Page 24 of When It’s All Said And Done

“I’m in this red car and I need you to follow me,” I instructed before hanging up.

I drove to the dealership to leave the car there. After I got into the car with Fernando, he took me to retrieve my car. I hated to do that to Nessa, but I was tired of her acting like she didn’t know who she was fucking with. Although she’d grown from the old her that I’d left behind, I was still the same me when it came to her. I was the same me who popped up at her mama house and texted her off her mama’s phone when she called herself ignoring me. When she came to her house, I was sitting on the sofa waiting to talk to her so we could work it out.

Her going to work after I asked her to stay home was a slap to the face which was disrespectful as fuck. How could she move like I wasn’t out able to make sure she was straight? With the amount of money I gave her, she could’ve taken off for a month and been good. As I chilled at the dealership waiting for her call, I decided to count all the bricks. Once I finished counting all ten duffle bags there were a hundred bricks.

Getting these for ten grand a brick shocked the hell out of me. I guess I was getting the top worker discount. That was fine with me because even if I doubled my price for resale, I’d still be half the competition’s amount. Just as I’d finished placing the last brick into the safe in the floorboard when my phone started ringing. I smiled like a Cheshire cat when I saw it was Nessa.

“Damn took you a lil’ minute to return a nigga’s call so you must’ve been with yo’ lil’ boyfriend?” I faked ignorance of the reason for her calling.

“Hey, Nas, are you busy right now?” She stressed frantically.

“Nawl, wassup?”

“Can you come get me?”

“Get you? Where you at? Where’s Nyla and Chanel?”

“They’re at school, and I’m at work and somebody stole my car. Can you please come I have to go pick the girls up.”

“I’m in the car. Send me yo’ location and I’ll have Chance grab the girls.”

“Ok, I’m ‘bout to send it.”

When I pulled up to her job, I had to bite down on my bottom lip because of how thick Nessa looked in those scrubs. She bent down to grab her bag caused me to brick up instantly from the way her ass poked out. I quickly adjusted before she got into my car. The tear stains that ran down her cheeks had me feeling like shit to know she’d been crying. I almost cracked under the pressure of the silence but stayed strong as we drove to her spot. She hopped out soon as I parked and made her way towards the front door.

“Nessa, what the fuck happened? And where yo’ lil’ nigga?” I interrogated as I followed closely behind.

“Not now, Nas,” she warned with the wave of her hand.

“Vanessa!” I commanded causing her to stop dead in her tracks. “We ‘bout to do this shit right fuckin’ now. What do you mean yo’ car got stolen? Where is yo’ nigga at?”

“I drove to work and when I got off it was gone.”

“Where is that nigga of yours? Ya know fuck that because the better question is why you at work when I told you to take a few days off while you watch the girls?”

“Nas, I’d already taken five days from work and hadn’t heard an update on how much longer it was goin’ to be.”

“But it was more than enough money for you to take more than five days off. So, why not extend it?”

“Because I needed to get back to make money for me and Nyla. I gotta make sure that we’re good at all times.”

“You say that like you can’t depend on me.”

“Nas, I can’t! You must have forgotten you went away for years? Leavin’ me to figure this shit out by my-damn-self. And the fact that I’ve gone through somethin’ like that I can’t depend on you being there.”

“Even when I was away, I was makin’ shit happen. So, why would that change now that I’m home? Especially when I now know that we have a child together.”

“Because of this,” she started before walking away and coming back and slapping a wad of money in my hand. “You’re still doin’ shit that could take you away from us again. How the fuck am I supposed to find comfort in possibility of you beingripped away from me again?!”

I couldn’t even form a sentence as I was stunned by what she’d said and hurt by her crying in my face. Pulling her into my chest, I wrapped my arms around her tightly as her tears wet up my shirt. I never knew how she felt about me going to prison and to hear and see it caused her pain fucked my head up. We stood there for a few minutes until she broke our embrace to clean her face.

“I’ll never cause you or my child that pain again,” I promised. “Look I’m about to hit the streets to find yo’ car. Chance is back to care for Chanel, and I’ll get Nyla for tonight, you try to focus on easin’ yo’ mind, ok?”

“Ok, thanks.”

“I gotcha always, Nessa.”

Chapter 9