A Gangster's Cry

10. the devil was once an angel.

2 Corinthians 11:14 .
14 And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.

omniscient.

I'm pregnant.

Those were the words the went on in Forty's head on repeat, like a broken record. How could he fuck up like this? Hezekiah wasn't ready to be a father, he barely had his shit together. He swallowed the medication he'd been prescribed with after taking a gulp of water from his cup.

"I swear I used a Jimmy..." He said aloud, as he recollected the imagery of him opening the differentiating brands of condoms, on the several occasions in which he and and Valentina had fornicated, going off in the confined space of his mind

He unlocked his phone, deciding to call the one person he could vent to without judgement. The same person he'd ironically pushed out of his life, and into the arms of another broken soul, her name was Nasir.

He stared at his phone in anticipation as it rang, surprised when she answered on the third dial tone.

"Um, hello?" Her soft voice was music to his ears. The melodic tone unknowingly set him at ease.

"Nasir..." He said, more to himself than anyone else. His voice trailed off, he had too much on his mind and in result to this each thought was overlapping making it even harder to speak his mind. His tone was unlike Nasir had ever hard before, she was used to the calm, and collected side of Hezekiah. The nonchalant male that acted like he had all his shit together, not the vulnerable man she was discovering he truly was.

"Yes, Forty." Her voice dripping of concern with each word, Forty truly didn't sound like himself. As much as she didn't want to be, Nasir was worried.

"I fucked up," He admitted, as he sat down at the bar chair near his kitchen island. His heart was beating rapidly, as his mind turned blank. He wanted nothing more but to tell his mother about his actions, but he couldn't, as she was buried six feet under in an expensive wooden polished casket lined with gold.

Nasir sighed into the phone, before saying "Forty when do you not fuck up?"

Her words came out harsher then she intended making her cringe. Hezekiah looked at the marble design of his island, feeling his mood deteriorate further.

The silence that engulfed Nasir's ears made her regret her wording choice, she hesitated for a moment before speaking up.

"-that was harsher than I intended, what I meant to say is that you make a lot of decisions on impulse without your thinking of the consequences; so I'm not surprised of you're sudden realisation of you 'fucking up'." The explanation she gave cleared up the air, and removed the tension. Forty nodded as if Nasir could see him, he reached up to play with string of his durag before choosing to finally tell her the news he'd been told.

"I-," He paused for a moment, realisation finally hitting him, "I think I got a girl pregnant."

The gasp that left Nasir's mouth didn't surprise Forty, for it was a similar reaction to the one he'd had. He stared at his phone expectantly, waiting for what she had to say; yet she was speechless.

"Wow...." The shock was evident in her voice, she felt a wave of disappointment overrun her as she absorbed the information she'd just been told.

Hezekiah folded his lips in, as he stared blankly at his grey, wooden kitchen flooring. He waited in anticipation for Nasir to elaborate on her response, the meek 'wow' she gave wasn't enough for him.

"Wait," His ears perked at at the sound of her voice, "you said you think, not you know." She stated, the emphasis on the two words not going unnoticed by Forty.

Forty hummed in response.

"So why you stressin'? Just wait until you're giving a definite answer, and up until that moment pray that you're given the answer you want. Nevertheless you need to remember children are blessings from God, usually when one loses a loved one, God sends another life into their life; whether that be a foetus or an already existing life," Nasir's words of reassurance made Forty relax, his jaw finally relaxed as he waited for her to continue, "you laid in that bed, so be prepared to make it too." She ended her small rant.

"You're right," He started, "thank-you Nasir. And also..., fuck it, I wanna apologise for how I've been acting thee couple of months...yeah." He wasn't used to apologising, so that's the best Nasir was gonna get.

"It's fine."

It wasn't fine. Yet the situation wasn't that deep, and Nasir had bigger and better thing to worry about so she politely forgave him. Forgiving for her didn't mean forgetting, because one should never forget that devil was once an angel.

The awkward silence that filled the air made Forty aware of their change in dynamics. He'd messed up a good thing. He didn't know what the good thing was, but he knew it was beginning to sprout into something mind-boggling yet he'd went and jeopardised it.

"Bye Forty."

Before he could even respond she'd already hung up, and somehow Hezekiah believed that that was a goodbye forever.

"Bye Nasir." He said to himself, before going back to wallowing himself in pity and shame.

Did Lucifer ever regret?

*

I know I said the next chapter would be longer but I had to quickly get this chapter out because Wattpad kept deleting my work. I swear on my heart the Next chapter will exceed 1000 words unlike this one, maybe I'll even make it 2000 if this gets lots of interaction.
Not proofread.
What's your current opinion on Hezekiah (Forty)?

Do you think Nasir was wrong for hanging up on him and giving him the cold shoulder?

Please comment, and vote, and tell me things I could do next. The feedback helps.

And also shout out to the few people that continuously comment on my chapters. You guys are really what inspire to constantly update this book so God bless.

I hope all of you are staying safe.

Much love, - taimoni❤️.