“Why then?”
He looked off toward the rows instead of at me.
“Look. My mother was… loose. And he was embarrassed of that, even though that’s how he even met her. When she went public about me being his, he fought like hell to prove I wasn’t. ‘Til the test said I was. But he still didn’t come around, he just sent his checks.”
He let out a quiet breath.
“Which was cool with me, but my mama lost it. She started calling his house and harassing his wife. When that didn’t work, she started beating my ass ’cause she thought I looked like him.”
My hand flew to my mouth with a gasp.I gotta tell Orim.
“I knew she was a bitch!”
He turned his head slowly and looked at me.
Damn it. I done got too excited.
I winced. “My bad.”
He shook his head slightly and continued.
“Anyway. She ended up overdosing when I was in high school. I don’t know if it was intentional or not. When the courts got involved about my custody, they saw all the marks she left on me and told my dad.”
His voice went flat.
“You know what his bitch ass said? ‘I knew she was beating the bastard ’cause she told me she’d kill him if I don’t leave my wife. I told her I don’t know why she kept him to begin with’.”
I swallowed hard.
See, now I wished I never asked, ‘cause now I’m traumatized by this shit.
“Where is your dad now?”
“He’s in a nursing home.”
“Hm. I’m guessing y’all don’t talk.”
“No. He had the option to take me in, but he passed. So I got sent to foster care. And they was whooping my ass worse than my mama did.” He rubbed the back of his neck and I could see the faint scars beneath his tattoos when his arm faced the light.
Is that why he’s so tatted? To cover it all up?
“But it wasn’t all bad,” he added when he saw the look on my face. “I met your dad. And he put me on game. He was a real hustler, but he settled down with your mom.”
He stopped walking again, this time fully.
“They good people. Both of them. Always good to me.” He finally looked me in the eyes. “And here I am… fucking on their daughter.”
I shifted awkwardly, reaching up to play with my earring.
“I mean… when you put it like that.”
“I come from shitty people, Rabbit. I might be just as shitty and shady as them.”
I shook my head. “You’re not.”
“You sure?”
I hesitated, then shrugged. “…I mean, fucking me isn’t exactly moral…”
