Chapter 13
CHRISTIAN
“First of all, y’all can kiss my ass! Just because I’m the mayor doesn’t mean I have to kiss y’all asses. I’m sick of this prejudiced bullshit. I see why Abney didn’t run again. He was sick of y’all asses too!” Uncle Storm said at the town meeting.
Every Henderson was on their feet clapping. We were definitely in the majority. Some of the older people were complaining about the Hendersons developing land for more housing. Apparently, Uncle Storm had had enough. He stood from his seat and yanked his tie off.
“Fuck this shit. I don’t need to be mayor to run this shit.”
My eyebrows shot up. That would make Uncle Marcus the mayor pro tem. He stood from his seat with a huge frown and did the same thing. When they left the meeting, all the Hendersons did as well. We were all standing outside in shock… or at least I was.
“Pull the Henderson resources from everything,” Uncle WJ said to Jakari. “We gon’ take care of our shit and our shit only.”
“What about the sewer and water treatment plant?” Aunt Jen asked.
“We have our own wells. That shit ain’t got nothing to do with us.” Uncle WJ turned to Uncle Storm. “I’m proud of you. You did your best. It’s hard to serve ungrateful, prejudiced ass folks. We’re all proud of you.”
Uncle WJ pulled Uncle Storm in an embrace and clapped his back. I could tell Uncle Storm was upset, but I also felt like he was hurt. Being mayor was something he took pride in.
“Don’t trip, Storm. Those muthafuckas need us. We don’t need them,” Aunt Tiff said.
“What really pissed me off is all the black folks sitting there, that we constantly advocate for, silent as fuck. They should have been the main ones standing on their feet, singing your praises,” Uncle Jasper said.
My grandfather was standing there, shaking his head. He looked angry as hell. Uncle Storm was his pride and joy. Parents often said they didn’t have a favorite child, but he spent more time with Uncle Storm than anyone else. From what our grandmother used to say, Uncle Storm was a lot like he was in his younger years.
“Let’s meet at the family barn,” Uncle WJ said.
As we all started loading up in our vehicles, a few of the people came out of the admin building, looking like they were disgusted with themselves. They fucked up this time. The Hendersons were done, and I didn’t think there was anything they could do about it at this point.
When I got in my truck to head to the family barn, my phone vibrated. I had it set on silent while we were in the meeting. Picking it up from the console, I saw a message from Mya. I took a deep breath and opened the message. Hi, Christian. Can you call me please?
I put the phone in my console. It had been almost two months since she was here and probably a month or more since we’d talked. When she sent that cashier’s check, I was done. I’d told her last time how I felt about that shit, and she did it again anyway. I supposed she thought since our relationship had changed, things were different.
I missed her, but I knew my increasing infatuation with her wasn’t healthy. It was bad enough I was still ducking and dodging Courtney’s ass. I was about to fill up at Uncle Kenny’s store and saw her and Jameka over there talking. I drove my ass all the way to Beaumont to get diesel. There was no way I was going to risk stopping and have to deal with her ass.
When I got to the barn, I decided to message Mya back. We’re about to have a family meeting. How late will you be awake?
Late. The call won’t take long unless you want it to.
I frowned slightly. What did she mean by that? My curiosity was getting the best of me, so I called. “Hello?”
She sounded like she was crying. That shit pulled at my heart immediately. If she was upset about our situation, there was nothing I could do about that. The ball was in her court until I started dating someone.
“Hey. We’ll be starting in a few minutes, but you piqued my curiosity. What’s up?”
“I’m pregnant. If you don’t want to be involved, that’s fine. I just wanted you to know. I had a doctor’s appointment last week, and I’m ten weeks. So I guess I got pregnant when I made my lil trip to Nome. I was going to say I was sorry, but I’m not the only one to blame. It was both our fault. You didn’t strap up, and I didn’t insist you did, like I didn’t learn a damn thing from the last time.”
I was completely quiet. That meeting didn’t seem as important anymore. “You’re pregnant?”
I was stunned as fuck. That was the last thing I expected her to say. I was pretty sure she still wouldn’t want a relationship. This wasn’t what I had in mind, but I knew this was my fault. I fucked up.
“Yeah.”
“Damn. Okay. I umm… Is it okay if I come out there Sunday? I have to work tomorrow and Saturday.”
“Yes.”
“Mya, don’t worry. I’m gonna be there for you and my baby.”
She broke down crying. She was obviously worried about that. I knew she was thinking about that fuck nigga before me, but had she given me a chance, she would have known just how different I was.
“Okay.”
“Can I call you when the meeting is over?”
“Yes.”
“Okay. I’ll call you back.”
I ended the call and got out of my truck, still in shock. I was so much in shock, I nearly walked right into Jacob. “Nigga, you wanna watch where you going? What’s wrong with you?”
“My bad.”
He frowned slightly, but he kept walking. I couldn’t bear to tell anyone just yet. If I told one, I may as well get on the stage, grab a mic, and tell them all at once. When I walked inside, Uncle WJ was heading to the front of the room. I took a seat in the back, and Pop sat next to me.
“Business good, son?”
“Yes, sir. You good?”
“Yep. I noticed you’ve been busy. If you ever need help, you know I’m here.”
“Yes, sir. I know.”
He patted my shoulder and gave his attention to Uncle WJ. My attention was way in Houston. Fuck Sunday. I needed to get to her tonight. I could head back early tomorrow morning to work. I needed to be with her and make sure she was okay. She was probably afraid. This baby definitely didn’t get stuck in her tubes though. She’d already had an appointment. I wished I could have been there with her. I wondered if she went alone.
“So no discounts for nobody if they ain’t family. My patience is non-existent. That goes for you too, Christian. I know you still give residents of Nome a fifteen percent discount. Kill that shit. They don’t want to show support for our family and for Storm, it’s fuck them. As much as we love Nome, they should be damn near worshipping our asses.”
Uncle WJ was heated as fuck. I nodded in agreement. Shit, I had Mya to take care of now. Family wouldn’t get a discount either, fucking around with me. Damn. I was about to be a father. Hopefully, Mya wouldn’t be too difficult of a co-parent. If she wanted the baby to stay here with me more often, I would be cool with that too.
I was beyond ready to be a dad. Watching Jakari handle the transition into fatherhood with ease, and then Rylan, only made my fever more intense. I fiddled with my phone while Uncle WJ talked, having a hard time keeping still. Glancing at the time, I noticed we’d only been sitting here fifteen minutes. It felt like an hour already.
“Thanks for having my back, y’all. I know I gave y’all a hard time about calling me mayor and shit,” Uncle Storm said, sounding the humblest I’d ever heard him sound.
“And you still my Uncle Mayor! The fuck you thought, Unc? Fuck those people. Don’t let those fuckers try to steal your thunder. You’re thee fucking Storm, baby!” Jess said.
She ran to him and hugged him tightly, causing everyone else to do the same. I stood and made my way to him. I slapped his hand. “I’m proud you didn’t really fuck that meeting up. I swear I always see Councilman Eric Mays when you’re in those meetings. I’ve always waited for you to say, Point of order, muthafuckas.”
He chuckled slightly then pulled Aunt Aspen close to him. “I wanted to burn that bitch down with them in it, but I was able to control myself.”
I chuckled and shook his hand again then headed to the door. When I saw Courtney’s ass standing there, I quickly detoured. There was a back door I could go through in the kitchen. I knew eventually I would have to talk to her, but tonight wasn’t the night. I needed to get to Mya so I could hold her in my arms and reassure her that things would be okay.
I snuck out the back door and made my way to my truck. Courtney had gone inside, so I quickly cranked up and pulled off the parking lot to head home. I needed to pack an overnight bag, and I didn’t have a second to waste on Courtney’s ass.
By the time I got home and got a small overnight bag packed, I got a text then my phone started ringing. I picked it up from the dresser to see it was from KJ. Courtney asking me to call you. Don’t answer.
I chuckled and slowly shook my head but answered anyway as I headed out of the door. I got in my truck and pulled out as she said, “Christian! Hey! I have been trying to get ahold of you for months.”
“My bad. What’s up? I been busy as fuck.”
“I just been wanting to see you. How you gon’ drop off some dick like that and disappear in the fucking wind?”
I chuckled again. She wanted more than that, and I knew if I agreed to see her, she would tell me. I would hate for her to get my ugly side. She had never met that version of me. It only got worse after that bullshit with Avery came out. I meant what I said, and I said what I meant. I hated repeating myself, which was why I had pushed Mya away. If I had to repeat myself, that meant I wasn’t taken seriously the first time I said it. In that case, why would I want to be involved with someone who didn’t take me seriously?
“My bad, Courtney. I have a lady now. I’m on my way to go see her now.”
“Well, shit. No wonder you don’t have time. Well, umm… you think you have some money I can borrow? I’ll pay you back next week when I get paid.”
“Naw. I don’t lend out money.”
“Not even to your family?”
“My family don’t need to borrow money. I don’t have friends that need to borrow money. Even if they did, I would refer them to a bank or Speedy Cash if they couldn’t go to a bank. I’m neither one of those places. I work too hard for my money to trust other people with it. So it doesn’t happen.”
She started whining, probably producing fake ass tears. She was barking up the wrong tree for that. Like Major Pain said, if she was looking for sympathy, she needed to look in the dictionary between shit and syphilis, because she surely wouldn’t find it this way.
“Fine, Christian. I thought we were better than that though.”
“Girl, I ain’t seen you in years, and the first time I do, we ended up fucking. How you thought we were better than that? I barely know you anymore. I surely don’t know the adult version of you, and you clearly don’t know the adult version of me, or you wouldn’t be asking me for money.”
It was silent for a couple of seconds, then KJ came on the line. “Damn. What’chu say to her?”
“That I wasn’t loaning her no money. She need to go to a bank or Speedy Cash. The fuck she think I am?”
He laughed. “Yo’ ass wild. She just gave me the phone and walked out. She don’t look good.”
“Yeah. I saw her before I left. She look like she done lost weight.”
“Yeah. She on that meth shit. Gotta be. I thought she worked.”
“Hell if I know. We didn’t get that far.”
I could imagine he was rolling his eyes. “Where you going anyway?”
“Houston.”
“Houston? I thought you were done with Mya when she left?”
“We’ll talk about that shit when I get back. Depending on how things go when I get there, I may be giving things another chance.”
“Aww shit. Just be cool, man. Don’t go there acting an ass.”
“I’m not. I’ll holla at you when I get back.”
“A’ight.”
I ended the call. I didn’t want to tell KJ shit until I talked to Mya. I knew he wouldn’t say anything, but I didn’t want to hear my brothers’ or parents’ mouths if they found out he knew before them. At first, I wanted to surprise Mya by just popping up, but I thought better of it. Just because she was pregnant didn’t mean she hadn’t been seeing anybody.
I’d dipped back to a random within those two months, so I knew it was possible for her to as well. I placed the call, and when she answered, I regretted it. She sounded like she had fallen asleep. “Hello?”
“Did I wake you up?”
“Yeah. It’s okay. I wasn’t expecting you to call back.”
I frowned slightly. “Why not?”
“The last time we talked, you said you would call back, and you didn’t. Actually, every time we’ve talked since my trip to Nome, you would say that. I figured it was just something you said to get off the phone.”
I felt like shit for a second, then I thought better of it. “You were trying to force a friendship I was no longer gung-ho about. You knew where I stood, but you were trying to make me change what I wanted, trying to make me see things your way. I wasn’t feeling that, Mya. So yeah, I was trying to get off the phone with you without being rude, although you were disregarding my desires like they weren’t important.”
She remained quiet for a moment. “I’m sorry, Christian. I guess I was being selfish. I was trying to hold on to you without giving you what you wanted. That wasn’t right.”
“I’m on my way over, Mya. If you got a nigga over there, tell him to leave before I get there.”
“Why are you coming to Houston?”
“I feel like you need me. I have to leave in the morning, but I can hear in your voice that you aren’t feeling the greatest. Plus, I’m feeling sensitive now too. I just wanna hold you.”
She broke down crying on the phone. I remained quiet, listening to her struggle to compose herself. When she finally did, she said, “No one’s here. Are you sure you wanna be here with me? I understand that you may not want to be close to me. You can still be a great father without being tender with me, Christian.”
I took a deep breath. This woman just didn’t get it. I wanted her. The reason we weren’t together was because of her… not me. My actions were a direct reaction to her actions. “Mya, I’ll be there in an hour.”
I ended the call. I didn’t have the energy to go back and forth with her over the phone. When I got there, I would break shit down to her for the final time. If she couldn’t grasp what I was saying and help me to understand why she was feeling the way she was, it would be the most awkward visit ever. I’d hold her like I planned, but it would be the most disconnected shit I’d ever done.