Chapter 44 #2
“For?” he chuckled. “You were fucking shit up damn near weekly and sometimes daily.”
“Nope,” I answered. “I needed those six months. I needed to see if I could breathe without you by my side. I was so dependent on you that I was lost for a moment, but once I found my footing, I was good. I needed those six months to prepare myself for my future.”
“Your future?”
“Yeah,” I said, nodding. I took a deep breath to help build my courage, then finally told him my other secret. “I’m not staying, Amethyst.” I felt him stiffen. “I need to start over. To get away from here. Away from every reason I had to cry.”
“Away from me?” he asked softly.
“I’m not sorry for shit that I did,” I said. Instead of answering his question, I went back to a safe part of our conversation. One that would have us laughing or smiling instead of potentially arguing. “You deserved it. You actually deserved more, but I didn’t feel like doing anything else.”
“Ay, I’ll take that.” He moved his arm and put it around my shoulders, and I rested my head on his chest. I was grateful that he didn’t push the conversation.
I knew it would come up again later, but for right now, I was good.
“You gave Tulane hell, though. Like for real. That nigga would call me every damn time and was practically begging me to come get you by the end.”
“Tulane is dramatic,” I sighed. “I didn’t do anything that he couldn’t handle.”
“Sunshine, you set his house on fire,” he chuckled. “I saw the pictures, baby Left Eye.”
“That was your mama’s idea,” I shrugged.
He sat up and looked at me with a surprised look. “My mama?” He fell back and laughed so hard his body shook. “My fucking mama got problems, man, because why would she tell you to do that?”
“Because I wanted to come home,” I answered with a shrug. “And Mama Diamond said go big to go home.”
“Remind me never to let you talk to my mama when you’re upset,” he said, shaking his head. “I love you, but you can’t burn down my shit and think it's okay.”
“Technically, you’re homeless,” I reminded him. “You don’t have any properties listed in your name.”
“You make it sound like I’m a broke nigga,” he kissed his teeth. “Like I’m surviving off you or something.”
“I mean…” I shrugged, and he cut his eyes at me. I put my hands up and smiled. “You said it, not me.”
“Nah, I was smart with my decisions,” he said, closing his eyes.
“If anything happened to me, you’d be set for life.
All my stake in my brother’s businesses, my homes, cars, everything is set to go to you.
Hell, it’s shit you don’t even know about.
” He pulled me close and kissed the top of my head.
“You would have been taken care of for life.”
“I didn’t want any of those things,” I said, shaking my head. “It wouldn’t have mattered if you weren’t here.”
“Sunshine.”
“No, listen to me for a second,” I sighed, getting comfortable.
“All those are material things. They don’t hold value to me.
I can buy my own house, cars, and stocks in companies.
I only wanted you.” I traced the tattoo on his chest. “The material things just sit. I mean, look at all the things still sitting because of Grant. The houses, cars, none of them have been touched in months. Hell, I didn’t even know about most of the stuff until I came back, and I talked to Bizzy about selling my house.
He looked into it and got back to me yesterday.
According to him, there were a few properties that Grant owned that are now mine. ”
“Oh yeah? Like what?”
“Three rentals, a few cars, and a restaurant,” I answered with a yawn. “A few bank accounts too.” My eyes started to feel heavy, so I closed them and was about to let sleep take over when something dawned on me. “I’ve seen Gentle before.”
“At the party,” he said, nodding. “After everything happened, he showed up. He picked up Judah, and the sisters lost their minds. Corinthians threw her knife at him.” He adjusted the pillow behind him.
“That nigga is lucky to be alive right now. Corinthians’ knife was dipped in some kind of poison. ”
“I don’t care about all that,” I said, shaking my head. “I’m just saying I’ve seen him before the party.”
“I’m not surprised at this point,” he laughed. “They’ve been around for a minute.”
“He has a thing for Consonance,” I mumbled and shrugged.
“How do you know that?”
“Because I designed the chain he wears, it’s a set I made for Consonance,” I answered with a laugh. “I never thought about it until now. I made it for her years ago. It’s a gold Octothorpe and music note. I thought it was strange, but I haven’t thought about it in years.”
“Damn, I didn’t see that one coming,” he laughed. We were quiet for a minute, then he quickly sat up. “I think I know where Quincy is hiding out. Well, not the exact address, but an idea.”
“Where?” I said, sitting up.
Amethyst jumped out of the bed and looked around.
When he found his phone on the floor near the door, he picked it up and swiped the screen.
“I know this nigga thinks he’s slick, but he’s not.
He’s a fucking creature of habit.” The phone started ringing, and he paced in front of the bed.
“I worked with them for too fucking long to not know this shit. It was right in my damn face the entire time.” He hung up the phone and dialed another number. “Come on, answer the phone.”
“Hello?”
“Plus Twelve,” he quickly said. “Listen, I know you’re still mad, but baby girl, I need your help.”
“I’m not upset, what’s up?” she said, even though she sounded like she was, or at least was about to be.
“Sunshine said she was left some properties after Grant was killed,” he said, then sat. “We haven’t been able to find Quincy because we were looking for shit in his name.”
“Right,” she said. “Nothing in the Kilmore name has moved since all this started.”
“Because it’s not in the Kilmore name,” he said with a laugh as he shook his head.
“Whose name is it then?”
“Sunshine’s,” he answered as he looked at me. “Everything that’s been moving has been in her name. Quincy isn’t dumb; he knew that his brother’s assets would be transferred to Yale if he died. I was after him for six months, and we watched their shit like a hawk, but nobody looked at hers.”
“I swear if I wasn’t scared of getting a cavity and Yale wasn’t my girl, I would kiss you in the mouth,” Xoey said, laughing.
“What?” The crazy shit this girl said at times.
“Cavities are basically an STD,” she said, and he stared at the phone, confused as hell.
“Umm, what?”
“I swear niggas don’t read. Bacteria in your mouth can be transferred through saliva.
When you tongue kiss someone, and you’re swapping spit, you’re also swapping bacteria, which can cause cavities.
Ergo, cavities can be sexually transmitted,” she said, like he was dumb.
“It’s like how you can get worms from humping on old niggas. ”
“Worms?”
“I swear Mama Diamond failed you niggas at times,” she said, then kissed her teeth. “Look, I need to get off this phone so I can get dressed, and then I’ll be over there to talk.” She hung up without letting Amethyst get another word in.
“I’m pretty sure she called you dumb as soon as she hung up,” I laughed at Amethyst’s confused expression.
Amethyst got up, put his phone in his pocket, and walked around to my side of the bed.
He bent so that we were eye to eye. He wrapped his hand around my throat, then kissed me.
I wanted to be mad at him, pull back and tell him never to touch me again, but instead I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him close.
I was honest when I told him I never hated him, just hated how he chose to handle all this.
We pulled away, and he rested his forehead against mine.
“After I kill Quincy, I want to take you on a trip. Just us, no outside noise, no nothing. We gotta get right before our daughter gets here.” He kissed my forehead, then left the room.
“I’m going to end up with cavities and worms,” I groaned.