The Deed to a Gangsta’s Heart

Chapter 23

23

A rmor

July

“You a hard man to get a hold of these days,” Remedy said as he stepped into my office.

I stood and shook his hand, which turned into a brotherly hug.

“I can say the same about you. I ain’t seen your ass in the office in over a week.”

He chuckled as he set the drink holder that held two cups of coffee on my desk. “Man, say. A lot of my free time has been going to building this stable for my girl. I feel soft as hell for saying this, but my highest priority these days has been making her smile. The happier she is, the better I feel.”

“Ain’t nothing soft about that at all. That’s the truest sign of being a man. I’m on that with Lu.”

“I heard. Her and Cal were cackling well past midnight last night talking about whatever the hell you did for her over the weekend.”

I laughed just thinking about it. I told Remedy about how we’d flown to Chicago for a quick weekend trip. While there, we did the flyover ride. I had no idea what to expect, so I showed my natural ass to put it mildly. Luci had the time of her life laughing at me, and I didn’t care one bit.

“Wait, is there a video?” he asked through his laugh.

“Unfortunately, yeah, but I’m not going to let you see it.”

“I can only imagine your big ass acting a fool on them people’s ride. It probably wasn’t even that bad.”

“Yeah, aight. I’ma let you think that until you do it.”

“You fly all the time, bruh,” he said through his laughter.

“Yeah, in an enclosed plane. And I be prepared for that. With the flyover shit, I didn’t know what it was. So as soon as it started moving and blowing air and stuff…” My head shook at the thought. “I’m good on that.”

He laughed until his eyes watered at my expense, but I didn’t care.

“In all seriousness, though, you look happy. Me and Luci give each other hell at times, but I love her. I’m happy y’all are making each other happy. You both deserve it.”

“Yeah, I been thinking about that a lot lately. I feel the same about you and Callie. We deserve this shit, man. It’s been a long time coming, but we here.”

Silence found us as we ruminated on how much our lives had changed over the course of the summer, and it wasn’t even over yet. We had our coffee and our usual mid-month check in. When it was over, I called Luci to check in and make sure she was coming over for dinner tonight.

She confirmed, and we ended the call so I could prepare for a couple of showings this afternoon. As I left my office, I couldn’t stop the smile that spread my lips. Shit with my family may not have been the best still, but work and my relationship were flourishing, and that was more than okay with me.

Later that Evening

“My man is so sexy,” Luci said before wrapping her arms around me. She placed a kiss on my back before I turned in her arms.

“Thank you, sweetheart. I gotta be standing next to a woman as beautiful as you.”

My hand went from her ass to between her cheeks. When my fingers brushed against her pussy, she moaned.

“If you don’t behave, you’re going to be eating me instead of what you’re cooking.”

“I’ma eat both,” I clarified before lowering myself to her lips.

My phone vibrated on top of the counter, and that was the only reason I pulled away. As she grabbed the wine off the island and filled her glass, I sighed at the sight of my mama’s FaceTime request. I’d been keeping our calls even shorter than usual because she only wanted to talk about Adam, and he wasn’t answering any of her calls. I called him once to try and explain the situation and he didn’t answer. I hadn’t called since. I was at a point where I was tired of placating him. He was my brother and I cared about him, but he was a grown man.

He needed to learn how to handle his feelings and express them. I felt like he was using his anger as an excuse to justify staying away from us. Things were crazy when we were growing up, but I’d never deny me and Mama had his best interests at heart. If he didn’t appreciate that… fuck it.

As I accepted the FaceTime request, I wrapped my free arm around Luci as she tried to walk past me.

“Wassup, Ma?”

“Hey, Son. What are you doing?”

“Fixing dinner for your future daughter-in-law.”

I pulled Luci into my chest, and she shifted behind me. With her head poking out, she looked into the camera and waved with a smile.

“Hi.”

Me and Mama chuckled. “Hey, sweet girl. How are you?”

“I’m good. How are you?”

“Good. Armor, I didn’t mean to interrupt. Call me later.”

“I will, Ma. And once we get things taken care of with your other son, I’ll set something up so you can meet Luci in person.”

“Sounds good. I’m looking forward to it.” Her head tilted as if that would allow her to get a better look at Luci. “It was nice to see you, Luci.”

“You as well.”

“Bye, Ma.”

“Bye, baby.”

As soon as I ended the call I asked Luci, “What was that?” through my smile.

“You didn’t warn me. You have to mentally prepare to meet someone’s mother.”

“And how much preparation do you need, Ms. Williams?”

“Hmm… Maybe two or three days.”

“Aight, I got you. After I talk to my brother and get us all on good terms, I’ll invite them over for dinner so you all can meet.”

“Is that your role in the family?” she asked before taking a sip of her drink. “The mediator? Facilitator?”

My head shook as I set my phone down. As I washed my hands, I admitted, “If it is, I don’t think I do a good job. We spend a hell of a lot of time in conflict. Just when it finally seemed like me and my brother were getting on good terms, Mama said some shit that destroyed the foundation we’d built. I can’t even blame her, though, because the issue could have been resolved if he would have just talked to me. It’s like he wants us to always be on bad terms.”

“How does that make you feel?”

I looked back at her as she hopped onto the island. “Like I’m failing. Our relationship has always been different because Mama trained me to be more like a father and caregiver than brother. I think he has some resentment about that.”

“Do you? I mean… I know that couldn’t have been easy on you either. How many years apart are y’all?”

“Eight, and you’re right, it wasn’t. I had to grow up quicker. I had far more responsibility as a kid than I should have.” Shrugging, I transferred the onions and bell peppers from the cutting board to the bowl. “It is what it is though. I’m losing my patience with trying. If he doesn’t want to hear me out and work on us having a healthy relationship, I’m cutting him off. It’s exhausting walking on eggshells with him and trying to keep the peace between him and her.”

“Well, for what it’s worth, I commend you for trying. I know it’s easy to want to do whatever you can to maintain family relationships because they are family, but the bible says as far as it concerns you, live in peace with all men. If that peace comes from distance, you have to do what’s best for you.”

That was true, and it was something I’d been struggling with. The less I got in the middle of what was going on with them, the less I had migraines. The less my emotions were all over the place. The less anger I felt. The less I felt like a failure. It would be different if I wasn’t the only brother trying. Until he was ready to meet me halfway, maybe I’d need to enjoy the separation.

I wiped my hands then stepped between Luci’s legs to give her a hug and kiss. Her words felt like confirmation to me, and if God was sending me a message through her, I would heed it and listen.