Chapter 14 #2
“Do you want to have a relationship with them? I know you don’t need to, and you certainly don’t have to,… but do you want to?”
A long sigh escaped me as I looked toward the ceiling.
“I did for a while. Now that it might be a possibility, I’m not sure.
Kind of like getting something you’ve learned to live without, feel me?
We shared details over the years and made small talk, but that’s been the extent of our relationship. How would we even have more?”
“Well, he did tell you he’d put in the work if you allowed him to,” she said sweetly.
Sucking my teeth, I shook my head. “Nah. Plus, I’d feel like a hypocrite. I was just telling you not to accept bad behavior from your family just because they were your family.”
“Yeah, but our situations are different. I yearned for a relationship with my family, and they didn’t want to have one with me.
No one except Lily, at least, and that was conditional.
They kept treating me poorly. Your father is trying to make amends, and from the sound of it, your brother will too.
So if you wanted to have a deeper relationship with them, as long as they met your terms, no one would blame you for that at all.
I would have loved for things to get better between me and my cousins, but that simply wasn’t the case.
I don’t think you’re a hypocrite. I actually love that you have this chance. ”
My head shook as I considered her words. What she was saying was true, but just the thought of getting close to either of them wasn’t sitting well with me. Not right now at least. I told her I’d consider it, and she told me she’d support me either way.
“Regardless of what I want with them, all I need is you,” I reminded her against her ear, and when she purred and giggled, my dick throbbed.
That declaration led to me being inside of her, which had become my second favorite place to be.
The first was honestly and simply with her.
It didn’t matter where we were or what we were doing; all I needed was her presence, and that was more than enough.
Her tight, warm, wet pussy was a very, very close second though.
After we showered and fell asleep, I thought I was hearing things when my phone started to ring. With me keeping everyone on alert for Brandon, I’d been keeping my ringer on.
“Pooh,” Cordova called groggily, shoving my arm. “Your phone is ringing,” she whined, confirming what I thought I heard but wasn’t sure about.
My eyes popped open, and I sat up in bed. Leaning to the side, I snatched my phone off the nightstand and rubbed my eyes. At the sight of Clover’s name, I jumped out of bed.
“Wassup?” I answered, clearing the sleep from my throat.
“Roll from under my sister and get yo’ ass to the warehouse. We got action, nigga.”
“Y’all sure about this?” I confirmed as the Sprinter pulled to a slow stop.
When Clover called with information, I wasn’t expecting him and Pops to roll out with me and my brothers.
I knew they were down to ride that first night, but this felt different.
This felt like an intentional choice for them to stand by my side, and I wasn’t sure how to process that just yet.
“I got a team. Y’all don’t have to do this,” I added. Hell, I’d even told Keem and Nathan they didn’t have to come along. My team was solid, and even with me retiring, they all came through to handle this with me.
“Fuck I look like letting you handle this without me, Son?” Pops asked, tightening his bulletproof vest.
“I promised sis that we would handle this, so we gon’ handle this,” Clover said, and I decided to leave it alone.
He’d gotten word that Brandon was hiding at Matthew’s warehouse in South Memphis.
Matthew was one of our first stops that night, and he assured us that he hadn’t heard from Brandon.
He promised to call if he did because he didn’t want no smoke with us.
I respected the fact that as soon as one of his men gave him word that he’d been hiding out at the warehouse, he called us.
Problem was, Brandon had created a bond with the lieutenant and street team at that warehouse, so they were loyal to him.
Eddie was annoyed by him and didn’t like him, and apparently, that was the reason he told Matthew what was going on.
Regardless of the competition, our prep and process was the same.
Usually, we’d try to spend more time researching the building, checking for all exits, but that was impossible this time.
I didn’t want to risk them seeing us for too long and having time to prepare, so we hopped out of three Sprinters and headed toward the large, wooden doors.
Like always, I was in the middle of the pack.
But different from any other times, Pops and Clover were in front of me, and Keem and Nathan were behind.
It took about a minute to get the door down, which I knew was giving them time to scramble and prepare for the attack.
As soon as we had a way in, bullets started flying, and bodies started dropping.
As long as my brothers and Pops were still standing, I didn’t pay attention to too much else.
We made our way through the warehouse toward the racks, where Eddie said Brandon had been working. A whistle flew past my ear, and the sound of a grunt coming from Clover gained my attention.
“Somebody on the second floor shooting,” Keem said, confirming my suspicion.
When Clover’s body dropped, mine did too, but he insisted, “Go! I’m good.”
With a growl, I stood, looked up toward the second level, and locked eyes with the shooter.
I filled him with bullets, causing him to crumble over the railing and fall to his death.
My eyes shifted toward Clover briefly as I ran toward the racks.
It didn’t take long to figure out where Brandon was, because he started pushing the racks down on my team.
While Pops and Keem went toward the left, me and Nathan went behind him on the right.
Pops yelled and taunted him, gaining his attention, giving the perfect distraction for me to light him up from behind. As happy as I was that I’d gotten him, my mind kept going back to Clover.
To my brother.
I waited until the life left Brandon’s eyes before rushing back out to Clover.
He was leaking from both sides. Lowering myself, I tossed him over my shoulder, and he grunted.
While my folks formed a shield wall around me, I carried him out of the warehouse.
As fucked up as our relationship was, I didn’t want him to die,… especially while trying to help me.