Natural Born Hustler (BOOK 4)

Chapter Twenty-Eight -- Another New Day

Chapter Twenty-Eight -- Another New Day

Ethic's POV

I sometimes wonder why I always wanted to grow up as a kid. I always wanted to be older than the age that I was. If I was seven, I couldn't wait to be ten. If I was fifteen, I couldn't wait to be eighteen - eighteen, couldn't wait to be twenty-one. It was never enough for me 'cause it seemed like with every age there was a greater advantage that life had to offer. Something always greater than me.

But now that I'm older, there's nothing to look forward to but grey hair, a limp dick, a cane, no teeth, and probably even a pamper later on. How many motherfuckers out there can't wait to get to that?

If I could tell the youth one thing it would be to live while you're young. Don't rush for something you're not ready for 'cause as the years float by, we live, and we live some more, and as we live we get older.

Kaila began to stir in her sleep beside me, flipping and turning until the point she wakes up with frustration etched on her still-pretty face.

"Wild dream?" I tease her a bit.

This gets her to smile and she scoots her body closer to mine, finally resting her head on my chest and her arm around my waist.

"How long have you been up, Mr. Funny Guy?" she asks.

I shrug my shoulders. "I don't know... couple hours maybe."

She sits up, clearly alarmed. "A couple hours? Baby, it's five o'clock in the morning."

I sigh, she will never change. "I know what time it is, girl," I say in the middle of a yawn.

She layed her head back on my chest. "Well... what were you doing?"

I touch her hair, wrapping one of her silky, black curls around my finger. "Thinking...," I tell her.

Kaila looked up at me, her brown eyes glossy from the moon light coming in from the bedroom window. "Is it something you want to talk about?"

I kissed her forehead softly before telling her no. I know she'll understand - she always does. That's one of the reasons why I love Kaila. She understands me, respects my privacy, and don't pressure me into doing something that I don't want or feel like doing. She's truly my rib... my air that I need to breath... food that I need to eat.

"What are you thinking about?" I ask her, breaking the comfortable silence we grew into.

She let's out a long sigh, one that I know too well. "Daddy," she said.

I let out a quick sigh too. Man, I hope she don't start crying, I thought. But it was too late. I felt my chest become wet with her tears, and the familiar tightening in my chest caused me to wince. I hate to see her cry, even if they were silent. "Baby, don't cry, aight? It hurts me to see you upset. Your Pops good, babe," I tell her honestly.

Kai may be in prison, but he's the most comfortable inmate there 'cause I make sure of it. I put close to two grand on his books every month, and I make sure he's extra straight for the holidays. It's the least I could do for the old man.

"I miss him, Ethic. He wasn't Father of the Year, but dammit he my was daddy. The only one I had left," she said between sniffles. "I miss all of them, my whole family. Sometimes I wonder why they just couldn't kill me too, you know?"

It's not the first time I heard her talking like this, and it probably won't be my last. But every time she says it, it tugs at my heart. I'll give anything to take this pain away from her, but its nothing, (and believe me, I've tried everything), I can do.

I feel my chest become wetter with her tears, and suddenly the room feels like its suffocating me.

"Kaila..."

"Do you ever think about your family, Ethic?" she asked, catching me completely off guard.

"Yeah, sometimes. I try not to, though," I tell her, honestly.

She finally stops her tears, drying most of them away with the back of her hand. "Why?"

I shrug. "Too many bad memories."

She sat up to look at me face-to-face. "Ethic... at least you had an happy ending--"

"What's so fuckin' happy about my mom dead from cancer?" I ask her, harshly than I meant to, but it's the truth.

I deeply inhale than exhale, releasing the new found anger from surfacing before pulling Kaila back down to my chest. She didn't resist.

"I'm sorry, baby," she said after more than a few seconds crept by.

I shook my head before kissing the top of her head. "Don't be. We both have fucked up passes, but that's why we grow, babe. You gotta try to put all that shit behind you and move on."

She nodded in agreement, and all I can do is hope she'll try. I know it won't be easy, but something is better than nothing. 

Another comfortable silence fell over us as the birds outside the bedroom window began to awake, singing a song only they knew the name of.

The sun began to rise slowly, showing off its bright, warm rays to the world, and letting the people and animals know its a new day. A new day to start new dreams, to start over, to keep moving on...

A new day is inspiration all over the world.