by B. Love
Outside of their youngest three siblings, Ricky Jr. was the only other one who had never met Ricky in his life. Because of that, he was a bitter asshole who didn’t try to be a man or responsible adult for that matter. He’d come back to Memphis after Jada fell ill, but the family didn’t find out it was AIDS until she died. When she did, Jr.’s grandparents raised him.
When the search for Ricky’s children began, Ricky Jr. came into the picture. Ever wanted to connect with him just as much as she wanted to connect with the rest of her grandchildren. But Ricky Jr. acted as if everyone in the world owed him something… and Leigh could never get down with that shit. Hell, Ricky had left her too, but that was no excuse for her to not take responsibility for the life he and Porsha gave her.
Leigh checked the time on her phone before releasing a loaded sigh and getting out of the car. The sight of Ricky Jr. asleep on the couch made Leigh’s top lip curl. Just the sight of him irritated her. Could have been because he looked so much like their father, too. Not bothering to wake him up, Leigh made her way to her grandmother’s room.
She wasn’t there.
She wasn’t anywhere in the house.
After checking the backyard, Leigh rushed back into the living room. Yanking Ricky Jr.’s feet of the couch she yelled, “Where is my grandma?”
It took Jr. a second to figure out where he was and take in what she was saying. Disorientation covered his face as he looked around the living room. As he rubbed his eyes, Leigh stood in front of him tapping her foot with her arms crossed over her chest.
“Jr.”
“What, Leigh?”
“Where is my grandma?”
“Shit, I don’t know. Did you look in her room?”
“Yea. I looked all over the house and she ain’t here.”
Standing, Ricky Jr. looked around the living room. “Fuck you mean she ain’t here? Where could she have gone?”
Leigh growled as she jogged out of the living room. “What you even come over here for, dude? You clearly aren’t keeping an eye on her. If anything happened to her, I swear to God I’m going to kill you. Brother or not.”
Ignoring her threat, Ricky Jr. followed her outside. He went to the left and she went to the right. Ever’s car was still in the driveway, so she hadn’t found an extra set of keys to leave. When her mind first started going bad, Evelyn asked her not to drive anymore. Ever was cool with it at first, but when she got tired of waiting around for a ride she started driving again. After that, Evelyn took her keys, but they were pretty sure she had an extra set somewhere.
Leigh’s heart began to try its very hardest to beat out of her chest. She wished it could have so it could lead her to Ever.
“Grandma!” she yelled, looking at every yard and home she passed. If she didn’t see her, she’d start knocking on doors and going into backyards. Because she didn’t know how long Ricky Jr. had been sleep, she didn’t know how far Ever could have possibly gone. Turning back around to track him down, Leigh clutched her chest as her breathing stopped.
She thought she was seeing things, but the closer she got to the car, the more vivid the image of Ever appeared. Since she had no clue whose car Ever was sitting inside of, Leigh quickly rushed to the car to get her out. Upon opening the door, Leigh noticed that her grandmother didn’t have on any clothes. Her eyes began to water as Ever grinned and reached out to hug her.
“Hey, baby.”
“What you doing out here with no clothes on, Grandma? And whose car is this?”
“Car?” Ever repeated, looking around. Her head shook and mouth opened and closed. As if she was getting frustrated trying to figure out the answer to the question she had been asked.
With a crooked smile and tears rolling down her cheeks, Leigh assured her grandmother with, “It’s okay. Um…” Looking up, she tried to spot Ricky Jr. to tell him to bring her some clothes. She didn’t see him, and she didn’t want to risk Ever running off again while she went to grab something. Ever’s frame was petite. She was short, no taller than four-eleven, but she’d knocked a nigga off his square real quick if he tried some disrespectful shit.
“Here.” Leigh pulled her t-shirt over her head as she stepped out of her shoes. “I want you to put this on until we get to your house, okay?” Nodding, Ever took the shirt Leigh handed her, then her sweats. She was thankful she’d abruptly left the house without trying to get cute as she normally would. When Ever had the sweats on, Leigh helped her get out of the car.
As they walked down the sidewalk, Leigh held her close. She didn’t give a damn about the fact that she was walking in a sports bra and boy shorts. All she wanted was to get her grandmother home safely. Trying her hardest not to be overtaken by her emotions, Leigh tried to focus on the most recent positive memory she had with her grandmother.
No one wanted to, but they were probably going to have to put her in a nursing home or hire around the clock care because God only knows what Ever could have gotten into or what would have happened to her if Leigh had not have been there.
Ransom
Ransom could tell something was troubling Leigh, but he didn’t know if he wanted to care or not. He didn’t want to see her, but he agreed to come over as a solid for Maria. It caught him totally by surprise when he received a call that told him he was not only on the Head Hunters site with a price on his head but that Leigh was the one who had accepted the bid.
At first, he was in denial, thinking she loved him too much to do some sucka shit like that. But when he was sent the screenshot as proof his anger began to rise. It was just like Leigh to do some petty shit like that – try to kill him because he’d rejected her one too many times.
It didn’t matter how many times he’d told Leigh that he didn’t want to have anything to do with her anymore, love for her still ran deeply through his veins. But it was because of that love that he had to cut her off, otherwise he would have gone insane. Ransom had never claimed to be a perfect man, but he was always upfront with the women he dealt with about what they could and should not expect from him, so he demanded the same.
Even with Leigh making it clear over the years that she didn’t want kids and marriage, there was a part of him that felt like he could change her. Tame her. In the end, he was the one who got burned for playing with such a hotly seductive fire.
Ransom didn’t know how long she’d been there, but Leigh was sitting on her porch with a distant look in her eyes. She hadn’t even bothered to look up when his car pulled into her driveway. That alone was enough to alarm him. Leigh was always aware of her surroundings. She had to be with the business she was in. Something was definitely wrong, and Ransom didn’t believe it had anything to do with her situation with him.
Standing directly in front of her, Ransom looked down at her as she jumped. She inhaled a deep breath and looked up, locking eyes with him. Smiling softly, she stood and wiped her pants off, just in case sitting on the porch had gotten anything on them.
“Thanks for coming by,” she greeted, voice tried and lower than usual. Normally, it would have been honeyed, sweet. But not tonight. Tonight, it held weights that Ransom ached to carry for her, but he couldn’t.
Not anymore.
“Maria said you wanted to talk.”
Her lids slid down over her eyes as she inhaled a deep breath. She seemed to have frozen – mind and body growing still. Stepping closer, Ransom tilted her head by her chin, forcing her to open her eyes.
“Sorry,” she almost whispered, taking a step back and holding herself. “It’s been a long day.” Smiling weakly, she ran her fingers through her hair as she looked toward the sky. The sun had long since set, and it was completely dark outside expect the street and porch lights. There weren’t many stars out… they seemed to all be hiding.
“I um…” Covering her neck, she met his eyes again. “You know I’m not going to come after you, Ransom. I can’t believe you would even think that about me.”
“What did you expect, Leigh? I leave you and tell
you we can’t be together, and the next thing I know, you taking a price on my head.”
Leigh nibbled her top lip as she scratched her ear. “I took the bid to make sure no one else did. It was my way of buying time so I could talk to Money.” Dropping her arms, she stepped in front of him and closed the space between them. “Can you honestly look into my eyes and see any type of hate in there for you? I would never seek to harm you, Ransom.”
“You mean physically, right? Because you’ve already fucked me up emotionally and romantically.”
She didn’t bite back as Ransom expected her to. Instead, she hung her head as it shook. Releasing a soft sigh, Leigh cupped her cheeks and lifted her eyes back to his.
“I went to go talk to him, and we came to an agreement.”
“Which is?”
“He gave me a month to convince you to retire.”
Ransom chuckled with a shake of his head. True enough he’d been considering retiring, but it was going to be on his own terms, not because someone forced him to.
“Come on now. You know that’s not going to happen.”
“Why not? Just a month or two ago you were talking about quitting the game, settling down, and all that bullshit. Why can’t you just do that now?”
“Because when I do that, it will be because I want to, not because a muhfucka tryna make me.”
Rolling her eyes, Leigh sucked her teeth. “Listen, I need you to give this some serious consideration, Ransom. If you don’t, Money will put a price on my sisters’ head right along with yours. And even if I don’t take care of you, he’s going to find someone who will.”
The last thing Ransom wanted to do was put Christian’s life on the line, but he bowed down to no man. Running his hands down his face, Ransom exhaled a hard breath. He was prepared to fight this, to fight Money, but not at the expense of Christian. When his hands dropped, he had to avoid the pleading in Leigh’s eyes.
“I can’t bow, Leigh. You know that.”
Her shoulders dropped as she nodded slowly. “Yea… I know.”
“So… I guess you gotta do what you gotta do then, right?”
Now she was the one avoiding his eyes. He never thought everything that had transpired between them would have transpired. He never thought that they would have gone from friends and lovers to lovers who couldn’t be just friends to strangers and now possibly enemies. Because there was no doubt in his mind that she would choose her sister, as hard as it may have been, and Ransom wouldn’t feel a way about it at all.
“I’m pregnant,” she blurted, and as quiet as her voice was, those two words rang loudly in his ears. “I’ve been… trying to decide what I was going to do.” Her breath came out shaky before she chuckled quietly. “I wanted to get an abortion and not even tell you, but that didn’t seem fair because I know how much you want a baby. A family.” Cupping her hands together, she unfolded them quickly and grabbed the hem of his shirt. “I was hoping you would retire and raise our baby. Give him or her a good life. One that I honestly don’t think I’m equipped to give it.”
Turning her back to him, Leigh’s head shook. “I haven’t decided if I’m going to give up my rights or not. If I do, all I ask is that you let me name him or her.”
Ransom’s thoughts and emotions were racing a mile a minute. Before he could even accept the fact that she was pregnant, he’d grown angry over her considering an abortion, then relieved at her deciding to keep the baby, just to be sad over her wanting to give up her rights. It shouldn’t have surprised him, though. Leigh had made it clear that she didn’t want children. That she didn’t think she was capable of being a good mother, and that she never wanted her child to have to grow up without one of their parents.
So what did she expect him to do?
Marry a woman just so she could be a mother to their child?
“You’re pregnant?” was all he could think of to say in an attempt to focus his mind only on that.
Leigh giggled quietly and nodded, still with her back turned to him. “Yes, Ransom. I’m pregnant.”
“That’s why you were having stomach issues?” She nodded again. “Why didn’t you say something, pretty girl?”
“Because I didn’t know what I was going to do. Things were rocky between us, and I didn’t want you to feel forced to be in my life if I decided to keep it. But it weighed on my conscience too heavily when I considered abortion. So the only other option is for me to just… give the baby to you.”
Ransom’s hand wrapped around her arm, and he used it to turn her in his direction. She still avoided his eyes until he pulled her into his chest and tilted her chin.
“Would you be okay with that? With me raising our baby with someone else? Knowing you will be around that child, whether they know you are their mother or not, because of all the ways we are connected?”
Her breathing grew shaky again. Chin trembled. Eyes watered.
“I don’t have a choice,” she choked out.
“Fuck you mean you don’t have a choice?”
“I—I… I’m a hitwoman, Ransom! A hitwoman who resents her mother for having standards and craves a father who made it clear he didn’t want anything to do with her. I would destroy this child!”
Her tears finally began to pour, and as much as Ransom wanted to show her tough love for all the shit she’d taken them through, his defenses had completely weakened. Unable to resist, he mumbled, “Fuck, Leigh,” as he lifted her into the air and wrapped her legs around him.
She began to sob, staining his neck with her tears. Ransom started to carry her into her home, but if he did, they’d end up having sex, and that would only make this situation worse.
“You won’t be in this alone. I’m going to be right there wit’ you. If you fuck up, I’ma have you. And if I fuck up, you gon’ have me too. This baby gon’ have so much love around them, Leigh. We gon be good. Whether we end up together or not they will never have to question what a mother or father’s love is like or a healthy relationship.
Won’t be no triggers. They ain’t gon have no fucked up childhood that sets the standard for their adulthood. All the bullshit we had to go through… we gon use that as motivation to shield them from that. Fuck it, if anybody is prepared to be a mother, it’s you. Because you know what not to do. Aight?”
Leigh nodded but held him tighter. Her sobbing had simmered down to a quiet cry. Eventually, she was wiping her tears and going to the other side of his neck. With a smile, Ransom tightened his grip on her. It didn’t matter how tired his arms grew of holding her, he’d never let her go. Not until she wanted him to.
“Thank you,” she whispered before placing a soft kiss to his neck.
“Does anyone else know?”
“Just grandma. She told me I was pregnant before I even took a test. So I want to name the baby after her.”
Lifting her head, Leigh looked into his eyes.
“What did you have in mind?”
“Aleigha For-Ever Castillo if it’s a girl and Liam For-Ever Castillo if it’s a boy.”
Ransom thought over the names for a while before nodding. “I can rock with both of those. How my old lady doing anyway?”
Even though Leigh chuckled Ransom could see the sadness in her eyes. “She has her good days and her bad days. Today was a bad day. And it could have been a hell of a lot worse if I wouldn’t have shown up when I did.”
“What happened?” Ransom asked, setting Leigh on her feet so he could answer his vibrating phone. At the sight of Jax’s name, he told her to hold on as he answered with, “Yea?”
The sound of sirens blaring had Ransom’s head tilting and eyebrows raising. “Get Leigh and bring her to Baptist East, cuz. That motherfucka shot my baby.”
The moment Maria’s subconscious awakened, pain began to flow through her body. Her eyes fluttered open heavily, settling on the hospital board with black, cursive scribble across it. She swallowed hard, but no saliva ran down her dry and scratchy throat. Slowly, Maria’s head turned to the le
ft. It didn’t come as a surprise that her mother was the person at her side, but she couldn’t help but ask, “Where’s Jax?”
Porsha’s head sprang up, and she dropped her phone onto the side of the bed.
“Maria! I’m so glad you’re awake, baby.” Maria could tell her mother wanted to hug her, but she must have felt she was too fragile to handle it. Instead, she squeezed Maria’s shoulders and placed a kiss to her cheek.
“How long have I been here? Where’s Jax?”
“It’s a little past three in the morning, so you’ve been here for about five or six hours. Your family’s outside in the waiting room. I’m not even supposed to be back here, but I told them I wasn’t leaving your side until you opened your eyes.”
“Ma…” Maria’s eyebrows wrinkled. Raising her voice was about to make her cough, but since she’d gotten shot in the lower side, she was trying her hardest to hold it in. She closed her eyes and inhaled a short choppy breath before asking, “Where is Jax?”
“He’s out there too. What the hell happened, Maria?”
“Can you go get him for me? I want to see him.”
Porsha chuckled. Her head shook as she gripped the side of the bed. “You’re lying here in a hospital bed with a gunshot wound. I don’t know what the hell happened to you or why the police were here trying to question you. And the only thing you have to say is that you want to see him?”
Tilting her head, Maria swallowed again. Porsha finally realized her throat must have been dry, so she looked around the room in search of something for her to drink.
“Let me alert the nurse that you’re awake and see if we can get you some water or ice or something.”
Nodding, Maria closed her eyes and tried to relax.
Shit had definitely taken a turn for the worse with Vincent. By the time she’d reached her gun under the couch, he’d fired another shot aimed at her spine. Thankfully, she was able to move further to the right, causing the bullet to miss her spine. He released another shot that only grazed her side before Maria was able to retrieve her gun and shoot him three times in the chest.
