Chapter 20
Pearla
“So, you mean to tell me, you wouldn’t fuck Chris Brown?” Blayke asked as we all sat on the sectional, nursing wine coolers.
Gallery had carried in two cases that he’d bought off the street, and we’d been tearing into them.
Glee was the only one not indulging because she was breastfeeding.
Her mom had taken the baby to meet Glee’s dad, so she wasn’t with us today, and although Mahzeyah verbalized she was missing Baby Leader every five minutes, Italian was the one with the attitude as if no one should be enjoying themselves without Baby Leader being here.
You’d think he was the father and Mahzeyah was the mother with the way they’d been carrying on today.
Having a friend with a baby was a different experience for all of us.
Glee was so sweet and smart, and she was so pretty and petite.
She was the girl you wouldn’t think had had sex, let alone would have a beautiful little baby girl.
Lately, Baby Leader had been the best part of my days when I was with the crew.
If she could talk, I knew she would tell all of us to get the fuck up out of her face.
We were forever playing hot potato with pretty little Baby Leader.
“Bitch, hell no!” Bella frowned.
She had her laptop propped on her legs, her phone in one hand, and her wine cooler in the other.
None of us were old enough to drink. Bella was the oldest of us, going into her sophomore year of college, and Italian and his boys weren’t old enough to be smoking or shooting dice, but they were down in the basement doing both.
“Chris Brown! Y’all all lying! I know I’m not the only one who would take him down!”
“Uh…” Mahzeyah took a sip from her cooler. “I think you are, Blayke. I mean, Chris Brown is attractive, I give him that. But the nigga is like my daddy age. Ew.”
Mahzeyah shook her head before taking another sip of her drink.
She didn’t have cheer practice today, so instead of being in her uniform, she was in an orange Alo skort with the matching tank, looking so cute.
Her gold Bottega sneakers were somewhere along our feet, being that she kicked them off before getting comfy on the sectional.
“And Ezio look identical to the nigga. It’s hard to look at Chris Brown and not see Ezee.” Bella gagged. “Saying I’d fuck him feels too much like… incest.”
Bella cut her eyes at me. I was on my third wine cooler and was feeling a slight buzz, so it took a while for me to catch on. When I did, I grabbed the decorative pillow beside me and launched it.
“Girl, fuck you! Y’all better fall up off my sister and her fiancé! They are not related.”
Everyone burst out laughing, including Glee and Blayke.
We’d run down most of the family drama because we didn’t want them to feel left out when we threw jabs at each other.
We’d left out the mob stuff we knew about and me catching those bodies months ago to avoid incriminating ourselves and our people, but they pretty much knew everything else.
Glee took it all in stride, and that damn Blayke was fascinated.
“Ezio is the one in that picture, right?” Blayke pointed.
On the mantle, there was a photo from their engagement in front of a horse and carriage.
Being a Bridgerton fan, I thought they’d had the best wedding so far, although my sister and Renello’s engagement was the best proposal by default.
I couldn’t wait to see how the other weddings panned out.
Pia was still planning hers, and I’d heard Discover was starting soon.
I felt they should have double weddings since they were marrying twins, but I understood wanting your own day too.
“Yes, you saw him at the hospital when I was having Leader,” Glee answered before shifting on the cushion beside Blayke.
When Glee was released from the hospital after her car accident, she was in so much pain.
Today, she looked more like herself, and although she was still using the wheelchair, she was learning to hop around without it.
Her face had completely healed, with the exception of her lip, and she didn’t complain as much about her ribs.
There was still a dark line on her lip where the stitches were, and it almost looked like it was an upside-down heart, but she was still pretty as hell.
“Girl, I saw ’bout thirty niggas at the hospital, and all of them was fine!
You was in labor with a baby I knew nothing about.
I didn’t get a chance to really look in nobody’s face like that.
But yeah…” Blayke skimmed the picture again.
“They do look alike. Ezio is finer, though, especially with those eyes.
“If I was his wife, I wouldn’t let his ass go nowhere. I’d even go to the bathroom with that nigga ’cause you won’t be texting bitches while on the toilet! That man is fioneeee!” Blayke wiggled her toes as she bounced in her spot on the couch.
“My ears are bleeding!” Bella was beginning to turn red in the face. She looked physically unwell with her dramatic ass.
“They have all become like family, and Lord knows I am afraid of grown men, but Shio? That Shioooooo! He is so fineeeeee!” Mahzeyah snickered, and Bella gagged again.
“Y’all do know these niggas y’all speak of were once dusty and broke, right? That’s the only reason y’all crushing, cuz they rich.”
Mahzeyah smacked her lips. “And they were still fine when they was broke too. I saw the photo album that the twins’ mama keeps around. The men have always looked good.”
Mahzeyah told no lies. Auntie kept the photo book in rotation.
“Since we’re talking fineeee…” Bella folded her laptop and placed it on the seat beside her. “And since we’re talking grown-ass men…” She turned so that her body was facing mine. “Matteo.”
“FINE AS HELL!” Mahzeyah screamed.
I groaned and took another sip of my wine cooler.
Never in my life did I think I would have a big brother—like, ever.
I had Pia and Neltz and was content with that.
Patty was so full of surprises with her lineup of baby daddies that my dad had a wife, a son, and a granddaughter, making me an aunt times two—well, two and one pending.
Matteo was my dog. We talked and hung out just as much as Pia and I, if not more.
Even being in the mob, Matteo managed his time well, juggling me, his duties, and his household.
Most nights, when I didn’t feel like going to Pia’s or my stepdad’s homes, I ended up at Matteo and Scarlett’s place.
Hearing the girls gush over my big brother was disgusting, and I started to fake gag like Bella.
“Matteo is the meanest man of the bunch. Why the hell do y’all even see him in that light? He is only nice to like… three people. One is me, with the other two being his wife and child.” I shook my head, but the girls didn’t seem to care.
“Girl, I love a nigga that runs a strict-ass program! He stay with a stank face. Like, yeah, let these bitches know that this ain’t that. Matteo looks like he don’t hold the door open for another bitch. That’s my type, fasho!” Bella clapped.
“I get so confused on who is related to who, but I know one person we can all relate to that we want to take down to the ground.” Blayke twisted open another wine cooler.
“Who?” we all replied in unison.
“That fuckin’ Essex!”
“Oh, boo!” Bella waved her off.
“Chile, I have my rapper. Ion need another,” Mahzeyah stated matter-of-factly.
“Essex is very attractive,” Glee added, shocking the hell out of me.
I giggled and then decided to tease Bella. “So, you saying he don’t look good, Bella?” I had to get her ass back from salivating over my brother and taking jabs at my sister.
“Of course, he looks good. But that’s Essex. He like family.”
Blayke half-laughed. “He’s like family to you. He ain’t family.”
“Girl, no. He’s family. Besides, as Mahzeyah said… That’s a grown-ass man. Even I have my limits. Plus, I love me some Missy.”
“Girl, Missy is down with the get down too. You be seeing the way she be all over Mocha. I know they done did the nasty before and nobody can convince me otherwise!” Mahzeyah pointed out, and although I wouldn’t back her statement, her point was valid.
My sister’s best friend had always been sexually liberated. But I couldn’t see her trying anything with Bella. We were kids in their eyes, even though Bella was nearing twenty.
“Essex is my boss.” Bella drove her back into the cushion.
“And when you let him fuck you one time for keepsake, y’all can go back to being just boss and employee.” Blayke stuck her tongue out, and Glee giggled.
“Sometimes… you do gotta fuck a nigga just to get him out your system,” Mahzeyah ranted.
“Again, gross. Essex isn’t in my system, friend. That is a grown-ass man.”
I sat up and cleared my throat. “Before we change the subject, can we address the pretty-ass, Spanish-speaking elephant downstairs?”
Solana.
When we put her in the bathtub the other day, I was crying right along with her.
She was so beautiful—so young. I didn’t know her full story, but she was fighting a drug addiction, and it was taking its toll.
We gave her the best bath, shampoo, and conditioning she’d probably ever had.
When she was dressed, Bella gave her an Ibuprofen that her doctor had prescribed for her period cramps, and Solana was out like a light.
I made it my business to check on her every day.
Earlier today, she was in much better spirits.
The guys were down there shooting dice now while we ladies held this floor down.
I was sure she was entertained, listening to Italian and his friends talk shit to each other.
“She’s pushing through…” Bella said.
“She is, but I wonder why he didn’t take her to rehab?” Mahzeyah asked herself more than anyone else.