Page 25 of Steel

“Man, at this point, fuck your sister, and fuck you too. You figured out who I was. You kept bringing that little girl to my class, and you didn’t say shit!”

“It wasn’t my place.”

“Yes, it was! Yes the fuck it was! She’s my kid! I had every right to know that, no matter what you two have told yourself to convince yourself otherwise. How could you be so fucking selfish!”

My voice was cracking at this point. This shit hurt like a muthafucka. Neha knew how much I loved kids. She knew how much I wanted a family. For her to take this route was like a slap in the face.

“Mr. K?”

I turned to find Nayelli standing at the top of the stairs, looking down at us.

“Nayelli, go back to your room,” Neha said.

My head snapped in her direction. “Excuse you? Nah, you need to tell her. Now.”

“Tell me what?” She slowly descended the stairs. “Mommy, what’s going on? Why are y’all yelling?”

Neha looked from her to Dinah to me, then back to Nayelli before motioning for her to come closer. Nayelli’s eyes remained on me as she went to stand next to her mother.

Neha sniffled. “Nayelli, . . . Mr. K, Kerrion . . . he’s not just your instructor. He . . . he’s your father.”

Nayelli’s eyes widened. “What?”

“He’s your father, baby,” Neha repeated.

“But . . . how?”

“A long time ago, he was my boyfriend. We went to college together before I transferred schools. I didn’t know I was pregnant with you until I was gone.”

That wasn’t good enough for me, but I couldn’t crash out how I wanted to in front of Nayelli. My eyes dropped to her confused orbs.

“Where have you been?” she asked. “Why didn’t you come around?”

I shook my head. “I didn’t know about you,” I said, dropping to my knees in front of her. “If I did, there’s no way I wouldn’t have been a part of your life, Nayelli.”

I reached for her hands, but she was hesitant to give them to me. That shit hurt, but I understood that from her.

“So, KJ is my brother?” she asked.

I nodded. “Yeah.”

“He looks like me as a baby.”

I smiled. “He does. You both look like me as a baby.”

“I looked like a boy?”

I chuckled. “Nah. Just a pretty, little girl version of me. I can show you pictures some time.”

“Does that mean I get to come to your house?”

I nodded. “I’d love for you to come to my house. You have so much family that would love to meet you.”

“I do?”

“Yeah. Aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins. You have an aunt and uncle that are younger than you, too.”

She giggled. “Really?”