CHAPTER FIVE SEVEN
CHAPTER FIVE
SEVEN
“So what are you gonna do, man?” Crew asked Royal.
Crew seemed to have more sense than Royal these days, and he was a good four years younger than him.
Royal was a little younger than Maui but older than me.
He’d already gotten his money and was building a house in Henderson Village next to Maui.
I couldn’t wait until I got my money. I planned to act as bougie as those white people.
Every-fucking-body would get the look . .
. like they didn’t deserve to be in my presence. Some of their asses got the look now.
I had money, since I worked for the family business and since I was getting money from the FBI, but I wasn’t a millionaire yet.
Next year, they were gonna fuck around and find out.
From here to Beaumont and to Houston, nobody was gonna be able to tell me a fucking thing.
It was practically that way now. I was going to be at my highest levels of ‘fuck around and find out’ and ‘I don’t give a fuck’.
“We gon’ get a paternity test done, and I’m gon’ be a father to my children.”
“Nigga, children?” I asked.
“She’s having twins. I feel like they’re mine, but I just want to be sure. She does too.”
I turned my lip up. Royal’s and Aaliyah’s nasty asses had gotten caught up, and now their asses were going to bring children into their perverted ass lifestyles.
I swore they fucked around so much, they both should be fucking tested for AIDS.
Every time we were about to hang out, Royal was MIA.
The nigga was always in pussy. He should be tired of looking at the shit. He had to be an addict.
“Damn. So y’all gon’ be a couple or some shit?” Ace asked.
He was quiet, which really set off alarms in my head. “Can you be with one woman is a better question. You seem to be considering that shit.”
“I am considering it. She just as freaky as me. She’s the only woman I frequently dip in. I strapped up every time, but there were a couple of times over the past year that muthafucka broke.”
I slowly shook my head and huffed. He wasn’t having one kid. The nigga was finna have a fucking family. “Well, I hope you know what you doing. Can she be faithful to just you? I heard she was bi.”
Royal rolled his eyes. “She’s bisexual, but that doesn’t mean she can’t be faithful. Shit, I wouldn’t mind her bringing other women into the bedroom.”
“Nasty muthafucka. I’m fucking jealous,” Kane added.
We all laughed as Kingsley came into the diner. He was on the phone when he sat so no one said a word. We remained quiet so we could hear what he was saying.
“It’s okay, baby. We don’t have to go . . . You know I understand . . . I’ll talk to you later, okay . . .? I’ll come over when I leave the diner . . . A’ight. Bye.”
He glanced around the table with a smirk on his lips. “What y’all nosy asses up to?”
“Yo’ ass sit at a table with all of us in a full conversation with somebody else and think we not gon’ listen? You the one with the problem, nigga, if you think otherwise,” I said.
Everybody chuckled as he slapped hands with all of us. “Treasure and I were supposed to be going to the crawfish festival in Beaumont, but she got cold feet about being around that many people.”
We all nodded. I hated what happened to her.
I hated that Watchful Eyes didn’t get to her in time.
When I found out what they were planning to do, I called Ali to get to her, but it was too late.
The niggas in Liberty weren’t as trusting of me when it came to the Semiens, so they didn’t typically talk about them around me.
I felt like they only said that in front of me because they knew I wouldn’t have time to do anything about it.
That was also how I knew Mythic’s ex-bitch was involved.
Aunt Chrissy set a plate of stuffed chicken in the middle of the table, and Aunt Jen came with some of our preferred meals.
When she set the crawfish étouffée in front of me, I licked my lips, ready to get to it.
I didn’t have a lot of time to spare anyway.
I had to meet with Mr. Berotte and Mrs. Taylor.
She said he had expertise when dealing with the government.
The nigga sued them and won. After knowing that, I had extreme confidence in him handling their asses.
He was just as rowdy as we were in that courtroom.
The way that nigga damn near cursed that judge out when they were trying to get me for murder made me proud as fuck.
He didn’t give a fuck, but he had the law to back him up.
These days, it didn’t seem the law mattered.
Muthafuckas were doing whatever the fuck they wanted .
. . the rich ones anyway. Niggas were still getting arrested for the smallest infractions.
I hated I couldn’t talk to my boys about this bullshit.
I couldn’t talk to anyone other than my lawyers and my parents.
I limited what I told my mama, because I didn’t want her to worry.
She always seemed to be worried about something lately.
Her anxiety was on another level. I refused to add to what she was already feeling . . . if I could help it anyway.
“You ever talk to Iesha?”
I frowned and turned to Ace. “Yeah, I went to her place. I was trying to be understanding, but then I had to put my fucking foot down and tell her she belonged to me. She could try to fuck around with somebody else if she wanted to. I would make both of their fucking lives miserable. That nigga in her car was her cousin.”
“Bullshit!” Kane said.
“Naw. For real. I went to her house. I believe her. She ain’t finna lie.
That’s not her style. Actually, bringing another nigga to a Henderson function wasn’t her style either.
I got heated, but I thought about that shit on the way to her place.
Despite how we can’t seem to get along, I know her. She wouldn’t do no shit like that.”
“Hmm. Sounds like you more than know her, nigga,” Crew said.
“She in my heart. I ain’t gon’ lie about that. That woman got me going fucking crazy behind her ass.”
Kingsley chuckled. “You love her. I can see it all over you, man. Just tell her. I love Treasure. I just don’t think she ready to hear no shit like that. You and Iesha, on the other hand, been doing this fucked up dance for two years. Just admit that shit to each other.”
I slowly shook my head. “Nope. Can’t do that. As long as we aren’t a couple, she’ll never know that shit. Honestly, I’m tired of fighting with her. You know how many options I got?”
Ace rolled his eyes. “Yo’ ass ain’t goin’ nowhere. Iesha got yo’ ass by the balls.”
Everybody laughed as I shot him the finger.
I knew that she had me . . . hook, line, and sinker.
They didn’t need to know that shit. There wasn’t much I could hide from them.
Surprisingly, I’d been able to hide the FBI shit.
Ace was the only one that knew I would hang with those niggas in Liberty every now and then.
He thought I was just trying to stay abreast on shit that could affect us, especially my sister and Mythic. I didn’t tell him any better.
Just as Jacob, KJ, Christian, and Rylan walked in, my phone rang. I frowned when I saw it was Ali. He never called me. “Hello?”
“Those niggas in Liberty made you. They telling that shit to PJ now.”
I stood from my seat and headed outside. “What the fuck you talkin’ ’bout?”
He chuckled. “I’m Ali, nigga. Ain’t shit get by me.
I know you working for the FBI shady asses.
Those niggas in Liberty know now too. They coming for you, but we got yo’ back.
Nobody in your family knows, except your pops.
If anyone else finds out, it’s because PJ told them. He just burned off, heading your way.”
“Fuck! So where does that leave PJ? They said he was still involved in that shit.”
“He ain’t involved. I told him to stay in the loop. That’s why I said their shady asses. They tryna get yo’ ass out of there anyway. They doing what they can to get at Marcus. They just don’t know we behind the scenes. Now get off this fucking phone and get to PJ.”
He ended the call before I could respond.
Fuck! I was glad Ali was looking out anyway.
Everybody thought I was being an idiot by not letting Ali have my back, but I couldn’t because of the FBI.
They were trying to kill me. The only way those niggas could know I was undercover was if somebody from the FBI leaked that shit.
My first thought after knowing that was Iesha.
I closed my eyes. I was gonna have to let go.
She would be in danger if I was anywhere near her.
Going to our thread, I took a deep breath and sent her a text to say goodbye .
. . that I was giving up and letting her live her life without interruption from me.
This was bullshit, but there was no way I would put her in this shit.
If they fucked with her, they would surely have to kill me.
“They are definitely after Marcus. He doesn’t have ties to the cartel, other than the relational ones, but he has an obscene amount of money coming his way.
When I say obscene, I mean fucking obscene!
” Mr. Shy said. “Henderson money ain’t got shit on what they tryna give him.
His great grandfather was deep in that shit.
Marcus’s grandmother is deceased and so is his mama.
He the only living descendant, besides his kids. ”
I slid my hand down my face. “So why don’t they just go after him and leave me the fuck out of it?”