Catch My Fall | ✔

23. The Favor (1)

Lamar lived in an apartment complex made up of four beige boxes, housing four units each. In the middle was a small strip of grass where a group of kids gawked at us, abandoning their game of tag. It freaked me out until I remembered how we were dressed.

I checked my phone for the correct apartment number. More missed calls cluttered my lock screen. My mom, Indy, even Andre. I had to tell them something before my mom put out an Amber Alert. Maybe I just wanted another reason to stall meeting the sperm donor. I sent a message to Indy, letting her know I'd be back soon, then turned my phone off.

We found apartment six. The door was opened, but the screen was shut. Music blared, competing with the soap opera on tv for dominance. There was an older woman on the couch and a man upset about someone drinking the last of his juice. The music stopped and a younger woman started yelling at the man because apparently he didn't pay for the juice. For a moment, I just watched them like a movie.

"Who are you?" I whipped around to find a boy no older than nine. His head tilted back as he peered up at us, arms crossed.

Who was I? "Um...I'm looking for Lamar Kenwood."

The boy stared at us a moment, then yelled, "Unc!" before running back to his friends.

My chest seized. I'd kind of hoped we had the wrong address or that it was a scam. But when the man who was complaining about juice opened the screen door, I recognized the face. He looked exactly as he did in the picture Indy showed me, only with tattoos covering most of his skin and a thick beard.

He laughed. "What the hell Ashanti and Nelly doing here? It's a little early for Halloween."

I should say something. Why couldn't I say anything?

Romeo cleared his throat, breaking the silence that was stretching between us. "Are you Lamar Kenwood?"

Lamar's eyes passed between the two of us. "Who's asking?"

Even though I couldn't pull my eyes off of Lamar, I knew Romeo was looking at me, waiting for me to take over. Lamar turned to me too, his brows furrowed. Then his face went slack. The sudden change in expression made me flinch.

"You're, uh..." He squinted, trying to conjure up a name like magic. "Daya."

The bar had to have been in hell if the man who helped conceived me knowing my name was enough to make me smile. I caught myself before I actually did. "Yeah, I am."

He smiled big enough for the both of us and widened the door to let us in. The house was louder inside. The tv, the kids screaming in one of the back rooms, the young woman yelling at them to stop fighting before she got her belt.

"That's my auntie Charlene." He pointed to the woman on the couch, too into her stories to give more than a wave over her shoulder.

A little boy ran from the back, followed by an older girl, who yelled at him to give her the phone back.

"Da'jon and Genesis," Lamar said. "Your cousins." The two kids didn't care about introductions as they ran outside, still yelling at each other.

The house was more chaotic than I was used to outside of major holidays, when I visited family. Lamar cleared some chairs for us to sit. Toys, packs of braiding hair, and school work books cluttered the table. I shoved my hands between my knees to keep from straightening up. Romeo sat next to me. Unlike me, he hadn't fully relaxed his guard.

"You look just like your moms," Lamar said, taking the chair across from us and draping his arm across the back of the chair next to him. "She know you're here?"

"No," I answered truthfully. "It was a last-minute trip."

"Is this your boyfriend?"

My eyes darted to Romeo. He didn't look as thrown off by the question as I felt. He was like a wall. Why was he being so weird?