Chapter 43 #2
I walked around the room like I did last night while she showered.
Yale was always neat; everything had a place, and it was always put there.
On the dresser were her purse, Kindle, iPad, and phone.
I picked up the iPad, swiped the screen, then entered the code.
Her designs were pulled up, and I had to admit she was onto something with the small necklace she was designing.
It was littered with diamonds, and even though I could tell it wasn’t complete, I knew that when it was, it would be dope as fuck.
The shower cut off, and I set her iPad back on the dresser.
“I just knew you would be gone,” she sighed when she came out of the bathroom to find me sitting on the edge of the bed. She adjusted the towel around her to make sure it didn’t fall and walked over to the dresser.
“Never again,” I said, shaking my head as I watched her. She grabbed a pair of boxers and a matching bra from the dresser, then slammed the drawer shut. “It will be easier to accept that I’m here forever.”
“Oh fucking joy.” She walked to the closet, and a few seconds later, the towel she was wearing flew out and landed on the bed. “I believed you then. Not now.”
“You got a big ass battery in your back right now,” I chuckled and shook my head. “Shit’s crazy.”
She stormed out of the closet, holding a t-shirt in her right hand, and mugged me.
Yale was all belly, and seeing her just in her sports bra and boxers had my heart slamming.
She looked so fucking sexy and wasn’t even trying, which wasn’t abnormal for her.
Yale never had to try because her sex appeal was natural, and seeing her pregnant with my baby amplified it.
“Battery in my back?” she laughed, rolling her eyes. “Are you serious right now?”
“I am,” I nodded. “You’re acting tough as fuck.”
“You’re acting tough as fuck,” she mocked me, then walked to the dresser and grabbed a pair of socks. “You have some fucking nerves. I’m not acting like shit.”
“Oh you are.” I watched as she sat on the edge of the bed and pulled her leg up to put her socks on. “You been doing yoga or something?”
“What?”
“You are moving and shit without struggle. Every pregnant woman I’ve ever been around says that by six months, their stomach is in the way and they start to struggle with doing shit like putting socks on.
But you’re moving with no problem. You were flexible and shit before this, but the way you move makes me think you have been doing other shit.
So, I’m just assuming that it’s yoga.” I tilted my head to the side and stared at the print of her pussy. “Hhhheyyy, pretty girl.”
“Amethyst, stop talking to me,” she said, shaking her head. “You are getting on my damn nerves.”
“I wasn’t talking to you that time,” I said, then shrugged.
“Who the fuck were you talking to then?”
“Pretty girl,” I pointed to her open legs and smiled.
“You know that’s my nickname for your pussy.
I missed her. Fuck it, let me ask her myself if she missed me because I know your ass will lie, but not her.
” I quickly moved and was between her legs before she could react.
I buried my nose into her boxers and inhaled.
“Pretty, did you miss me?” I felt her pulsate, and I kissed her pussy gently through the material.
“You did, didn’t you. Nobody took care of you, did they?
” I kissed her again. “Nah, not like I do. I already know they didn’t. Don’t worry, though. I got you.”
“Amethyst, move!” Yale said, pushing against my shoulders.
“Sunshine, chill, I’m talking to my friend right now,” I replied.
“Amethyst Stone!”
“Fine,” I grunted. I didn’t want to move, but I knew I was pushing my luck right now. “I’ll see you later, Pretty.” I kissed her again, this time nibbling on her swollen clit before moving back. She quickly closed her legs, and I looked up at her and smiled. “Don’t be jealous, I missed you too.”
“Move,” she hissed, and I moved back. Yale stood, then mushed my head as she passed me. “You get on my damn nerves.”
I laughed as I stood. “Finish getting dressed so that we can eat. I’m going to make some lamb chops, mashed potatoes, and green beans.”
“I’m not sharing a meal with you,” she said, shaking her head. She went to the closet and came back with a pair of sweats. “Get out.”
“I’ll be back to check on you when the food is done.” My phone rang just as Yale lifted her arm and threw her shirt at me. I could hear her yelling and cussing at me, but that only made me laugh. I walked down the steps, swiping my screen in the process. “Yeah?”
“Are you fucking kidding me right now?” Pyrite yelled. “Fucking Tank and Lavender?”
“Same shit I said.” I walked into the kitchen to find the sisters gone. More than likely, they were on their way up to Yale’s room to see what she was yelling about. “I take it this wasn’t a secret that I wasn’t privy to.”
“Grow the fuck up, Amethyst,” he grunted, then kissed his teeth. “You’re holding on to shit that ain’t even like that.”
“Holding on to shit that ain’t like that? Oh, let me guess, you just kicked your feet up and giggled with Nine after he told you that he was going to kill you, huh?” I opened the fridge and grabbed what I needed out of it before kicking it shut. “Y’all broke bread and had a merry time, huh?”
“Something like that,” he said, and I shook my head.
“You sounding like a fuck nigga right now,” I said, putting the food on the counter. “Ain’t no way in hell you think I’m supposed to just be cool with this. Right now, I’m so fucking mad I could kill every single one of them niggas. Starting with Mecca.”
“You think I didn’t want to?” Pyrite questioned me.
“You think I didn’t lay in my bed for weeks coming up with the perfect plan?
You think I didn’t set shit up. Make shit shake?
Huh?” The sound of him hitting something echoed through the phone.
“Because I fucking did, Amethyst. I did all that shit plus some.”
“But you didn’t follow through, Pyrite,” I returned his energy. “You let that nigga live. He is still topside, and you don’t seem to care.”
“I have my reasons!” Pyrite yelled. “Okay, Amethyst, I have my fucking reasons why.”
“Give me one, and it better be good.”
“Corinthians’ scars,” he answered. “Four’s scars! All that shit is linked, Amethyst! They came looking for us because they thought we had something to do with it! Nine, December, Four, they came because they fucking thought that our people had something to do with it.”
“Wait, what?” I stopped working and stood in the middle of the kitchen. “What do you mean it’s all connected? Corinthians’ scars? Four’s? How the fuck is that possible? That shit happened when he was a kid. Like Judah and Deuce’s age. They didn’t know Corinthians then.”
“They did,” Pyrite sighed. “Four knew, he was a part of the--”
“Nah, Pyrite,” I said, shaking my head even though he couldn’t see me.
“Ain’t no way you can get me to believe that shit.
” I wiped my hands over my face to keep from crying.
I started pacing and beating the side of my head with my fist. The pictures of Four as a kid that I saw flashed through my mind, and I needed them to stop.
“He was a fucking kid, bro, a fucking kid.”
“I know.”
I stopped walking when a realization hit me. “The video. The one we found. It was a little girl. That was Corinthians?”
“Yeah, man.”
Tears fell freely then, because it was now coming together.
Why my brothers were so pissed that I called Uri.
Why they said that she wouldn’t be able to rein him in, it wasn’t because they didn’t have faith in her; it was because she was just as damaged as he was, if not more.
“She was a fucking kid, Pyrite!” I grunted.
“A little girl, she was what, seven? That means he was what? Nine or ten? They’d been having him do that for that long? They were kids, man!”
“I know, Amethyst. Uri and Corinthians. They um, they…” He couldn’t even finish what he was trying to say.
Instead, he cleared his throat and stayed quiet.
“When I say this shit is deep, I mean just that. Citrine is on his way to your house. He’s bringing some people you need to meet.
You want to be kept out of the dark so fucking bad, then you might as well know who is who. ”
“Alright,” I nodded as I wiped my face. “How is Yamari? Anything new?”
“Nah,” he sighed. “She’s a fighter, though.
I already know she’s going to pull through.
She got too many people in her corner for her to leave now.
She’s gotta be the maid of honor in our wedding, the godmother to our babies, and shit like that.
Itty Bitty needs her sister, man.” He sniffed, and I let him have his moment.
“I ain’t never prayed so hard in my life for somebody that don’t have Stone as a last name. But I've been praying hard as hell.”
“Ay, what Mama always say about speaking shit into existence?” I questioned him. “Huh? What does she say?”
“Speak it into the air so God can hear you--”
“Never mumble your desires because then they seem unsure, and God only gives you what is designed to be yours. Yamari ain’t going nowhere, man. She needs time to rest.” The doorbell rang, and I wiped my face to get myself together. “That’s probably Citrine. Let me get off here. Love you.”
“Love you too,” he said, then hung up.
I set my phone on the counter, then left the kitchen to open the door.
When I got to the front door, I didn’t even check before turning the knob.
With all the shit going on, it would’ve been smart to do, but my mind wasn’t where it was supposed to be.
I pulled it open and came face-to-face with Citrine and two other men.
“Come on,” I said, stepping back. I dapped up my brother, then the two men with him.
“Amethyst, this is Kenbral and Gentle Strong,” Citrine said, pointing to each man as he said their name. “Gentle is Nine’s brother and goes by Eight, and Kenbral is Four’s brother and goes by Trey.”
“Nice to meet y’all,” I said, nodding. “I’m in the kitchen cooking so we can talk in there.” Once we were back in the kitchen, I washed my hands and resumed preparing dinner. “When Pyrite said I was going to meet some folks, I didn’t expect to meet Nine and Four’s little brothers.”
“Older,” Gentle corrected me. His tone reminded me of Nine’s.
I stopped peeling my potatoes to look at him and chuckled. Gentle had the same cocky ass demeanor as Nine. Not only did they look alike, but more than likely, they acted alike too, which meant that the Strongs’ attitude was genetic.
“Older, younger, doesn’t matter, you’re a new Number. One I probably won’t remember by the end of the week, so it doesn’t matter.”
“Amethyst,” Citrine sighed. “They are good people, chill with the attitude.”
“Why are they here?” I asked Citrine as I went back to peeling. “What do they add to the story that I don’t know?”
“Yours?” Kenbral questioned and shook his head. “Not a fucking thing but some excitement. You aren’t on our radar, which is why you didn’t know about us. The ones who mattered did.”
“Muthafucka--”
“Amethyst?” Yale called my name as she came into the kitchen. I looked up to see her and Spelman standing in the doorway. Her eyes went from me to Citrine and then settled on Kenbral, and her eyebrows damn near touched. “Why are you here?”
“You know this nigga?” I asked Yale, and she nodded. “What? How? When did y’all meet?”
“He’s FBI,” she answered, still watching Kenbral. “When Grant died, he investigated his death.”
“A cover,” Kenbral said, shaking his head. He chuckled and then shrugged. “I had to come in since this nigga decided to kill Grant and let his body be found.”
“You killed Grant?” She cut her eyes to me.
“Oh, you didn’t know?” Kenbral looked between us, and I was ready to kill this nigga. Yeah, he was a Strong for sure. “Damn, Doc, I thought she knew. My fault.”
“My nigga, I just met you, and I already can’t stand your ass.”
“That’s crazy because everybody else loves me,” he replied.
“But then again, that could be because they’ve had years to deal with me.
” He smirked. “I told you only the important people knew about me. You weren’t considered important until now.
” His fake ass smile dropped. “Time to get you caught up so we can get this shit over with.”