Gangland II.

Chapter 25 - Newfound Peace.

After I got done saying the phrase, Kathy grinned at me then grabbed some pajamas out of her suitcase.

"Awh." Kathy smiled. "You're homesick."

"No, I'm serious." I said in a serious tone. "I really want to move back here, Kath."

Kathy scrunched her eyebrows at me, then shook her head as she placed her pajamas on the bed.

"Obviously we can't do that, Josh."

"Why not?"

Kathy gave me an agitated look, placing her hand on her hip.

"We can't just up and stay here, Josh." Kathy growled in a pissed off tone. "We already have an apartment in Washington. Don't act stupid, now."

"Of course I ain't talkin' about that." I scowled. "I'm talkin' bout in about a month or so."

"How is that gone work, Josh?" Kathy scoffed. "We'd be leaving behind our jobs and our families in Washington. We just can't up and leave."

Kathy sighed and sat next to me, rubbing my shoulder.

"I know you're homesick, but you can ALWAYS see your relatives." Kathy nodded. "Let's not act out of impulse, okay?"

Kathy had a point. Still, I didn't want to go back to Washington. Now that I was in Cali, I realized how boring it was there. All of my friends and family were here, so I felt that this is the only place where I belonged.

Meanwhile, Isaiah drove with Noah over to Aunt Shay's. Every now and then, they would drive and go see their mother so that she knew that they hadn't forgotten about her. As Isaiah smoked and drove down the strip, Noah sat in the passenger seat dazed as I don't know what. It was setting in that he was a father. As Noah stared at the airbag with his mouth creaked open, Isaiah blew his smoke out and scrunched his eyebrows at him.

"Aye nigga, is you aight?" Isaiah asked him.

Noah turned to him, giving a blank look. Isaiah shrugged, taking another puff of his smoke and blowing it out of his car window as they passed the beach.

"Shit, I was just askin'." Isaiah shrugged. "You ain't talked all car ride."

As Isaiah cut his music up, Noah decided to speak.

"How hard is it being a-"

"What?" Isaiah said in a loud tone, leaning forward and cutting his music down.

Noah gave him a stressed look, then looked back ahead.

"How hard is it being a father?" Noah asked, not giving Isaiah any eye contact.

"Man. That shit is hard as hell." Isaiah groaned. "Every dime you make half of that shit gotta go to yo' kid, then towards groceries, then towards food, bills, allat shit...."

Noah ran his fingers through his hair, looking down at the unlock button.

"Why was wrong?" Isaiah asked.

Noah slowly shook his head, then slumped in his seat.

"Lily is my daughter." Noah sighed.

Isaiah's eyes widened, thinking of the only Lily he knew. Asha's daughter.

"You mean, Asha's daughter?"

As Noah nodded his head, Isaiah's mouth dropped as he stopped at a red light. He gave Noah a look of shock, not believing it at first.

"But, Asha told me that the test came ba-"

"She lied, man." Noah groaned. "She showed me her papers and everything."