“So, how did you end up visiting with her child? I know she didn’t invite you.” Inari found herself invested in the conversation now.
It was obvious he had something heavy weighing on him and needed to talk to somebody. Mozzi just had a baby, and like her, Kong was grieving. Yet Moose still sought her out.
“I picked her up from school.”
“You did what!” Inari snapped. “Moose, what is wrong with you?”
“I brought her home,” he replied, shrugging nonchalantly.
“That’s not the point! You took a child from school without her parents’ permission. The child of a detective at that. I know you gotta be high or stupid, reckless as hell.” She called him every name she could think of in that moment.
“You don’t get it.” He turned to her, completely raw when his eyes pierced hers.
This was fucking with him. Inari’s anger and shock faltered, but it didn’t completely disappear as she relaxed her shoulders and took a breath.
“Then explain it to me, Morgan. Why would you do something like that, knowing it could get you into trouble?”
“I had to fucking know, Nari.”
“Know what, if she’s yours?” she guessed, arms folding across her chest. “I get it, but you went about it the wrong way.”
“I needed to see?—”
“You needed control,” she voiced. “Because you’re spiraling right now, and you don’t have anything else to hold onto.” The statement landed like a punch because it was true, and she watched it flicker behind his haunted orbs.
“I’m straight.” Moose sniffled and pinched the tip of his nose.
“No, you’re not,” she argued. “And you need to stop pretending you are.”
Moose laughed, but it was hollow. Emotionless. He took another pull of his blunt and flicked the ash in his ashtray.
“Yeah, aight,” he muttered, bringing the blunt back to his lips and letting it dangle there.
Partial concern aligned with resentment lingered in her stare.
“Goodnight, ma.” He shifted his car into drive.
Whipping around Irv’s truck in front of him, he sped down her block with his music on full blast. Moose had no idea where he was heading until he got a message from Trini, asking if he wanted to kick it. He knew what she meant by that. Blow lines all night and fuck each other senseless. Since Inari was kicking him to the curb, he figured why the fuck not? He zoned out on the drive, not caring that he was going at least twenty over the speed limit through traffic.
By the time he got pulled over, he already knew what it was. It was only right that divine intervention played a part. He was about to hit the corner to Trini’s apartment building, and he knew he was wilding out. Red and blue cherry lights flashed behind him. Moose peeped them but didn’t react at first. When the siren hit, he pulled over slowly.
“Sir, are you aware that you were going eighty-five in a forty zone?” the officer questioned, his bright flashlight shining in Moose’s face.
“Step out of the vehicle, please,” the officer requested, catching the faint smirk on Moose’s face when he looked directly into the light.
CHAPTER FIVE
TRUST ISSUES
Four Months Later…
“Iunderstand that we are gathered here today regarding the matter of visitation for Shalice Sipes and her niece, one minor infant child, Iara Hale Blackmoor,” Judge Barker announced, peering out at everyone over his thin framed glasses.
Seated beside their attorney, Coast glanced in Shalice’s smug direction with venom in her eyes. She didn’t know this bitch, but she knew she didn’t like her. She’d been doing her best to keep it cool during these proceedings. It had been four long months of getting a continuance until she finally faced the inevitable. Shalice wasn’t going to let up on her or Mozzi.
“Yes, your honor.” Shalice’s attorney, Martin Buford, stood beside her.
She opted not to represent herself since she wasn’t a family lawyer.
