Chapter 18 Bali
BALI
“So you saying that muthafucka was involved?” I asked Ali.
“Hell yeah. That nigga wasn’t finna let his niece get caught. He knew what she was doing. He’s gotten sued before for administering wrong medication. His history says he guilty as fuck. I don’t have concrete proof, Lil Storm, but my gut don’t lie.”
Watchful Eyes always called Noni and me Lil Storm.
I didn’t take offense to it. My daddy was the shit, so being a twister spinning off his hurricane winds was an honor.
I slowly shook my head. I knew that pharmacist knew some shit for Mythic’s baby mama to get away with the shit she did.
Unfortunately, I didn’t know what could be done about it.
There was no footage, nor was there evidence that Maui had any of that medicine in her system. When Vanessa told that shit to Treasure, it had already been too long.
“Fuck!” I said.
I began pacing in front of my house, trying to think of something we could do to prove it. Ali was watching me intently, like he was reading my fucking thoughts.
“What’chu wanna do about it?” he asked.
I stopped pacing and stared at him. I wanted him to give me options. That ho was in prison, so I couldn’t get at her. After I didn’t say anything or allow my gaze to waver, he turned his lip up and nodded.
“Got’chu, boss,” he said and chuckled.
That muthafucka was going to suffer the consequences his niece couldn’t for fucking with the Hendersons.
I took a deep breath as Ali drove away and went inside the house.
I just called a fucking hit. I couldn’t believe I’d done that, but I didn’t feel the least amount of regret.
Fuck him. I flopped on the couch and sent a text to Noni.
You still at Red’s?
She didn’t go home last night. I would have heard her car.
My bedroom was close to her driveway. That was done on purpose.
I was the big sister. Although it was only by a few minutes, I took my role seriously.
If she didn’t come home, that meant things had gone well.
I was glad she decided to go to him, despite what he said.
No. I’m at the hospital. I think I’m going to have to perform a hysterectomy on Kim. I hate that. She’s only thirty-two years old. She wanted kids so badly.
I took a deep breath, feeling sorry for her for a moment.
I was at least able to take Clomid to try to get pregnant.
I still had all my female organs. Then I thought about her situation in detail.
Kim was in a whole ass relationship with a woman.
Unless she was gonna get sperm from a sperm bank, she wasn’t gon’ get pregnant anyway.
Instead of saying all that, I just texted, Keep me posted.
Hopefully, that could wait until Monday.
I didn’t have a single appointment on Monday, so I would be able to go with her and assist wherever she needed me to.
I’d seen Maui and Ashanni yesterday morning, and both of them were doing well.
Maui’s blood pressure was perfect. Ashanni was two steps from childbirth.
She’d dilated to three centimeters. There was no need to put her on bed rest because she was almost full term and the baby was progressing perfectly, just gaining weight. She was nearly thirty-six weeks.
That time seemed to just fly by. I knew it probably didn’t seem that way to her. My phone rang, and when I saw my daddy’s name, I smiled.
“Hey, Daddy Mayor.”
“Hey, baby. What’chu up to?”
“Not too much. You coming over?”
“Yeah. On my way.”
He ended the call. I wasn’t sure what this visit was going to be about.
He typically just dropped in without calling.
Maybe this was something serious. Daddy could be over dramatic at times.
He was so protective of all of us, especially his daughters.
We had to constantly remind him we were grown as fuck.
The doorbell rang, so I went to it and let him inside. He kissed my cheek as I closed the door behind him. He went and flopped on my couch. “Hey, Daddy. What’s up?”
“We have a meeting tonight at the family barn. Those muthafuckas fucking with Marcus. Watchful Eyes found out some interesting information about Cici’s family.
Dad had gotten all of Marcus shit straight when he had his name changed.
That shit proved he was a citizen, because he officially claimed paternity.
I think Dad knew some shit, though, and that was why he left Marcus’s shit in his name. ”
“Damn. How is Uncle Marcus?”
“He’s good. He’s in Puerto Rico, chilling with Ali and Dinalee’s family out there. He just misses his Synna and the kids.”
“That may not even have shit to do with shit, Daddy. You know those people don’t give a damn who they harass.
Uncle Marcus looks somewhat Latino. He has some of their features.
They could have seen him and tried to hem him up based on his looks alone.
It became personal because he got away from them. ”
“That’s true. I never thought about it that way. All that long hair and tattoos don’t help. He look like he in a fucking Mexican gang.”
I rolled my eyes. “Whatever. How’s Mama?”
It was his turn to roll his eyes. “Yo’ mama is on my last fucking nerve, but I know she can’t help it.
Menopause wearing her ass out. I wonder if Jenahra went through all this shit happening to Aspen.
Her fuse is always lit. All I have to do is barely blow on that muthafucka and she exploding on a nigga.
The thermostat is set on Antarctica. That light bill gon’ tear a new hole in my ass. ”
I chuckled. “I swear you so over the top. Every woman is different and can experience different symptoms. Hot flashes are common, though. I’m gonna have to call her and tell her to come in.
I don’t know why she doesn’t say anything about her symptoms. This ain’t the old days. She don’t have to suffer in silence.”
“Put her down for first thing Tuesday morning. I’m making that appointment for her. She has a dentist appointment Monday. I’ll let her know I made it.”
“Na, didn’t you just say her fuse is always lit? Let her make her own appointment. I’ll call her, because I know she probably has some degree of brain fog.”
“You have no idea. She’ll sit there with her shoe in her hand, trying to remember what she was about to do. It’s a fucking shoe! Put it on!”
I slowly shook my head. This nigga was probably going through a mid-life crisis him-damn-self. Those attitudes were probably clashing in that house big time. I wondered how SS and Remy were making it in there.
“Where’s Seven?”
“He’s mowing the hay field. That nigga stays out the way. He comes home to sleep. That’s it. I don’t even know where he’s eating and shitting at. Remy goes to hang with CJ quite a bit.”
“You probably having your lil crisis, too, so you can’t talk about Mama.”
He shot me the finger, causing me to laugh loudly. “Oh, it’s like that?”
“Just like that. How’s Noni? I heard about what happened with Red Squared.”
“She’s good, Daddy. She went to meet him last night and didn’t come home. I want to assume they’ve gotten back together.”
He nodded. “He seems to have his shit together for the time being. For his sake, he better stay on the straight and narrow, so I don’t have to fuck him up. Mythic was treating my baby right, despite his lifestyle. That was what kept him safe.”
“I think he is. He loves her so much. I could see that in Mississippi. She pushed him, but I told you all that.”
“It don’t matter. He could have restrained her without grabbing her by the neck. He could’ve wrapped his arms around her to restrain her. Believe me, I got on Noni’s ass about that shit, but again, he could have chosen a different way to restrain her.”
“Yeah, I guess. I bet she won’t put her hands on that nigga again, though.”
I chuckled, and he did too. “She better not. I don’t want to have someone’s death on my hands.”
His admission made me think about what I’d just set in motion. I supposed I’d gotten too quiet, because he nudged me. I looked at him and saw the frown on his face. “What’s wrong with you?”
I slid my hands down my legs. “I uhh . . . had Ali look into that pharmacy Mythic’s baby mama worked at. That pharmacist had to have signed off on that prescription, so he knew it was wrong. Turns out, he’s her uncle.”
His eyebrows lifted. “So what can be done about it, since there’s no evidence of what she claimed she did?”
I was damn near trembling. I remained quiet until my daddy grabbed me by the shoulders, turning me to him. “Bali . . .”
“Ali asked me the same thing, and I only stared at him. He took that to mean I wanted him to take him out.”
“He took it that way because that was what the fuck you were saying in your silence!” He released my shoulders and took a deep breath. “I raised some fucking thugs.”
When I saw the smirk appear on his lips, I exhaled. “Ain’t nobody finna fuck with my family and get away with that shit. They could have killed my lil sister. I take my role of being the oldest seriously.”
“Bali . . . you the oldest by like four minutes.”
“Time means nothing. I saw this pitiful Earth first.”
He chuckled, then pulled me in his arms. “I know Ali will be efficient, so I’m not worried about you being implicated.
Just make sure you willing to face the consequences of that decision, though.
It could come in the form of bullshit coming to your doorstep.
We pay for the decisions we make, whether it’s by the law or personally. God don’t sleep.”
“I’m not worried.”
He nodded repeatedly, then kissed my head. That pharmacist fucked around and found out.
“So, Iesha made us a graphic that says ICE melts in Big City Nome.”