When Maj flopped next to me, she hugged me tightly. “This is the family I’ve always wanted as a kid. Now that I finally have it as an adult, I can barely handle the emotions because of it. I love you like we grew up together, Graham. Damn.”
I kissed her head, glad that this didn’t get discovered when I was younger. I wouldn’t have been as receptive. I wouldn’t have wanted to meet her or her mother. The parents and family I had was more than enough. Truth was, there was always roomin my life for people who were genuine, especially family. These days, that was a rarity. What my bio mom did for my mama was unheard of.
As we sat, engaging in small talk, my phone rang. When I looked at the screen, I saw it was my job. I stood and quickly answered as I made my way to the front door. “Hello?”
“Hello, Mister Taylor. This is Joshua McDonald from human resources at Premier Wings.”
I took a deep breath and rolled my eyes. I knew what was coming. “Yes?”
“I was calling to inform you that the company has decided to terminate you due to the negative light your actions placed on the airlines.”
“The company didn’t decide that. Ross Stanton decided that. What he doesn’t really know is that I wasn’t just anormalemployee. He’s about to find out what’s real.”
I ended the call and stepped outside to cool off. Ross Stanton was my direct supervisor, and I knew he didn’t like me. As long as I wasn’t being mistreated, I didn’t care whether he liked me or not. The line had now been crossed, and I refused to let it ride. That suspension to investigate and present a good faith moment for the public was more than enough.
Before I could completely calm down and walk back inside, a man approached the porch. I frowned, not knowing who he was. He had a similar stature as mine, six-two and two hundred something pounds. He looked slightly heavier than me though. When he got close enough, he said, “Hello. I’m Eldridge Owens. Umm . . . are you Kyleon Owens?”
I frowned harder, knowing exactly who his punk ass was now. As I was about to respond, Arlie walked out the door followed by my dad. They both adorned frowns as well.
I turned back to him, and said, “Why do you wanna know? That’s not my name, by the way.”
“You’re my son. I know you have to be. You look just like K. Your birth name is Kyleon Owens, and that nigga next to you, and his wife, tried to take me to court when I tried to claim you.”
“Who the fuck you think you talking to?” I asked as Arlie looped her arms around mine.
“You’re my son, man. They took you illegally. I didn’t sign away my rights.”
“That’s because your ass was locked up. You didn’t have no fucking rights. Get the fuck out of here.”
He frowned hard as he glanced at my dad, then Arlie. When he tried to take a step closer, my dad pulled his weapon. “You’ve been following him. That’s what’s illegal. It’s called stalking. Do whatmyson told yo’ ass to do.”
I could feel Arlie trembling as she stared at him, refusing to tear her gaze from him. He nodded repeatedly as he backpedaled. “See, you done escalated shit now. This ain’t over. That lil celebrity-status ho next to you ain’t gon’ protect you.”
I broke away from Arlie and charged him. She was screaming as I punched that nigga right in the mouth. I unleashed every ounce of aggression I had in me on his ass. When we finally stopped tussling, my dad came closer with his gun drawn. I backed away from him as he stood from the ground, flexing his jaw.
There was blood coming from his nose, and his eye was red.Fuck him.Knowing what he did to my bio mom had crumbled my already fragile resolve. However, had he not done that shit, I wouldn’t know who Devin and Sidney Taylor even were. I didn’t give a fuck about none of that right now though. He wasn’t going to stand here in my presence and disrespect my woman and my dad. I glanced at Arlie to see her seated on the porch, crying.
“Yeah, she back there crying. You defending her, but you don’t know what the fuck you defending,” he said through clinched teeth. You’ll see me again.”
“Yep. And you gon’ see bullets when I do.”
He limped down the street to a pickup truck and got in. We didn’t take our eyes off him until he drove away. I glanced at my dad, and he said, “We need to call the police. I can’t be here all the time. You still have that gun I bought you?”
“Yeah.”
“Carry it with you everywhere. It won’t hurt to go get some practice in at a gun range.”
I nodded. “I guess Mama gon’ really be busy. I’ll need her for this fucker. I have that feeling. Plus, I got fired. That was why I came out here to begin with. I wanted to cool off before I went back inside. I could feel the old Graham surfacing really quickly. I didn’t want to take my anger with them out on anyone else.”
I saw Arlie stand in my peripheral. “They fired you?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
She turned and went inside as I frowned. I wasn’t sure what her issues were or why my bio fuckup called her a ho. Whatever the reason was, she must have thought the same of herself for her to look so upset about it. I didn’t give a fuck about her past. The only person I wanted to get to know was the woman she was today. The woman she was in her past didn’t have shit to do with me. We all had something in our past we weren’t proud of. Hell, some of us had shit to us in our present we weren’t proud of.
I turned to my dad, and he shrugged. We made our way inside, only for me to see Kimaji pleading with Arlie as she grabbed her purse and phone.What the fuck?
“Arlie? You leaving?”
