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“Man, say, just being honest… if I could do this shit alone, I would. But she ended up pregnant, and I’m tryna do the right thing. Plus, I really do love ’er. It’s just the timing of it all.”
“I’ma be honest with you. This conversation ain’t making me want to allow Marz to go with you. You’re right—he has a very stable life here. I’m not about to let y’all uproot him from that so you can pursue a rap career.”
“And I’m cool with that,” he stressed. “He can stay here. Just convince ya baby mama of that.”
That shit was easier said than done.
Aries refused to leave Marz here, and he refused to leave her here. So his tune completely switched up by the time they left, and he was all for Marz going with them. At that point, I straight up told Aries that wasn’t going to happen, and she did some shit I thought she’d never do—she threatened to try and get full custody so I wouldn’t be able to stop her from taking my son.
That shit broke my heart.
As close as we’d been and as well as we’d been coparenting, I never thought we’d come to this. True enough, since I was the one financially taking care of her and Marz, a part of me was cool with her taking that chance. However, most judges in Memphis favored the mother whether she was paying the bills or not. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to risk going to court and losing, allowing her to take my son away.
So here I was, trying to figure out how to make this shit work in a way that would be best for Marz. His mother was so blinded by her love for and loyalty to Omar that she couldn’t see how dangerous of a game she was playing, following him. If she didn’t have no kids and she wanted to go with him so he could chase his dreams, I’d be cool with that, but he needed more stability than a dream to care for my son and the baby she was pregnant with.
Just thinking about it caused my head to start pounding. Lying back down, I pulled in a deep breath and tried to clear my mind. Before I left this cabin, I needed God to deposit something into my mind and heart to work this out in my little man’s favor. I couldn’t see my life without him. Marz was the reason I’d calmed down as much as I had. He was my whole heart and soul, and I genuinely loved being his dad daily.
If I didn’t see him every day, I wouldn’t know what to do with myself. My life would have a huge void that nothing would be able to fill. And if anything happened to him while he was in their care…
The sound of knocking sounded off again. This time, I couldn’t ignore it. Standing, I grabbed my robe off the back of the door and headed down the hall. When I opened the door, the sight of a shivering Neo surprised me. At the sight of me, she burst into tears.
I wasted no time pulling her into my arms and closing the door behind her. It was snowing even harder now, and it looked like there was at least six or seven inches of snow on the ground.
“What’s wrong, baby?”
“Everything.” She sobbed, holding me tighter. “I’m just glad you’re here. I couldn’t see any more, so I had to leave my car. I didn’t know if anyone was even here, but I had to try. My phone isn’t working, and I have no idea where I even am.”
“Neo…” I carried her into the master bedroom and grabbed a few blankets from the closet. I put one on the floor and wrapped the other two around us with her in my lap. In front of the roaring fire, I rubbed her cold, shivering body until she began to warm up. Her cries turned into sniffles, then they eventually stopped. When they did, I asked her, “What happened?”
“Long story short, I went to get some of my things from the house today, and when Steven realized I wasn’t going to take him back, he told me I had to take everything today, and he’s taking my store from me.”
Her eyes watered and head hung, and I instantly went into protector mode.
“The business is in his name?”
“No, but the building is. I can keep it and open it somewhere else, but I have to leave the building.” With a chuckle, she wiped a tear and sniffled. “While my family was partying and helping me pack, he was at the store, apparently. After I left the house, he sent me pictures of practically all my inventory being broken.” She sucked her teeth and looked toward the ceiling before swallowing back her tears. “All those vinyl records just… gone. So many classics. So many albums I’ll never be able to purchase again. I can’t believe he could be so spiteful and cruel. That store meant everything to me, and now I don’t have anything.”
“You got me,” I assured her before placing a kiss on the corner of her mouth.
She smiled. “No I don’t. You’ve made it clear there can be nothing between us, which is fine anyway. After Steven, I’m never being with a man that has kids again.”
I wanted to tell her she was beginning to feel like an answer to a prayer I was too afraid to utter. The more I tried to avoid her, the more God put her in my life. Now that I was finally starting to accept that, it was Neo who was pulling away.
“Never?”
Her head shook as she pouted. “Ever.”
Accepting that, even though I hated it, I told her, “I’m sorry about your store. If there’s anything I can do to rectify this for you, I will.”
I already had two options in mind—getting my homies to beat his ass or having my connect at MPD arrest him and his baby mama for vandalism. How Neo wanted to handle this would determine which way I’d go.
She wrapped her arms around my neck and rested her head on mine. “What’re you doing here anyway?”
“Needed some time to think.”
“Oh. I’m always in your way. I’ll stay away until the snow clears. You won’t even know I’m here.”
Before she could get up from my lap, I pulled her back down. “I mean… I can’t seem to get away from you, but I’m starting to like it.”
