Page 204 of Own It

“It ain’t that,” I informed, making his head pop up.

“Ain’t what?”

“Suicide. I was suspicious of that, too, ’cause we know bro was struggling, but that wasn’t it.”

I watched Josias’s shoulders sag in relief before he asked, “Then what happened?”

I could hear the slight intake of breath he took to let me know he was nervous.

“Nate Godfrey happened to him. He injected that fentanyl, a high dosage. And since Zaire was no stranger to overdosing, he knew it was likely we may not question the shit,” I said, coming to my own conclusions as far as my father’s thought process.

“Nah.” Josias shook his head, chuckling sardonically as he glanced off for a moment. “You sure? How you know?”

“I’m sure. I wouldn’t even be bringing this shit to you if I wasn’t since I know you been dealing with a lot, losing him and Kasia.”

“Chill out.”

“Just being real, muthafucka.” I took a long sip of my drink, pondering. “Mylo found the nigga who sold the shit to Nate. What are the odds that Nate, who ain’t ever done drugs in his fucking life, would buy enough fentanyl to kill two people and around the time Zaire died from that shit?”

“Fuck.” Josias banged on the bar, blinking rapidly as he absentmindedly stared down into his glass of liquor. “But why?”

“Zaire must’ve known something or found some shit out. That’s the only thing I can think of ’cause nothing else makes sense. We don’ all talked shit to the nigga and poked our chests out to him—excluding Ayan—so it wasn’t no shit like that, or I would’ve been had a hit put on me.”

“Yeah.” He bobbed his head, scratching at his beard. “You think the nigga was gay or had a boyfriend or some shit?”

We chuckled.

“Nah.” I spun my glass. “Zaire was too empathetic for that to be something he’d hold over Nate. It had to be some shit Zaire didn’t like and was maybe gon’ tell us.”

Josias and I locked eyes, both contemplating and wading through our thoughts and scenarios, before saying “Ma” simultaneously.

“You think he did something to her? We got an autopsy done, though, and they confirmed it was a heart attack.”

He was right. My pops wanted to cremate my mother immediately, which caused some suspicion among Josias and myself. So, we requested to have an autopsy done, and once it was confirmed that she’d had a heart attack like Nate told us, we let the shit go. Now, I was feeling like that was a fucking mistake.

“Maybe so.” I finished my drink.

“How the fuck we gon’ get the truth now? Zaire gone, and that nigga ain’t gon’ tell on himself.”

“Not sure, but I’m gon’ find out. Just give me some time.” I stared off, but I could see Josias nod in agreement in my peripheral.

I kicked the shit with my brother for a bit, but when he started venting about Kasia and some nigga she was fucking with, I knew it was time to go.

I took no issue with listening to my little brother speak on his problems, but Zaire and I had warned that nigga years ago to leave Tarin alone and get his shit together for Kasia because she would tire of his bullshit. Nigga didn’t heed to our warnings, so I wasn’t exactly interested in hearing him moaning and groaning about some shit I told him would happen when he had a chance to prevent the shit.

As soon as I walked into my home, the smell of something well-seasoned hit my nostrils, tugging me to the kitchen by my senses. When I peeked in, it was empty, but I saw the timer on the oven letting me know something was cooking.

Making my way upstairs, I heard the shower running in Daylin’s bathroom, and the thought of her ass naked under that water had my dick tenting my joggers. Stripping down, I entered the steamy bathroom, making her wipe the glass door to peer at who’d intruded on her.

“Oh.” She simpered, looking beautiful as ever, even with that elaborate ass shower cap on.

“Oh? Who else was supposed to be coming in here?” I asked, pulling on the shower door handle and stepping in. “Huh?” I smacked her wet ass, making her whimper.

“I had to be sure. You know I’m a hot commodity,” she jested as I hugged her from behind, pressing my dick against her ass.

“You are.” I sucked on her neck, groping her breasts under the warm water.

She winced slightly, catching me off guard, but I continued once she reached back to stroke my already hard dick.