I was exhausted, I've barely been sleeping, barely eating, barely living. Ever since Alana's funeral the only thing in my life that matter was my son. Ala'ven gave me a reason to keep going, he gave my life purpose, and I loved him to death. There was so much going on right now that I didn't really have time to process it all, school, football, my family, and to top everything off Alana's parents thought it would be a good idea for them to take Ala'ven until I was done with school. Not that there offer didn't sound tempting, I mean they had money, and they had time to take care of him, but what kind of father would I be if let somebody else raise my son? I couldn't do it no matter how stressed out I was. I walked over to his crib and watched him sleep, man I really loved him. I looked at my watch and saw that it was 8:15 I knew he'd be waking up in two minutes to be fed at 8:17 he did exactly that, I smiled and picked him up and sat down and fed him.
"What are we going to do little man?" I asked my two month old son. He just looked up at me and smiled and I smiled back. I looked around the new apartment that my dad got for me off campus and realized how lonely it was. After Ala'ven went back to sleep waited for Alana's parents to call which they did everyday like clockwork. When they finally called I waited for our everyday conversation.
"How's my grandson doing?" Alana's father Mr. Brooks asked.
"He's fine I just put him to bed." I said quietly. Mr. Brooks was quiet, which meant he was building up the courage to ask me if I had thought about their offer.
"Seven me and my wife will be up there this weekend to talk to you." He said quietly. That caught me off guard for a second.
"What why?" I asked rudely. I know I shouldn't be upset, but I was.
"There's a few things we need to discuss with you in person. We'll talk about it then, good night Seven." He said hanging up. After the brief phone call, I was pissed. I was up pretty much all night pacing around my house. After pacing around for like an hour my phone rang again and I saw that it was Monroe.
"What's up stranger?" I asked trying to fight off a smile.
"Nothing just wondering when me and you were going to hang out?" He asked and I felt bad because I hadn't told him about my son yet.
"Monroe now's not really a good time for me, I have a son that has to be my first priority." I said quietly.
"I understand, take care of your business. But if I can be honest I think that makes you even more desirable, so whenever you get some free time to hang out or if you just want someone to talk to you can call me anytime of the day." Monroe said, and I was really starting to feel thuis dude.
"Thanks man, I'll call you later." I said, when we hung up my phone rang yet again. I looked and saw that it was my dad. "What's up dad?" I asked.
"Nothing just seeing what you were doing this weekend." He said casually.
"Well Alana's parents want to meet with me on Saturday, but after since we started winter break I was going to come home. We're still having that family dinner next week right?" I asked.
"Yeah but I'll probably come and visit you sooner there's a few things I wanted to talk to you about." He said, okay now I was officially confused.
"Dad is there something going on that I need to know about?" I asked.
"Seven we'll talk about it later, give my grandson a kiss for me." He said hanging up.What the fuck was going on.
The week went by super fast and before I knew it, it was Saturday. I got Ala'ven dressed and put him in the car. I swear I had the cutest baby, he was always smiling, and he barely cried. I made sure his car-seat was strapped down securely and drove to meet Alan'a parents, I had already figured out what they wanted and I was going to give them the same answer I've been giving them for the last two months. I pulled up and got Ala'ven out the car and kissed him on his chubby cheeks.
"You know your daddy loves you right." I said kissing him again. We walked inside and I saw Alana's parents instantly but they were sitting with the last person I'd ever expect to be with them my dad. I walked over to them and they looked at me.
"Seven please have a seat." Alana's father said. I looked at my father and he looked....... well to be honest he looked guilty.
"Alright what's going on?" I said I looked at my dad and Alana's parents and noticed there was one more chair. "Who else is coming?" I asked.
"Actually he just walked through the door." Mrs. Brooks said pointing at the assistant football coach. I looked shocked, I can't believe they set me up like this. But I wasn't about to listen to anything they were about say so I started to get Ala'ven ready to leave.
"Hayes wait sit down just hear us out." Coach Hecklinski said I really respected this dude so I sat down and looked at them. "Seven look we only want what's best for you and your son."
"Okay so what ya'll got together and decided that I wasn't what's best for my son." I said pissed.
"Seven nobody here's questioning if your a good father, we just think that for now it would be better for you and Ala'ven if he came and lived with us......" Mrs. Brooks said.
"Live with them until you finish school." My dad finished.
"SO WHAT I YOU WANT ME TO BE A DEADBEAT LIKE YOU!" I yelled and the whole room grew quiet and started looking at us.
"Seven that's not fair." My dad said quietly.
"No what's not fair is ya'll ganging up on me asking me to give up my son." I said looking every last one of them in the eyes.
"Seven look at you, you have rings around your eyes, you've been falling asleep in class showing up late to practice, and for what? Just to prove to yourself that your a man, but you need to realize that your pride doesn't just effect you." Mr. Brooks said.
"I don't believe this shyt right now." I said.
"Seven look we're only going to take him during the school year. During your holiday breaks we'll gladly allow you to come and spend time with him." Mrs. Brooks said. I sat there stuck, I couldn't believe what they were asking me to do.
"Give me a few days to think about it." I lied, there was no way in hell I was giving my son to them, I don't give a fuck if I was being selfish, childish and whatever else people wanted to say about me for once in my life I was thinking about me.
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"That was brilliant what you did to Raymond. I don't think I could've planned that better myself. I mean getting that dude framed was a stroke of genius." Fabian said to his cousin.
"Exactly, I think it's evident since you let them niggas run you into hiding that I got the brains in the family." Gideon said smiling at his cousin. "So what about the others?" Gideon asked.
"We'll let them get comfortable, let them think everything is good then hit them all at once." Fabian said Gideon was quiet, which meant he was thinking, which was bad for everybody.
"Nah we need to hit them where it hurts, Gabriel is M.I.A. and Derrick is in jail but the other we need to make there lives as miserable as possible before we send them to the hear after." Gideon said.
"Well what did you have in mind cousin?" Fabian asked.
"Alright my plan consist of three phases, Phase One we need to turn them against each other." Gideon said.
"Okay I see, so who's first?" Fabian asked.
"That's simple the easiest to exploit Izayah." Gideon said. "Seven will be last his suffering needs to be prolonged. But when we do hit Seven we'll aim for his heart........ his newborn son." Gideon said smiling devilishly.
