Page 50 of Delirium 2

She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. “I can’t believe you.”

“You can’t? I find that very hard to believe,” I said, walking around the crib, kicking at trash. “You need to clean this bitch up.”

“Why you worried about it?”

I looked over my shoulder at her. She was right.

“Exactly. Why am I worried about it?” Jerking my head, I motioned to the back of the house. “Come piss on it.”

“You want to watch me too, guard?” She asked, hesitating, eyebrows dipped, frown on her face.

“I do,” I told her before walking off, heading for the bathroom.

I didn’t have to look over my shoulder at her to know she was following behind me. The house shoes scraping against the dusty, worn, hardwood floors told me she was. The deep breaths she kept taking told me too.

Rather she had a problem with taking the test or not didn’t matter to me. I didn’t know how she felt for real. I didn't pay attention to that. I was here for one reason and one reason only. The pregnancy test. I didn’t have an interest in studying her or none of that shit. She could be nervous. She could be confident. The only thing that mattered was that test once that piss hit it.

I pushed the bathroom door open and shook my head at how much of a mess it was. The vanity was just as cluttered as that coffee table. With makeup, hair shit… there was even a take-out cup sitting in this bitch. Who the fuck ate and drank in the bathroom?

I went through the bag and handed her one of the test. I had three. Three’s… remember?

She snatched it and positioned herself at the toilet. The bathroom was so small that if I reached out just a little bit, I’d touch her. Shit, I’d be able to hold the test under the stream too, for real.

With my arms crossed over my shoulder, I leaned against the sink, waiting, watching.

“You gon’ watch me the whole time?” She shook her head. “I can’t focus on peeing with you watching me.”

I didn’t say anything.

She looked down, between her legs and then back up at me. Sucking her teeth, she said, “Exodus. Can you please give me some privacy? I cannot⁠—

“You need some motivation?” I asked.

“Motivation? Exodus I just need you to⁠—

Before she could finish telling me what she needed me to do, I pulled the gun from my waistband and went back to crossing my arms. She looked at it. Eyes wide. Mouth open. Stunned. It didn’t take long for tears to fill her pretty little brown eyes.

“Seriously?”

I didn’t say shit.

Just waited. Ran my tongue over my bottom lip and locked eyes with her. Yes, seriously. It was that serious. So serious that if the test came back negative and she’d lied to me, I was killing her. Without hesitation. Gun to the head, finger on the trigger, squeeze. Simple. I didn’t like to be lied to. I didn’t play these types of games. Jada hadn’t experienced this side of me. She’d witnessed it, yes. But to witness it and to be on the receiving end of it were two completely different things.

A positive pregnancy test was serious.

She could talk all she wanted to talk. Express herself freely. Call me names. Lash out… whatever but shit shifted the minutes he sent me that picture. It went from a woman simply being in her emotions to a woman playing with mine.

It didn’t take long for me to hear piss hitting the toilet water. She sucked her teeth, looked down and positioned the test better.

“I can’t believe you just pulled a gun out on me. Is this what we’ve come to?”

Silence.

I didn’t have any words for her. She wanted conversation. Since the breakup, she’d been trying to pull one out of me. I truly prayed to God she hadn’t sent me a false positive just to get my attention.

“Whatever Exodus,” she mumbled, pulling the test from between her legs, sitting it on the floor, at her feet. She leaned down, resting her arms on her knees. I shifted my attention from her, to it, focusing on it, waiting.

“Why do you hate me now? I didn’t do anything to deserve this shit man. You—you just… you’re treating me like I’m nothing. Like… like I did something to you. I didn’t do anything Exodus. I just—they did that. They…”