Page 2 of That Fire

“What you doing out here?”

I turned to see my lil brother, Crew. “I was talking to Aaliyah.”

“She’s pregnant.”

“Yeah.”

“Is it yours?”

“They. Possibly.”

“They?”

“Yeah. She’s having twins. We have to get a DNA test.”

“Damn. You don’t sound upset about it. You gon’ try to be with her if they’re yours?”

I remained quiet for a moment because I knew he was judging me. He was almost four years younger than me, but he always thought he knew what was best for me, like I didn’t have a mind of my own. I glanced at him, then said, “Absolutely.”

Chapter 1

Royal

TWO MONTHS LATER . . .

Iwas mad as fuck. There was no way she did this shit. Ryder J wouldn’t lie about that. I was driving like a bat out of hell until I got to Red Squared’s house. That was where Aaliyah had moved to. Since Red had moved in with Noni, he told her she could live in his house instead of renting an apartment.

I turned in the driveway, kicking up all kinds of dust. If what Ryder J said was what really happened, I was gon’ have to stay away from her ass so I didn’t choke the fuck out of her. Normally, I was a pretty laid-back dude, but this shit was threatening for my Henderson savage to reveal itself.

When I got out of my SUV and slammed the door, she appeared in the doorway. I walked to the porch and stared at her through the glass, waiting for her to open it. She looked nervous as fuck. She’d never seen me angry.

“Did you fuck PJ? Is he the one that’s a possible father?”

She frowned and tilted her head. “Since when do we talk about who we’ve fucked, Royal? Did you fuck my brother’s baby mama?”

I frowned and took a step back.

“Yeah, nigga. I never questioned you about that shit. I know that you knew exactly who Mila was, but that dick has no fucking bounds. Don’t come at me like that in your life ever again.”

“You know we run in the same crew, Aaliyah. That shit would just be dirty as fuck, especially if he’s the father. The DNA test say I’m not. You don’t owe me your loyalty, but I thought we were better than this. That nigga is practically my cousin.”

“He’s dead. Why does it matter?”

“He . . .”Shit.I almost said that nigga wasn’t dead. “He’s family, that’s why it matters. What the fuck you on? Did you fuck him or not? Is he the father?”

“So, I’m assuming it would bother you if he was, huh?”

“See, I better get off this fucking porch, because you playing games. If he wasn’t, you would have just said no. You tryna make me catch a fucking case.”

I walked off as she stood there with a deep frown on her face. The thing that pissed me off the most was that my dick was still hard. It was always that way in her presence. My lip twitched as I got back into my Escalade. That was proof that I was losing my cool. I rested my head on my steering wheel for a moment, trying to calm down, but it wasn’t happening.

When I lifted my head, I noticed she was still standing in the same spot. Her frown was gone, and her eyebrows were lifted and scrunched together. She’d never seen me angry, but she’d never seen me show any emotion beyond those exhibited when we were fucking. She’d seen my desire and lust and maybe playful moments, but that was about it. I was guarded. That was intentional.

I peeled out as my phone rang. When I saw her name on the caller ID, I ignored it and headed to Maui and Mythic’s house. Today, my cousins were getting married, one of them to her brother. It was supposed to be a happy occasion. It wouldn’t be. I almost didn’t want to go now, because I knew she was in thewedding. Just my luck, she would end up standing near where I chose to sit.

I slowly shook my head, hating that I’d put myself in this predicament. I trusted Aaliyah . . . trusted the fuck out of her. We both enjoyed having sex. We took precautions and even considered each other’s feelings. I wanted to think that we were friends. My heart was hurt, and I felt betrayed. That shit was bothering me as much as her fucking PJ.

I wanted to relay a message to him and tell him he had a set of twins on the way, but that wasn’t my style. If they were his, somebody else would have to tell him. When I got that email saying my DNA wasn’t a match, I damn near cried. I was making so many plans for us. I’d added a nursery to my house plans. That shit was gonna look weird as hell now.