Chapter 16
A blade.
A dollar bill.
A single baggie of coke.
Relic had been so preoccupied with life that he hadn’t stared at those three items in a while, but they were back in their rightful place because it’d been close to a month since he’d seen his biggest distraction. Money was flowing, business was booming since the weather was breaking, and his name had regained its power after the rumors began circulating about Slim’s death. Still, he taunted himself with those vices because that big fucking distraction clouded his mind and weakened his mental. Relic couldn’t control those incessant thoughts of her like he could his urges for a sniff of coke that’d take him on a blissful high, or his glass of liquor that he hadn’t passed his cap on since fucking her on his boat.
Kennedy was a distraction he craved and a poisonous drug that he yearned to hit again. What Relic desired more than her—and all of the above—was to finish executing the meticulous plan he’d started. If not, everything he’d done since the day he’d locked in with Kennedy was in vain.
“Relic, it’s time to go! What are you doing?” His sluggish eyes flicked toward his bedroom door when the knob jiggled before Jahleel’s voice broke through it. “And why is the door locked? We don’t do shut doors around here.”
A small smile found its way onto his face at that as he stood, retrieving the vices he’d never resort to before tossing them back inside his table drawer that he locked up because Jahleel had no sense of personal or parental space. Relic was growing used to it. After grabbing his football jersey with Jahleel’s number on it from his bed, he slipped it on, swiped up his phone to drop in his pocket, and then opened his door to see his twin standing there with folded arms and thick brows furrowed in irritation.
“I was getting dressed,” Relic fibbed, making his son’s head tip with his lips thinned into a line.
“You’re lying, but we’ll talk about that later. We gotta go before I’m late, and granny said that the team is already there. I told you that we practice a little before the game, and I’m going to miss it.”
“Those few minutes of practice ain’t shit. You don’t need it when you’re the best thing on that field.”
Relic patted Jahleel’s shoulder pads and then took his gym bag and helmet to carry as they headed downstairs. He tried not to laugh when Jahleel darted down the steps like he was being chased before glaring back, urging him to hurry the hell up.
“They’re on our time, Jah. Not the other way around. We don’t rush, they wait.”
“That’s for when you pay them like the people at your jobs who gotta do what you say ‘cause you’re the boss. This is free.”
Relic stalled on the bottom step. “Who the fuck said this was free? All the money I dished out for your uniforms, cleats, and just to join the damn team. Also, remember that your old man is the boss in every capacity. Not just with my businesses.”
“So, I’m like a junior boss,” Jahleel deduced with a grin.
“A boss in training, but you’ll run shit on the football field, right?”
“Yep! Watch, I’m going to get picked up by a D1 school, and they’ll pay for it, so you don’t have to. Then, I’ll get drafted by one of the best football teams. Uncle Shabu been telling me about it. He said we need to work on a game plan early, so I can break our family curses. I asked if he was talking about your eyes, but he said no. How many curses we got?”
“None that you need to worry about,” Relic replied, opening the front door to let him out. He locked it behind them while explaining, “That’s why I work like I do, Jah. To set you up nice, so you won’t want for shit or do shit that’ll land you in jail or killed. You won’t ever know poverty as long as you got me or your uncles.”
“Oh, that’s the curse? Going to jail or dying? My friend on the team daddy just went to jail for having a gun, and my other friend brother just died because the police shot him for no reason when he was riding in the car with his friends.”
Relic hummed and opened the passenger door of his point A to B car instead of informing Jahleel that his friend’s father was probably holding a dirty gun with bodies that he’d taken on it. His friend’s brother was a casualty of wrong place, wrong time or running with niggas who’d done dirt around him when he should’ve been wise enough to take his ass home. He wouldn’t tell Jahleel that either, but he made a mental note to talk to him about the company that he kept.
“You got a lot of guns. Will you get in trouble?” Jahleel buckled up and angled in his seat, waiting for his dad to answer as he climbed into the car. Relic mulled over the best response as he drove off.
“It depends. The gun I carry with me is clean, which means it’s registered so the police can look it up. Some aren’t, but I’m not dumb enough to carry them around like most niggas who think guns are for show. They like the attention or to seem tough just because they can pull a trigger. Most of them don’t have heart.”
“Ohhh! I heard Uncle Shabu say Uncle Titan got more heart than most N-words ‘cause he’ll fight anybody.”
A boastful smile spread on Relic’s face before he replied, “We taught him early to protect himself with his hands, but he still has to be careful. Most men don’t like to lose, so that can end bad.”
“You don’t like to lose. I heard you tell P that before.”
“You’re one nosey ass lil’ boy. That’s why you and P get along well,” he joked, making Jahleel erupt into laughter that melted his fucking heart. “But you’re right, I don’t like to lose. That’s why I carry a gun.”
Relic doubted he should’ve divulged that information to a child, but he’d rather his son knowledgeable than green. He could school Jahleel and save him from having to experience certain situations firsthand. At some point, he’d also teach him that winning wasn’t everything. Winning didn’t solve his issues with Kennedy because it meant she was around but as distant as she’d ever been. It was the first time that Relic wished he’d taken a loss. He wasn’t at a place to accept that frustrating truth, so he continued trying to convince himself that his win was worth losing the queen on his board and fucking up his game plan.
“Did you shoot the guys that killed my momma? Relic!”
Jahleel hollered and braced a hand on the dashboard when Relic hit the brakes, causing his body to jerk forward before they screeched to a stop in the middle of the road. Cars honked and swerved around them, but Relic didn’t pull off as he turned to face Jahleel. His lids blinked in a rapid motion, wrestling with the skeleton of Jessica’s death to keep it in the furthest corner of his mental closet because if it ever came out, Jahleel would see him as the true villain he’d become over the years.
“Some stuff, you don’t ask, Jah. Think before you speak because one wrong word or insinuation could take me away from you. Konprann?”
“Yes, sir.”
Relic removed his foot from the brake and eased back into the flow of traffic while subtly confessing, “If I was the kind of man who’d do that... the kind who’d take a life for a life, then yes, I would’ve had them put in the dirt.”
His eyes cut toward Jahleel, who pulled out his phone like he hadn’t processed the hint. Seconds passed before Relic was proven wrong.
“Heard,” Jahleel mumbled, stealing his lingo.
Relic wasn’t sure whether worry that his son had picked up on his unscrupulous acts, or pride that Jahleel wasn’t as naive as he believed, coursed through him more. He disregarded both after deciding Jahleel having balance was a good thing.
Neither of them spoke on the duration of their drive, and he was fine with that. Relic hadn’t quite figured out how to converse with Jahleel like a true father yet, so he welcomed the silence. Conversations could go left, and his worst fear was saying the wrong thing that’d sever their relationship like their argument about Judith almost had. He frowned at the nerve grating fact; having a child unlocked a fear every day when he had none before finding out about his son.
Jahleel’s eyes were glued to his phone until Relic pulled up at the field where his game was taking place. Relic scratched at his chin stubble to hide his smile while Jahleel squinted, leaning forward to see through the crowd before gasping as he fisted a hand at his mouth like his uncle Shabu and cousin Pierre always did.
“The whole family is out here, and they brought the food truck!”
“Yea. I figured since you thought your uncles were so cool for bringing cheap ass snacks the last two games, I’d show them up,” Relic replied as he parked behind a row of cars on the grass. “Plus, I had to make it up to you for missing them.”
Jahleel beamed. “Yea, you did, and this is a good apology. Is grann here?”
“She’s manning the truck. Speak and go straight over to your team!” he shouted when Jahleel grabbed his things and hopped out the car, racing off before he could even finish his sentence.
Relic huffed a breath and rolled his neck in agitation before climbing out of the car as he slid on his shades. The relationship Jahleel had built with Judith vexed him, but she’d been right about one thing—hating her wasn’t worth losing his son over.
His eyes swept the field while his hand wandered to his hip, tapping his gun to ensure it was in place before he strolled toward his brothers, who were kicking it near the truck. He caught sight of Drish in his peripheral, sporting a black shirt with red flames and Blaise’n Security emblazoned in white across it. Kennedy had come up with the design and emailed it for him to sign off on, but Relic rejected it out of spite. A part of him had hoped she’d call to fuss, but she just ordered them without consent on his credit card that he hadn’t taken and she hadn’t offered to return.
She’d also hired three additional guards, and a receptionist for his studio before opening the empty room to booth rentals in hopes of scouting future talent. Relic had realized with or without him; big dog Kennedy was on her shit, the same as before he’d weaseled into her world. He, begrudgingly, respected the fact that losing access to him hadn’t stopped her hustle.
“Look at this nigga! How you have my nephew late to his game, folks?” Shabu badgered him as soon as he neared the truck.
His lips cocked to one side as he slapped hands with his brother and then Titan before giving Savvy a one-armed hug that made Indigo cheese as he stretched out both arms and flung his little body toward him. Relic debated before taking him from Savvy to prop on his waist.
“I got the nigga here, didn’t I? He wasn’t that late if he had time to stop over here before taking his ass to the field,” Relic replied to his brother while bouncing Indigo, who giggled and stared at him with blue eyes that carried more light than his ever did.
“Facts. Manman sent him off as soon as he came over. They’re about to start, and she wants to watch, so she’s switching out with Toot and Tima once they get here. They should be pulling up soon.”
Creases lined Relic’s forehead as he counted the ten heads in line before glancing at his mother, hanging half her body out the truck to point at the menu while explaining what certain foods were to her customers.
“She’s up there by herself?”
“Nah. Aunt Esther and Unk are up there. I tried to help her, but she talking ‘bout I’ll get in her way. Same shit she does at the restaurant. Just fucking took over my shit.”
“My shit,” Relic corrected.
“Fuck out of here! When is the last time you were there?”
“When I got into it with her ass, and Jah ain’t talk to me for weeks behind that bullshit. Nigga act like he ain’t already have a grandma before he met her.”
Shabu chuckled, slapping a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “I bet that shit burns yo britches, don’t it?”
“You damn right! I’m letting it be what it is, though, because I’m already the bad guy every day of my life to everyone else. I can’t afford to be that in my son’s eyes too.”
“You won’t. I told you, you’re doing a good ass job as far as I can tell. Parenting ain’t no easy responsibility, bro. Shit, you got lucky by missing the worst years.”
“Hell, nah. I heard teenagers are the worst,” Titan chimed in before biting into a patty. He finished chewing before clowning, “Relic gon’ be bald in a few years because watch Jah takes his ass through hell. They say you get what you give tenfold.”
“I’ll send that nigga to live with his momma before I put up with him testing me like that.”
Savvy gawked. “Did you just threaten to unalive my nephew?!”
“That joke was a little too dark, huh? Let me not put that in the air. Order me a patty from the truck, so I can go watch his game, favorite sister-in-law.”
“Don’t try to butter me up! I’m your only sister-in-law, and nope. Get it yourself because I know you’re just trying to avoid Ms. Judith. Besides, I see someone in line you might want to talk to... or stand behind like a creep and not say anything to. Whichever you’re in the mood to do.”
Relic tensed at her vague description because it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out who she was referring to. He tried to appear disinterested—tickling Indigo after his little ass tried to snatch off his shades—but his head rotated toward the truck’s line as if he couldn’t help but steal a peek.
His molars grated and jaw ticked the moment he spotted Kennedy at the end of the line in the exact jersey his folks were wearing to represent Jahleel and an oversized pair of shades concealing her eyes. A laptop bag hung from her shoulder. She eased up in line, pinching at the white long sleeve shirt underneath her jersey like she was unnerved by having so many scrutinous eyes around her. Relic tossed his head because Kennedy was confident in everything but her skin in public places. In the bedroom; she’d fucked him like those burns didn’t exist.
“She came to his last two games, too,” Shabu informed him, taking Indigo as his head bobbed in silent approval. “They talk a lot, and Jah likes her. Me, Whoop, and bro ‘bout to grab Navy and Michi from the swings while you holler at your girl. Chin up, chest out, and stop acting like a pussy about it.”
Relic didn’t tear his eyes away from Kennedy as he reminded his brother, “What happened to you saying I need to cut her off before shit gets sticky?”
“What happened to finding that loophole, so you can get your way and your bitch?”
Relic brushed a hand down his waves at the reminder, glancing at his brother who wore a drawling smirk as he bopped off. His folks followed, leaving Relic to stew in his indecisiveness.
He didn’t have to debate much before his feet grew a mind of their own and led him to the line behind Kennedy. Her face was stuffed in her phone, but he knew it was a defensive tactic to avoid potential conversations with strangers. When he stepped too close, she whipped her head around with her pretty face screwed up, ready to attack. It fell flat and then went void after she registered that it was him.
“Big dog, Kennedy. Long time, no see.”
“I wish it were longer.” She pivoted on her heels to face forward, and he spit out a laugh.
He couldn’t take her slick ass comment to heart when she was rocking his son’s jersey and smelling like the best problematic pussy that he’d ever dived in. Relic bent downward, sniffing her neck as she went rigid and inhaled a shaky breath.
“You’re mad at a nigga, but you want to be like me so bad. How’d you find my cologne?”
That got her to turn around again before she crossed her arms and planted her weight on one hip, sending his eyes to her jean-stretching thighs. They darted up to her face when she snapped her fingers to gain his attention.
“Focus, Relic.”
“I’m more focused right now than I’ve been in the past month. Which one are you wearing?”
“Queening, and the fucking irony of the cologne you wear being called Mind Games and based off chess names is insane.”
“I find it fitting.”
“I bet you do,” she muttered, moving up in line as more customers filed behind them. “Because everything is a game to you. Strategic and logical. Relic is all plans and schemes with no room left for anything else, especially emotions like a regular human. He can never make a move without having to overthink it first.”
“I miss you, Larenn,” he blurted, making her stomach somersault while her sexy mouth gaped in sheer disbelief. His mind went straight to putting his dick in it, but it wasn’t the time to make that request. “Is that unplanned and illogical enough for you?”
She tucked her glossed lips and nodded before spinning to face the food truck since she was up next. Kennedy expelled a heavy breath, refusing to let him easily tear down the walls that she’d rebuilt in the past month.
“Girl, you’re going to turn into a damn patty if you get one more,” Judith teased, greeting her with a light smirk once she reached the window. “That’s what you want, right?”
“Yes, ma’am, and can I get the sauce with it you gave me last time?”
“Of course.”
“Do four,” Relic spoke up, digging in his pocket for some cash.
He tossed a fifty ball on the serving counter and then placed a hand at the small of Kennedy’s back. Her lip curled before she picked up the money, handing it to Judith who flicked her eyes between the two with a subtle frown.
“So, you and Relic know one another?”
“Me and who?” Kennedy feigned clueless and slapped down his hand. “Never heard of him before.”
“Funny. I bet you know the name on that damn card you keep swiping,” Relic retorted, and she cracked a smile.
“Sure do. Can I add a bottle of water to that, and you can keep the change.”
Judith stuffed the bill into her apron. “Honey, I planned to, but thanks for the confirmation.”