Chapter 2
October Rasaun Patterson
“What’s so important that I had to drop everything and come over here, Polo?
” I asked my dad as I cut into the pork chop that he had placed on my plate.
It was smothered in gravy, and he had made mashed potatoes, green beans, and cornbread to go with it.
I wasn’t sure what he was up to, but knowing my dad, it was something.
He could cook very well, but he seldom did, unless he wanted something.
“That’s what I want to know,” my sister, Kember, declared, walking into the kitchen.
“Hey, Sis. What’s going on?”
“I don’t know. Daddy called me to come over, and he said that it was important.”
“Told me the same thing.”
“Girl, go wash your hands and fix your plate.” Polo fussed.
“Daddy, how do you know I haven’t already eaten?” she asked.
“She didn’t eat, Pops,” my ten-year-old niece, Emerald, declared as she came in the house shortly after her mother. Her eyes were glued to the tablet in her hand, but somehow, she managed to avoid bumping against anything.
“Girl, wash your hands and hush your mouth,” Kember stated, snatching the tablet from my niece’s hands.
“Moooommy. You didn’t eat because you said Pops would be cooking. So, why did I get my tablet taken?” Emerald whined.
“Girl, what did I tell you? Go wash your hands so you can eat.”
I watched as my niece marched out of the kitchen to do what her mother said, while my sister headed for the sink and washed her hands. “I swear she’s getting hardheaded more and more every day,” Kember complained.
“Hmm, . . . wonder where she gets that from,” I mumbled as I bit another piece of my pork chop.
“Don’t you start on me too.”
“Neither one of you had better start. I’ve got some things to discuss, and I don’t want to hear y’all whining.”
Kember glanced over her shoulder at me before she snatched two paper towels off the roll. “Well, Daddy, if it was that urgent, why couldn’t you just tell us over the phone?” she asked, as she prepared a plate for her daughter.
“Because that way y’all can hang up on me. I know this way you gon’ have to sit and listen.”
I slowly lowered my pork chop as my stomach turned. I wasn’t sure that I wanted to hear what the topic of this conversation was.
“Pops, did you make your good honey cornbread?” Emerald asked, blazing back into the kitchen and accepting the plate that her mother handed her.
“I did, baby. I knew that you were coming, and I made it specifically for you,” Polo lied.
I rolled my eyes, and Kember shook her head as she fixed herself a plate. This nigga fixed and ate that honey cornbread at least four days of the week.
Emerald sat down at the table beside me.
“Pops makes the best cornbread, Uncle October.”
“Don’t I know it, baby,” I replied, kissing her forehead. I loved my niece to pieces. She had become my everything. I had only wished that I could have been here for her when she was born. She and her mother had a tumultuous start, but they had come through it all.
Kember sat down at the table with her plate, and Polo sat on the other side of her.
“All right. We’re a family, and we’ve always been a family. I instilled in y’all from an early age to always put family first because that was your mama’s priority. Sometimes, family is all you got, and we can’t let each other down.”
“Polo, you ain’t ’bout to kick the bucket on us, are you?” I asked.
“Make sure that you give me my fair share in the will if you are. I’ve worked very hard for you throughout the years, keeping your affairs in order,” Kember teased, making me smirk.
“I know you have, baby, and I’ll be sure to look out for all of y’all, but y’all niggas ain’t getting rid of me that easily,” Polo declared, causing us to laugh.
My father had been a big-time dope dealer and gun runner through the years.
I had been involved in the drug business with him from the time I was fifteen until I hit thirty.
I had spent some time in prison unrelated to that, but when I got out, I hit the streets again.
Unfortunately, I also had to get a legitimate job to stay out of jail, but it didn’t put paper in my pocket, so I kept hustling on the side until I started my car shop.
After that, I went completely legitimate.
But I had to thank Polo for giving me a shot at doing what I did.
If it hadn’t been for his dope and gun business, I wouldn’t have stood a chance.
Those were businesses that had started long before we were born, and it was something that continued long after we were born. However, he did have a few legitimate businesses, like some dry cleaners, mortuaries, and restaurants, and it was those businesses that my sister referenced.
“Then what’s going on, Polo?” I asked, knowing that it was something serious, and I wanted to get to the heart of the matter.
I didn’t believe in wasting time but getting straight to the point on some things.
I needed to get back to my auto shop and finish some exhaust work that I had started yesterday afternoon.
“I got news today that I thought you all needed to be privy to.”
“What’s that, Daddy?” Kember asked.
Polo pushed his plate away.
“Kevin and TJ are moving back to town.”
I stood, grabbed my plate, and dumped it.
“Okay, well, what do we uhm . . . how can we navigate this?” Kember asked.
“That’s a question that October needs to answer, darling.”
I set my plate in the sink. “That ain’t got shit to do with me.”
I grabbed my keys and phone off the counter, stormed out the back door, and hopped in my Porsche to clear my head.
“Hey, neighbor. Are you good?”
I looked over the wall and spotted Autumn waving her soda can at me.
“Yeah. Just got a lot on my mind, is all.”
She nodded. “Trust me, I know the feeling.”
“I should be asking are you good. The way you came home a couple of weekends ago, you had me worried.” I changed the subject because the last thing I wanted to think about was Kevin.
“I was heartbroken.”
“What happened? If you don’t mind me asking. I know sometimes girls don’t like talking about their shit, especially with other niggas.”
Sighing, she replied, “I don’t mind. I had just broken up with my boyfriend.”
“Damn. I would say I’m sorry, but I can’t. Whatever he did to break your heart, his ass deserved to get left behind. Too bad for him, though, because you’re a baddie, ma. He should’ve kept you under lock and key. All these niggas gon’ be chasing you down now.”
She smiled shyly, and her ginger-colored skin blushed a deep shade of red. “I doubt that.”
“Why?”
“Have you seen me?” She scoffed.
I frowned. “Autumn, hell yeah, I’ve seen you. You’re beautiful, you have that bright smile that lights up people’s world, and you’re kind and thoughtful toward your neighbors and the community. I’ve seen you out on multiple occasions volunteering at the events we have around here.”
“And I’m obese.”
“The fuck? What does that have to do with anything? Everyone wasn’t made to be in a size six, big baby. Hell, it’s niggas out here like me who love a BBW.”
She giggled, and her face turned red.
“You think I’m playing, and I’m dead-ass, ma.
I don’t bring chicks back to my place, but if you truly knew me, you’d know that I don’t fuck around with skinny bitches.
I love my woman to have meat on her bones and to be able to throw it back when I need her to.
When I get in it, I got plans on breaking ya back, so you better have something that can work with that. ”
Autumn laughed again, and I couldn’t help but think about how her smile truly did light up my day. She had an infectious smile, and case in point, she had my ass smiling at the moment.
“I often get people telling me that I’m beautiful, but those comments are usually accompanied by, if you lost a few pounds. I hate that shit. I mean, I am who I am, and why can’t I be accepted as such?” she expressed as she toggled the tab on her soda can back and forth.
“If they can’t accept you the way you are, then they don’t need to be around you. That’s all I’m gon’ say on that.”
Autumn was a beautiful woman. She was roughly five-four with long, wavy hair that stopped just above her ass.
She had an oval-shaped face with a round button nose, chestnut-brown doe-shaped eyes, deeply arched, thick eyebrows, and plump, heart-shaped lips that I could get lost sucking on, or lost in them sucking me.
My dick jerked at the thought of that. She might have thought she was too big for some men, but she was the perfect size for me. I wasn’t a small man. I could handle a big thick-ems. Shit, I loved bouncing a woman around, and if she were too tiny, she couldn’t handle my shit.
“I know, but it wouldn’t be so bad if I could lose a little bit. As it stands, I might be gaining more.”
“Shiiid. I love a big woman, and I truly feel like the bigger the better. Don’t get me wrong, I love a big ass. But let me get lost in a cloud of big titties and a big belly, and a nigga is deep in love.”
She laughed so hard and replied, “You’re so corny, October.”
“I ain’t lying ’bout that belly, ma. I’ll play with that belly all day. I’ll rub that belly, wrap that belly around this dick, and nut on that belly all day. My shit is getting hard just thinking about it.”
She spit out the soda that she had been sipping and laughed so hard that I couldn’t help but laugh with her.
“You’re gorgeous and fine to me, ma. And a nigga wouldn’t be mad at having you on his team.”
“Well, I wish I had met you before my ex just broke my heart.”
“Maybe our someday will come,” I declared with a wink at her.
“Or maybe not.”
When she looked down sadly, I lifted her chin. “Why not?”
“I’ve got to straighten some things out. I just learned that I was pregnant.”
I cheesed and replied, “Congratulations.”
“Yeah. Thanks.”
“Hey, if that nigga won’t act right, tell that baby in ya belly to watch out. He or she has a stepdaddy on the way.”
She laughed so hard again, but I was dead ass serious. I loved her energy, and I loved being in her presence. Just that quickly, I had forgotten all about my problems, being around her.