Chapter 20
TWENTY
Most of my ride back to my city is spent on the phone with my brothers. I spoke with Deuce first, then Shiro and Tre because they are both at the shop. I’m talking to Ace now.
“Maybe I should head over there too,” he says.
“Nah. I’m almost there now. You sound half asleep anyway.”
“Shit, ’cause I am. I didn’t leave the warehouse until almost ten last night.
The time I was locked set a nigga back for real.
Sade did what she could, but we are behind on a few cross-state moves.
Plus, I’m pausing Mexico right now,” he says and I understand.
“Keeping Canada though, for now. But honestly, we’re straight if I let that go too. ”
“You gotta do what’s best for you and yours,” I assure him.
“Already,” he says.
“But stay home. I’m just exiting and will be at Shuga and Asali’s in ten. Hopefully, we’re stressing over nothing and she needs a break. I’ll hit you back once I know.”
“Bet. I’ll be here.”
I end the call then turn on Maple. I pull into the driveway about five minutes later. The garage door is open and only Shuga’s Infiniti is inside. Asali’s truck is missing. After killing my engine, I walk into the garage and knock on the door that leads into the kitchen.
“Use your key. I’m not getting up,” Shuga says with bite. The last time I heard this snappy tone, I was a teenager doing dumb teenager shit.
What the hell?
Really concerned, I pull my key out and let myself in. The moment I see her, my chest caves. She’s sitting at the kitchenette, wrapped in a robe, glaring at me with swollen, red eyes and tears streaming from her face.
“Shuga,” I say after I rush over and sit next to her.
“What’s wrong?” She shakes her head. What happens next nearly breaks me.
The strong, happy woman who raised me and my brothers turns to me and buries her face in my chest. Then a soft whimper falls from her lips.
“Shuga, please,” I plead, holding in my anger. My fists are balled as I embrace her.
I’ve never seen Shuga like this.
She looks fragile, stripped of the fierceness she normally exudes. So after kissing the top of her fro, I unclench my fists and lift her distraught face.
“You have to tell me what’s wrong?”
It takes her a moment to control her cries then she stares directly into my eyes and tells me some shit I never thought I’d hear.
“You have a sister. She’s seventeen,” she says lowly, but unfortunately I hear her loud and fucking clear.
“A sister? Is this a fucking joke?” I bark, then quickly apologize when she jumps lightly. “My bad. Sorry. That doesn’t make sense.”
Shuga relaxes in her chair then grabs her cup of coffee. She doesn’t drink it, just holds it as she speaks.
“Unfortunately, it’s true.”
The anger building in my body feels physical. It permeates my skin and radiates off me. Asali’s been cheating on Shuga. All that shit he preached to us about loving the woman you need was just talk for him. Muthafucka! “Who is she? When did you find out? Where is his lying ass? I need to?—”
“No!” she screams, cutting me off. Her voice is cracked and sharp.
When she raises her head, I see how distraught she is.
The anger in me subsides a little and is replaced with pure sympathy.
“It’s over,” she whispers, her voice sounding more broken than just seconds before.
“He…everything we built together. Forty-one years, Quintus. Forty-one years and it was all a damn lie. He broke me. My heart is… It feels like it’s literally broken into pieces.
” She places a hand to her chest and her eyes well up with tears.
“I don’t have anything left in me. I’m empty. ”
My entire body stiffens and my throat feels tight.
I want to crash the fuck out, smash the wall, and find Asali’s ass.
How can the man who raised me, the man I looked up to, do this shit to my momma.
Seeing her look so small, crushed, and sad like this is fucking with me bad.
So I reach out and cover her hands with mine.
“What can I do? Tell me. You can’t be here alone. Come with me.”
“Stop. Son, please just stop,” she sobs.
She pulls her hands from the cup and away from mine.
“I cannot talk about this shit anymore. I can’t even think about it.
If I say another word, I’m going to fall apart completely and I can’t do that in front of you and definitely not in front of my little princess.
I’m staying here. In my home, where Asali is no longer welcome. ”
“But Shuga, I can’t leave you here,” I plead. “You’re hurting and need family.”
“No,” she says resolutely. Looking at me with a desperate, almost begging intensity, she says, “Quintus, son, if you love me, you will leave it alone right now. Do not try to find Asali. Don’t call him and don’t ask me another question.”
“Sh—”
“Quintus, go!” she pleads. She nods toward the kitchen door. “Please, sweetheart, just leave. Let me have this. Just go home.”
I’m actually frozen, stuck between my urge to protect the woman who first loved and took care of me and gives the world to my daughter.
She’s trembling. I swallow my rage and nod slowly, conceding to her wishes.
After I stand, I lean in and kiss her forehead.
Reluctantly, I walk back through the kitchen and out of the door, leaving my brokenhearted mother all alone.
The moment I’m in my ride, my rage amplifies and all I can think about is finding Asali and hurting him for hurting Shuga.
Right now, I can’t even see him as my father because the man who raised me and my brothers would never hurt Shuga.
And a sister, a seventeen year old. What the fuck was this nigga thinking? Enraged, I hit our brother group text.
Me: 911 meet at my house.
Ace: Shuga?
Me: Yes.
Shiro: What’s wrong?
Me: Too much to text.
Tre: What about Asali?
Me: I’ll tell you everything at my place. Just head there now. I’m on my way.
Deuce: Better be important. Coming
Shiro: Give me five
Ace: Coming.
Tre: Me too.
I text my wife next, giving her a partial update. This is some shit that can’t be explained in a text. I’ll tell her everything face to face after I’ve processed this.
Me: Shuga was home. We talked.
Kyau: Oh good. Is she okay?
Me: Not really but I’ll explain when I get back. Going to meet with my brothers before I head back. Is Niya okay?
Kyau: Take your time with your family. Niya is fine . We are having girl time. We love you.
Me: I love both of you.
In the midst of my anger, her last text solicits a smile. I can talk with my brothers and figure this shit out without worrying about Niya. She’s good with my wife and they are having girl time.
I start my engine and head to my house. When I pull up, Deuce and Shiro’s trucks are in my driveway, blocking my garage. I park behind Deuce and get out.
“I hope you got something to eat in there,” Deuce utters in a groggy voice. It’s before noon and I have him up. He usually doesn’t get in from the club until about four or five and sleeps in until the afternoon. He probably hasn’t eaten, but hell, neither have I.
“Nothing cooked. We’re at my wife’s this weekend but I can order something.”
“Yeah. Do that,” Deuce says.
“Shit. You said 911; are we gonna want to eat fucking food?” Shiro asks as we walk into my home.
“Good or bad. A nigga gotta eat,” Deuce says.
“Is it bad?” Shiro asks. “Your damn face tight as fuck.”
“I’m going to wait until Ace and Tre get here.” I can’t say this foul shit more than once. “Let them in when they get here. I’m going to run to the bathroom.”
I leave them in my living room and take the stairs two at a time to my room. I need a minute to get my damn words together. What the fuck am I about to say?
In my room, I ease down on my bed and just replay Shuga’s words. Asali has another damn child, a seventeen-year-old girl. That means that nigga was fifty-fucking-years old creeping and shit on Shuga. I have a million questions and I know my brothers are going to have a million more.
After taking a deep ass breath to collect my thoughts, I walk into my bathroom and wash my face. When I make it back downstairs, Ace and Tre are here. They are all in the living room and Deuce is eating chips with a pile of Niya’s snacks in front of him.
“What’s so urgent? Is Shuga good?” Ace asks before I can sit.
“Nah, she isn’t,” I say then sit.
“She sick or something?” Shiro asks.
“Nah, nothing like that. Well, not really,” I begin then I decide to just rip the damn Band-Aid off. “Asali has a seventeen-year-old daughter.”
“Nigga what?” Deuce and Shiro bark at the same time.
“Asali been cheating on Shuga?” Tre asks next.
“I know the fuck I didn’t hear yo’ ass right,” Ace booms.
Deuce places the bag of chips on the table and sits up. I swear they all sit up and glare at me. They are probably hoping my words might change but they won’t. I said what I said, Asali cheated on Shuga.
“It’s true and Shuga is fucking heartbroken. Like real shit devastated. I’ve never seen her like this. She couldn’t stop crying,” I say while shaking my head at the memory of her distraught.
Standing, Ace announces, “I’m going over there.”
“Don’t. She kicked me out because she doesn’t want to talk about it.”
“Where Asali at? He not at the house, is he?” Tre asks.
“No. He’s not there. I don’t know where he is and it needs to stay that way with how I feel ’cause I want to hurt him for fucking Shuga over like that.”
“Nah, I’m going to hurt him,” Shiro assures.
“Not if I find his ass first,” Tre adds.
“We got a fucking sister. This nigga been living a whole ass double life, cheating and shit on our Shuga. What the fuck!” Deuce says. “I woke up for this shit.”
“Who is the woman? Is she here in Diamond Falls? And what about the girl? Shit…We got a gotdamn sister,” Ace says.
“All that shit he preached to us about marrying the woman who needs you. A real man takes care of his wife and kids. Bullshit. All of it. Is the nigga even taking care of the girl?” Ace fires off my exact same thoughts and apparently Shiro’s too.