Page 31

Cruz

K eyani was still dog sick a couple of days after leaving my parents’ crib, and I was wondering if I was going to be next.

I didn’t put it past Essy and them in the kitchen to have fucked up and used some recalled ass lettuce since my baby hadn’t even really eaten anything until we got there.

Thankfully, I didn’t have any of the symptoms that Keyani had, but just seeing her all fucked up had me about to go give them old bitches food poisoning.

Keyani had managed to get the kids off to school for their first day despite being pale as fuck and throwing up.

She was a real one for that, and I didn’t want to leave her once they were gone, but I needed to head down to the shop since I’d gotten a call that something was up.

I ordered her some soup to be delivered along with crackers and juice.

When I got to the shop, I was pleased to see it was full of customers either dropping off or picking up their cars for some work.

The fellas were all on top of their jobs, and so was the woman I’d put in charge of refurnishing my office.

She’d already had me pick out my new desk and chair and replaced the couch with a couple of chairs so niggas wouldn’t be tempted to try and sleep in there.

I was just waiting on the shit to arrive since she’d ordered it all from overseas.

“What’s up, Lisa? Please don’t tell me these fools were in here bothering you,” I said to the temp I’d hired while Keyani was out sick.

She was a nice girl, a young college student, and meek as hell.

I’d warned them niggas just like how I’d done with Keyani, but it was never a guarantee that a muthafucka would do what they were told when you weren’t around.

“No, no, nothing like that. It’s actually?—”

“It’s actually me, Mr. Cruz.” I squinted at the sound of Raya’s voice coming from my office.

Her two goons stood by the door, and I contemplated shooting them and then putting a bullet in her head as well, but there were way too many people around for that shit.

Gritting my teeth, I thanked Lisa and headed into the open doorway, passing her guards with a nasty mean mug. Fuck ass niggas.

“What the fuck yo’ crazy ass want, Raya? Didn’t I tell you my dealings with you were done? You lucky I don’t shoot your ass where you stand for that shit you pulled with Raven,” I spat, taking in the white body suit and colorful ass kimono she was wearing.

She let out a maniacal laugh, tossing her head back like I’d said the funniest shit in the world instead of having just threatened her life.

“Cruz, baby, you may think your dealings with me are done, but this baby says otherwise, and as for Raven, well, she fucked around and found out. I gave her strict instructions, and the first thing she did was run to you, like I would tolerate that disrespect. Tuh! The bitch asked for it,” she went off but I was still stuck on the baby shit she’d let slip out of her mouth.

I vividly remembered wearing a condom with her crazy ass and disposing of the shit myself, so there was no way she was pregnant by me.

“You crazy ass bitch! If you pregnant, it damn sure ain’t by me! What sucker ass nigga you let hit raw? ’Cause I strapped up both times.” I clenched my fist, trying to remember that she was a lady so I didn’t knock her the fuck out.

“Yes, we used condoms, but the first rule of sex ed is that no form of contraceptive is 100 percent effective.” She shrugged.

“Don’t look so disappointed, baby daddy.

Obviously, you like kids since you’re galivanting around with that section 8 ass hoe!

” She folded her arms, and the smile finally slipped from her face as she mentioned Keyani.

I didn’t need to ask how she knew about her, even though I’d been trying to keep our shit low profile while I dealt with this bitch, but I still felt a way about her knowing Keyani and even the twins.

“Aye, stay the fuck away from her!”

“Oooh, you’re actually defending this one.

You must really give a fuck about her because you didn’t even sound this mad about the cum bucket.

” Her arched brows lifted in surprise. “Maybe I should pay her a little visit as well.” She’d barely had the words out of her mouth before I was crossing the room in large strides and had my hands wrapped around her neck.

“Bitch, don’t you go anywhere near her!” I squeezed tightly, watching as she struggled to breathe, and all the color began draining from her face.

“You’re right, I wasn’t that mad about Raven, but I’ll kill your ass behind Keyani and gladly go to war with your pops after pulling the plug on Dex’s ass!

” I could feel her life fading away as I tightened my grip, and she tried unsuccessfully to pry my fingers from her throat.

Just when her eyes began to drift closed, I let her go, watching her body fall to the floor with a thud loud enough that her goons busted in behind me.

Without hesitation, I had my gun aimed at them niggas, ready to blow their brains out in my office if I had to.

I could probably have taken them in a fight, but fuck that!

They weren’t about to have me in this bitch winded!

I moved to the side so they could help a gasping and coughing Raya up from the floor, and she held her throat as she glared at me. “You stupid muthafucka! You put your hands on the wrong bitch!” Her words were strained due to the damage to her neck, so they didn’t hit the way she thought they did.

“Get yo’ ass out before I change my mind and make this muthafucka a crime scene.

” I watched her get carried out and cursed inwardly.

She’d gone from a minor inconvenience to a whole ass problem, especially if she was trying to bring Keyani in the mix.

My baby didn’t know about her and barely knew about my illegal shit, so she wasn’t going to be able to handle whatever Raya threw at her.

I knew she was going to be mad as hell though, but I needed to tell her what was up before she blindly walked into some shit.

After Raya left the shop, I took my ass straight back to Keyani’s.

That crazy bitch was mad and probably feeling murderous, so I didn’t want to risk her going straight there.

I had to assume that in addition to knowing who she was, Raya knew where the fuck she was, and since I knew she wasn’t above killing a muthafucka, it was going to be best to get Keyani and the kids somewhere safe.

I entered the crib and was surprised to see Keyani up and vacuuming the living room in a matching Ethika sports bra and boy-short set.

She was dancing around and singing some ratchet ass GloRilla shit that had me standing in the doorway in awe and annoyance until she danced around and her eyes landed on me.

“Shit! You just scared the fuck out of me, Cruz!” She turned the TV down with her hand over her chest, and despite the news I’d come to give her, I couldn’t help smirking at her sexy ass.

“Yeah, that’s ’cause you in here lyin’. Yo’ ass definitely got a nigga.” I came up on her and wrapped my hands around her waist as she rolled her eyes. “What you doin’ out the bed anyway?”

“I don’t know, I stopped throwing up and didn’t even really feel sick anymore not too long after you left. The soup and juice must have got me right.”

She tried to give me a kiss, but I moved my head out the way, dodging her lips. “Yeah, ayite, let me find out you in here tryna get ready for another nigga. Got me paying a temp and you in here throwing yo’ ass in a circle.” I frowned down at her, but she only giggled, unbothered.

“In my defense, I didn’t ask to stay home, you insisted with your bossy ass, so I did.

I really don’t even think I was sick, to be honest. I might fuck around and be pregnant.

” The way she said it was clearly a joke, but the color slowly drained from her face.

“Oh shit! I might be pregnant!” Her entire demeanor changed, and her eyes widened as the realization hit.

Wrestling out of my arms, she ran over to the couch and snatched up her phone.

“What the hell you doin’?” I watched in confusion as her fingers raced over the screen, as she mumbled under her breath.

“Nonononononono.” By the time I said fuck it and came over to see for myself, she was hyperventilating and easily released the phone so I could see what was on it.

She had some shit pulled up on the screen, but it wasn’t registering to me until I saw that it said period tracker across the top.

That was the last shit I was expecting, especially after my encounter with Raya, and I was truly at a loss for words.

It had been a little over a month since Maasai’s wedding, and from the looks of things, Keyani hadn’t had a period since before that.

I didn’t know much about that shit besides that it came once a month, and that was usually when I avoided bitches.

Obviously, though, it wasn’t normal to miss that shit, and Keyani wasn’t happy about it either.

She was still pacing the floor and cursing, so I stopped her and handed back the phone.

“Look, I don’t really know what that shit gotta do with a baby, but if you wanna take a test, we can do that so you’ll know for sure.”

“What you mean so I’ll know for sure?” she mocked, trying to make her voice sound like mine.

“If I’m pregnant, we both need to know for sure!

” The way she was glaring at me, a muthafucka would’ve thought I told her, her pussy stink, but all I took it for was her thinking I was making the shit a problem only she’d have to handle, but that was furthest from the truth.

I wasn’t overexcited about maybe having a baby, especially when Raya was out on a rampage.

However, I wasn’t mad about the shit either.

I stopped Keyani before she could storm off, catching her around the waist and pulling her back in front of me.