Page 7 of Only for Me

“Nothing.” I dropped back against the sofa and stared at the picture on her license. “Long story.”

“One that could potentially be attached to some charges?”

“No. I didn’t touch her.”

“Aight, give me her information.”

I read him the name and address, which he repeated back to me.

“I’ll call you later today.”

I ended the call and tossed her license back on the ottoman before I lifted from the sofa and headed to my room, stripping out of my clothes from last night. I dressed in a pair of shorts and headed to the extra room I converted to a gym and spent the next two hours working out. I pushed my body to its limit trying to calm the thoughts in my head.

Did I want to be a father?

Hell no. I wasn’t equipped for that shit because I had never been provided with the proper example. My own hardly ever showed up unless he needed cash or the connections my name provided and my mother had checked out emotionally after O’Rion died. Even before that she dumped all her energy intohim because I was a lost cause. O’Rion was smart as fuck, had academic scholarships left and right. All I could do was catch a football. She literally said that to me once when I asked why she never showed me the same love she had for O’Rion.

I never took that out on him. He couldn’t help who he was or how she loved him. That was on her, but regardless, parenting wasn’t in my DNA. So no, I didn’t want to be a father but my brother never got to be and if he were here and knew I had a kid out there, he would have put his foot in my ass about not being present.

Again, all terrible fucking reasons to want this but this was where I was because if the kid was mine…

The thought had me dropping the weights to my side mid rep. I stared at my reflection in the mirror, seeing so many things. A man who busted my ass for the people I loved but never got the acknowledgment or respect and a man who didn’t deserve to be standing here but most of all I saw the eyes of the man who did. How fucking ironic. The one thing that tied me to a father that let me down and a brother I let down was the one thing that tied me to a life I didn’t fucking want. But if she was mine, I couldn’t walk away like she didn’t exist.

I put the weights down and headed to my room to shower. Once I was dressed in sweats and a hoodie, I was back in the living room with my phone in hand. There was a text from Raaj telling me he had everything set up and would send the paperwork to Makari when I was ready.

Yeah, that shit was going to go over smoothly.

I needed a distraction so I hit up my boy Ryland and put the phone on speaker while I lifted the remote to pull up highlight film from the Super Bowl and muted the sound.

“What’s good, fam.”

“Ain’t shit, what you into?”

“About to let that little shorty at Tranquil Breeze put her hands on me to work these muscles then I’m gonna drop this dick off in her to work hers.”

I smirked and shook my head. “You really need to stop fucking your massage therapist, Land. Got them women up there putting their hands up over some dick that will never be theirs. The owner is going to start taxing you for disrupting their establishment.”

“That’s on them.”

“Remember that shit when they send your ass a bill.” He laughed and I brushed a hand over my head then just blurted this shit out. “I might have a kid.”

“You what?”

“A kid. A little girl.”

“You serious?”

“Yeah, she’s like three ,maybe four, months.”

“So you can’t even pay her off. Damn that’s fucked up.”

I frowned hard at that even though that was literally my response every time the conversation of me and babies came up.

“Right now I just want to know for sure.”

“Wait, three or four months means Super Bowl last year.”

“Yeah.”