I leaned over and kissed the top of her head, then grabbed her hand and let her lead me inside. I already knew what he wanted to talk about. My uncles and some of my cousins were here earlier because Ali said those niggas were coming. Jungle and Vegas had seen them making moves, but there wasn’t enough time for us to truly prepare. We should have gone insideto talk. I supposed we were in denial that they would actually do it.
Chad and Seneca had been camping out at the diner, Rondo, Dinalee, and Uncle Philly had been in Henderson Village, Rhodes and Jericho had been with Uncle Marcus and his family, and Jungle and Vegas were in Liberty. They weren’t advised to kill . . . just to lookout. I was more than sure that order would be changing now. Any of us could have been killed today.
When Maui and I walked inside, the twins were at the door like they were coming to check on us. After I closed the door, Bali said, “We got’chu. You fucked up, but that don’t matter. Don’t worry about her right now. You gotta worry about surviving. Fuck everything and everybody else.”
“Watch the people who run when shit get hot,” Noni added.
I didn’t feel like going back and forth with them. Iesha had boundaries. I knew that shit. I wasn’t totally honest with her about what was going on. Hell, I didn’t tell her anything was going on at all. She tried to live a peaceful life. I knew that shit. This wasn’t on her. It was on me. However, I knew I couldn’t focus on getting her to understand me right now. Like Maui said, I needed to focus on my survival. That would be easier said than done, though, because there was no life without her for me.
When I sat, my mama sat next to me and wrapped her arms around me as Daddy paced in front of us. I closed my eyes and slowly shook my head. “I’m sorry, y’all. I fucked up bad. Maybe I should just leave. That way everybody will be safe. Then Watchful Eyes can just focus on me and Uncle Marcus and not be spread so thin tryna watch everybody.”
“You ain’t goin’ no-fucking-where. We family,” Bali said as my dad nodded.
“You staying right here, Seven. Those muthafuckas don’t know who they fucking with. They need to know though.”
Right after he said that, Mythic walked in. He had a final exam today, because he enrolled in a mini-session. “My bad. What I miss?”
“Getting shot at and Seven trying to skip town.”
He slowly shook his head and sat next to Maui, gently rubbing circles on her stomach. She was due in a couple of months.
“I have three pregnant sisters who all plan to get married next month. How the fuck they supposed to be safe with me here? Huh? Tell me that shit. Maui stress levels probably through the fucking roof. I’m not tryna be responsible for anything affecting my nephew’s healthy delivery. I gotta go, man.”
I stood, and the twins both hopped up in front of me.
“Y’all sit the fuck down!”
“No! You aren’t leaving!” Bali yelled.
When I saw tears falling down her cheeks, I pulled her in my arms and kissed her. “Y’all see what this shit is doing to y’all? I love y’all too much for that. You will hear from me every day. I promise.”
“Nope. Who gon’ watch you if you leave? The government is every-fucking-where, Seven. Stop being hardheaded for once and let us protect you. We’ve been making plans. We have a meeting with Sidney and Shy tomorrow. They have some news to update us with. Marcus has been busy. Let me just say . . . He got his money. That lets you know that he’s made contact with his family. They are on their way as well.”
My eyebrows lifted. “The cartel is coming to big city Nome? Is that what’chu saying?” I asked my dad.
He nodded. “Y’all think it was a warzone when Watchful Eyes helped us fight the Andersons? This finna be ten times worse.”
“How are they gonna get in the country?” Noni asked.
“Baby, I don’t know, and I didn’t ask. Honestly, I don’t give a fuck how they get in. It’s a bunch of incompetent muthafuckas working for the government now, so . . .” he said, then shrugged his shoulders.
“Storm, what do you want us to do?” my mama asked as I sat back down next to her.
She intertwined her fingers with mine and lifted my hand and kissed it.
“We chill out until the meeting tomorrow. Once we know where we stand legally and then with Marcus and the cartel, then we can make decisions from there. Y’all got me? Nobody move and go nowhere. That’s only gonna make this shit harder on everybody.”
He slid his hand down his face, then slowly shook his head. “We done fucked up now. Karima at home in sackcloth and ashes, tearing her clothes and shit like David in the bible.”
My eyebrows lifted, and all it took was for Mythic to chuckle. We all started laughing. I slowly shook my head as I wrapped my arm around my mama. She had a lot on her plate, and this shit wasn’t making it any better. I knew if we had to leave, she would be going to her parents’ house.
“Don’t do Karima like that!” Maui yelled. “She helped me so much with her words and prayer.”
“I know, baby. I’m just playing. I’m just saying, though, she got her hands full. Somebody need to go check on her. She may have prayed her way to glory by now.”
We laughed more as Red Squared and Carter Legend walked through the door. After they sat, Dad continued. “So, we will meet at the family barn tomorrow evening about six. I’m more than sure Watchful Eyes will be advised to handle shit however they wanna handle it. If they know those niggas coming for us, take those muthafuckas out. I’m pretty sure Vegas and Junglewanted to do that anyway. PJ too. He have to lay low right now though. He’s been getting info Watchful Eyes needs.”
I nodded. This shit couldn’t be over soon enough. Hopefully, Mrs. Sidney and Mr. Shy could give us clarity about what was going on tomorrow, along with Uncle Marcus. “How much money did Uncle Marcus get?” I asked.
