The name made my jaw flex until something cracked in my molar. He was my cousin, my blood. She wasn’t supposed to look like that for him. Not for Mekhi. Not for the nigga living the life that should’ve been mine.
“You hear me in there?” my mother yelled over the sound of a pot slamming. “I said, if it wasn’t for them, we wouldn’t be hiding like this! You wouldn’t be doing… the shit you do while that boy prances around with money built on your father’s work!”
I pressed my palms to my forehead, squeezing my eyes shut. Jesus!Here she goes again. The same sermon she’d been preaching since I was ten. I dragged a hand over my scalp, nails digging in.
“Ma, not right now.”
“No, you gon’ listen!” she screamed. “That woman, thatbitchGillian ruined everything! She ruined this family! She seduced Medgar, turned them brothers against each other, and then what? Mekhail died. Your daddy fell apart, mismanaged everything! Started making stupid decisions. He committed crimes he never would’ve touched if he wasn’t guilty and grief-stricken! Crimes that got him locked up. Medgar basically took the fall, and that bitch walked away clean! And now look!”
She stomped into the living room, still in her robe, hair all over her head like static.
“Look!” she snapped, pointing a finger at me hard, like she wanted to stab me with it. “You know who kept living good through all that?” she hissed. “Know who never missed a meal? Who got rich?” She grabbed my face, forcing me to look into her eyes. “Mekhi. Mekhail’s precious son. The one whose mama manipulated everything,everything, until she got all the money and all the power.”
I jerked my face away, but she didn’t stop. Sheneverstopped.
“That boy… Mekhi, he living off moneyyourfather earned. Off what Mekhail and Medgar built together. Money that should’ve liftedus. Money that should’ve beenyours.”
My head throbbed. “Mekhi didn’t take nothing from me.”
“You so stupid sometimes!” she hissed. “You think he built all that from scratch? You think he got all that land? Those properties? That business?” she spat. “Please. He living off whatyour fatherhelped build!”
I clenched my fists. She’d been saying this for years. Whispering it. Screaming it. Breathing it in my ear until I had it memorized. Until I had agreed to take the steps to steal back what was mine.
But now? Now, it felt like all this shit was swallowing me whole.
She kept ranting, but her voice changed, got slick and sly as she smirked at me. “And that girl? That little light-skinned thing with all them freckles? Oh, she perfect for him, ain’t she? Pretty. Smart. Classy. The kinda girl he gets because he has money you should’ve had! That should beyourgirl, Trell! Your life!”
I stood fast enough that the chair shot back and slammed into the wall.
“Stop!”
I pressed both palms to my forehead, like I could stop my skull from splitting open. The room felt too small, the walls too close. The migraines were always bad. Now, they were excruciating, nausea and pain consuming me. Add in Mama’s fussing and…
I closed my eyes, searching for some relief. I saw Farrah again, laughing in that club, her lips glossy, her hair looking all wild and soft, her body moving when she danced like she was made of something warm and light.
And Mekhi.
AlwaysMekhi.
Standing too close to her. Looking at her like he claimed her. Like he owned her.
“You and Mekhi supposed to be equal! Sons of two brothers! Two partners! Two men building an empire together. That money was both families’ money. That legacy was supposed to be for both of you!” she continued
My throat tightened. I knew what came next.
“That should beyouwith that land!” she screamed. “Youwith that business!Youliving in a damn mansion!” She paused, softened. “You getting the girl.”
“Ma, you don’t gotta repeat this story over and over. We doing alright, and I get it,” I said tiredly.
“Then act like it,” she fussed. “Don’t let them walk over you. Don’t let that boy take what’s yours.”
I swallowed hard. And finally admitted the thing that had my head throbbing.
“He got Farrah.”
My mother paused. She turned around slowly, gave me the most ugly, triumphant smile.
“Ahh,” she said softly. “There it is.”
