Chapter 16 #2
He told me nobody but her and his mom were allowed inside his special room. If that wasn’t Jaeda. Once I showed him pictures of my collection, he made Jaeda promise to bring him to see it in person. I could already see him being my favorite kid.
We left their parents’ house around five and headed for the compound. I’d only been as far as Jaeda’s house, so I was surprised when we pulled up in front of the big ass house she referred to as the big house. The place was massive and looked like it could fit at least three whole families inside.
“This is nice as hell,” I said as I met Jaeda at her car. I looked over at the maze off to the side. “You ever got lost in there?”
She giggled. “No. My brothers have though.”
“Since we’re on semi good terms right now, I won’t say they should have stayed lost.”
She playfully smacked my arm. “Be nice.”
“I’ll be as nice as they are.”
She linked her fingers through mine, and we followed Kerrion and Donna into the house.
The inside was just as grand as the outside.
We headed into the kitchen where a group of women congregated around the kitchen island.
When they saw us, a round of greetings went up followed by another round of hugs.
“So this is him?” the older woman asked, looking me up and down with a grin. “This is the young man that had my son and grandson in an uproar.”
“This is him,” Jaeda said, squeezing my hand. “Granny, meet Quaid. Baby, this is my grandmother, Rebecca Dillinger. Those are my aunts April and Denise, and that’s Mia’s mom, Maddie.”
“It’s very nice to meet you, ladies,” I said, offering a smile.
“It’s nice to meet you too, baby,” her granny said. She nudged Jaeda as she winked at me. “He’s a handsome one.”
Jaeda blushed. “I know.”
Her grandmother turned to Donna. “Now who is this beauty, Steel? Baby, you are thicker than a bowl of cold grits.”
Donna laughed. “I try, I try.”
“Grams, this is Donna,” Kerrion answered.
“And who is Donna to you? You know you don’t bring women around.”
“She’s a good friend, Grams.”
“A friend or a friend , friend?”
“A special friend, but not in a romantic way.”
His grandmother waved him off. “I don’t know what you kids are doing these days, but okay. Welcome to my home, Donna. Hopefully, we’ll get to know more about you today.”
She nodded in agreement. “That’s the plan. Anything I can help you with in here?”
“Grams doesn’t like anybody in her kitchen,” Steel explained. “She’s probably about to kick us out.”
His grandmother laughed. “I’m glad you know it. Go on and get out of here.”
She didn’t have to tell us twice. Jaeda grabbed my hand and led me out the back, with her brother and Donna right behind us. The two of them left us as soon as we stepped out. I knew they had a big family, but I wasn’t prepared for the amount of people I saw in the backyard.
“Damn it’s a lot of y’all,” I observed.
“It is.”
A group of women made their way over to us, all wearing smiles. Their expressions alone told me that they had been waiting to see me.
“Well, well, well,” one of them said, looking me over. “We finally get to put a face to the name in person.”
Jaeda rolled her eyes. “Quaid, these are my girls, my sisters. This is Salima, Deuce’s wife. Romi, Smoke’s fiancée. Her sister Renay. She’s dating my cousin Jakobi, so you’ll meet him. And the loud one here is Sharina, Maceo’s wife.”
Sharina stuck up a middle finger.
“So you’re the one that gave her the peptalk?” I asked.
“That would be me. You’re welcome, by the way.”
I chuckled. “Much appreciated.”
“Mm-hmm.” She turned back to Jaeda. “Who was that thick ass girl Steel walked in here with?”
“Her name is Donna,” Jaeda answered. “And before you ask, he says they are special friends, but not romantically.”
“So basically, he’s fucking her.”
“Shit, I don’t blame him,” Renay said. “Sis is stacked and fine as hell. Y’all see that ass? You think she’d let me touch it? I just wanna know if it’s real.”
“I know he’s tearing that up,” Sharina added. “I bet we could hear the clapping from our house.”
I stifled a laugh. I didn’t realize women were so bold when checking out another woman.
“Here we go,” Jaeda mumbled. She looked up at me. “I apologize in advance.”
I looked up to see her father making his way toward us. He didn’t look happy to see me, even though he was the one who invited me here. Maybe the scowl on his face was part of his scare tactic. I hated to break it to him, but that wasn’t gonna work on me.
“We’ll catch up with you later, sis,” Shar said. She tapped my arm. “Good luck.”
The girls walked away just as Mr. Dillinger walked up.
“Baby girl,” he said, kissing Jaeda’s cheek.
“Hey, Daddy.”
“Nice of y’all to finally join us.”
“I’m sure you remember we had a prior engagement since you demanded we be here.”
He chuckled. “Your mother called to remind me that I’m the asshole.” His eyes landed on me, and he extended his hand. “Mr. Michaels.”
“Mr. Dillinger.”
“You know what time it is, son. Come on.”
“Daddy!”
“I’ll send him back in one piece, baby girl.”
He didn’t say anything else before walking off. I turned to Jaeda.
“You know you don’t have to go with him, right?” she asked.
“I know, but he invited me here for this, so let’s get it over with. I’ll come find you, okay?”
She pouted. “Okay.”
I chuckled as I leaned in to kiss her lips. Giving her ass a light tap, I followed behind her father. He led me to a covered seating area where Deuce, Maceo, Smoke, Steel, and Donna sat. I dapped each of them before taking a seat.
“Baby, can you give us a minute?” Steel said to Donna. “Just go over there with Jaeda and the girls.”
“Sure thing. It was nice to meet you all.”
The men all gave various responses as she stood and walked away. As soon as she was out of earshot, Maceo spoke.
“Baby?”
“I’ll explain everything later. You know your daddy wants the floor with his aggy ass.”
Mr. Dillinger smacked the back of his head as he pulled a blunt from the front of his shirt pocket.
“Shut your ass up.” He lit the blunt, his eyes focused on me. “So, Mr. Michaels, tell me something about you.”
“Well, I’m twenty-eight with master’s degrees in information technology, specifically data analysis, and cyber security.
I own a cyber security firm called Byte Guards.
My parents have been together since they were eighteen, and I’m their only child.
Titan is my best friend and has been since we were kids.
No arrests. No warrants. No children. No money troubles.
In fact, my bank account is sitting very nicely.
Does that match up with what you found? Jaeda told me you did a background check on me. ”
When she told me that in conversation, I couldn’t help but laugh. Given who her family was, I wasn’t even surprised. Mr. Dillinger smirked while his sons guffawed blatantly.
“It checks out,” Mr. Dillinger said. “You have a smart-ass mouth.”
I chuckled. “I do.”
“I told you,” Maceo said. “He might fit right in with us. Nigga got hands too.”
Smoke laughed. “Definitely didn’t expect to see you throwing blows like that in the club. Blind and all, he was swinging, and those licks were connecting.”
They all laughed at my expense. I had to laugh, too, because when my glasses fell off in the struggle, I had to rely on my other senses. I couldn’t see shit.
“Nice to know you won’t have a problem defending my daughter,” Mr. Dillinger said.
“Of course not. Not that she needs my help.”
He chuckled. “She doesn’t. My baby has hands all her own. Don’t let that pretty face fool you.”
“I haven’t seen her in action besides playing around with her little brother, but from what I did see, I’d never want any smoke with her.”
“Because that means you have smoke with us,” Deuce said. “Like I said, we good till we ain’t good.”
“I respect that.”
“So you really like my baby?” Mr. Dillinger asked. “Even after she planned to kill your ass, you still like her?”
I nodded. “I more than like her, sir. I admire her. I’m enamored with her. I am in complete awe of how beautiful she is inside and out. I’ve never felt more compatible with a woman in my life. Jaeda Janelle is going to be my wife.”
They all looked at me with serious faces, aside from Kerrion, who was grinning because he heard me say that to his mother.
“Wife, huh?” Mr. Dillinger said, pulling from his blunt. “You know you need my blessing for that, right?”
“With all due respect, sir, I don’t. Would it be nice? Yes. Is it required? No. I treat and will continue to treat your daughter with nothing but love, care, and respect. Even if none of you never like me, nothing about that will ever change. Your acceptance of me is a you problem.”
His sons all looked at him, waiting for a response. I needed him to understand, just like his sons, that he didn’t pump fear into my heart. Not now. Not ever.
He smirked. “Touché, lil’ nigga. Touché.”
He reached in his pocket and pulled out another blunt, handing it to me. I got the feeling that this was their type of peace offering. I took it and the accompanying lighter before putting it to my lips and lighting it.
“I might like you,” he said as I took a pull from the potent substance. “We’ll see.” He turned to Kerrion. “Now you. It’s later. What’s up with Donna?”
The smile slowly dropped from his face. “It’s nothing serious. Well, it is serious, but not a relationship serious.”
“You talking in circles, son.”
“I want to have a baby,” he blurted out.
None of them seemed surprised.
“I’ve known Donna for about a year now,” Kerrion continued.
“Outside of sex, she’s cool people. I can kick it with her, and there’s no pressure to make shit more than what it is.
She doesn’t want a relationship or to get married, and honestly, I’m about over that shit too. But I want a kid, and so does she.”
Mr. Dillinger shook his head. “You’re digging yourself into a hole, son. Kids change shit. Who’s to say y’all have a baby and one of you won’t change your mind about not wanting more? Things could get real messy, real quick.”
“Trust me, I know. We’ve had this conversation.”
“Is she already pregnant?”
“No. We’re going through the steps to make sure everything is good with both of us.
I’ve had my sperm count tested. She has an appointment next week with her gynecologist. We’ve already had a lawyer drawn up a fifty-fifty custody agreement, and it will be finalized once the baby is born.
All our ducks are in a row to protect ourselves.
I just wanted her to spend some time around the family and get to know y’all first.”
Mr. Dillinger sighed. “I respect that. She seems like a nice girl. While I wish you had children with a woman you loved and saw a future with, I get it.”
“I do love Donna. I’m not in love with her, and she’s not in love with me, but we have mad love for each other. Just . . . don’t say shit to anybody yet. We’ll announce it when she’s actually pregnant.”
His father nodded. “Well, I hope it works out. You know I love my grandbabies. The only thing better than being a father is being those kids Pop Pop.” He turned to me. “You want kids? Marriage?”
“Yes, sir. It was a little lonely being an only child, so I want at least two with my wife.”
“I’m glad you said that. Don’t be out here getting my baby girl pregnant?—”
“Did you tell them that?” I asked, pointing to his sons. “’Cause Ms. Romi over there has an engagement ring but no wedding band. I’ve also heard that Maceo’s wife was pregnant at their wedding, and Deuce’s wife was pregnant before she got a ring too.”
Jaeda prepared me for this moment many times. It was her that gave me the ammo I needed to refute anything her dad threw at me. They all looked at me, and I braced myself for the response. Much to my surprise, it was laughter.
Deuce slapped his father’s back. “I’ve told you, you can’t be out here giving marital advice with six kids by four different women, my nigga.”
“Right,” Smoke agreed. “Ain’t married a single one.”
Maceo added. “Nigga just be bumping his gums.”
Mr. Dillinger glared at them. “I will shoot all of y’all.
The point is for y’all to be better than me and not do what I did.
I take great pride in knowing that almost three of you have achieved that.
The same things I want for my boys, I want for my girls.
Now, Mia, . . . I don’t know where this shit is heading with her and Titan or anybody else for that matter.
The girl is so damn mean that she may never get married or have kids.
But Jaeda, . . . she deserves to be a wife.
I know she wants to be a wife before she’s a mother.
You take care of my baby so I don’t have to take care of you. You feel me?”
“I feel you.”
I was getting used to being threatened, but given this family, it was nothing.
I knew if I fell back on my word, they really would end my existence.
Lucky for them, I never had a problem proving any nigga wrong that underestimated me.
Jaeda was safe with me and so was her heart.
When that day came and her father had to walk her down the aisle to me while her brothers watched nearby, it was going to be all the reminder they needed of all the conversations we had about me doing right by her.