“Hey, Seven,” they said in unison as I put the security code in the door and walked through it.
“What y’all doing?”
“Looking to see what book we reading next. It’s this book by Kay Shanee called Russ.”
“That’s the name of the book?”
“Yeah, it’s the character’s name.”
“Whatever. Y’all have at it. You need to be sitting, though, Maui. Don’t make me text Mythic. He’ll have yo’ lil ass sitting at home in two point five seconds.”
“Ugh!” she huffed, then sat. “Happy?”
“I don’t give a damn, but you should be.”
She rolled her eyes and shot me the finger. I walked to the back office to find my dad, Uncle Philly, and Rylan sitting at a conference table talking. I shook all their hands, then asked Uncle Philly, “How’s my boy?”
“He’s holding up, man. Doing his best not to lose it. He wanna be home. I want him home. I want to tell Kema so bad. She taking it so hard. She still depressed and shit, not wanting to leave the house. I’m gon’ have to talk to Ali about it. She needs to know the truth before it kills her. I hate seeing my Kemie like that. It’s to the point where I’m scared for her to be alone. Tiff is there until I get back.”
I nodded and swallowed hard. I could only imagine the time my mama would have if something ever happened to one of us.
“Go home, man. I got this. Your wife needs you. Call Ali on your way home,” Rylan said. “You know I ain’t gon’ fuck it up.”
He smirked, and Uncle Philly squeezed his shoulder. “Thanks, Ry. I appreciate it.”
My dad nodded as Uncle Philly shook his hand. “I really think your family should know, even if Ali doesn’t agree. Philema is probably having a really hard time too. That’s her twin. She probably feels like a part of her died with him. They’ll be angry when you tell them, but at least they won’t feel hopeless anymore.”
Uncle Philly nodded, then shook my hand. Once he left, my dad said, “Aspen would have known as soon as I did. Ain’t no way I woulda kept something like that from her. Fuck what they say. That’s my wife.”
I nodded and so did Rylan. “Well, I wouldn’t be able to tell Angel. She would let it slip that he was still alive.” He chuckled, then said, “Honestly, I’m worried about Ace knowing with how he was talking about Uncle Marcus in front of that girl. He needs to be more aware of his surroundings and people he thinks he can trust.”
Ace was my boy, but Rylan was right. Sometimes, when it came to women, he was a little too trusting. That was how that ho had him fucked up a few years ago. Bali and Noni almost had to dog walk her ass. Not trusting their asses wasn’t disrespectful.Everybody got the same energy around these parts. He needed to learn how to read people better. The eyes didn’t lie. That shit exposed lies and bullshit all the time.
“Well, what I do know is if that nigga run his mouth this time, I’m gon’ shut his ass up. Matter of fact, go put his ass wherever they got PJ. Let them sit it out together.”
Rylan and I laughed at my dad’s foolishness, but he was serious as hell. Ace didn’t just run his mouth like that. He was just talking around the wrong person. My nigga was a real one. He just had to adjust that lens of his. I would make sure that happened. PJ’s life could depend on it.
“Nigga finally get a woman and think he a fucking love expert right now, like he one of those trolls from Frozen.”
I shot Kendrall the finger as he playfully pushed my head. Iesha chuckled a bit, then said, “Y’all heard my man. He said cater to your woman and show her you love her. Don’t play wit’ him, because he does everything he talkin’ ’bout.”
I nodded with my lips twisted to the side as everybody rolled their eyes. I kissed Iesha’s neck, since she had her braids pulled up into a ball on top of her head.
“Let them know, baby. We a fucking unit. You come for one, you may as well get ready to battle both.”
Milana slowly shook her head. “Iesha, boo, you can’t be acting like Seven, girl. We got enough with just him.”
Iesha giggled. “That’s my man though. If I ain’t ridin’ for him, who I’m ridin’ for?”
“You better tell ’em. We don’t play that shit. Real life Bonnie and Clyde in this bitch.”
“Nigga, shut the fuck up and eat,” Christian said. “Been grown for two minutes and think he a fucking life coach. Believe me, Royal got one of the best niggas giving him advice. Uncle Jasper got that shit on lock. Na eat yo’ lil stuffed chicken.”
Everybody laughed as I put my arm around my baby. We’d gotten to the diner for lunch and everybody was here. Usually, it was just on Fridays that we were all here at the same time. Not today. Everybody was happy to be back to normal.
When Aunt Jen set that chicken in front of us, everybody started cheering. She just laughed at our crazy asses. Aunt Chrissy had brought out pasta and garlic bread, and Aunt Jen came back with red beans and rice and cabbage.
We were eating our bellies full today. We all just missed this. Sometimes, I felt like we took it for granted, because we’d gotten so used to it. When Remy and CJ walked in, I said, “Y’all thought our crew was bad, wait ’til those niggas get cranked up.”
