CHAPTER ONE SEVEN
CHAPTER ONE
SEVEN
TWO AND A HALF YEARS LATER . . .
“Man, you have to calm yo’ ass down. Iesha don’t want to be bothered with you. If she did, she would be here.”
I glanced at Royal, then shot him the finger. “She mine, and she know that shit. I can’t believe she brought another nigga here. What the fuck wrong with her?”
“She didn’t bring him inside. She left him outside. Why were you out there?”
“Nigga, I went out the back door to smoke. I walked around to the front, and there he was. I told that nigga he was wasting his fucking time.”
Royal’s eyebrows lifted. I didn’t give a fuck about that nigga she had with her.
She had better hope I didn’t find out where the fuck he worked.
I’d show up to that nigga’s job and get his ass fired.
She didn’t want to be with me? Her ass wouldn’t be with nobody.
I didn’t know who the fuck she took me for, but I wasn’t a weak ass nigga and refused to be one.
Royal slowly shook his head and walked away.
He needed to be worried about why Aaliyah’s ass was pregnant, and his ho ass didn’t know about it.
Fucking freaks. I had never seen a nigga love sex as much as Royal did.
Apparently, he must’ve been on a fucking binge session when he fucked up with Aaliyah.
“You can’t just be somewhere and not make shit about you, huh?”
I frowned and looked up to see Bali standing over me.
She got the finger too. They could all go to hell.
Iesha wasn’t finna roll through here and disrespect me without knowing I wasn’t gon’ stand for that shit.
She already knew what it was between us.
It wasn’t like we’d just met. I’d been knowing her ass for almost two years.
While we didn’t start off as a couple, we talked and hung out quite a bit.
She knew a lot about me. She knew I could be a loose cannon at times.
She knew I could become unhinged at times.
My personality wasn’t some kind of mystery to her ass.
Then after my personality unleashed on her brother, she wanted to act surprised.
For her to bring another nigga to my people shit was disrespectful as fuck.
I didn’t give a fuck that she wasn’t talking to me right now.
This was my fucking family, not hers. It didn’t matter how close she thought she was to everybody.
She was a fucking outsider. They were gonna ride for me, whether I was right or wrong, especially Bali and Noni.
Maui fucking surprised me with that Mythic situation, but I supposed I could understand.
It did look like I was fucking with him for no reason.
I didn’t want to do the snitching part the FBI had proposed two years ago, but when I found out he was fucking my sister, that was all it took.
After I couldn’t seem to get to his ass without snitching, I did it and got my first fifty G’s.
I didn’t even give a fuck about the money.
I wanted him to leave my sister the fuck alone.
I thought he was selling her wolf tickets about who he was.
That couldn’t be further from the truth.
She knew exactly who the fuck he was. She may not have known details, but she knew.
What changed everything was when that nigga risked his life to save mine.
It wasn’t the first time at the doctor’s office though.
I knew he didn’t like that muthafucka and wanted to kill his ass anyway.
By then, I also knew how sincere he was when it came to my sister.
That nigga had made a full one-eighty when it came to Maui. I had to respect that.
That whole scene at his parents’ house wasn’t a surprise to me.
It was risky as fuck, especially since I did get shot in the leg.
I knew those muthafuckas were following me around, so it wasn’t a surprise that they followed me to Mythic.
I knew who I was dealing with. That nigga was like Houdini.
He’d escaped death so many times and was extremely cautious.
I knew those dumb muthafuckas wouldn’t catch him slipping.
Once he risked his life to save mine, I knew for sure that he had really changed.
He could have let those people take me out.
They wouldn’t have, though, because I saw them coming.
I would have hit that ground fast as fuck.
At that point, I was completely sure he’d changed and so was he.
He was mad as fuck, not understanding why he risked his life for mine.
I could only laugh about the shit later.
Me squashing shit with him was real though.
I was glad he got out of that shit. The only problem with that, though, was that in the process of him getting out, he killed the muthafucka that was leading us to who the fuck their suppliers were.
That shit knocked us back to square one.
When Treasure was kidnapped, that really threw a monkey wrench in the shit, because several others were killed that I was getting info from.
Once all that was done, my dad wanted me to just pull out.
He said he was tired of lying to the family about the shit I was doing.
Plus, he felt like it affected my already aggressive and explosive personality.
I didn’t think it affected my personality, but I did become more transparent.
I wasn’t cautious about illegal activities, because I knew I wouldn’t be convicted of shit.
It was almost like I had full immunity, even if it had nothing to do with getting info they could use.
They said anything I did was only establishing my street credibility.
I took full advantage of that shit too. I didn’t hide when I was smoking a blunt anymore.
Marijuana use was illegal in Texas. My family thought I was crazy as fuck.
Everybody thought I was crazy as fuck. I didn’t care.
I was just glad that people I cared about were no longer involved in that bullshit.
My biggest fear was having to see PJ, Ace, or Philly get busted.
Ace dibbled and dabbled for a little while, but he figured there was no point in that.
It wasn’t getting him anything he didn’t already have access to.
Being a Henderson guaranteed money, power, and from most people .
. . respect. There was no real significance in being involved in bullshit.
PJ sort of inherited the game. The streets were running through Uncle Philly’s soul.
I stood from my seat, prepared to go find where the fuck Iesha and that nigga went when Noni approached me and hugged me. She was starting to remind me of Maui until I got on her nerves. Then she would revert back to her normally mean ass self.
“Congratulations on your engagement, sis.”
“Thank you. I can’t wait for the documentary either. That’s gon’ be so cool.”
“I ain’t looking forward to the shit. I don’t need all those eyes on me.”
“Ugh! You sound like Daddy Mayor. What are y’all doing that can’t be on TV?”
“I can’t believe you cool with the shit. I’m private. I don’t like people I know in my business. I surely don’t want no fucking strangers all in my shit.”
“Whatever. You about to leave?”
“Hell yeah. I gotta go find Iesha.”
“Seven . . . you need to leave that shit alone. That girl don’t want yo’ ass.”
“Yes she do. If she didn’t, she wouldn’t show her face at all. She playing games, but I’m gon’ have to show her that I hate fucking recess.”
She frowned, then rolled her eyes. “You a fucking lost cause, nigga.”
She walked off as I stared at her back. Red Squared had better been glad he got his shit together, or he would have been on the chopping block.
Had Noni not started the physical contact he definitely would have had all of us fucked up.
To hell with the rodeo administration. I would have killed his ass.
Tensions would have been high as hell in Nome between the Hendersons and Red Anderson.
I wouldn’t have given a fuck. He could go find those crackhead Andersons and create family with their asses.
Heading to the door, I saw Ace looking bothered. That was my nigga, for real. The only thing he didn’t know about me was that I was working for the fucking opps. The FBI was definitely the fucking enemy at times. I went over to him, and asked, “You cool?”
He took a deep breath, and said, “I fucked up.”
I frowned, then tilted my head for him to follow me outside.
Uncle Marcus was home. They didn’t have a clue who actually influenced the decision to let him go, but that was my secret to keep.
When we got to my ride, he got in. This shit had to be serious if he didn’t want to talk outside.
I went to the driver’s side and hopped in too.
I just stared at him, waiting to see what he would say.
“I slept with that bitch. The Henderson weakness got me.”
I frowned harder. “The Henderson weakness? What the fuck you talking about?”
“Sleeping with the wrong fucking woman. Christian had Courtney, and Jacob had Jameka. Uncle Kenny had that bitch that ended up on death row for killing their son, and Grandpa had my damn grandmother. Milana had that fuck nigga, and Royal had Mila. I fell in line. I fucked Tonieka. She overheard me talking to PJ about where my dad was going.”
“Nigga, I know you fucking lying.”
“I wish I was. I’m usually more cautious than that, man. I let the pussy tear my guards down. They could have killed my family. I swear I would’ve killed my fucking self had that happened.”
“No, you wouldn’t have. You still got your mama, Malia, and your brother on your mom’s side. The key thing is that they are all back and in one piece.”
“No, it ain’t. This shit ain’t over. They still coming after him. Since when has Trump and his lil army honored a court decision? My dad’s family in Mexico is attached to the Sinaloa Cartel. You think they finna let that shit ride?”
I slowly shook my head. I couldn’t tell him that it was truly done.
Because of my involvement with the FBI, they completely released Uncle Marcus.
Unc had no knowledge of that shit, and even if he did, who gave a fuck?
He wasn’t involved in their shit. The feds were nervous because the cartel wanted to recruit him.
Uncle Marcus wasn’t about to put his family in jeopardy.
They could give him his inheritance and move the fuck around.
“Man, quit stressing about the unknown. Worry about that shit when or if it happens. For right now, he clear.”
He slid his hand down his face. “You right. This shit is just fucking with me hard. My dad always talked to me about how fucking with the wrong woman could destroy you. He calls them Delilahs.”
“What the hell is that?”
“In the bible—”
“Oh yeah. You’ll confuse me every time. I don’t be in church, and when I am, I don’t be paying attention.”
He shook his head. “Delilah was Samson’s woman. He told her his secrets, and she fucking told that shit to his opps. They came in and fucked him up. Nigga end up dying because he trusted the wrong woman.”
“Damn. He must’ve been pussy whipped for sho. Let me go read that.”
He shook his head again. I found that was a common occurrence for people when they were around me for an extended amount of time.
“Where you was finna go?”
“Tell Iesha what the fuck it’s gon’ be.”
“Nigga, maybe you should just let that shit go. You gon’ end up in jail on a harassment charge if you keep fucking with her.”
“Naw. She pushing my buttons on purpose. She want me, but she want me to be more subdued . . . not so aggressive. Real eyes see real lies. She playing hard, but she want me as bad as I want her. She either gon’ take me like I am or be by her-fucking-self.”
“Or be with the nigga she was here with.”
I gave him the side-eye as he chuckled. I shot him the finger.
That was typically my go-to when I didn’t have a comeback.
That shit wasn’t consistent with who I knew her to be.
Iesha didn’t usually play games. She was a straight shooter.
Something wasn’t right about that situation.
When I’d told that nigga what I had to say, I noticed the smirk on his lips when I walked away, like he knew some shit I didn’t.
“Nigga, be careful. Don’t get caught up on no charges,” Ace said as he got out of the vehicle.
“Uh huh. I’ll holla at y’all later.”
I backed out and headed to Beaumont. Iesha was finna tell me what the deal was. If she was done with me, she needed to stay the fuck away from me.