Chapter 1 #2
My father ran in this criminal underworld known as The Society. He wasn’t the head man in charge, but he was up there, and outside children were never allowed.
Legacies were to be passed down from father to son, and that was only allowed through marriage—nothing else.
So, I was an anomaly in this mess.
My mother may not have been his wife, but she was privy to who The Society was and all their rules, yet she still chose to let a married nigga help make me, and now I was paying for it.
I couldn’t and didn’t have a life outside of Orlando and Kelechi Sanchez. My father controlled everything concerning me, right down to where I lived and who I married. All this, my mother knew before I was even conceived, and she still did it.
There was no reason for her to call him over to her crib. Shot or not, I wasn’t a fucking kid who needed his daddy…anymore—especially one that never, ever saw me anyway.
My mother stood there, staring into space, and nibbled on her bottom lip, something she did when she was stressed or worried about something. I knew then that I was pushing her into her head where she would overthink, and that wasn’t my intention.
Sighing, I thanked my mama for helping me with my arm, kissed her face, and jumped in my car, immediately speeding away.
When I pulled up at my condo, I sat still in my car, my mind going back to that moment I thought Orlando was looking for me. As if he really would.
I shook my head and made my way inside with thoughts of just going to sleep, but of course, it wouldn’t be that simple. I sighed heavily when I stepped inside to see Ocean sitting in my living room.
God, could you just kill me now instead of making me go through all this!
Ocean was up on her feet and rushing over to me before I could finish kicking my Timbs off.
“Oh my god! I heard you were shot!” she screeched, hurting my ears more than this bullet hole was burning my arm.
I frowned at her words, wondering how the hell she found out I’d been shot when I didn’t tell her nor was she at the club with us. I sucked my teeth when I realized she was still in contact with Hell.
Why? Maybe because she was once with him until one day our father said he found someone else for my brother to marry.
Kelechi married his wife, Ella, who was a daughter of someone else in The Society, and that put an end to whatever they had going on.
Then two months later, he demanded that I marry Ocean!
Although Ocean was a daughter of a family head and had the right to marry any one of the first sons—which she was hoping would have been Hell since they had history—baby girl was seen as damaged goods because my brother wasn’t the only one she’d been messing with.
Shorty had gone through most of the heads’ first-born sons, if not all, and I had the pleasure of making her my wife.
Daughters and wives were seen as commodities, and the purer they were, the more they were worth. Which was probably why nobody objected to making me, a bastard son, her husband.
“Is Hell okay though?” she asked. I simpered but didn’t answer.
Was she here for me or for my brother?
Ocean stood to her feet and sauntered her thick body over to me. She was pretty and had a banging body—which I expected nothing less if she caught the eye of my brother.
As I continued to look at her, she gave me a deceptive smile. She was still in contact with my brother for some reason, and I didn’t like that. Or maybe it was Orlando.
I could feel it in my heart that Ocean was sent in my life to watch me—another way to control me, or maybe she wanted to control me!
The fact that she couldn’t hold my eye contact told me that she was hiding something from me.
Ocean reached me and, like always, stretched out a hand to grab my dick, but I stopped her.
“Why are you always stopping me, Havoc?”
“I told you I’m saving myself for our wedding.”
That was the same answer I’d been giving her since we got engaged six months ago because it was the only thing I could control.
I stepped around her and continued toward my bedroom so that I could take a shower before hitting my bed.
“Havoc, you’ve been saying that, but we are yet to book a date for our wedding, so I’m never gonna get the dick!”
And that was the plan.
Thankfully for me, since both Ocean and I were seen as the bottom of the pile, there was no demand or urgency for this wedding to take place.
I was simply told who I was supposed to marry and left to my own devices.
As long as I didn’t try to get married on the same day as one of their important arranged marriages, nobody cared.
So that meant I was free to prolong this shit as long as I wanted and, in the meantime, I was keeping my dick to myself—for religious purposes, of course!
Turning to Ocean, I said, “It’s time for me to pray. You wanna join in?”
“I ain’t ever met a religious thug before, but whatever!”
Just like I knew she would, every time I brought up the idea of praying with me, she swung her purse over her shoulder and sauntered out of my room.
I stood in place, holding my breath until I heard my front door open and close, indicating that she’d finally left.
Sighing heavily, my eyes landed on a bottle of Hennessy that was on my bedside table. The image of my father rushing to my brother’s side invaded my thoughts and pushed me to pick up the bottle. I brought it into the bathroom with me and closed the door.