Page 51 of On You 2

“Nah, you should be good out here. It won’t take me long.”

She nodded while I shut the door behind me and headed up the steps.

Before I could even knock, I heard yelling faintly through the apartment door. Not angry yelling but crying. I could tell it was a women’s voice and that took the happiness off my face.

I frowned and knocked on the door.

A couple seconds later the locks clicked and the door opened halfway. Rami stood there looking like he hadn’t slept all night.

“Oh. I thought you were Khalil.”

My eyebrows pulled together instantly.

Before I could even respond, I heard Erika crying somewhere deeper in the apartment. Loud. The kind of crying that makes your stomach tighten automatically.

“What happened lil man?”

Rami rubbed his face hard with both hands.

“My brother didn’t come home last night and with the way my mom’s is crying, I think something is wrong.”

I looked over his shoulder, but I couldn’t spot Erika from where I was standing.

“Go get your mother for me.”

“Okay. Just one second.”

He walked off down the hallway. I stood there gripping the toys still in my hand as the cries got closer to the door.

I was nervous as hell already, but her crying didn’t make it feel any better. When she appeared in the doorway, I froze completely. She seemed to freeze too. I mean her tears dried up almost instantly like she was too shocked to see me here to cry.

For a few long seconds neither one of us said shit. We just stared at each other while all the noise inside the apartment seemed to disappear around us.

“Amir. Why did you come, here? Did Amelia send you? Does she need me for something because I”

“No. I, came on my own. I was looking for you the other day and I met Rami.”

She looked down to the ground wiping her hand up her nose. I could tell she was not only sad, but nervous now. I didn’t mean to rock her world in any other way. Shit I want to know what her tears are for and try to help her with whatever else is going on.

“I’m guessing that you have finally figured it out after all these years huh.”

I nodded my head like a child unable to answer like a man. That’s because I felt like a kid standing here right now.

“I always knew that you would figure it out. Come, son.”

She wrapped her arms around me tight as hell

“Son?” Rami, questioned, standing behind us.

My mother turned around with tears already sliding down her face.

“Yes my love, this is your brother. Amir. He is my son.”

My throat tightened instantly hearing her finally say the shit out loud. There was no more assumptions, and no doubt about what the private investigator had found out. She called me her son. That meant it was true.

I felt a tear slide down my face and I wiped it fast because I wasn’t comfortable with crying about anything. Mecca had always told us that crying was for girls and the weak. Even if we broke a bone, we would get scolded for crying. That’s why I learned to suck shit up most of the time, though right now, I felt free enough to let emotions flow. For once in my life.

“I uh, I got you this little man.” I held the cars out awkwardly toward Rami.