Chapter 17
CHAPTER 17
KENDRALL
“ N ow that we have some time to ourselves, what happened, man?”
I was in the bedroom with Jacob. He was discharged this morning. After helping him get home, I gave him a couple of hours to get settled. I’d gone to the diner and talked to other family members while eating lunch. Mostly, everyone else had gone to work, but I came here to chill with him. Cassie had gone to class to take a final and would be shopping with her mom afterward.
The competition was this coming weekend in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. We would be leaving in the morning, right after Cassie’s final, because it was an eight-hour drive from Nome. Thankfully, her final was at eight in the morning. She said the professor had assured them that the final wouldn’t take longer than thirty minutes. So by nine, we should be on IH-10 heading east.
“I’d just gotten home. I’d gone to Brix’s gym to work out. I normally work out in the morning, but I woke up late, so I had to go straight to work. One of the tractors is down, and I needed to get it fixed. I have two more that I needed to maintenance. Apparently, they were watching my comings and goings.”
“That’s fucked up. I can’t believe she did that shit.”
“Honestly, I’m glad that bitch gone. I was getting sick of her shit, and I was two seconds from snapping on her ass. I would be in jail.”
“You still sound a bit winded.”
“Yeah. It’s the broken rib.”
“Did they all jump you at once?”
“After her punk ass brother said what he had to say about her letter and shit, yeah. I was fighting for my fucking life. I don’t know who saw it and came over, because I didn’t have time to even look around.”
“Well, when I was getting there, everybody was there. Ryder J called me. He said he was in Beaumont going to meet my brothers somewhere, but SS had called them for help. They were too far out, so he called me. I got there right as Uncle Storm fired a warning shot. I clotheslined her brother though. That nigga was running right past me.”
Jacob rolled his eyes then tried to take a deep breath. He was in a lot of pain. I could see it on his face by the frown that appeared and the grunts he made. I’d been around him long enough to distinguish his frowns. With the way his eyebrows were scrunched together but slightly lifted, it surely wasn’t a frown of anger.
I stood so I could give him time to rest, but he said, “Sit yo’ ass down, KJ. A nigga in pain, but that don’t mean I need time to myself. Now if Jakari was up here with bad ass JJ… then that nigga would have to go.”
I chuckled and sat back down. “I just don’t wanna keep making you talk, man.”
“Yeah, whatever. How are things shaping up for the wedding?”
“Good. I wanted to ask you to be in it, but with what just happened, I know you may not feel up to it.”
“Fuck that. I’m gon’ be in that wedding, even if I have to roll in that bitch in a wheelchair.” He paused for a moment then continued. “Looks like I’m the last one in our crew that needs to be locked down, but there was this beautiful ass therapist that came to see me yesterday.”
I rolled my eyes. This nigga was just getting rid of a ratchet ass female and was already scoping out the next. “Man?—”
“Naw, for real. Her name was Mekayla, I think. She gon’ be coming here to help me get back in shape. I can tell she got some hood in her. Plus, she might be a lil older than me, ’cause she just seem to have weary eyes. I don’t know how to explain it. I don’t give a fuck about that though.”
I slowly shook my head. I hoped this was on the up and up. I couldn’t tell him shit about being careful. Not long ago, I was Cassie’s side nigga. Christian tried to deter me, but I refused to listen. I knew what I felt, and I couldn’t stop pursuing her. Henderson men didn’t fuck around with our feelings. Usually, when we felt it, we went after it. That was one of our best and worst qualities.
It was a good thing, because for the women we went after, there was no room for doubt in their minds as to how we felt or what we wanted. It was bad because we didn’t give a fuck about their current situations and what should have been red flags for us. I didn’t give a fuck that Cassie was engaged. I wanted her. The same was true for Uncle Storm.
Mya was in the streets, and Christian snatched her ass right out. Angel was living under two overprotective parents and had down syndrome, but Rylan fought the odds to be able to have her as his. So if Jacob had a conversation with this woman and thought that she might be the one, who was I to tell him she wasn’t?
“When will you see her again?”
“First thing Monday morning. I can’t wait, nigga. You should have seen that ass in those scrubs. Although they were loose on her legs, they hugged her ass like I wanted to be hugging it. When that shit jiggled, I wanted to smack the shit out of it. Her smile though… Lawd have mercy. As bad as I was hurting when she touched my ribs, my shit rose to the occasion. I think she noticed too.”
“What make you think that?” I asked with a slight frown.
“She glanced down, and her cheeks reddened a bit. Mm hmm. Soon as I’m feeling better, I’m gon’ be in that. She got a career, and she seems to have her shit together. I’m gon’ find out though. I’m not getting into no fucked-up shit like I just got out of.”
“I hope you ain’t feeling guilty about Jameka, though, and just playing hard around me.”
“I’m not. That wasn’t on me. We were two consenting adults. I ain’t never promised that girl nothing more than a good fuck. My only regret is getting involved with her crazy ass from the beginning. I knew she wasn’t ’bout nothing when I fucked her. I let the ass cloud my judgment. Then when I got in it and that shit clinched me, I was caught up for a minute.”
“Mm hmm, and you see where that shit got you. But if you feel this therapist might be the one, knock yo’self out, my nigga. Be careful, but if you feel it, don’t let up.”
“Hell naw. I’m a fucking Henderson, and it’s official now. My last name is now Henderson. Fuck a Monroe.”
I almost slapped his hand, but I caught myself.
“Nigga, you fuck up my healing timeline and as soon as I’m healed, I’m gon’ fuck up yours.”
He chuckled slightly as I laughed. Jacob would be just fine… hopefully. We just had to get SS out the woods.
“The superstar is here!”
Cassie’s eyebrows lifted as the lady at the registration fangirled. She was a buckle bunny. I’d seen her ho ass at a few competitions and rodeos. Our competitions garnered more attention from them because we made more money. We spent more money, making sure our horses were taken care of and trained properly. A good cutting horse could cost up to a hundred grand by the time you factored in training and breeding. So, it only made sense for the purse to be heftier.
My horse was getting older. While I figured a day would come that I would need another one, I didn’t want to imagine it. However, I wanted to be prepared, so I had already purchased one. Zayson was training it for me and had been training it for the past year. One more year and his ass should be just right. He was stubborn as fuck, just like this nigga I had been sweeping shit up with.
Suge Knight was a beast, and Bumpy Johnson wouldn’t be any different. I purposely looked up notorious black gangsters to name my horses after. If they would act like they had sense and learned to listen without being manhandled all the damn time, I’d give them a normal name.
I grabbed Cassie’s hand, and the registrant glanced at her and smiled. One thing Cassie was gon’ have to learn was that these hoes didn’t give a fuck about a cowboy having a woman. If he was winning money and prize buckles, he was up for the taking. That lil song by Tanner Adell only made them bolder. They had a platform now.
“Mister Henderson, you had a long trip?”
“Eight hours.”
“That’s not too bad. Travis drove fifteen. That’s a haul right there.”
“Yes, ma’am. I’ve been there. Took damn near twenty hours to get to New Hampshire… maybe longer.”
“Whew! Yes, sir. Well, I got you all registered, Mister Henderson. Best of luck to you,” she said as she openly scanned my body in a flirtatious way.
“That’s not cool. That’s very disrespectful to me and my fiancée. Plus, I don’t give a damn about being disqualified when it comes to her, which means I’ll let her catch another case for fucking somebody up. I do this because I enjoy it, not for the money. You feel me?”
The lady next to her stopped what she was doing and stopped hiding the fact that she was ear hustling to begin with. Cassie was squeezing my hand so tight she had to be cutting off my circulation. Baby girl didn’t need shit added to her plate. She was still trying to figure out what to do about Shayla. I had her go to Precinct 1 and file a restraining order against her. I was sure Shayla had been notified already. If she hadn’t, then she would be notified while we were gone.
The lady next to her cleared her throat, as if telling her to make it right. “Umm… I do apologize, Mister Henderson. I meant no harm.”
“Keep that apology. It wasn’t sincere. You absolutely meant to do what you did. You just didn’t expect me to point it out.”
She handed me my number, and I practically snatched that shit from her ass. These people outside this industry wanted to glorify being a buckle bunny… a ho. If they truly listened to Tanner’s lyrics in the verses, they would know. They could have at it. But when that shit affected me or Cassie, they were gonna mess around and get fucked up. I could guarantee Tanner was only singing about it. She wasn’t a fucking buckle bunny. She was getting her bag off that damn song.
“Kendrall, calm down, baby. I need your mind on fucking shit up on the dirt. I would never fight and get you disqualified. I know you said that shit out of anger, because I also know how much this means to you. Like you said, you do it because you enjoy it. You more than enjoy it. You love it. I would never do anything to jeopardize you being able to do what you love.”
I stopped walking and took a deep breath then turned to face Cassie. I kissed her lips then pulled her in my embrace. “You right, baby. I appreciate you for that. But… if necessary, I will fuck around and get disqualified when it comes to you. I ain’t putting up with bullshit on account of getting paid. It’s about respect. They wanna buck, I’ll show their asses I can be ignant too.”
Grabbing her hands, I brought them to my lips and kissed them one at a time. After all that, I hated that she would be in the stands by herself. When I had competitions this far away, I often went alone. Everybody had their own shit going on and couldn’t take off for days at a time to travel with me.
She leaned in and kissed my lips again. “I love you, Kendrall. Don’t let these bitches get to you. You’re an amazing catch. If I need to handle shit, I’ll handle it verbally and report their asses to somebody important. You focus on the competition at hand. I know you’ll win, but still… focus.”
I gave her a slight smile. “That’s why you my rider. See you when this shit is done.”
I kissed her again and headed toward the trailer to get Suge. This shit couldn’t be over fast enough. In one week, I would be locking her pretty ass down forever.