Page 27

CHAPTER 26

Stephon

I couldn’t have been fun on our way back from New York. I hadn’t said a word the entire flight. We’d woken up, locked up my mother’s brownstone, and driven straight to the airport. We were boarding and returning home after turning in the rental and grabbing breakfast. I was hoping the flight would help clear my head. Jourdan slept nearly the entire time. While she did, I’d thought of every scenario of why Miller would send my mother such large sums of money every three months. None of what I concocted made sense. The craziest story in my mind was that my mother was a damn queenpin and that Miller was paying her his cut every month.

Steph, you’re tripping. That’s wild. Besides, if she were, you’d fucking know. Not to mention, she hates drug dealers.

“Jourdan, wake up, Baby. We’re here.” I said as I gently shook Jourdan to wake her up. Our flight had just landed, and it was time to deboard .

“Damn that was fast. How long have I been asleep?” She asked while she came to. I wanted to tell her nearly the whole trip, but didn’t want to alarm her. She came across as the type who didn’t like to sleep much, fearing she might miss something. And I know she would’ve wanted to keep her eyes on all the flight attendants.

Nosey ass!

“Not long,” I said, chuckling at my last thought. Her hands reached the ceiling as she stretched her body as best she could.

“I know your damn neck is stiff. After that performance last night.”

“If mine is stiff, then so is yours,” she said as she swiftly punched me in my dick, then proceeded to stick her middle finger in my face. It wasn’t enough to hurt, but I still felt the sting while I laughed it off.

“And I would do it again, too. Let your ass act up like that again. You’re pushing it right now. Come on, Mike is waiting,” I said and smacked her ass hard through her jeans. Our little back and forth gave me the break I needed to take my mind off all the bullshit momentarily. We went through the process of getting off the plane, and because we had no luggage, we went through it quickly.

Outside, I saw that Mike had already pulled to the curb, so I guided Jourdan over and placed her in before sliding in beside her.

“Aye, Mike, take us home. I need to pick up my truck.” He nodded through the rearview before pulling off. As we left the airport clearing, all of Cypress’s trees began to reappear. A plane appeared over them in its takeoff, and I wished it could take my mind with its ascent. After a while, all the cars on the road and everything we passed became blurry as I zoned out.

“The trip was good, I suppose. I’m not sure how much work you two got done, though,” he said as he laughed and gestured down to Jourdan lying on my shoulder.

Is she sleeping again?

A light snore could be heard coming from her mouth. I hadn’t realized that she’d fallen asleep again. I tightened my grip around her shoulder and kissed her forehead.

“Yeah, you know how those conferences go. You gotta find something to do between each seminar, right?” I said, and he laughed. Mike got us back to my house in record time. When I woke Jourdan up this time, I ensured she was good.

“Jourdan, wake up,” I said with concern as she stirred.

“You’ve been sleeping a lot. Are you good? Are you feeling okay?”

“Yeah, I feel fine. I’m just exhausted. Did I mention that I hate traveling? You should see me when I switch time zones.”

“I’m not coming in; I’m going straight to my mother’s house. Go inside and get some rest until I come back.” I spoke.

“No. I’m going with you,” she hastily returned.

“You sure?” I asked as I took her chin to study her face.

“Yes, Stephon, now let’s go,” she returned.

Somewhere on the drive to my mother’s, I’d found too much bravado. I’d hyped myself up so much for answers, I barged straight into my mother’s house without the typical bell ring. Adding to my newfound bravery, I brashly yelled out for my mother as I walked through her house looking for her. I also noticed that, once again, she’d rearranged the damn furniture.

Her ass is hardheaded.

“Maaa, Maaaa.” I yelled again.

“Little boy, I know damn well you didn’t come into my house yelling like you have no sense. Now tell me what the hell has you on the verge of going to the hospital because I’m about to send you there,” she said. I took several deep breaths. I turned and searched for Jourdan and saw that she had sat on the couch. A voice behind my mother made me turn my head swiftly and draw my weapon. It was a voice I’d committed to memory.

“Adri, is everything ok?” He asked. It was Julius Miller. While we’d slept he must have caught a flight straight here just to fuck with me. He had waltzed into the room with an air of confidence. I was already teetering on the edge, and he made me jump off the cliff. In my rage, I must have missed the foreign car parked by the curb.

“Miller, I don’t know what business you have with my mother, but you need to get the fuck out right now,” I said. I pulled back the safety to ensure he understood. He hadn’t flinched as he held my menacing gaze with one of his own. I was trying to hold back, Rock, the drug-dealing killer I’d kept hidden from my mother .

“Adri, I will call you later,” he said as he leaned down to kiss her cheek twice, one landing too close to her mouth for my liking. Then he walked coolly away, smirking at the inner rage he’d caused me to have.

“Stephon Angel, what in the hell has gotten into you?” I didn’t speak again until I heard the door close. I tucked my gun and finally gave my mother my attention.

“Tell me how in the hell you know Julius Miller,” I asked. My mother stalled as if she didn’t want to answer me.

“Take a seat, Stephon.”

“No, Ma. I’m good standing. Now answer the damn question.” I was pushing it, but I was gone off the deep end.

“I know Julius from back in New York; he was friends with your father and me.”

“Ma,” I said tersely. She was trying to drag this conversation, and I was ready to get to it.

“When I first moved here from Puerto Rico, I met two men. One was Julius, and the other was your father, Sean. They were best friends. I fell quickly for Julius, and your father became one of my best friends. We all spent a lot of time together. However, Julius wouldn’t be with us as often. One night, I found him selling drugs on the corner when he missed our planned date. I had to go looking. He’d hidden it well up until then. I had no idea. Your father also told me that he sold on the same night, just not as much as Julius. Julius wanted to take over. That was all he talked about after I found out. He wanted us to get rich together. I wanted no parts .

I never told you, but your grandparents died in the drug game, and I didn’t want to suffer the same fate. That was the sole reason I came here. I needed to get away from it all. I was not about to be dragged back into a world I never asked to be in, not even for love.

When I told Julius I wasn’t happy with his lifestyle choices, he ended our relationship. Sean was there like the friend that he’d been the entire time. He was attentive and cared for me in ways that Julius never had. We were falling in love with each other. Sean even managed to escape that lifestyle, and we started to build a life together. Happily.

Julius was so caught up in the streets that he let me go. There were no issues with Sean stepping in to take his place. Julius didn’t care about me like I thought. At least at the time, I believed so,” she said. I handed her the stack of checks still in the envelopes.

“What are these? You’re talking, but you’re not saying anything. Why in the hell has Julius Miller been sending you money, and for how long?” She took the checks, looking down at them. She looked back up with a pained expression on her face.

“He had been sending me money every three months after your father died. I repeatedly told him I didn’t want it, but he refused to stop sending them. When you received your scholarship, I used your father’s life insurance and the money from the house sale to follow you to North Carolina. I didn’t want any of his drug money, and I thought I ran far enough away until I saw him at the mayor’s ball. It was the first time I’d seen him since I left New York. Why are these addressed to the brownstone?” She asked .

“I bought the place back seven years ago. I never said anything because you never wanted to talk about our time there,” I said as I paced back and forth. Everything she said, except where I fit in, made sense.

“Ma, I understand all of that, but what in the fuck does that man want with me. Did you know that he had been following me?”

“Stephon, I see you’re upset, but I’m still your mother, and you’ll talk to me as such.” Her voice had morphed into the tone she used when I’d pushed her limits.

“Ma,” I groaned.

“Answer the damn questions, Ma, now!” I yelled with my voice booming around the room. It was so loud that my mother jumped.

“Maybe I should let you two have this conversation in private. Stephon, I’m going to sit in the truck,” Jourdan said and stood. Until then, I had forgotten that she was in the room.

“Jourdan sit your beautiful ass down,” I said in a forceful tone. I didn’t mean for it to be, but I knew I needed her in the room. Something told me that I would not like what my mother was about to say, and I needed her here to ground me.

“Julius thinks he is your father, Stephon. I don’t even know how he found out that he could be. I never told him I was pregnant, but Sean and I started sleeping together the same night we’d broken up. When Sean and I found out, I decided you were Sean’s, and he died believing so. Sean signed your birth certificate, and I never said anything else about it, but deep down, I knew there was no way you could be his. Julius found me at the ball, telling me he knew you were his. Saying some bullshit about how we can finally be the family he knows we can be and that he’s changed. He came here today to persuade me to tell you. I don’t even know how he knows where I live,” she said.

I stopped dead in my tracks. Suddenly, I found myself outside my body, looking in. Out of everything that she’d just said, all I heard was that Miller was my father.

“Let me get this right. You were out there in those Brooklyn streets being a hoe with two niggas, and now I’m just supposed to accept that the man who I’ve called my father my whole life isn’t and never was. You were just going to take it to the grave that my whole life was a damn lie because you don’t want to face your fucking demons.” The strong breaths I was heaving were interrupted by a swift and hard smack across my face. I was on the verge of blacking out until I felt a hand lock with mine while another rested on my shoulder.

“Stephon, I think it’s time for us to go. You and your mother need some time,” Jourdan said as she tried to push me from where I was standing. However, her attempts were unsuccessful because I was rooted in place. As I stared into the eyes of the woman in front of me, the thought that rose to the surface was that I didn’t know who in the hell this woman was.

Jourdan somehow pushed me toward the door. I stared over my shoulder the entire time until I was standing on the other side. I could faintly hear Jourdan in the background .

“Mrs. Rockwell, I’ll call you when he’s calmed down. You know I will. You get some rest, too. Today was a lot for both of you. I’ll call you, and you can tell me about that other man from the ball,” she said as the door closed. I didn’t know the woman on the other side. Hell, I didn’t even know who I was at the moment.