Page 49 of Mia

I didn’t even bother looking to see who was in my room. The next thing I felt was a huge splash of ice-cold water hitting my skin. I jumped out of bed to see my father and Steel standing there.

“The fuck is wrong with y’all!” I screamed.

“Who you talking to?” my father asked, walking up on me.

Seeing the fire in his eyes, I backed away from him. “Nobody,” I mumbled.

“So I’m nobody?”

“No, Daddy. I’m sorry, okay. Y’all didn’t have to come in here like that.”

“Something had to get you out of that bed,” Steel said. “Go get in the shower and get dressed.”

“No.”

“That wasn’t a request.”

“Since when do I answer to you?”

“You answer to me,” my father said. “Get in the shower and put on some clothes.”

“Daddy, I’m not in the mood.”

“That’s the problem. You’re depressed, Mia. This is classic postpartum on top of the grief you’re already experiencing. I know it’s hard, but baby, you have to manage it before it takes you out.”

I covered my ears, not wanting to hear anything they were saying. I knew very well what was wrong with me. I didn’t want to feel like this, but I didn’t have it in me to do anything about it.

My brother snatched my hands away and yanked me to him.

“This isn’t a fucking game, Mia!” he yelled. “This could literally be life and fucking death. Do you know what I’ve been through the last couple months? The shit I had to witness?? My son was kidnapped by his grandmother. I found his mother’s body in a fucking freezer because not only had she dug her up, she dug up her husband too. For almost four days, I didn’t know where my baby was and when I found him, his grandmother blew her brains out in front of me.

“You know why? Because she was so consumed with grief over losing her husband and her daughter. She didn’t get the help she needed to deal with that, and it turned deadly. I refuse to have to bury my sister because her grief got out of control. Not fucking happening. So go get in that muthafucking shower, put on some clothes, and bring your ass downstairs. Now!”

I stared at him, tears brimming my eyes. He’d never yelled at me. Never cursed at me. Kerrion was always so calm and the sweetest of my brothers. The fire in his eyes matched our father’s, and I knew he wasn’t playing with me.

“Okay,” I whispered.

His grip on my wrists loosened, and he pulled me into a hug. For a moment, he just held me in his big arms before kissing my temple and releasing me. Neither he nor my father said anything as they left the room. I took a deep breath before going to my closet to find something to wear, then headed to the bathroom to take a shower.

As I walked into the bathroom, I caught sight of myself in the mirror. I looked a hot mess. A wet, hot mess at that. Peeling the wet clothes from my body, I tossed them in the hamper. After turning on the shower, I washed my face and did my oral hygiene.

Stepping into the steamy stream of water, it felt like needles prickling my skin. I allowed the water to drench me for a while before grabbing my body wash and loofah to give myself a good lather.

Mindlessly, I bathed myself. I was so out of it, I didn’t realize I’d been in here for thirty minutes until the water started running lukewarm. I’d scrubbed my skin so much that it now held a red tint. Turning off the water, I grabbed my towel and dried off before wrapping it around myself.

Back in my room, I moisturized my skin and detangled my hair before putting it in two braids and securing it in a bun at the nape of my neck. I slipped into a pair of leggings, an oversized shirt, and a pair of slides before heading downstairs.

The moment my feet hit the bottom step, I caught a whiff of bacon. My stomach growled louder than it had in days. I made my way into the kitchen to see my father at the stove cooking, and my brother was sipping a cup of coffee while on FaceTime with who I assumed was Neha based on how he was smiling.

I guess they were in a good space, considering how they came back into each other’s lives. When I learned he had a daughter while I was away, I was livid. Part of me wanted to come back and beat Neha’s ass on his behalf. Jaeda was the nice one and she let that shit slide, but I would have touched her first and asked questions later.

Today, though, I didn’t have any room to judge her, and I didn’t have the energy to do so. If my brother could forgive her and be happy, that was on him. I had my own shit to live with.

Steel peered over at me as I went to sit at the kitchen table.

“I’ll see you when you get home,” he said. “I love you too.” He hung up the phone and slid it in his pockets. “You look better.”

I rolled my eyes. “Gee, thanks. Tell me why I had to be woken up like that.”