He nodded. “You want a relationship with her?”
“Eh,” I let out uneasily. “I more so wanna know who’s out there lurking in the cut. What me and PJ have is pretty solid. We don’t need a third.”
“Sound like you’re not tryna share your brother,” he teased with a laugh.
“I’m not,” I scoffed. “She seems to not want any parts, and honestly, I can’t blame her. We’re not the warmest bunch to join.”
“Y’all fucking not. Almost had to throw hands with J’Ru ass, and not to mention your brother ain’t the sanest nigga.” Ahkeem shook his head.
“And now you’re stuck,” I laughed as I leaned down to kiss his lips.
I held Saphir’s hand as we entered the doors to the Jamari Haines Recreational Center. After selling his affordable housing unit a few years back, my brother felt like it was time for him to pivot. He still wanted to give back to the community, so he opened a rec center a few blocks from where Jamari was murdered. It was equipped with a recreational pool, basketball court, tennis court, and an indoor track. Priest truly outdid himself. He even offered a full gym, a day care unit, and rental spaces for other outreach programs and activities.
“Are we gonna see Genesis?” Saphir asked with excitement peaking in his voice.
I nodded. “Yup, Blue. Maybe we can ask Uncle PJ if Gen can come over for a sleep over.”
“Yay!” He ran ahead of me as soon as he saw Priest shooting the ball around on the basketball court with Genesis. As soon as he got on the court, he was lifted up from the ground and into Priest’s arms.
“What you been up to, Blue?” Priest fist bumped him.
“Chilling,” he smoothly responded, causing Priest and me to laugh.
He set Saphir back down so he could go off and play with Genesis. While the boys shot the ball around, Priest and I grabbed a seat at the bleachers. “Where’s your wife?”
He downed some of his water before responding. “Shopping for the baby. I know she’s going fucking crazy with my damn card.”
“You turned her into a spoiled brat. I remember when she was scared to even look at that black card. Now she swipes it like it ain’t nothing,” I giggled.
He sighed deeply while shaking his head. “I’d rather she spend my money than hers. Them big-ass La Gioia Magazine checks gone be what we living off of when I wrap all this shit up.”
I waved him off because I knew he was bullshitting. That man would never allow Britain to spend her money, even if she wanted to. “You found anything out about this long-lost sister?”
He ran his fingers through his beard as he shook his head. “Not much. Tapped in with Remy to see if he knew anything, and he said he ain’t know shit about it.”
“Nymir’s grandmother says she looks just like me, and unfortunately, I look just like Sylvia. You think your mother had another kid and didn’t fucking tell us?”
“With Terrence, though? When the fuck would she even have the time? Before you came about, she was a decent mother, and I was always with her.”
I shrugged my shoulders. “What if I’m older? Maybe after me? They did disappear for months when we stayed with J’Ru and Ms. Phillips, remember?”
“You been thinking about this shit a lot, haven’t you?” he asked with a raise of his thick brow.
I groaned heavily. “It’s all I can think about, PJ. There’s some chick out here with our DNA, and we know nothing about her. I don’t trust that shit at all.”
It had always been me and Priest. Even if we bumped heads, we always knew that the loyalty between us would always remain. With this other sister being out there, I really didn’t know what the fuck to expect. She could’ve been the sweetest girl ever, but she could’ve also been a conniving-ass bitch lurking in the cut. Either way, I wanted to be prepared for when she decided to pop out of thin air.
“They were M.I.A. for a little minute when we were staying by J’Ru and his mom. She had no business having any other kids after she skated on us the way she did. If she did have another kid, it would make sense why she hid her pregnancy.”
“Can’t you have one of your connections get that bitch’s hospital records or something?” I rolled my eyes at the thoughtof my mother. She always left an awful-ass taste in my mouth. I hadn’t spoken on her in years since we buried her. Now that this sister bullshit was brought to my attention, my hate for Sylvia had resurfaced.
Priest chuckled at how invested I was in the situation. “Only people I could have tap into that is my in-laws, and I’m not about to make them risk their jobs for Sylvia’s stupid ass.”
Britain came from a family of doctors. They had the means and resources to get access to Sylvia’s hospital records; however, the risk of it coming back to bite just wasn’t worth it. HIPPA violations were nothing to fucking play with.
“So, what the fuck we do now?” I defeatedly muttered while I watched Genesis and Saphir play ball with each other.
Priest shrugged his broad shoulders. “We fucking live life like we’ve been doing. Same way the info landed in your lap once, it’ll land in your lap again if it needs to. I’m not pressed to meet any other extension of Sylvia or Terrence after I ridded the fucking earth of them and moved on. No disrespect to whoever shorty is, but respectfully, she can stay where the fuck she’s at.”
