After turning on FM 1009, the street Seven lived on with his parents, I could see a few cars at their house, and his dad was outside with a few other men. My heart rate was climbing slightly because I didn’t know what I was in for. I wished he would have at least given me a clue before I drove out here.
Once I turned in the driveway, I could see Mr. Jasper, Mr. Kenny, and Mr. WJ, along with a couple of Seven’s cousins. They seemed to be in a heated discussion. I got out of my car and saw the Watchful Eyes guy had turned in the driveway also and was getting out of his car too. I waved at the men, and they all nodded at me. Every last one of them had frowns on their faces. If Mr. Jasper was frowning, I knew it was serious. He usually smiled whenever he greeted me. Mr. Kenny usually had a neutral look on his face but not a frown.
My nerves were getting the best of me and hearing Mr. Storm get loud only made them worse. As if knowing my nerves would be frazzled, I saw Seven standing near the back gate with a drink in his hand. Instead of going to the door, I headed to him. The smell from my food wasn’t even appealing anymore. I didn’t think I would be able to stomach it.
When I got to him, he grabbed my hand to help me up the stairs of the deck. There was a table there with flowers and candles on it.
“Hey, baby,” he said and kissed me on the lips.
“Hey. This is beautiful, Seven.”
He only nodded. I noticed he didn’t smile either. That wasn’t unusual for him though. He didn’t smile a whole lot. He smiled more than his dad, that was for sure. After pulling my chair out and I had sat, he scooted it in, then took my food from me and went inside. I stared out at the pasture and watched the horsesrun and whinny. I assumed they were playing, until one went up on its hind legs and started kicking his front ones.
Seven came out with two plates in his hand, setting one in front of me and taking the other to his seat. He’d plated our food instead of me eating out of a to-go container.
“Are they fighting?”
He turned to look at the horses, and said, “Yeah. Those muthafuckas always fighting. Hey!” he yelled at them.
It was funny, because like two scolded children, the horses went their separate ways. I giggled as he turned back to me with a frown on his face. When he heard me giggle, his facial expression eased, and he gave me a one-sided smile.
“Did you see your brother?”
“No. He was already gone. Hardly anyone was at the diner. That looked weird. Your uncle Marcus and his wife was there.”
He nodded, then slid his hand down his face.
“Seven, what’s going on?”
Before he could respond, his dad yelled his name. “Give me a second to see what he wants. I’ll tell you everything when I come back.”
“One quick question, before you leave. Am I in danger?”
“I don’t think so, but I have to take precautions.”
When he walked off, I rolled my eyes. I couldn’t take this shit. I almost didn’t care to know what the explanation would be. He knew how I felt about shit like this. I knew that every family had drama at times, but damn. Sometimes these muthafuckas brought this shit on themselves. They were always in some shit. I wanted to just pack up my food and leave, but I would at least give him the benefit of the doubt and see what this was about. It could be that bullshit with ICE.
The government was on that good bullshit when it came to that situation. There was no way Mr. Marcus could have and own everything he has without proper documentation. Hisfather was an American citizen and had gone all the way to Mexico to make sure the documents were amended after they confirmed his paternity.
I slowly shook my head then took deep breaths, realizing I was getting worked up and didn’t even know what was going on yet. As I opened my eyes, gunshots rang out. I frowned until I heard yelling. I got under the table as even more shots were fired. I was so scared I was trembling. There was no way I could deal with this shit. It felt like I was about to throw up.
“Iesha!” Seven yelled.
When he saw me under the table, he ran to me. “Baby, you okay?”
I shook my head as I came from under it. I grabbed my purse and was about to make a mad dash for my fucking car. I couldn’t deal with this. He wrapped his arms around me, holding me tightly. I could feel the tremble go through him.
“Please, let me explain. If you wanna leave afterwards, I’ll totally understand. Okay?”
I nodded as I stepped out of his embrace. I sat in the chair I was once in and grabbed the glass of alcohol and gulped it. I didn’t even know what it was, nor did I care.
“When all that shit went down between me and Mythic, it wasn’t because I was just on some revenge shit and upset that he was with my sister. I was working undercover for the FBI.”
I frowned. Seven didn’t even seem like the type to be involved with law enforcement. He acted like he couldn’t stand the police after everything his family had gone through with them. Instead of asking questions, I allowed him to continue.
“I signed on with them out of heightened emotions. They were the ones who told me what Mythic had done. According to my dad, a lot of my undercover personality took over my real personality. I mean, I was always a jackass. I just wasn’t as unfiltered as I became. Because I was working with them, theyleft Uncle Marcus alone. Well, I found out that Uncle Marcus people on his mama side got a lot of money for him, like probably billions.”
“And let me guess, the government wants to get a hold of that money.”
