Rylos
A month and a half later
"Why do you feel need to teach me this?"
"Because what happens if I was in a situation with a gun aimed at my head?" I was about to walk away until he grabbed my arm. "You need to learn how to shoot."
Rolling my eyes, I just shrugged my shoulders. "I'm not that type of person. I leave that up to you and my brother."
"Yeah, but you still have to learn in case anything happens to one of us—or even you."
We walked into the shooting range where other loud shots sounded in the room. I slightly flinched from the noise. I'm not used to any of this.
"Scared?" Amir smirked.
"No."
"All I'm going to do is teach you the basics on how to work a gun like changing the clip and of course shooting."
Since we already had some headphones on, we just got started right away. He wanted to start off with a pistol.
I stood back as I watched him push the shooting target poster back some. When it was far enough, he grabbed the gun and began to shoot so quickly. When he ran out of bullets, he reloaded so quickly and went back to shooting like it was nothing.
My mouth was slightly agape, shocked at what I was seeing.
When he was done, he pushes the target closer so we can look at it. All the bullets mostly covered the head while a very few covered the body.
"How'd you learn all this?" I asked, still shocked.
"Come on, Ry, acting like this ain't nothing you witnessed before. I learned it from my leader, Ace. Nigga is cold with the gun. It's your turn now."
I pointed to myself and looked around. "You must not be talking to me."
"Who else am I talking to? I'll help you. First times ain't always easy."
He changed the poster and pushed it back some, but not as far as his was. I guess to start off easy. Sighing, I stepped in front of him while he stood behind me.
"Why you holding the gun like that? Relax, pa." I tensed up when I felt his breath on my ear, speaking lowly. Both his hands went to adjust how the way I was holding the gun. "Try to shoot, I don't care if you miss."
I swallowed hard then went to go squeeze the trigger. I slightly jumped when the shot went off so quickly, catching me off guard.
And of course, I missed.
"M-maybe my brother was right, I'm too soft." I was about to push him away from me, but he kept me pinned to where I was at.
"So? What's important that you're learning how to shoot now."
He pressed further into me, causing me to draw out a breath. "Come on, give it another go."
I squeezed the trigger again, but missed again. Now I'm already starting to get frustrated.
"Ry, relax. Try again."
"I don't want to do this." I don't know how anybody can do this. Picking up a gun just to kill.
"I'm right here."
His hands adjusted the gun once again for me, due to my hands shaking. "Focus." He aimed the gun a bit higher for me. "Now shoot."
Sighing, I put my finger on the trigger and squeezed it again. The shot went off. This time, I got it dead on the forehead.
Somehow, I got happy. "I finally got it."
Amir backs away from me. I set the gun down on the table. He picks it up and went to go put more bullets in the chamber.
"Next thing you know, you gonna be my right hand. I can just picture ya fine ass shooting at my opps with me."
"I hope you're joking."
He pushed me into the table. "Do it look like I'm joking? When I cuff your ass for real, ain't no leaving this life. We're with each other until we die."
His words sounded a mix of scary, thoughtful, and exciting all in one. "That sounds... Romantic."
"You got jokes." He looked me up and down hungrily until he pressed his lips against mine. I softly moan into the kiss, lightly gripping his hair.
Doing this at a gun range was insane.
He tries to disconnect from my lips but I wasn't letting that happen.
"Shit, you tryna get us kicked out?" Amir muttered against my lips.
For almost the past two months we grew closer, closer than we ever were before. I don't know if it's because I'm now used to living with him or what, but I can see that he was slowly changing.
We don't get into petty arguments anymore like we did in the beginning. We agreed to work on ourselves first and give each other space.
As for my brother, I still haven't talked to him yet. I'm preparing myself to tell him everything and I'm lowkey worried on how he'll react. After all, he probably thinks that I'm missing. Then, I'll have to tell him about Amir which he might really lose it.
We stay at the gun range for almost two hours which he taught me more about how to shoot. By the end of the session, I kinda was getting it.
Me and Amir was back at the apartment, laying in bed together while we're talking. Then he suddenly ask a question that caught me slightly off guard.
"Rylos, you love me?" He mumbled, randomly.
I paused for a moment, taking a second to process the question. "Of course."
Even though I tried to shake these feelings away, I can't. No matter how hard I try.
"If it ever comes down to it, you think you'll be ready if some shit were to ever go down?"
"Ready how?"
"One of these days, you're going to have to pick up that gun if it comes down to it. You think you can do that?"
That last question came off more like a promise somehow. That I'm in this life and that I should pick up the gun to protect myself or the person I love. It was scary to think about.
But I nod my head. "Yeah, I can do that."
He lifts himself up to press his lips against mine. Of course, that only resulted into me wanting to take things a step further.
My hand moves down to feel him becoming desperate at this point.
He pulls away. "Ry, chill, I know you ain't ready for all that," he chuckled.
I didn't care though. I'm sexually frustrated because it's been a while.
I bit my lip because I can feel his hardness on my hand. When we joined lips again, he went to softly bite my bottom lip, making me only get excited more.
My hands went to slightly lift up his shirt to undo his belt but he grabbed both my hands. I'm so serious about wanting this.
I got on top of him as our kissing got more heated.
Suddenly, the sounds of a phone could be ringing. We both ignored it until it just kept on. I pull away to let out a frustrated sigh.
Amir leans over to pick up his phone that was on the bedside. "Hello?"
I get off him as I laid next to him on the bed, waiting patiently for him to get off the phone.
He quickly gets up from the bed. "You said what?"
Amir looked to be having an intense conversation on the phone. I didn't know what was going on or let alone who he's on the phone with.
It wasn't until he got off the phone that he said who it was.
"It was Syncere's daycare. I-I gotta pick him up." He gets to walking around while patting his pockets, trying to look for his keys. "Fuck! Where's my keys?"
This caused me to grow worried. "Did something happen to him?"
He didn't answer as he went to frantically go look for his keys. I got up and went over to Mir. That's when he finally found his keys.
"What is going on?"
"The teacher noticed him with some bruises on his arms and legs and shit."
In my head I'm thinking, why would someone hurt a two year old?
"I'm finna kill them both," I heard Amir mutter, angrily.
With that, he quickly left the house as he ignored me calling after him.
I waited until he got home almost an hour later. I was watching tv in the living room and was relieved when I saw him holding Syncere in his arms while he had his backpack on his shoulder.
He walked past me to go straight to his room.
I followed him and went to stand in the doorway to only see him undressing Syncere with the bathtub water running.
After getting him undressed, Syn walked behind Amir into the bathroom where he was put into the tub. Amir sat at the edge of the tub watching Syncere bathe as I stood in the doorway.
"Shit, I don't know what I'm gonna do," he chuckled, humorlessly.
The frustration was evident on his face. How could something like this just happen?
"I was supposed to protect him and this kinda shit happens? I left him alone with them."
Syncere just sat emotionless in the tub, not playing with his toy boat that was already in the tub from the last time he visited.
Amir buried his face in his hands.
I walked further into the bathroom where I put the toilet lid down before taking a seat.
The whole bathroom was silent. I don't say anything, struggling to see if I should comfort him or just leave him be.
It wasn't until he finally picks his head back up to say something after just a few minutes. "This whole shit is my fault. I should've just disregarded what she said and let him stay with me for a while."
"It's not your fault. Don't blame yourself—"
"Ry, I don't want to hear that right now." Then he goes to let out a sigh to calm himself. "I should've just let him stay with me because the last time I was there she seemed so out of it. I don't know what that nigga Trill did to her."
He begins to start help bathing Syncere as he continued to speak to me. "His teacher told me that Syn told her that this nigga beat him and Sierra after she noticed that he came to daycare with all these bruises on him."
All I could do was shake my head in disappointment and disgust. The fact that he did that to a child this badly.
Amir doesn't say anything else. Instead, he just cleans Syncere. The sadness on Syn's face and the angry one on Amir's just made me get up and walk away. I feel too bad.
He's already in a fucked up situation with his baby mama's boyfriend. This just made it ten times worse if it wasn't already before.
After getting dressed into his Spider-Man pajamas, Syncere tiredly sat on Amir's lap as he continued to examine the bruises on his legs and arms. His expression was still angry.
"He got mad at you for what?"
"I-I said s-stawp hitting mama and he got mad. He said not ta tell. He hurt me fa telling?"
Amir shook his head. "Nah, he won't hurt you again. You're with me—I won't let that happen. You're gonna stay with me for a while."
He nods his head resting his head on his father's chest, as he continues to watch his cartoons.
I walk out the bedroom to go into the kitchen to start making burgers, as that's what I was originally going to make for dinner before.
We all sat quietly at the dining table, eating. Syncere was barely eating, only picking at his burger.
"Aye, Rylos, I'm really sorry about the shit I been putting you through. I know this a lot between all this shit I got going on with these people and my son staying here—"
I interrupt him before he could finish. "It's okay. I completely get it."
"Nah, this ain't cool. I'm over here trying to make things right, but I keep putting you through shit because of my fuck ups. I'm really trying to do right by you."
"Amir, it's fine. Things happen beyond our control."
I just hate how he keeps blaming this on himself.
"I gotta figure something out. I barely got room here."
He was right. His one bedroom apartment was not big enough for any of us—not like I'll get a new place anytime soon anyway.
"It's okay. We'll figure out something eventually."
He just gives me a look before containing to eat, and that was the end of that.
Syncere slept peacefully in the bed with his stuffed animal by his side.
Amir was checking to see if his gun is loaded.
"Amir, what are you doing?"
"What it look like I'm doing? I'm finna kill this nigga."
"That's not the way to go about things, trust me."
"Those people damn near called CPS, Ry. I almost lost my son—"
"I get that, but it wouldn't be smart to show up there. His people are already onto you. Just please think about this. I don't want anything to happen to you."
He looked over at Syncere who's sleeping peacefully.
Amir put the gun back on top of his closet shelf, making me let out a sigh of relief.
"We'll figure something out. Just not like this—at least not right now."
I was a bit taken aback from him wrapping his arms around my waist with his face buried in the crook of my neck.
A tear drop fell on my neck, as I softly rubbed his back. For the first time in a long time, he was hurting. And so was I.
As I stood here comforting him, this made me think that it's finally time to talk to Kasey. Life's too short and it's time to tell him about everything from the start all the way to this point.
But I have to prepare myself that he might be angry, but we need to have this talk so we can have a better understanding with each other.
I waited until Amir fell asleep before quietly moving the covers from over myself and getting up. I looked back at the two before leaving out the room and saw that they both were sleeping so peacefully together.
When I walked into the living room, I sat down in the chair and went to go pick up my phone.
Taking a deep breath, I begin to dial the number that I haven't dialed in a long time but still remember by heart.
The number rings for a minute, making me grow even more nervous wondering if he'll pick up or not. His number ringing for a while brought back a terrible memory—the one that he never picked up.
But I was wrong. The line picks up and I hear a familiar voice say, "Hello?"
"Kasey? This is Rylos."
"Rylos? Where are you at? You good?" His voice sounded serious through the line.
I deserved it. I haven't talked to him in a while.
"Safe," I answered. "Can we talk... In person, I mean? It's long overdue. That's if you're not busy or anything."
"Y-yeah, sure. When you tryna do that? I always have time for you."
Hearing that comforted me just a little. I won't lie and say that I'm not glad to hear Kasey's voice because I am.
I miss my brother.
Random double updates. Opinions on both?