“She is clearly attracted to something about you, beyond your good looks. I mean, you look like me, so you can’t help but have women throwing panties at your feet.”
I slightly rolled my eyes. “I ain’t had sex since I met her.”
“Yeah, you love her. What do you think she loves about you?”
“That’s a good ass question. Maybe I should ask her. She put me out of her apartment Saturday. I told her she was mine, regardless of what she said. I swear, if she try to move on with somebody else, I’m gon’ make their lives fucking miserable.”
He slowly shook his head. “But you don’t know if you love her.” He rolled his eyes. “Quit trying to boss her, man. You ain’t gon’ win that way. I mean, your mama lets me talk and run my mouth, but who do you think has the final say in our household?”
“Yeah, I get it.”
“Do you really?”
“No.”
He chuckled. “Until you can figure out how to be what she wants without changing who you are, you need to leave her alone. Your mom and I had time apart. Hell, she was engaged when I met her. I was aggressive as fuck. When she went back to Houston, I didn’t see her for a minute. We ended up being in the same club, and she was drunk. But so was I. I was a little more sensitive and open about who I was at my core. She needed that. If you love her, eventually it will come naturally.”
I turned to look out the window and saw Uncle Marcus arriving.
“Iesha only seeing surface shit. Let her see who you are, man.”
I took a deep breath and stood as Uncle Marcus came in.
“What’s up, nigga?” he said.
We slapped hands as I said, “Ain’t shit. What’s up wit’chu?”
“Shit. I would much rather be in my bed getting some good shit, but this nigga needed me to come in.”
I chuckled as my dad frowned at Uncle Marcus. I was not about to sit here and listen to their asses go back and forth. I didn’t know how they got anything done with as much as they argued. It was like that was their dynamic. After shaking both their hands, I made my way to the business office. Iesha said she had to go by the office. She was going to think I was there for her, but it was already planned that I would be in the office today in a meeting with Jakari, Rylan, Uncle WJ, Ashanni, Aunt Chas, Nesha, Royal, Uncle Philly, and Maui.
I wasn’t sure what she had to come to the office for, but I guess I was about to find out. When I turned in the parking lot, I saw her car was already here. I hurriedly got out of my vehicle and made my way to the door. After putting in the code, I opened the door, then put in another security code for the next door.
Once inside, I could hear Aunt Chas laughing. They were always loud in this muthafucka. Then I heard Ashanni say, “A’ight, Chas. Tone that down.”
That only made her get louder. Then I heard Iesha’s laughter. Before I could get to where they were, I heard Maui. “You know Seven is coming through. We have a meeting in a lil bit.”
“I didn’t know, so let me get out of here before he gets here.”
I walked through the doorway and said, “Too late.”
All of their asses jumped.
“You know it looks like y’all were in here doing some shit y’all shouldn’t have been doing.”
“I wouldn’t say it was something we shouldn’t have been doing, but it was kind shocking that you walked through the door as we were talking trash about you,” Aunt Chas said.
I rolled my eyes. They must have had that part of the conversation before I got here. Iesha looked to be stuck in wet cement. Her eyes were on mine and mine were on hers. My dad’s words came back to me, so I backed out of the doorway and went to the next room. I didn’t know how to be anyone other than Seven Henderson. My best bet was to avoid her ass like she had that fucking virus from that cruise ship.
When I entered the other room, I saw Uncle WJ seated at the head of the conference table. He looked to be in deep thought about something, so I turned and walked out. Jakari was in the hallway. He smiled, and asked, “Where you headed? The meeting starts in ten minutes.”
“Yeah, I know.”
I walked right by him and went to the kitchen. I opened the fridge and saw something marked,Maui. I grabbed it to see it was a sub sandwich. Pulling the paper back, I took a bite. It was turkey breast. That was perfect since I didn’t have breakfast. I was starving, but there wasn’t anything cooked in the house to eat. Ever since Mama been going through menopause, she been hell to deal with.
Maui was gon’ be pissed when lunch time came, but she would get over it. Then again, she was pregnant. She probably wouldn’t get over it as easily. I’d go get her another one later.
After I scarfed it down, my phone started ringing. When I saw the ID, I answered. “What’s up?”
