Biracial

Chapter 6:

Shad.

I'd been home for a few hours now and I was finishing up the last of some homework that was due tomorrow. It wasn't anything too tedious, I just kept putting it off.

As I finished the final question, my phone began playing the ringtone I set specifically for my parents. I kind of figured it was my dad before I picked it up considering he never called me back the last night.

Swiping right across the screen, I picked it up and placed it to my ear. "Hello?"

"You sound like your breath stinks," My father joked immediately. A clown.

"Always playing," I chuckled. "Wassup, pop?"

"Not much. I just remembered I was supposed to call you yesterday." He admitted. "So, you tell me what's up?"

"Okay, so remember I told you that I met a girl?" I began, moving my schoolwork off my lap and placing it on the other side of the bed. "Everything that happened from the first time I saw her felt like a fairytale or movie scene."

"What do you mean?"

With a sigh, I commenced to telling him everything that happened in the last 48 hours. Here and there he would stop me and ask for clarification but other than that, he just let me talk. Some things I left out though—like Jaxon jacking up Carson and Cam beating up Emery.

To be frank, I was venting, and I needed to do so with someone who wasn't directly involved in anything that was going on. My father was perfect for this.

A bit of shuffling occurred on his end and I was wondering what he was doing. Doors opened then closed and there was wind from him moving.

"Hold on." He cleared his throat. "Let me start by saying that you're an idiot." I sucked my teeth at his insult, but he asked that I let him explain. I sighed and listened. Fuck else was I gonna do? "Rashad, you'd just met this girl and for the life of me, I don't understand why you forced her to get in the car or why you brought her into our home. I understand that you think it was the right or courteous thing to do, but it could've backfired, and you could've been hurt or worse."

"I know. Jay said the same thing, but dad...I couldn't leave her there. Especially not after what I learned."

In a way, I was grateful that we'd crossed paths that evening. Who knew I'd take her out of a bad situation or that she'd bless me with answers I didn't know I needed?

"And I get that, but you cannot save everyone, Amir." He sighed. "And I wish you would've given us a heads up before taking her home with you. Had I been your mother, she'd be on her way back to California to knock some sense into you." And he was not lying about that.

If there was one thing my mother was big on, it was protecting her family. She didn't play when it came to me or my father, so to know that I put myself in any kind of danger – it would not end well for me.

"We'll discuss your actions more when I get home. But tell me again how the hell you didn't know Esmerelda and Nathaniel had a sister? Especially one just a year younger than them?"

I laughed a bit. "Dad, they never acknowledged a sister. As much time as I spent at the Hendricks home, it was never brought up. And that's not something Nate would've covered up easily, so there was something else going on that I'm not aware of."

He scoffed. "Clearly. There had to be some indication of another person living there, Rashad. Maybe we need to get you checked out again."

"A-ki-ki." I snickered sarcastically. "That craziest part was Emery dating me for revenge. I never thought she of all people could be capable of something so heinous, especially with me. Before all of that, we were friends."