Chapter 11
CHAPTER 11
KENDRALL
“ W ho was that?”
“Jameka crackhead ass mama,” Jacob said.
“I know you fucking lying. No wonder she was looking at y’all like that. Does she know y’all are behind why she’s there?”
“I don’t think so. She just knows whatever lies Jameka feeding her. Plus, she ain’t a big fan of the Hendersons after her daughter got that beatdown from Jess.”
“This may not work. You don’t think Jameka will come even stronger?”
“She can, but her brother will be next on the hit list.”
I slowly shook my head as I watched Cassie hug her dad. “You and your uncle a trip. I swear he should have been your daddy. Y’all are almost just alike as far as your temper and petty goes.”
Jacob chuckled. Uncle Storm was a mess, and Jacob was too. I continued. “I just want to know how he got evidence of her in those activities.”
“That nigga had pictures of her flaunting the shit she stole. One of the phones she stole, she tried to sell it to him for Remy.”
I laughed. “She fucked with the wrong one for sure. She probably knows it was him then. Well, let me go be with my baby. She a real muthafucking OG. Took that charge like it was nothing. Her looking out for you making me wanna lock her down right now.”
“Yeah. I was expecting to be arrested. I never expected her to take it. Mrs. Taylor didn’t lie, but she definitely created room for doubt.”
I nodded. “Mm hmm. I’ll hit y’all up later, man.”
“A’ight.”
I slapped his hand and made my way to Cassie. When she turned to me, she had tears in her eyes. I frowned slightly. I must have missed something while I was talking to Jacob. “Baby, what’s wrong? What happened?”
She handed me her phone, and I saw the email from her boss. They were terminating her contract. I hated that for her. “I lost my job. I loved that job.”
I wiped her tears away as her mama grabbed her hand and caressed it. “You don’t have a felony charge, baby. Once he clears it, you can get another job, which brings me to my next question. Do you have evidence?”
“Yeah. We had cameras in the house. Hopefully, he didn’t fuck with the footage. He probably doesn’t even remember they were there. I didn’t remember until the judge asked for proof to confirm my story.”
“Well, you know I got’chu. You don’t have a thing to worry about. Okay? I want you to permanently stay with me. I know you said it was temporary until you found something else, but I want you with me, in case you haven’t noticed.”
“I noticed. I didn’t want to assume though. I’ll stay. I wanted to stay from the day I stepped foot in your house.”
“Our house.”
She blushed then hugged her mama, who was patiently waiting, and she hugged two other women who were there and a man. I had to assume one of them was Mrs. Kendall’s sister, because they looked alike. The other was with the man that somewhat resembled Mr. Price. I was grateful for how they supported her. She told me a long time ago that after her accident, she was everybody’s baby and their inspiration as well.
Uncle Storm walked over to me and said, “I like her already. For her to take that charge for Jacob speaks volumes. Imagine the lengths she would go for you.”
I nodded slowly. “Absolutely. Thanks, Unc.”
“Mm hmm.”
When Cassie came back to us, she said, “My parents want to take everybody to Longhorn Steakhouse. I hope y’all have time.”
“We got time for you, OG,” Uncle Storm said. “I’ma start calling you Martha.”
I frowned and Cassie did as well. He continued by saying, “I’ll be Snoop.”
Cassie fell out laughing as I rolled my eyes. “So we gon’ start a TV show, Snoop?”
“Hell yeah. Let me start drawing up the plans.”
She hugged him tightly, and that nigga had the nerve to blush. I slowly shook my head. It was weird how Uncle Storm bonded with all his nephews’ wives. Wives. Yeah, Cassie was the one, for real. I would have to solidify her place in my life sooner rather than later.
“I still can’t believe you’re leaving,” I said to Karima.
“Me either.”
She sighed as we sat on the floor in her front room, wrapping dishes in newspaper and bubble wrap. I wanted to spend as much time as possible with her, so while Cassie was attending her graduate classes, I stayed under Karima. She couldn’t move without me. She didn’t seem to mind, though.
We celebrated Cassie’s victory over the weekend. When we left dinner with her family, we went to her house and recovered the footage. She decided to go to the bedroom to see if there was anything she could salvage and found a couple of curling irons, flat irons, and hair products. Everything else was a loss. Yesterday, she’d gotten cleaners to go to the house to get it cleaned up and hired her own realtor.
Mesani was in no shape to oversee the sale of the house. He’d gotten out of the hospital yesterday. They never said why he was placed in ICU, but it couldn’t have been too serious if he was already home not quite two weeks since Jacob knocked his ass out. I was pretty sure Jacob had probably broken his jaw. Shit, that nigga probably couldn’t produce kids after the kick Cassie delivered. That shit looked like it made his balls retract, never to be seen again.
Today was my third day here with Karima. She was getting packed for her move. She had to go to Nashville next week to get things situated in her new place, but she would be back for a few weeks after that. We had been going to lunch at the diner together every day as well. It wasn’t like I was hanging with Christian as much anymore since Mya had come along, nor Rylan since he and Angel started their family. Jacob joined us most days.
“You seem a little down, though. What’s up, sis?”
“Nothing. I mean, I just keep trying to make sure I’m making the right decision to leave. I know I can rodeo from anywhere, but this is the only home I’ve known. I went to Lamar instead of leaving for college. I have a feeling I will be homesick.”
I put my arm around her shoulders. “You know we just a flight away. If this is an opportunity you feel you can’t pass up, then don’t let fear hold you back. Wait a minute… I’m giving you advice?”
She laughed. “Right. I love it though.”
We continued wrapping dishes as she said, “You know, I’m proud of you. The way you love Cassie is so beautiful. I can’t wait to have a love like that one day. Jared took my heart and played it like a fiddle. That experience only made me less trusting of people. I feel like when Mister Right does come along, I’m gonna give him such a hard time it’s gonna run him away.”
“Naw. You won’t be able to run Mister Right away. He’s gonna be persistent until he wears you down. Only suckas gon’ run. I waited on Cassie for nearly a year before she saw what I did… or rather before she chose to act on what she felt too. I wasn’t going anywhere because I knew she was supposed to be with me. I could feel that shit whenever I was around her. I knew she felt it too.”
“I always thought y’all were gonna date when y’all were teenagers. She was always playing the video game with you and just spent a lot of time with you. When it didn’t happen, I was kind of sad about it. I liked Cassie… still do. I used to feel like she was my big sister.”
“Well, now she will be. It was your prayers that helped everything to work out. The officers that paraded her around campus have been reprimanded, and Cassie may be due some type of compensation for that. Although she no longer has her job at Lamar, she’s the happiest I’ve seen her since we’ve been together. I suppose she feels a sense of freedom now that everything is out in the open.”
“I can imagine. That was honorable what she did for Jacob.”
“Your uncle is saying she’s Martha, and he’s Snoop.”
“Let me guess… Uncle Storm.” She laughed. “That man is a mess, but most times, he means well.”
“Well, you ready to go eat? Cassie has an early day and is supposed to be joining us.”
“Okay. So is Milana, Maui, Ashanni, and the twins.”
“Oh Lord. Christian and Rylan will probably be there too then.”
“Yep. Angel has her hands full at the daycare. Between JJ and Jacey, she’s earning every penny she’s charging them.”
I chuckled. Jacey was Jess’s daughter, and she was loud, just like her mother. Jakari deserved to be charged twice for JJ. That lil nigga was something serious. I stood and helped Karima from the floor as my phone rang. When I saw my baby’s number, I grinned. “What’s up, baby?”
“Hey. I just called to tell you I’m on my way.”
“Okay. We’re heading to the diner now. Just meet us there.”
“Okay. I love you.”
“Love you too.”
Karima smiled at me. “Y’all are so perfect.”
I gave her a smile then grabbed her hand and led her out of the door. No sooner than we had gotten in my car and was about to head to the diner, a cop car sped past my house. The only reason a cop would be in Henderson Village was if something had happened. I quickly backed out of the driveway and saw they’d gone to Jacob’s house.
Aww shit.
“God, we need you, in Jesus’s name. Keep watch over my cousin. He’s having a difficult time, but I know you can make all crooked paths straight,” Karima prayed.
When we pulled up, Jameka was handcuffed against a cop car, and Jacob was handcuffed near his garage door. I swore this girl was gonna be his fucking downfall. I didn’t know what he was thinking when he fucked Jameka, nor what Christian was thinking when he fucked her cousin. There was no way they were thinking with the right head.
We got out of the car and headed toward the action. The officer stopped us to ask who we were, then allowed us to proceed to Jacob. Jameka was over there screaming about the cuffs being too tight and pressing charges for unreasonable force because she was pregnant. That bitch was a bad look altogether. She wasn’t even that cute to be dealing with bullshit like this.
When we approached, the cop was trying to calm Jacob down. “I can’t take the cuffs off unless you’re calm, Mister Monroe.”
That shit only probably made him angrier. I didn’t know why he didn’t change his last name to Henderson like Jakari and Christian had done, or even Wothyla after his stepdad. Jacob’s father was deceased at the hands of Uncle WJ. Whenever someone mentioned his last name, though, it made him irritated. He would always think about how his father nearly killed his mother… Aunt Jenahra.
I watched him try to compose himself as Karima lifted her hands and approached him. I watched her slowly bring her hands to his face. “Baby, you have to calm down.”
He lowered his head and started taking deep breaths. After a minute or so, he looked up at the cop and nodded. He then took the cuffs off. Apparently, Jacob wasn’t at fault here. Once his hands were free and he massaged his wrists a bit, he said, “Please call me Jacob. I’m in the process of changing my last name to Henderson.
The cop nodded. “Yes, sir. I’ll notate that on the paperwork. I could see it bothered you when I called you that. Can you tell me what happened today?”
“She showed up and threw something through the big window in front. We have somewhat of a past. We messed around a couple of times, but that was about eight months ago. She’s saying she’s pregnant with my kid, but ain’t no way. She would have to be at least eight months pregnant. She don’t look that to me. She’s angry that I stopped fooling around with her and won’t let go.”
“I wish people knew how to accept rejection and move on. It would stop foolishness like this. I see you have a restraining order against her, so we will be taking her in. Because of that, we won’t do anything about the shove to the grass. But, Mister Jacob, you may not be so lucky next time. Whether it’s your baby or not, she’s still a pregnant woman. I get that you have a restraining order and she was in violation and trespassing, but you are going to have to contain your anger. This may not turn out so good next time.”
The anger in Jacob came back, and Karima wrapped her arms around him. “Keep her ass away from me then. I had to tell the operator that I was gonna kill her ass to make sure y’all came quickly. She wants me to fucking lose it on her ass so I can get arrested. I’m not gonna let her keep fucking with me without consequence. So y’all need to keep her away from me.”
He sounded calm as hell when he was talking, and I knew that wasn’t good.
“Jacob, you can stay at my house,” Karima said. “I’m leaving for Nashville next week, and you’ll have the house to yourself for a while. I’m only taking a few things, so the house won’t be empty.”
He looked down at her and gave her a tight smile. “Thanks, Rima.”
The cop documented a few more things, then they left, taking Jameka’s ass with them. I patted his back as I slowly shook my head. “Come on to the diner, man. You can use the support.”
He nodded then went inside his house. I assumed he was going inside to change. His shirt was torn, and I was sure that girl had done that. As we waited, my phone rang. I pulled it from my pocket and saw Cassie’ face. I quickly answered. “I’m sorry, baby. We got held up at Jacob’s, but we’re on our way.”
“Okay. I was hoping y’all were okay, because you should have beat me here.”
“Yeah. See you in a lil bit.”
I turned to Karima and saw the tears in her eyes. “You okay, sis?”
“Yeah. I just hate he’s going through this with that girl. Jacob and I talk a lot, because I always felt for him after what happened between Aunt Jen and Uncle Joseph. He holds a lot inside, and that’s not good. His temper is really bad… like, I think it’s worse than Uncle Storm’s. I’m afraid he’s gonna really hurt her if he doesn’t get it under control.”
I nodded. “I think you missed your calling, sis. You should truly consider going back to school to be a counselor.”
She gave me a half smile. “I’m way ahead of you on that, bruh. I enrolled at Fisk last week. I realized my purpose. It isn’t barrel racing, although I’m damn good at it. That’s my hobby and my nine to five. My calling is leading people, helping them through adversity. That was why I took the teaching job as well.”
“Damn. I’m proud of you, sis. Damn proud.”