Strength

28.

Sighing, Shiloh scratches his head. "Can you please tell me what happened? Or how he even get you in that area?"

    Nia sighs, and runs her hand down her face. "I just wanna talk to my mom, Shiloh."

"What? No, you can't tell her." He looks at her.

     Nia seems to be taken aback as she looks at him. "Excuse me?"

"I said—"

     "I know what you said." Nia interrupts him. "Is it crack? Is it crack you're smoking? If this is to protect you, you're selfish. I didn't tell you to slice his face."

Shiloh lets out a sharp breath, signaling that he was annoyed. "He was disrespectful so he paid the price. That's how it go."

    "You still have charges against you, Shiloh." Nia folds her arms across her chest. "You didn't think rationally at all. Now you can really go to jail."

"He ain't gon say shit."

     Nia nods, turning her body fully away from him. "Okay."

"You not gon' tell her, right?" He asks as they come to a red light.

     "She'll eventually find out, Shiloh. My mom and I's relationship is super solid. I don't want to break that. And her knowing ahead of time can potentially help you out, just in case Leon do go press charges."

Shiloh doesn't say anything. He was mad that she wasn't loyal to him. But, at the same time, he didn't want to come in between Nia and Naomi. He wasn't that type of dude.

   His phone rang in his lap, but he ignored it. He didn't feel like talking to anyone.

Nia made it her business to not look at him or talk to him the rest of the drive. That gave him time to think about his actions. He came to the conclusion that it wasn't smart.

   He didn't regret it, though.

When they pulled up to the house, Nia immediately got out of the car and Shiloh let out a small sigh.

   He reluctantly got out of the car, following her inside of the house.

He could hear a man's voice that didn't sound like Zeke's. Shiloh goes into living room, not seeing anyone. His eyes turn to the patio door that's slides open and sees a crying Nia being consoled by Naomi.

He curses lowly under his breath, and when he and Naomi lock eyes, she motions for him to come.

"The fuck happened?" The guy, whom Shiloh doesn't know, asks.

"Messiah." Naomi glares at him as she consoles Nia.

Messiah waves her off and looks at Shiloh. "What you do?"

Shiloh raises his hand in surrender. "I swear I ain't do nothin' to her."

"Nia, baby," Naomi calls out. "What's wrong? You're scaring me."

"Some nigga was tryna assault her. I got there just in time and I sliced his face." Shiloh admits.

"What?!" Naomi basically screams.