Make Me Forget (The Henderson Family Saga Book 22)

Prologue

PROLOGUE

KENDRALL

PART ONE…

I hated when I had to go inside the store to get a receipt at the gas station. It had already been a long day. I’d just gotten back to Beaumont from a competition and still had to drive home to Nome. I kept all my receipts for tax purposes. Being that I was self-employed, every little bit helped. Whatever I even thought I could file as a deduction, the receipt got saved. I was pretty sure this machine didn’t just run out of paper though. It had probably been out all day.

The line was long inside, and that shit only caused me to huff loudly. It was five o’clock in the evening, and there was only one cashier at the three-person register station. I slowly shook my head as I got in line. The man in front of me turned to look to see who had gotten in line behind him then nodded. I nodded back, and I supposed that gave him the gumption to think I wanted conversation.

“How you doing?”

“I’m good. Ready to get home.”

“Right. This shit is ridiculous.”

He said something else, but I’d tuned him out that quickly. My phone had chimed, alerting me of a text. I pulled it out of my pocket to see it was from my dad. How did everything go? I hate I had to miss today.

I smiled slightly. Kenny Henderson wasn’t just my father. That was my nigga. We were best friends, and it had been that way since I was a teenager. Despite his life’s challenges when I was young, he was always the person I looked up to. I didn’t have to find a celebrity to idolize when I had a father like Kendrall Henderson, Senior in my life. He took the time to impart his wisdom in my siblings and me every chance he got. Regardless of the fuck shit he endured and engaged in, he was the fucking standard for me.

It's okay. Your life don’t revolve around me. I know you support me 100%. I won first place. You know I don’t fuck around.

I chuckled after I sent it because he always called me cocky when it came to competing. The event I participated in, cutting, wasn’t an event at the regular rodeos and surely not the black ones. What I competed in was called the National Cutting Horse Association, NCHA. It was our own separate competition that operated like a rodeo of sorts, except that was the only event. I’d made a good living out of it, but truth be told, I was getting tired of it.

I was on the road a lot, and I felt like that had been the reason why I hadn’t been able to settle down. I didn’t want to have a woman that I couldn’t spend time with. The pickings weren’t slim by any means. I got my fair share of pussy, maybe more than my fair share, but lately, I wasn’t really feeling that shit. My cousin Christian and I were both interested in settling down, especially after his younger brother, Rylan, got married.

My phone chimed, alerting me of Dad’s response. Congratulations! Cocky ass nigga.

I chuckled, but that shit was cut short when I heard, “Kendrall?”

I frowned slightly as I turned around to see who was speaking to me. The family mostly called me KJ. I didn’t have a problem with the nickname, but I preferred Kendrall. One thing I surely didn’t want to be called was Lil Kenny. Even as a kid, my mama had called me that once, and I had a whole temper tantrum about that shit. She had to get my dad to calm me down and talk to me about it.

I saw a beautiful woman standing there with a huge smile on her face. She was thick as all outdoors, and my dick literally stood at attention at the sight of her, like he knew her. I quickly scanned her from head to toe and back up, and said, “What’s up?”

Her eyebrows lifted, and she shifted the weight of her thick ass hips to one side. “What’s up? After all these years, that’s all you gon’ say to me? KJ, you don’t remember me?”

I frowned slightly while my head fell slightly to the side as I stared at her, trying to catch a clue. I examined everything about her beautiful face, from her perfectly arched eyebrows to her rounded chin. When she frowned, that shit fell on me like a ton of bricks. “Cassie?”

“Well, damn. I don’t know if I should be happy you figured it out or offended that it took you so long.”

“Shit! Get yo’ ass over here.”

I hugged her tightly, and I swore I felt a slight tremble go through her. She backed away slightly, but I didn’t let her go. “Damn, baby girl. You look good as fuck.”

She cleared her throat as her face reddened. “Thank you. So do you, Kendrall.”

I smiled slightly as I just stared at her. Fuck that receipt. I stepped out of line and grabbed her hand. Cassie was far from being the tomboy she was when we were kids. She always wore baggy pants and T-shirts, kept her hair in braids or a ponytail, and never even considered wearing makeup. She kept a pair of fresh Js on her feet, wore glasses, and had braces.

“My bad, Cassie. I didn’t recognize you. It’s been almost twenty years, girl. I could never forget you though. We were close as hell back in the day.”

She slid her hand from mine as she slightly looked away. I swore she was still feeling me by the way she kept blushing. “Yeah, I’m far from the ‘homeboy that was a girl’ that I was back then too.”

She giggled as I scanned her body again. “Shol in the hell is.”

As my eyes traveled over her body, I couldn’t help but see the ring on her finger. She was married. Fuck. When my eyes reached hers again, I asked, “So how’s life treating you? Where you been?”

“Well, after I graduated from high school, I left for college. I went to Syracuse.”

“Damn! You went all the way to New York?”

“Yeah. They offered me a full scholarship. I just wanted to get away from home too. I needed to somewhat reinvent myself. I needed to start over with new people who I could form a new first impression with. I didn’t really have friends out here. I mean… you know that.”

She looked away as a pain hit me in the chest. “What’chu mean, Cassie? We were friends. You just stopped coming around and stopped taking my calls.”

She glanced at me and only said, “Yeah.”

I caught the hint. She didn’t want to get into all that. “Well, when did you get back?”

“I came back about ten years ago after I got my master’s degree.”

“What did you major in?”

“Elementary education. I’m a professor at Lamar now, teaching an elementary art class. It teaches students how to create lesson plans for elementary students regarding art projects. I’m also taking classes there to receive my doctorate degree.”

“Damn, that’s cool. So I guess you followed in Missus Kendall’s footsteps, huh?”

“Yeah. You know how much I look up to her. That’s my mama.”

Kendall was Cassie’s stepmom, but she started out as her third-grade teacher. She stepped in, treating Cassie like a mother would from jump. I nodded then glanced at her ring all over again. Bringing my eyes back to hers, I asked, “Are you married?”

She glanced at her ring also then looked up at me and smiled. “No. I’m engaged though. We got engaged about three months ago, but no real plans have been made. He wants to finish school first. He’s getting his doctorate in psychology.”

I nodded again. I didn’t give a fuck about her nigga. Her confirming her serious involvement with someone pretty much shattered my hopes for us. That was what I got for waiting.

“So are you still cutting? What do you do?”

“That’s what I do for a living. I just left a competition.”

“Oh wow! That’s great. You loved doing that. How did you do?”

“I won first place.”

“Daaamn. I’m sure that was a pretty big prize.”

“Yeah. Seventy-five grand.”

We used to talk about the prize money involved in cutting and other rodeo events when we were younger, and I had expressed that I wanted to do it professionally. Her eyes widened significantly. “I’m proud of you! I knew you would be great at whatever you decided to do. I see you still have all this hair. It looks really nice on you. I umm…”

She turned away slightly and cleared her throat then looked back at me. “I would love to rekindle our friendship. It seems I’ve missed a lot. We can catch up by phone.”

I stared at her as I handed her my phone. I couldn’t take my eyes off her to even save her number in my phone. She looked at it then back up at me. “It’s locked. What’s the code?”

“The code is still the same, Cassie. You remember it?”

She looked to have stopped breathing for a moment. The undeniable chemistry between us was still ever present, and I didn’t know what to make of that, being that she was engaged. She smiled slightly then unlocked my phone just as a text came through.

“Your dad wants to know where you are.”

“I’ll call him on my way home.”

I licked my lips as I watched her save her information in my phone then call herself. When she was done, she handed me the phone back. “We should go out and celebrate your win. The whole crew. How is everybody?”

“They’re good. Rylan is married and expecting his first kid.”

“Wow. I can believe that though. I saw that in him. You and Christian, not so much.”

I chuckled. “I wish I knew then what I know now.”

She stared at me as I stared at her, seeming to stare into my soul and completely suck me in. Cassie could have whatever she wanted, even with a fiancé. That nigga wasn’t my business. If she didn’t give a fuck, neither did I. Doing as I hoped she would, she asked, “And what’s that?”

“The shit that was important and what really mattered in life. If I did…”

I looked away for a second, leaving the shit just like that for her to put together. When her hand graced my cheek, I almost yanked her ass to me. Gently pulling my face back to face her, she said, “If you did, what? I don’t like to assume, Kendrall.”

I licked my lips and watched her follow that shit back in my mouth like she was trying to remember what it felt like. No one knew about that kiss but the two of us. It was somewhat heated and not long after was when she shot her shot, and I friend zoned her.

“You would be mine, Cassie. I was stupid.”

“We were kids, Kendrall. We’ve both matured and moved on, no matter how difficult that was for me.”

She lowered her head, and it was my turn to make her face me. “I’m sorry. I was feeling you back then but didn’t want my cousins talking about me.”

“Because I was a tomboy with braces and glasses, looking like Monica from Love and Basketball .”

She smiled, and it caused me to do so as well. “Yeah,” I said, slowly shaking my head.

“Well, it’s in the past. Despite that, we did have a really good friendship. I recall you taking up for me a couple of times when I was the brunt of Christian’s jokes.”

“We did. I really hope we can rekindle that, for real. I missed you, Cassie.”

I grabbed her hand and held it while stroking the top of it with my thumb. Stepping closer to me, she hugged me again. I lowered my head to her ear, and I couldn’t help but close my eyes and kiss it. I wanted her so fucking bad. She pulled away and her skin was red again. Mine probably was too, because I was hot as hell.

“Talk to you soon,” she said.

I nodded and watched her walk away, wishing I would have just been open with her. I should’ve summoned my inner Storm and told her I didn’t give a fuck about her man and that I was who she should be with. It took a lot for that side of me to come out though. I was more like my dad when it came to the ladies. I was quiet and gentle. Cassie could fuck me over, and I would probably let her, as long as she didn’t threaten my physical safety.

Cassie was a sweet girl, but I sure in the hell was looking forward to learning who she was as a woman. I watched her get in her G-Wagon and leave, then watched the cashier run from the register. Oh shit! Cassie didn’t pay for her gas. When she came back in, I said, “I got it, but I need a receipt, too, for another pump.”

She breathed out a sigh of relief. I smiled slightly, because that was proof she was just as flustered as I was. She settled for that nigga she was engaged to. I was gon’ force her to see that shit too.