Page 31 of Kobalt

“We were always arguing, Son. I couldn’t find peace at home, and a man can only put up with that for so long. She was always nagging me about something and nothing I ever did was good enough. Anyway, I didn’t come to talk about that. I miss you, and I wanted to see how you’ve been doing.”

“Why the fuck you all of a sudden give a damn about how I’m doing when you haven’t given a damn in all these years? Even when you watched my fights, you never reached out and said, ‘I’m proud of you, Son,’ or ‘Good fight, Son.’ I got nothing but your ass to kiss, and now I’m giving you mine.”

I prepared to shut the doors on him, but he stretched forth his hands and pushed back against them.

“Wait, Kobalt. Please.”

“Nigga, is you crazy?” My voice was hitched, making it unrecognizable even to me. He was treading on dangerous territory, and even I was worried.

“Just hear me out. You got a little sister and brother. Ashley and Domingo are sixteen and twelve now. Well, Domingo looks up to you. He watches all your fights, and he says that he wants to be just like you when he grows up,” he explained, grinning and showing all his teeth.

“Does he even know who I am?”

Shame filled his eyes, and he looked down at his shoes.

“Yeah. That’s what I thought.”

“I mean, I didn’t want to tell them and they get excited thinking they could meet you and you dash their hopes.”

“Get the fuck outta here. You ain’t pinning this shit on me.”

“May I come in? Just for a moment, Son. Get a drink of water and explain some things to you.”

I hesitated as my arms shook with fury. He had a lot of balls coming up here like he did, but I figured I would go ahead and listen to him. Maybe after the conversation I could get rid of him once and for all. I swung the doors open, and he stepped inside.

My jaws clenched as he looked around and removed the hat from his head. “Looks great in here, brighter than it used to be, and it smells great too. Whacha cooking?”

“Get to the point of your visit.”

He sighed and looked at the floor before meeting my gaze. “Son, Domingo ain’t doing so well. He needs major surgery, and his insurance won’t cover it.”

My heart slammed against my chest, and pain like I’d never felt before coursed through my heart. There it was—he needed something from me. I had hoped that I was wrong about it—hoped Mama was, too, but he couldn’t help but prove us right.

“And so, you came for what?”

My voice was low, steely, and dangerous. My words came out slow, almost as if I were pulling out of a sluggish haze.

“Well, I was hoping that you could float me some cash. I promise to pay it back; it’s only a hundred grand.”

This nigga had just insulted me for the last time. I didn’t have the energy to pretend with him anymore.

I snatched him up by the collar and slammed him against the wall and spoke through clenched teeth.

“Nigga, you couldn’t be bothered to give my mama fifty dollars for a pair of sneakers for me in middle school so I wouldn’t flunk gym, but your ass got the nerve to come and ask me for a hundred grand for a little nigga I didn’t even know existed? Get the fuck outta here!”

“I didn’t have it at the time. Just like I ain’t got it now.” His face scrunched up, and his voice was filled with a fear-filled plea.

“You figure you could come up here and borrow it from me though?”

“If I’d had someone to borrow that shoe money from back then, I would’ve. I got you now, Son.”

“Nigga, you ain’t got shit. Fuck the money. How about a phone call or visit to see how Nia and me were getting along? How about attending our high school graduations? How about attending one of my fights and letting me know you was there? You was like fuck that li’l nigga, so now, nigga, it’s fuck you!” I pulled him away and slammed him against the wall again. My body vibrated with rage.

“I tried to be there, Kobe, I swear. It was hard, though, because it was so much tension between your mama and Erin; it was best for me to stay away.”

My vision was blurring and not from tears. “Every time my mama asked you for something, you turned her away.”

“I ain’t mean no harm.”