying to not freak out.”

“Ari,” RJ snapped.

“Sorry! I break under pressure.”

“Nobody even asked you anything,” He growled.

“Oh, my bad.”

“RJ. Talk,” I said, my voice low now. Tight. Rage boiling just under my skin.

RJ looked guilty as hell. “Stormi found out she was pregnant the night of the yacht party. She didn’t know what she wanted to do, so she kept it quiet.

A couple days ago, she made the decision to terminate.

We tried talking to her, tried to be there, but it’s her choice.

She had an appointment today. Since this morning, no one’s heard from her. Nothing.”

My ears rang. The mall around me faded into background noise. Pregnant? She’d been pregnant this whole time and said nothing? Not a word. No call. No text. I’d seen her. Held her. Slept next to her. And she didn’t think I deserved to know? That was my child too.

“I’ll catch y’all later,” I muttered, turning to go.

“Nigga, I rode with you,” Rich called after me.

“RJ, take Rich to his whip,” I snapped, already storming toward the exit.

I jumped in my truck and immediately called Stormi again.

Straight to voicemail. Just like all damn day.

I hit redial. Nothing. Again. Again. I slammed my fist against the steering wheel, my mind spiraling.

I didn’t even realize how fast I was driving, but I knew I had to get to her.

Had to hear it from her mouth. Had to understand how she could make a decision like that without me.

I made it to her house in less than twenty minutes. Didn’t give a damn about red lights, stop signs, or speed limits. My mind was racing faster than the engine, and the only thing I could focus on was her. What the hell was going on, and why she’d shut me out like this.

It was almost 8 p.m. when I pulled up. Porch light was on. Noah and his boy Dre were posted up like usual, halfway slouched in the chairs, high as hell and glued to their phones. Same shit, different day.

I stepped out, my jaw tight, fists clenched at my sides. “Yo,” I said as I approached.

They didn’t even clock me at first. That alone had me heated. Could’ve been anybody pulling up on them. I made a mental note to talk to Noah about that later. He wanted to get in the game, maybe even take over Ronnie’s old territory, but if he wasn’t alert enough to see me coming, he wasn’t ready.

Noah finally looked up. “What up, Seth.” We dapped up.

His homeboy Dre was slower with it… hesitant. Like he could feel the storm on me. Good. He should.

“Where’s Stormi?” I asked, voice low, controlled.

“In the house. Sleep, I think.”

“I’m about to go holla at her real quick.”

“Yeah,” he said, but I was already walking through the front door.

I didn’t knock. I wasn’t in the mood. I went straight to her room and pushed the door open.

It wasn’t locked. That pissed me off for a whole different reason.

Jo wasn’t here, yeah… but Noah had too many random ass dudes coming and going.

That door should’ve been locked. She should’ve been somewhere safe. At my place.

This is exactly why I never understood why she didn’t want to stay with me.

Why she kept saying she needed space, or that she didn’t want to mix her life with mine too much.

I respected her independence, sure but not at the cost of her safety.

Not at the cost of her shutting me out of things like this.

She was asleep, curled up like she’d just cried herself into that position.

I stood there, quiet, watching her silhouette under the soft light leaking in through the blinds.

She looked peaceful, like none of the shit outside her dreams existed.

And that’s what hit the hardest because I existed outside her peace.

Shit was supposed to be different with Stormi.

I wasn’t no perfect nigga, never claimed to be, but I showed up for her.

I chose her. Every time she got scared and pulled back, I stayed.

Every time she built a wall, I knocked it down just to hold her on the other side.

And still, still she found ways to shut me out.

We were cool around other people, all smiles and inside jokes. Like we were solid. But the moment we got alone, she got quiet distant. Like she was somewhere I couldn’t reach, and no matter how close I stood, I was never in it with her. Just next to it.

I didn’t say a word as I watched her move in her sleep, soft little shifts like her body couldn’t rest. And then suddenly, she shot up, bolted for the bathroom, like she was being pulled by something stronger than her.

The sound of her throwing up hit me in the chest like a sledgehammer. I didn’t chase her. I just stood there, stuck. Frozen. Listening to the girl I loved empty her stomach into a toilet while my heart broke and boiled at the same time.

She brushed her teeth, ran the water like it could wash away whatever just happened. Then she came back into the room like I wasn’t standing there watching her whole world crack down the middle.

I looked at her, really looked at her, and I didn’t know whether to hold her or ask her why. Why she didn’t tell me. Why she thought she had to go through this alone. Why she didn’t trust me with the truth.

“So you really about to kill our baby?”

She damn near jumped out of her skin when I spoke. She hadn’t seen me standing there.

“Seth, what the fuck, man?”

“Answer the question.”

“What?”

“You pregnant?”

She froze, eyes darting toward the floor, then up again. “Fucking RJ.”

“Actually,” I said, voice cold, “it was Ari. She folds under pressure.”

Stormi shook her head, eyes narrowed, jaw tight. “So you questioning people about me now?”

“Stormi, are you pregnant?” I needed her to say yes. Because if she said no, that meant it was already done. That she went through with it. That she killed my seed without even telling me.

She hesitated. Then barely above a whisper “ Yeah. ”

I swallowed hard. My throat felt like sandpaper. “You didn’t feel like I needed to know that?”

“I was still processing it myself.”

“But everybody else got to process it with you first?” I snapped. “Everybody else deserved to know before me ?”

She went quiet. And I knew what I had to ask next, even if it ripped me apart inside.

“So you thinking about killing the baby?”

She straightened, eyes sharp. “My body, my choice.”

“Man, fuck all that,” I shot back, and instantly regretted it. I ran a hand down my face and took a deep breath. “Look, I know it’s your body. I get that. But why the fuck couldn’t it be our choice?” I wasn’t yelling anymore. I was hurt. Raw talking to her like my heart was laid out on the floor.

“You know I would’ve been there. You know you and the baby would be good. So, what You hate me that much you’d go through all this without me?”

She didn’t answer. Just stood there, arms crossed like she was holding herself together from the inside out.

“Grab your stuff,” I said, stepping toward her suitcase. “Let’s go.”

“No.”

“Stormi, you clearly sick. Let me take care of you. I don’t want you in this house, around all these people. You don’t gotta do this by yourself.”

“I’m not sick,” she muttered. “The baby just hates food.”

That cracked something in me. I shouldn’t have smiled, but I did. Just for a second. Because she said the baby.

Not it. Not the problem. The baby.

I’d missed so much with S3. Imani kept me on the outside like I was some donor instead of his father. I wasn’t missing a damn thing this time if she kept it.