Page 35 of Surrogate For My Best Friend’s Man 2

“I’m leaving the hospital.”

“How’s Shante?”

“She’s good, Malik came back with food, so I left them.”

“Good.”

“I’m about to come back to your house.”

“No.”

I frowned.

“No?”

“Go home.”

“I can come over.”

“Baby, you've been running all day.”

“I know.”

“Go home, take a shower, and lay your ass down.”

I laughed. “Ma.”

“I’m serious, you don’t need to worry about me. Plus my grandbaby is not ready to leave yet.”

I smiled. “Alright.”

“Go home.”

“I will.”

We hung up and I pulled out of the parking lot and headed home. For the first time all day, I actually felt tired. I drove with the radio low, letting my mind wander. I thought about Shante, Deuce and about everything Mama said. Maybe I did need to stop trying to figure everything out in one day. Maybe I just needed to breathe. I turned onto my street. Then I saw a man standing beside my front door.

I slowed down, who the hell was that? He wasn’t nobody I recognized. He was dressed in all black with a long coat, dark jeans, and clean shoes. He wasn’t pacing, wasn’t looking around. He was just standing there like he belonged. I drove past my house then I looked in the rearview mirror.

He hadn’t moved, for some reason my stomach tightened. I grabbed my phone for a second, I thought about calling my Mama. Then I saw him pull his phone out, He looked directly at my truck.

Damn he saw me, I kept driving to the end of the block before turning around. I wasn’t about to pull into my driveway with a stranger standing there. I parked across the street instead. The man watched me get out. I kept my keys between my fingers.

He lifted one hand, “Mrs. Carter?”

I stopped a few feet away. “Who are you?”

“My name ain’t important.”

“Well, mine ain’t either if you don’t tell me who the hell you are.”

He looked at me for a second then he gave a small smile. “I respect that.”

“I asked you a question.” I replied

“I’m with the Skambino organization.”

My stomach dropped, I had heard the name before not from Deuce directly. But enough to know I didn’t want nobody from that world standing outside my house. “What do you want?”