Page 64 of Gang of Roses: Dice

Once we finished eating, the sun was starting to set. Revv was getting sleepy, but I wasn’t about to let them leave; her ass was staying here tonight. This night showed me so much a nigga like me needed to see…I needed my family. If she had a dude, homie, better find something safe to do when it came to my family. I swear, tonight we were gonna ask each other some different questions. I needed to know everything.

“Alright, son. Bronco, it’s time to head out. I gotta get back home. I gotta call Sherry.”

Mama just couldn’t wait to get out of here and call folks up.

“Ma, I gotta move different with this one,” I said, letting her know this information was sensitive and didn’t need to be in the headlines. We would share this information with the public on our own time.

“Boy, I’m telling Sherry bout my grand.”

Cova snickered.

“Can you hold his name?”

“Now, I can do that much.”

“Okay, thank you.”

She gave Global a hug and kissed Revv on top of the forehead, and rallied the gang up so they could head out. I told Global to wait while I walked my family out.

“You let me put my foot in my mouth, knowing that boy got your whole face. It’s so bad I thought me and your sad sack of bones of a father made another baby.” She started, and I just listened while we walked to the car. “I’ma tell you, son, I thought you had a baby by one of the IG hookers Cova be watching; she’s a beautiful BBW, looks like a model. Confident too, son. You’re better than your father. I’m proud of you.”

“Thank you, Ma.”

“Listen, figure out how to make something work with you and that girl.”

“Dang, Ma, now you want them together,” Bronco fussed.

“Baro, you betta slow down yo’ damn pecker gonna fall off.”

“Pecker? This a...”

“Try your luck, Bronco,” I warned.

“Man, I wasn’t gonna say it.”

I dapped my brother, kissed my mother and sister, and headed back into the house.

Back to my family because this was a package deal, G-Baby better get on board, or I had a plan for that ass.

Chapter 10

Global “Dice” Jamerson

Iwas glad Coca talked me into coming. When Ritz first asked me to come, I had my reservations. The last time I let this man get close, I walked away pregnant and carrying secrets that changed both our lives. Then he popped up at the cabin, and what should’ve been a conversation damn near turned into a faceoff. But watching Revv light up every time his father called his name, then getting that collect call from my daddy, shifted something in me.

Everybody in my family wanted me to stop being selfish, when all along I thought I was being protective. I kept telling myself I’d tell the truth when I was ready. But after losing so many people, ready never came. My daddy was still here, but he was sitting behind a glass window, not even able to give me a finger touch. That kind of loneliness will have you convincing yourself you’re doing the right thing when you’re really just holding on out of fear.

I chose this lifestyle. Revv didn’t. It wasn’t fair to make my baby live with the consequences of my decisions. At some point, I had to give this to God, trust my instincts, and pray Ritz wasn’t on no flaky shit that would get me hemmed up.

When I finally told the girls about Revv, let’s just say they cussed me out so bad my thug ass wanted to cry. Kash felt slighted because we’d been rocking together since the beginning, and Rebel got so pissed she hung up on me. I gave everybody a day to cool off before calling back. This time, I laid everything on the table—from Rose’s funeral to the casino, Ritz’s proposition, and finding out I was pregnant.

That part had they ass so quiet I kept saying, “Hello?”

Rebel finally said she was popping popcorn, and Kash claimed she needed a glass of wine before I kept talking. Once I explained everything, they understood why I disappeared, even if they still didn’t agree with how I handled it. They knew me better than anybody. They knew when I shut down, it wasn’t because I stopped loving them. It was because I didn’t know how to carry everything I was feeling and still let people in. We all knew me going quiet was my way of surviving.

After we got off the phone, we were back like we never left.

Hearing the front door open pulled me back to the present. I looked down at Revv curled against me, his little eyes getting heavier by the minute. It was about time for us to head home.