Hearing another man’s name piqued my interest. I didn’t remember Ember mentioning that name. “Who is Shane, and why can’t you stand him?”
Rhema lifted her head and gave me a look like maybe she had said too much.
“It’s okay. You can tell me.”
“Shane is Momma’s ex-boyfriend.”
That immediately angered me. I had a whole-ass wife while we weren’t together, but I couldn’t handle knowing my Em Baby gave another nigga her time while we were apart.
“What was wrong with him?” I asked, trying to act like hearing about Ember having an ex-boyfriend didn’t bother me.
“Daddy, he was creepy.”
My heart raced as a muscle jumped in my jaw. “Why? Did he hurt you?”
Whoever the fuck Shane was, he was gonna be a dead muthafucka if my daughter said this nigga did anything to her. Rhema was quiet, like she didn’t want to answer my question. I wasn’t leaving until I got to the bottom of why the fuck my daughter said that pussy nigga was a creep.
“Rhema.”
“Please don’t get mad.”
Too late.My blood was already boiling, and I hadn’t heard what happened yet. “Go ’head, baby.”
“Mommy said Shane was staring at me one night while I was getting dressed.”
I fought hard to remain calm in front of her, but I was on fucking fire, ready to find that nigga and murk his bitch ass. I didn’t want to lash out in front of Rhema and make her think she couldn’t talk to me about anything.
She continued. “Daddy, I thought Momma was going to hurt Shane. She went crazy and kicked him out.”
I was happy to know that Ember didn’t stay with that sick muthafucka after that happened.
“Did he do anything else?” I asked, my breathing stopped after I asked that question, scared of what her response might be. He had already crossed the line by looking at my daughter inappropriately, but I wanted to know everything, because that fuck boy was fasho going to pay when I found out who he was and got my hands on him.
“No,” she said, and I believed her.
I breathed a sigh of relief.
All kinds of emotions ran through me, but the one that stood out the most was guilt. I felt bad that I wasn’t there to protect them from niggas like that. If I had kept trying to find Ember, no one else would have had the chance to get near her or Rhema and do no shit like this.
“Baby, I’ll be right back.”
“You’re not mad at me, right?”
“Of course not, Rhe. You didn’t do anything wrong. If anyone ever does anything that makes you feel uncomfortable, I need you to come straight to me, okay?”
She nodded.
“Promise me.”
“I promise.”
I kissed her forehead and stepped out, ready to fuck a nigga up.
After retrieving my phone from my pocket, I placed a call to one of the guys from my old crew that I used to roll with in LA.
“Reason St. Pierre,” Lenny answered.
“What’s good, Len?”
