21. Royal
Royal
“I’m just glad the funeral is over so we can try to regain some semblance of normalcy,” I said to the fellas.
We were at the family barn for Crew’s repast. The Semiens and Mr. Red had gotten some people they knew to cater it so my aunts could grieve with everyone else without having to worry about food.
It was the first time we’d eaten food they hadn’t cooked in the family barn.
It felt weird. The food was good, but to us Hendersons, no one’s food was better than Aunt Jen’s and Aunt Chrissy’s.
Kane and Ryder J had cried more than I did. It made me wonder if they knew anything about the shit he was doing. I knew if they did, they wouldn’t dare tell us, but it would surely eat them alive, knowing they could have helped him. For their sakes, I hoped they didn’t know.
I glanced over at Aaliyah as she talked to Bali, Shani, Noni, Maui, Iesha, and Milana.
She looked so happy. Maui was holding her baby, Shani was holding hers, Aaliyah and Iesha had the twins, and the other three women were pregnant.
Lord have mercy. I already knew when the twins had their babies, it was gonna be hell on everybody in the vicinity.
I could tell Aaliyah really didn’t want to have the twins out and about so soon, as well as Karima with her baby girl, but this was an extenuating circumstance. Everyone wanted to be here to support us.
Seeing my brother in that casket was hard .
. . hard as fuck. My mama nearly passed out.
Dad hadn’t smoked since we found out Crew was on drugs.
I knew that shit was hard on him. He had been smoking since before I was born.
I didn’t know if he would return to it or not.
Now that we knew Crew’s possible diagnosis, we knew it was primarily the mental illness that had him seeking out something stronger.
I hoped that revelation would help Dad release the guilt he had inside as well.
We all wanted the playful, crazy version of him to return .
. . the entire Henderson family. He held all the fun.
The entire family smoked with him at one time or another.
No one smoked as much as he did, but everyone had joined in at some point, even Uncle WJ.
Uncle Kenny stayed close to him. I hoped he would be able to help him through this.
He blamed himself for Kendrick’s death for a long time, saying he should have never trusted Tasha to take care of him.
He knew what it felt like to die inside and feel like a piece of him was gone.
While I was sure he still had his moments, he was able to move on in a healthy mental space and continue loving and taking care of the family members that were still here.
It had been over twenty-five years, because it was before Kingsley was born.
He had his hair loose today, reminiscent of him.
I noticed he did that when my grandparents died as well.
I thought he would do it for PJ, but since he knew PJ wasn’t deceased, he didn’t.
“So you and Treasure talking again?” Seven asked Kingsley.
“Somewhat. We haven’t been anywhere together, but we talk on the phone.
When Aaliyah went into labor, she and Missus Harper were there.
I heard the commotion, because Liyah was screaming.
I was standing outside as they were getting her in the car.
When she saw me, she ran to me and literally jumped in my arms. It felt like my soul had been revived.
I have hope in us. I feel like with the right counseling, we will be okay. ”
“That’s good, bro. I hope it works out. I know how you feel about her,” Kane said surprising us all.
The nigga was hard as fuck all the time.
Maybe Crew’s death had him feeling as sensitive as the rest of us did.
I glanced at Ace to see him following someone with his eyes.
I turned to see who it was and saw Mr. Zayson’s daughter, Lauren.
Maaaaann, he was gon’ have to put in work for that one. She was bougie as hell.
“Nigga, you gon’ breathe?” Seven asked, picking with him.
He shoved him. “Man, I gotta have her ass.”
“Lauren?” Kingsley asked.
“Mm-hmm. She put on a front like she uptight and bougie, but they be the ones that’s freaks. I bet she’ll fuck my life up.”
I chuckled. “Nigga, I hope you come out of that with your feelings still intact. She plays no games. She’s how old?”
“I think she about twenty-nine or so. She’s either the same age as the twins or the same age as Maui. I know she was at HJ when they were there. I wasn’t far behind them, and was probably there too, but I was most likely in ninth grade. I didn’t pay attention to shit back then,” Seven said.
I chuckled. Seven really got on everybody’s nerves back then.
“Well, all I’m saying is, whether she become mine or not, I plan to knock it dine.”
“I guess you think you Slim Thug now. Knock it dine, nigga?” Ryder J said, causing us to chuckle.
“Yep. I’m finna be Suga Daddy Ace.”
“Muthafucka you only a couple of years older than her,” Seven said through his laughter.
He waved Seven off and stood from his seat.
We all watched him approach Lauren, and when she turned around with a frown on her face, I couldn’t stop myself from laughing.
That didn’t deter his ass though. He said something to her and walked off.
Her eyebrows had lifted, and her gaze followed him until he got back to us.
“Nigga! What the fuck you say? She watched you walk all the way back over here!” Kane said.
“I told her that facade she had going on was cute, but if she wanted to get fucked and sucked right to call me.”
My eyebrows hiked up. “What the fuck? I know you lyin’, nigga.”
He shook his head with a straight face. From the stories I’d heard about Uncle Marcus’s ass, this nigga was him reincarnate.
They said he approached Aunt Syn the same way.
Well, they’d been married for a long time now, probably close to around eighteen years now.
I guess that shit worked for him. I slowly shook my head, but I was low-key interested, wondering if that approach would work for him.
I stood from the table to go and check on my babies.
Aaliyah had been an excellent mother. Watching how her motherly intuition just kicked in left me in awe of her.
We were both counting down the days when we could get back into loving each other the first way we established.
My dick was dying without having a taste of pussy.
She’d offered to call Nikki again, and I turned her down.
It was hard seeing Nikki though, because I always thought about what she said. If I dove in Nikki’s shit right now, I’d fuck her all the way up. Then Liyah would think I was enjoying that shit too much. I wanted her pussy to be the first one I tasted. She was who I needed. Nobody else mattered.
So I told her again, that if she couldn’t have sex, I wouldn’t be either. However, she had better make sure she was on birth control when I got in that shit if she didn’t want to be pregnant again.
I wasn’t gon’ even wanna fuck with no condom.
I’d been feeling that shit raw for months.
Plus, if she thought I was in savage mode when I burst through that shit before she got pregnant, I was surely gonna burst through that muthafucka this time, on first thrust. She brought a different nigga out of me.
Her pussy made me lose control every time, and I wouldn’t change a damn thing about that shit.
When I got to them, Bali said, “Look at him. He already wrapped around their little fingers.”
“And I am. I don’t deny that.”
They laughed as I took Ravi from Aaliyah and kissed his head.
I couldn’t wait to teach him everything I knew, even the shit I didn’t like doing.
I wasn’t all that fond of outdoor activities like my cousins, but I definitely knew how to mow the hay field, hunt, and fish.
I wasn’t the best at it, but I had the techniques to build on.
I wasn’t great at them because I rarely did it, especially hunting and fishing.
My dad loved hunting, and he would take me when I was a kid all the time. But when I grew up, I was done with that shit. The only hunting I was doing was hunting for pussy. My dick was the gun, and he hit his target every time.
I rocked Ravi in my arms as he squirmed, then walked over to my dad and handed him to him. I felt like he needed him. He was just sitting quietly while everyone around him talked and laughed. I knew he wouldn’t be himself for a while, but I wanted to help him get on track.
He looked up at me and smiled. “I can’t get over how much he looks like you did as a baby.”
I gave him a tight smile, then walked away because I could feel my emotions about to get the best of me.
Seeing him like this was pulling me down even more.
He spent a lot of time at our house this week, and I knew him being happy to have new grandbabies wasn’t the sole reason.
He was trying to get away from memories of Crew.
Memories of him were all over that house, even the shit he tore up before he left.
I went back to where Aaliyah was and got Rasha from Iesha next.
No one said anything, and I felt that was because they’d seen where I’d gone with Ravi.
Aaliyah’s face was red, like she would cry at any moment.
I kissed Rasha’s head and went straight to my mama with her. She smiled when I handed her to her.
“We need loud mouf Chas back.”
She cut her eyes at me. “I got yo’ fucking Chas. You been hanging your ass around Ashanni too much, thinking you can call me Chas.”
She chuckled and held Rasha tightly in her arms and took a deep breath as tears fell down her cheeks. I kissed her cheek as I sat next to her and put my arm around her while Aunt Aspen gently rubbed her back.
“I love you, Mama.”
“I love you too.”