13. Royal
Royal
“So y’all jailbird asses made it out, huh?”
Seven shot me the finger. He did that shit so much I knew to expect it.
It was Monday afternoon, and Seven had just gotten out this morning.
They were really trying to break him. They didn’t know that Hendersons were hard to break.
Uncle WJ suffered for over forty-five years before he finally gave up.
It helped that we didn’t have jobs we could get fired from.
When he got out, it was back to business.
Crew glanced at me but didn’t say anything.
Jacob finally said, “It was bullshit, and they know it. They’re intimidated by us .
. . scared as fuck. That was why they had to bring a small army in here to pick up Seven.
When they saw we didn’t give a fuck, that made them angrier.
The way they slammed Seven to the floor was uncalled for, and none of us were going to stand for it, whether they had guns or not. ”
I frowned. “They slammed you to the floor?” I asked Seven as a slight smile fell on his lips.
“Mm-hmm. They just stacking them charges on top of each other and stacking them dollars they gon’ have to pay me.
They tryna intimidate me, but that shit ain’t working.
I hope I end up in Rachel West’s courtroom.
She gon’ fuck them up when she side with me.
She don’t go for bullshit. Y’all saw what she did to that white woman who was disrespecting her Black lawyer.
She was demeaning her own attorney in front of everybody.
Miss Rachel was like, Hell no. Not in my courtroom! ”
I chuckled. I remembered seeing that online. She gave that woman a hefty fine. That woman’s white tears didn’t move Judge West one bit, and she was white too. At that moment, I was proud that I voted for her.
“So what is Missus Taylor and Mister Berotte saying?”
“If I can take it, keep taking it. It’s all about to come crashing down on their asses. We have a meeting with them Wednesday night, and we go to court in the next month and a half.”
I nodded. They were finna fuck them up without lube. I went back to my lima beans as Crew said, “I heard the retesting turned out in your favor. Congratulations.”
I gave him a head nod and kept eating until Kingsley said, “For real? You’re their biological father?”
“Yeah, man.”
“I’m happy for you. That’s real, bruh.”
“Thanks, King.”
Everyone else started nodding and offering their congrats. There was an uncomfortable silence for a moment until my dad walked in, holding a big ass blunt in the air. I slowly shook my head as I tried to contain my smile.
“And the blunt of the fucking year goes to Royal Henderson! You gon’ need this shit with twins coming, my boy.”
“Dad, this shit ain’t gon’ make it that long. I’m gon’ smoke this shit this coming weekend.”
He laughed and shook my hand. Although he’d already congratulated me, I truly believed he wanted to do that shit in front of Crew.
That nigga looked salty as fuck, and that shit was wearing me thin.
Brothers should be genuinely happy for each other.
Of course, like any other relationship, there would be disagreements and maybe sometimes, straight up fights, but the betrayal, dishonesty, and disloyalty shouldn’t be there.
It still should all be done in love. I didn’t feel love from my brother anymore, and that shit didn’t sit well with me.
Unfortunately, that was something that I couldn’t make right.
He would have to be the one to make it right.
Our relationship probably wouldn’t go back to the way it was though.
I didn’t trust him to be on my team. He couldn’t be happy for me, because he wanted what I had.
Aaliyah. She was my primary focus now. While it would hurt to lose my brother, I had to come to the realization that I’d probably lost him a long time ago.
I just didn’t know it until Aaliyah entered the picture.
I slid the blunt in my shirt pocket. That shit was fat as hell. I slowly shook my head as I saw Seven trying to swipe my shit. “You better gon’ ’bout yo’ business, nigga.”
He laughed and pushed me playfully. “Let me know when you smoke that shit. I need to be somewhere near so I can be in the rotation. I got a feeling that shit prolly strong as fuck too. You smoke that by yourself, you gon’ be out for two days.
Aaliyah might end up in labor fooling around with yo’ ass. ”
I laughed, because he was probably right.
When I was high, I was always extremely horny.
Being that I always wanted sex on a normal day, that wouldn’t be good for anybody.
We would definitely have to have Nikki back over.
I would kill both of their pussies. I surely couldn’t have Aaliyah hurting or have my babies coming early.
“You right, nigga,” I finally admitted.
Everybody laughed hard as hell. I finally finished off my food and went to put my shit in the trash, when Ryder J approached me.
My anger surfaced out of nowhere, because the shit he told me was unnecessary.
It nearly caused me to turn my back on Aaliyah.
If I would have been the type of nigga to let his anger take over without trying to listen to reason, we wouldn’t even be together right now.
“Cuz, I just want to apologize for the shit I told you. You right. It was unnecessary. PJ not even here to say otherwise. That shit didn’t even matter.
For some reason, I was looking at Aaliyah as the enemy, especially when the first test said the babies weren’t yours.
I realized that he said he wanted to fuck her.
That didn’t mean he did. So I’m sorry for the bullshit my loose lips caused. ”
I nodded as he held his hand out. I slapped it, then gave him a half hug. “Thanks for that, man.”
He nodded. “Congratulations. I hope them kids don’t turn out like Bali and Noni.”
I chuckled. “Naw. We’re having a boy and girl, but I’ll be damned if they gon’ be that bad.”
He laughed as I threw my trash in the receptacle.
I needed to get home and check on Aaliyah.
We were supposed to be finally going to her parents’ house tonight.
We were supposed to go a while ago, but that was when shit popped off out here with the FBI.
I needed to let Mr. Red know that I was going to take care of his baby with everything in me.
Aaliyah was my one, and there was no doubt about it for me.
As I was about to head over to the guys, Aunt Tiff walked in. She smiled at me. I went to hug her, and she said, “Congratulations, baby. Fatherhood is going to look good on you.”
“Thanks, Aunt Tiff.”
She kissed my cheek, then went over to everybody handing out something.
I didn’t know what it was, until I realized she didn’t give one to me.
It was probably for a baby shower I had no clue about.
Today definitely had to be the day I talked to Aaliyah’s parents.
While they knew me already, I needed to go to them as a man and express my intentions to be an honorable husband to Aaliyah, eventually, and to be an amazing father, just like the one I had.
“You nervous, baby?”
“Just a lil bit, but I think that comes with the territory. No matter how well I know your parents, this is different territory. You’re their only daughter and the baby of the family. I feel like they will both be a little on edge as well.”
“Doubt it. My mama already know what it is. We talk about everything.”
“Everything?”
“Mm-hmm. She knows how I get down already. You think Kambel is my best friend, but it’s actually my mama. She was at my house waiting for me that night you said we shouldn’t have sex anymore.”
“Damn. So she may feel a way about me then.”
“Nope. She understood you and suggested that we got another test. I just didn’t want you to think that I was trying to trap you or anything, so I didn’t tell you.”
I grabbed Aaliyah’s chin and turned her head to face me. “You can’t trap a nigga that wanna be there anyway. I love you, girl.”
She blushed as I released her chin and turned on Highway 90 to head to her parents’ house. Within a minute or two, I was turning into their driveway. When I saw Red Squared’s and Asad’s vehicles here, my nerves only heightened more. I turned to Aaliyah and said, “I guess it’s a family dinner.”
She smirked. I hoped Ashanni and Noni would be here as well so I wouldn’t feel like I was being ambushed.
My sister would have my back at all costs.
Like Ryder J had said earlier, Aaliyah and I were consenting adults.
I didn’t disrespect her in any manner, even when the first DNA test said I wasn’t a match.
Aaliyah was special to me, and I truly hoped they could see that.
I got out of the vehicle and walked around to her side to help her out, glancing at the dent still on the hood. When I opened the door, I grabbed her hand, and she slid out of the vehicle to her feet.
“Baby, don’t do that. I need you to step on the running board, and let me help you down to the ground. You’re further along now. We have less control when you just slide out. Okay?”
She smiled. “Okay.”
I leaned over slightly and kissed her lips, then grabbed her hand to lead her inside. Once I closed the door, I glanced over at the hood again. “I guess you can gon’ head and send me my money to get my hood fixed. I don’t need to keep the dent anymore.”
She frowned, then suddenly her eyebrows lifted, and she laughed. “Why you don’t wanna keep it anymore?”
“Because I got something better . . . someone better,” I said as I stood behind her and wrapped my arms around her waist and kissed her shoulder.
“Mm and what’s that?”
“Don’t play, girl. At the time, I didn’t know if we would end up together or not, because we thought these beautiful babies belonged to some other nigga.”
She giggled as I kissed her neck and pulled away from me. “Come on, silly. At this rate, we will never make it inside.”