Chapter 16 Work It Out #3
“I have.” She snickered and grabbed a straw for her cup and held each item against her chest. “But he’s not all bad. I’ve seen him with the kids, even Pierre. They all love him.”
“Babies and fools go together, G.” Crew chuckled.
“My point exactly. Yes, he needs to grow up, but maybe Prischa is the person to help do that for him. You never know.” She shrugged and moved down the candy aisle, grabbing shit along the way.
By the time they got to the checkout counter, they had a boatload of junk food and drinks.
Crew grabbed a fifth of tequila from behind the counter, plus a case of beer before paying the tab.
As the four of them headed to the door, the bell above it dinged, and in strolled Henna, laughing it up with Oz.
“The fuck? The night that keeps on fucking giving. ” Heavy scowled, and Oz immediately knew he’d fucked up.
The smile Henna wore faded and was replaced by daggers in her eyes for Giselle before they shifted to her twin.
“Bro, we was just chilling,” Oz explained, throwing his hands up like he’d been caught taking something he wasn’t supposed to.
“You ain’t gotta tell him shit, Oz. Last time I checked, he wasn’t fucking with me anyway.”
“Oz knows what this is, and if I say this shit is done, it’s done,” Heavy growled, inching into his sister’s space. “We had a conversation not long ago about what’s off limits to us, Oz. So how come I’m the last to know about you and Henna?”
“It’s not some secret. We’ve been hanging out for a while now. We like each other, and I don’t have to explain my relationships to you. My father’s name is Toussaint Sapien, not Huey,” Henna conveyed with attitude.
“Henna, chill, mama.” Oz pulled on her arm so he could speak with Heavy. “Heavy, I know I should have come to you. I’m not fucking her, though. We just been spending some time together, that’s it.”
Heavy believed him. There was no reason for Oz to lie like that.
Like Heavy, she didn’t form a lot of attachments.
She had a boyfriend in high school, and when Luca went to prison, Henna gave up on relationships.
He was her first everything, and he had mental issues.
Heavy suspected it was why she was so adamant about being there for Milani all these years and helping her get herself together.
He didn’t have the patience for it, but his sister’s heart was wired different.
“That ain’t none of his business,” Henna sneered.
“Nah, after how I came at Viggo about my sister, I can’t stand here, acting like it’s cool that we been chilling, and I ain’t talk to this man about it,” Oz reasoned, watching Henna’s mouth zip shut before she grilled her brother.
“I got a business relationship with him, and I ain’t trying to fuck that up behind this. ”
“Whatever.” Henna rolled her eyes. “I’m not asking him permission for shit.” She tucked her arms across her chest and pouted like a little ass kid.
“You need to bring that attitude down a peg or two, mama. You already know I ain’t with all that rah rah shit to get your point across.” Oz was stern when he spoke to her, straightening Henna right on up, although she still wore a resting bitch expression.
Heavy was impressed. He had never seen his sister submit the way she just did, which had him looking at Oz in a different light.
“Heav, with your permission I would like to pursue whatever this is with her. If you not cool with it, I understand, and I won’t press the issue.”
“Y’all grown.” Heavy shrugged.
“Hmm, nice of you to acknowledge that,” Henna muttered.
Both men cut eyes at her. Henna was a force, and not one to be taken lightly. She played games with men for entertainment. It was clear Oz wasn’t engaging the way most men normally would, so she was dealing with a whole new challenge. Shaking his head, Heavy dapped Oz up.
“Good luck with that, bro. She don’t like to listen, and she think she know everything,” Heavy warned, placing his arm around Giselle’s waist and leading her past them.
“Yeah, well… you’re controlling and stubborn!” Henna yelled at his back once they were outside.
“Are you ever going to talk to her again?” Giselle asked once they were outside and at his car.
“We just talked,” he responded, opening her door for her. “Right now, I ain’t got shit to say. If she can’t accept you, that’s on her. When she gets her shit together, we’ll deal with it.” Heavy reached for the gas handle to pump as Crew did the same at the pump in front of them.
With her legs facing him, Giselle held her Styrofoam cup and Red Bulls against her chest while Maisie moseyed over with the bottle of tequila.
“You trying to fill up now, so you can catch a buzz on the drive?”
“Yes, please,” Giselle replied giddily, popping the lid off her cup and holding it out to her.
Maisie topped her off and put the cork back in the bottle.
After Crew and Heavy finished pumping gas, they got into their cars and took off.
Heavy trailed Crew to the lake and through the winding roads until they came across a shelter where another car was parked and a fire pit burned a few feet from where the lake water glistened.
Kehlani’s “Out the Window” serenaded them softly when they parked beside Solo’s white Dodge Challenger and piled out of their whips.
Heavy and Crew both backed in so they could lift the back compartment of their SUVs and post up instead of sitting on the grass.
A deep navy sky with stars sparkling cast an illumination over them.
Solo sat on the grass, one leg bent and the other stretched in front of him as he sipped from a red plastic cup and watched Gem dance barefoot around the fire and sing along to the Bluetooth speaker beside him.
A hint of a smile toyed with his lips, watching her wind her body.
Anyone could see that boy was gone over her.
He barely noticed when the rest of them pulled up.
Heavy sat on the edge of his car, bringing a fresh blunt to his lips to partake in, and Giselle sipped her tequila mixture from her cup. When Gem finally spotted them, she grinned and rushed over to Maisie and Crew at his truck.
“We set up a volleyball net. Y’all want to play?”
“I’m down. Let’s smoke first.” Crew sparked his blunt and leaned against the bumper of his car.
Maisie jumped up beside him and swung her legs off the back.
“We need to talk about Mama’s 70th birthday party, too. I plan on opening the club, but we need a theme and menu. It’s a surprise, too, so keep it quiet around her.”
“Is that why Lou is MIA?” Giselle joked, taking the blunt from Heavy when he passed it to her.
He rested his hands on her hips, bringing her between his legs with her back against his chest.
“She’s at some sorority shit,” Gem answered.
“Why aren’t you there? Shouldn’t you be experiencing college life and all that instead of being here with some dude?” Giselle took another pull of the weed and passed it back to Heavy over her shoulder.
“Shouldn’t you be minding your own business?
Don’t you have plenty of problems of your own?
” Gem sniped, turning her nose up. “I thought coming back here had humbled you a little bit. You don’t even know Solo, but you quick to judge me and him when you got knocked up on a one-night stand and lied about it. ”
“Ooop.” Maisie choked when she inhaled smoke, and Crew had to pat her on the back a few times to help her catch her breath.
A glacier of ice might as well have filled the space between them. Giselle’s fiery stare seared Gem spitefully, but her little sister had no intention of backing down.
“That was cold, Gem,” Crew muttered, shaking his head.
“She started it.” Gem waved her hand at Giselle and sucked her teeth.
“I can finish it too.” Giselle straightened up, but Heavy’s strong arm kept her locked against him as he tugged on his blunt.
“Why are you all in my business anyway? You’re not my parent,” Gem reminded her.
“Maybe not, but I am the oldest, and I’m trying to spare you from making mistakes.”
“Well, I don’t need it. I’m not stupid or some fucking airhead.
I like Solo. I don’t have my head in the clouds about him either.
We’re having fun getting to know each other.
I don’t appreciate you trying to micromanage me.
I’m not one of your kids. From what I’ve heard about you, why the hell would I take any advice from you?
You didn’t even care enough to say goodbye to me, so why the hell would I want to be around you now?
Maisie feels sorry for you, and Lou is a mess herself. I don’t need you,” Gem slurred.
She’d had a few cups of Rose before they arrived and left sober about an hour ago.
Hurt flickered behind Giselle’s gaze, and Gem recognized it.
She was drowning herself, and the only person she was able to talk about it with recently was Solo.
He was impartial to the situation unlike Maisie and Lou.
Part of her was jealous that they all got to grow up together.
Sometimes she still felt like an outsider.
Giselle was their family, and right or wrong, they were going to ride for her.
She knew the same was true for her, but she still held some resentment toward her big sister for abandoning her the way she did when she thought they were trying to build a relationship.
“Gem—” Maisie chastised.
“What!” Gem snapped as Solo came up behind her. “You going to defend her… again, Mais? She doesn’t deserve it! She went and created a whole other family and X’d us out. She had kids and never said a fucking word! How is any of that okay!”
“I never said it was,” Maisie argued. “But we’re family.”
“It seems like it only matters to the rest of us and her when it’s convenient.” Gem shot a hardened glare at her sister as her eyes misted.