Chapter 8 Relic #4
Relic had entertained and explained more than he’d ever done in his life during his time there, and knowing he had gone to such lengths for Kennedy set off silent alarms inside his head.
He was well past the point of infatuation he’d gotten to with Harmony or Jessica.
He and Kennedy were treading in the deepest, most dangerous waters with no lift raft in sight to save them.
She’d told Relic once that she couldn’t swim, so he hoped she was a quick learner.
“I see her, Jah. What the hell you gon’ do? Hop out of the truck while I’m driving. Sit back and chill. We’re about to pull up,” he told his son, pushing him back into his seat as Shabu chuckled.
“How does he know Kennedy took your car? Kids are nosey as hell, so you better watch the shit you say around him, bro.”
“You ain’t telling me nothing I ain’t learned. The only good part about it is that his snitching ass gives me useful information sometimes.”
“Like the fact Kenn Dog was coming today.”
Relic pulled up bumper to bumper behind his stolen vehicle and parked. “Exactly. When we get in the crib, try to keep her occupied for a few minutes while I straighten up my room.”
“Nigga, how old are you, thirteen? This ain’t yo first girlfriend you’re trying to impress,” Shabu clowned as he pushed open his door and hopped out.
Jahleel flung open the back door and raced to the car to greet Kennedy as she climbed out, while Relic took his time, in no rush for her to enter his home for reasons he’d hoped no one would ever find out about.
She seemed just as reluctant as she hit the locks, adjusted her purse on her shoulder, and then outstretched her arms for Jahleel to run into while pinning those dark eyes dead on Relic through his windshield.
If she knew how much he loved that shit, or how hard it made his dick, he doubted she would do it so often.
It wasn’t until he’d slid out of his car and swaggered toward her that he noticed her wan skin and puffy eyelids that he hadn’t spotted from afar.
The subdued pout on her beautiful face caused his mouth to quirk as he envisioned it on a tiny version of her.
He’d told his son more children weren’t in the cards, but Kennedy put that absurd notion in his head more than he cared to confess.
A small part of him believed she was yearning for him to trap her ass, or she wouldn’t beg him to nut in that pussy so much.
“I was starting to think you weren’t coming back, and I’d have to kidnap your ass after all,” he voiced the second she was within earshot. Her soft features contorted into a frown.
“Why? Didn’t I tell you, I’d be back in a few days?”
“You did.”
Relic left it at that instead of telling her about the last two women who’d dipped on him and never looked back.
Jessica hauled ass at the first glimpse of his true colors and hadn’t returned until years later with a son she never told him about, and another child that proved she’d moved on with her life.
Harmony had moved with her uncle not too long after her brother was murdered by his hands, but he had believed, even while miles away, she’d remain glued to him.
It didn’t take long for her to latch on to the newest nigga with paper as if their situation hadn’t existed.
Relic didn’t put it past Kennedy to do the same, especially after reuniting with her ex.
“Come on, Ms. Kennedy! I can’t wait to show you the fish I caught. Uncle Shabu thought he was gon’ do better than me, but he only caught two, and I caught three!”
Jahleel started rambling off at the mouth, interlocking his fingers with hers before stealing her, so Relic couldn’t get another word in.
He dragged her toward the door that Shabu was unlocking, while Titan wrestled with balancing Indigo’s car seat and baby bag.
Both brothers glanced back and greeted her with amiable smiles.
“What’s good with you, Kenn?” Titan asked, flinging his head to shake his locs out of his view.
“I feel like shit, but other than that, I’m fine.”
“Damn, you sound like shit, too. I must be talking to Kenn Dog right now, with that deep, raspy ass voice you got going on.”
A crack of laughter shot from Shabu before he opened the door and stepped aside to let them in. Kennedy rolled her eyes.
What she assumed was a mild cough had multiplied in mere days, turning her every which way but loose.
Her throat lining was raw, her sense of smell non-existent, and her appetite lost, but she welcomed her symptoms since it had given her an excuse to stay with her parents longer.
If she didn’t have business to tend to, and a friend to check on, she would’ve added another week to her hiatus.
“I’m not even in the mood to curse y’all out. Where is Savvy? She said she’d be here with Navy.”
“My babies are on the way. Be cool, nigga. What, you scared to be alone with us?” Shabu tested, his grin roguish and reminiscent of his ominous side she’d discerned. The same side that’d made her suggest him as Relic’s shooter, unaware of how deep his malignancy truly ran.
“Not at all, but on that note, I’ll be in the room ‘til she gets here.”
“All the guest rooms are made up, so pick whichever you want.” Relic made that announcement when Kennedy headed toward the stairs. She glanced back as he told her, “There’s three down here you can check out.”
“For what? I’m about to go to your room to use your nice ass shower before I climb in your bed. Join me or not, I don’t care.”
“How the fuck are you going to tell me what you are and aren’t doing in my home? Either take a guest room or sleep in the car you stole.”
“Relic, I’ll drive that car through your fucking house before I sleep in it. Don’t piss me off. You that see I’m not feeling well, so why are you messing with me?”
“I don’t want you in my room, Kennedy.”
“You know what? Fine, because I don’t have time for your childish bullshit. I’ll get a hotel.”
She pivoted and stomped off, heading to the door, but Relic blocked her path—clamping both hands on her waist as he expelled a breath while stress lines sprouted over his forehead. He couldn’t risk letting her leave a second time, knowing there was a chance she wouldn’t return.
“Titan, grab the fish from the car. Jah, take Indigo and help Shabu get started in the kitchen.” He spat out orders while glaring at her. “Kennedy, take your hardheaded ass to my room, and I don’t want to hear your mouth once we get in there.”
“Handle your scandal,” Shabu said with a chuckle as Kennedy hauled ass like Relic would change his mind. He was tempted to do so.
He didn’t glance back but flicked his brother off as he trailed her upstairs, heaving through the sudden cramp in his torso when she reached his room and fidgeted with his locked door.
After pushing her aside, he retrieved his keys to unlock it and then hesitated before allowing her in as he flicked on the light but kept his distance.
Relic watched as she inspected every inch of his personal space before her body stoned once her eyes landed on his glass table.
A blade.
A dollar bill.
A single baggie of coke.
Those three items that’d taunted Relic for over a year had almost won the night prior as he’d sat at that table for hours after Jahleel had gone to bed.
The baggie was empty for the first time, while the blade set next to the three lines he’d created with it before rolling the bill into a makeshift straw.
When morning struck, Relic had still been sitting in front of it, leaving his son to dress and feed himself while he remained trapped in a mental battle.
Guilt had stacked a fresh set of dense bones atop each other in his internal closet, creating a skeleton for his niece and Savvy, while he absorbed the fact that life had let him walk away too many times with a slap on the wrist. It had finally circled back to either take his life, or to force him to suffer hell on earth, and the only out he saw was speeding up the process since he’d rather ruin himself before letting life do its job.
If Jahleel hadn’t come banging on his door and forestalled him; Relic might’ve finally followed in his baby mother’s footsteps.
That thought alone had kept him from reentering his bedroom to lock away the items like he usually would. He figured he’d do it once he made it back home but hadn’t expected Kennedy to show up and bust him, red-handed.
Relic stood there, waiting to face the music because if his hostile temperament, manipulative tactics, or showing his ass at Kennedy’s family home didn’t run her off; those white lines on his glass table sure as hell would.