“Yeah. I’m good. I just got out the shower, so let me call you back.”
“Okay.”
I ended the call and moisturized my skin, then looked around my room. I was gonna have to clean up tomorrow before I went to get them from daycare. After this foolishness with Seven, I was mentally tapped out. He didn’t realize just how crazy his ass was. He didn’t find it strange that the only person in my family that he’d met was my brother. The only reason he met him was because he lived with me.
If my dad even got a whiff of that attitude he was sporting, he’d be ready to get that nigga out of my life by any means necessary. He was a veteran and didn’t play that shit when it came to his daughters. My mama didn’t play either. As their oldest child, I had a different bond with them than my siblings did. While I was the one that was assumed to have it all together, my grandmother and my daddy knew the real.
My grandmother and I spent a lot of time together, especially when I was growing up. My mama had said because of that, I’d been grown for a long time now. I could only chuckle when she said that. Kids my age would get on my nerves because they were so immature. Truth was, I was past my age of maturity. At fifteen, I was acting like a woman in her twenties, taking care of herself. I watched soap operas and went to church regularly, not to mention, I drank coffee with my grandmother.
After moisturizing, my mental was drained. I didn’t even feel like doing my hair. I put my headscarf on and got in bed, letting the pillow soak up my tears like they were never there.
CHAPTER THREE
SEVEN
“First of all, I’m not the one you want. You not finna come in my office making demands. Ask your questions, maybe make suggestions. But the fucking buck stops here. You don’t like that shit, move around. You could have left when everybody else did, but you thought you would benefit from the Henderson dollar if you stayed.”
I was staring at Mr. Jones while my dad read him for filth. He came in here wanting to demand they do something about Entergy. His problems were individual, not collective. No one else was having issues. I slowly shook my head as Mr. Jones huffed. I swore, old people thought they could talk to people any kind of way, and they were supposed to just take it. Mr. Jones had to be at least eighty-five years old.
He turned and walked out with his lil cane. I glanced at my daddy to see the frown on his face. Had it been up to him, there would only be Hendersons living in Nome and maybe Mr. Red’s and Brixton’s families.
“Well, another disgruntled citizen told to go to hell,” I said, then chuckled.
“Hell yeah. I don’t know who the fuck they take me for. What you doing in here today? You ain’t got shit going?”
“Naw. I think I’m gonna be done with the FBI shit.”
He lifted his head from the papers he was scanning over. “Why?”
“Ain’t shit popping, and umm . . .”
“Spit it out. You ain’t never one to fidget.”
“You were right. My undercover personality has completely taken over. I mean, I wasn’t a nice person from the beginning, but I’ve gotten worse because I know I can get away with it.”
He slowly shook his head. “What made you come to that realization?”
“Iesha. I want her so bad. I ain’t never wanted a woman as bad as I want her. I went over to her apartment Saturday. That nigga she had with her is her cousin. I knew he had to be related, because showing up on our turf with another nigga is beneath her. She wouldn’t do no shit like that. She love me, but I’m gon’ lose her.”
“The side of you that you’re showing me is the side she needs to see.”
“I always start off showing her that side, but then she says something that causes it to take a turn. I’m not the most patient person, so when it starts feeling like the conversation is getting repetitive, my hostile side emerges.”
“You love her?”
“I don’t know, but I have to be close for me to want her so bad.”
“Y’all fucked?”
“No.”
His eyebrows lifted. “Yeah, you gotta love her. I mean, what is it about her that’s drawing you to her?”
I thought for a minute, mainly to gather my thoughts. “She cool. She gets along with almost anybody . . . except my ass. She’s sweet. She’ll do what she can to help anybody. Have you seen her? She’s beautiful and all that thick ass body . . . got a niggafeenin’ for a taste. Those slanted eyes and high cheek bones just pull me in. You seen her smile? I don’t know how to get to her. It feels like she wants me to be this soft ass nigga. That ain’t me.”
“Have you ever asked her what she wants?”
I took a deep breath. That was my greatest fear. I never asked, because I was afraid that what she wanted would be the opposite of everything I was. “No.”
