Page 85 of Steel

My brothers all looked at each other, then her and laughed.

“I fuck with you,” Smoke said, giving her a head nod. He pointed to Neha. “You . . . we gone see.”

“Aye, what’s y’all daddy name?” Deuce asked out of the blue.

Neha swallowed hard. “Timothy Oden.”

“Where he at?”

“Thornfield Federal Penitentiary . . . why?”

“Just asking for future reference.”

“Are . . . are you gonna do something to him?”

“I mean, the nigga traumatized you to the point where you kept my niece from her father and family. I feel some type of way about that, and when I feel some type of way, I gotta handle shit.”

“You need a picture?” Dinah asked. Her ass was with the shits.

“Nah. Jaeda or Quaid can get everything I need. You ain’t gon’ feel some type of way if I off yo’ daddy?”

Dinah scoffed. “Hell no. Fuck that nigga.”

He turned to Neha. “What about you?”

Again, she shrugged. “I only claim one man as my father, and it’s not him. I don’t care what happens to that man.”

“Say less.”

My brothers all stood and started filing out of the room. Pops walked over to Neha and pulled her into a hug. I couldn’t hear what he was saying to her, but she nodded like she understood.He kissed her forehead before he walked away. Just as she was about to leave with her sister, I stopped her.

“Can I talk to you for a second?” I asked.

“I’ll see you back outside, Sis,” Dinah said, following behind my father.

“Okay.”

Neha stood there with her arms wrapped around herself, something she often did to self soothe. I walked over and peered down at her.

“You good?” I asked.

“This is a a lot,” she admitted. “I didn’t know your family was this big. I didn’t know what they were involved in . . . I feel like there’s so much I don’t know about you, Kerrion.”

“It is,” I admitted. “I guess we need to have an open and honest line of communication from here on out.”

“We do. You keep it real with me, and I’ll keep it real with you.” She stared at me for a moment. “It’s a teacher workday tomorrow. If you want to keep Nayelli overnight, I’d be okay with that. I think she needs to get used to her new home.”

I found myself blushing. “She called me daddy, man.”

She reached up and palmed my face. “You’re a great daddy. I knew it was coming, and I’m glad you two shared that moment.” She gently stroked my cheek with her thumb. “I really am sorry, Kerrion.”

I grabbed her hand and squeezed it. “I know. I’m done being a dick to you. Nayelli should see us getting along. One thing I learned from my father is to respect the mother of my children. I’ve never seen him be nasty to any of them, and I don’t want to be nasty to you.”

Maybe a little nasty with you,my intrusive thoughts said.

I wasn’t blind to how good Neha was looking today. The way this jumpsuit hugged her curves. The way her ass sat up in it. Shit!

I shook the thoughts from my head and released her hand.