Page 43 of After the Knockout
I opened my mouth to argue and immediately realized I didn’t actually have an argument, because she wasn’t wrong. All day, I’d been telling myself it was about Dakoda, about knowing who was around my son. But it was bothering me that some nigga had been comfortable enough to sit in her apartment and watch movies with her. Shit was actually eating my ass up because I didn’t want Lyrius, so why was I jealous?
“Well, I am your baby daddy, so.” I looked directly at her, and she stared at me for a second before looking back down at her plate.
“I don’t have random men around Dakoda. Mehki is the only man he’s been around, and he’s not around him like that. He’s only been around him a couple of times because we live in the same building.” Her neck was rolling, and her voice was slightly raised.Shit. I had offended her. And honestly, I wasn’t trying to. I just wanted her to tell dude not to come back to this door.
“My bad,” I muttered. “I ain’t trying to come in here criticizing your shit. Seeing another man be familiar with my son when I’m just now getting to know him triggered me.”
“Yeah, okay.” Her response came out dry as hell, and I sighed. I didn’t want us to start this co-parenting shit off on worse terms than it already was.
“I paid the bills for six months,” I blurted, like it was some kind of peace offering.
“Why would you do that?” Her fork stopped halfway to her mouth.
“’Cause I wanted to.”
“KO, you can’t just pay my bills.”
“Yes, I can.”
“No, you can’t.”
“Well, it’s already done.” I stared at her, daring her to keep protesting. “What I look like letting my son struggle while I’m comfortable?”
“We are not struggling.”
“Maybe not. But you working more hours than you spending with our son.”
“KO—”
“I want my son to have a mother that ain’t in survival mode.” I cut her off calmly. “You done built a nice little life down here. I get it, but I’m here now, so shit gon’ change. Get used to it.”
She just stared at me.
“And stop picking up so many shifts,” I added. “You ain’t gotta work that hard no more.” Her mouth opened and closed like she wanted to argue but decided against it.
“I’m finna go see what little man watching before he falls asleep with the TV on.” I pushed away from the table and headed down the hallway toward Dakoda’s room. I didn’t know how staying at Lyrius’s place was going to work, but I guess it was just one of the many things we were going to to have to figure out.
“So let me get this straight.” Nia stared at me like I’d lost my damn mind as I sat cross-legged on her couch with a wine glass in my hand. “You ran into your baby daddy during a hurricane?”
“Mhm.” I sighed into my wine as I took a sip. When she said it out loud, it sounded crazy as hell, like something off television, not like the life I’d been living for the past week. It had been a week since the hurricane and five days since KO had announced he was moving into my apartment, as if it was the most normal thing in the world. At first, I thought he was joking. Then he started buying groceries, paying bills, watching Dakoda while I worked, and making himself comfortable in every corner of our lives. It was weird, but Dakoda was loving every minute.
“Mhm? That’s all you have to say?” Nia stared at me in disbelief. She had been trying to get the full story out of me ever since she’d gotten back, but this was the first time I’d had time to finally walk next door and tell her everything.
“Yes.” I shrugged because I had already spent the last hour giving Nia the rundown version of everything that happened before and during the hurricane. I’d told her about the setup, the ambush, about me fleeing, about the DNA test, everything. At this point, she was mostly just asking the same questions over and over again.
“Girl, I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that you thought it was good idea to take shelter in his training center.”
I pointed at her immediately. “Okay. See. That part didn’t need the extra emphasis.”
Nia burst out laughing. “No, friend. It absolutely did. Because you wanted to run into him.” She shook her head dramatically. “Now you done moved this man into your apartment.”
“He moved himself into my apartment,” I corrected.
“Girl, same difference.”
I groaned and leaned deeper into her couch cushions while she laughed harder. Nights like this had become our thing over the years. Neither of us had any real family, and we were both always working, so we enjoyed times like this.
“I still can’t believe the man is a professional boxer,” she said. “Bitch, I know you had a good reason, but you really kept a rich nigga away from his child while you worked doubles.”
