I chuckled as I leaned over the railing of the terrace. “This shit serious.”
“What you need, nigga?”
“Your mom. You still got her at that in-patient living facility?”
Just off the fact that it took him a minute to respond, I could tell that he pulled the phone away from his ear and screwed his face up. “The fuck you asking me, Ahkeem?” he snarled withheavy hostility. J’Ru ain’t play about his mama. If mine was still alive, I would’ve been on the same type of timing.
“Chill the fuck out. I need to get in there to visit somebody. What shit I gotta do to get inside?”
He calmed down since he realized I wasn’t trying to piece anything together regarding his mother. “Simple shit like giving the front desk lady your ID, but she fucks with me, so I don’t really have to do all that.”
“Good. I need to make this visit ASAP. Ride with me?”
J’Ru was the last motherfucka to be wary of anything, but I even had him questioning shit. “What you on?”
“Niggas took shots at me and my family today. Gotta show them that my family ain’t the only one in close proximity.”
“Hm. I respect that. We slide tomorrow. Don’t be fucking late, and bring some flowers for my mama, nigga.”
I laughed. “I got you. Good looks.”
“Keep my sister and Blue safe, nigga.”
“No doubt.” We ended the call.
A calm breeze blew over the terrace, almost like the calm before the storm. Silas wasn’t the only motherfucka’ who could study somebody and watch them. I just didn’t use what I learned to be a hating-ass nigga. Silas was never a fucking threat to me, but that didn’t mean I didn’t have eyes on him. His move to New York was strategic as fuck. Detroit got too hot for him, so he slowly integrated himself into the city and moved his family piece by piece. When he first touched down in the city, Priest, Kaymen, and J’Ru were still running the city. They had this shit so on lock, no one dared to go against their regime.
As soon as they handed power to me, Silas decided he wanted to pop his shit. He thought he had an easy fucking target. Here I was five years later, stronger, bigger, smarter, and fucking richer.
Silas’ little brother, Anthony, did a lot of drag racing. A few years back, he was in a head-on collision with an 18-wheeler that left him completely bed bound and mentally and cognitively impaired. After I did some research on Silas, I found out that he had Anthony living in the same assisted living facility as J’Ru’s mom. I was blessed, not lucky, ‘cause shit like this always landed right in my fucking lap.
If Silas wanted to play this fucking game, then I was gonna give it to him.
I felt a gentle hand on my back, and I assumed it was Lovey. When I turned around, my face screwed up like I smelled some foul shit when I was faced with Amina.
“You alright? I’m just checking on you.” She withdrew her hand because of how fast I backed away from her.
“I’m good, Amina,” I assured her.
She leaned against the railing of the terrace and took in the view for herself. “I know I told you this already, but your wife is really beautiful. The tattoo does her no justice.”
I smirked while nodding my head, agreeing with her. The portrait of Lovey on my arm was damn near perfect; however, Jazzlyn’s beauty was so enchanting, it just had to be seen it in person. “’Preciate it, Amina. You straight, though? I know that shit back at the church was a lot.”
She gulped down a little before nodding her head. “I’ll survive. You, Diamond, and the guys handled it. Thank you.”
“No need to thank me. We good.”
There was a brief stint of silence that developed between us until she broke it. “Ahkeem, I’m sorry for being so selfish in our relationship. I did a lot of reflecting when I moved to Houston, and I realized that I played a bigger role than I was willing to admit in our breakup.”
I didn’t know if she needed closure or if she just wanted to hear herself talk, but this conversation wouldn’t serve usshit besides Jazzlyn breaking her foot far up our asses. I was married… happily married at that, so there was no point in rehashing a relationship that I grew the fuck out of.
“Check this out, Amina?”
“I’m interrupting something?” The sliding door opened, and Jazzlyn stepped out onto the terrace. Her eyes shifted from Amina then onto me. In that moment, I was grateful for the fact that I had put some distance between Amina and me.
I shook my head and extended my hand to her. “Nah, Lovey. Come here.”
She walked over to me with the graceful-ass model walk she had. I positioned her in front of me and craned down to drop some kisses in the crook of her neck.
