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“When did you become such abitch?” I countered. “I’ve got some HoneyPot you can borrow, since you are clearly on your fucking period.”
“Who the hell you talking to?”
“Brandon,” Randy snapped, quieting us both. She was deadly calm as she moved from where she’d been to stand in front of her son. “You need to stop.”
“Stopwhat?” he scoffed. “Y’all are the ones who need to stop. My father built this shit from nothing, made sure everybody around him was taken care of. He never folded on anything, would defend anybody in this motherfucker with his life!”
“You are absolutely correct,” Randy said, dropping her hands to cup him under the chin. He shrugged her off at first, but she grabbed him again, tighter this time. “Everythingyou have said about him, it’s the damn truth, and nothing can change that. But thefactis… that before you were even a thought in our minds… he did something unforgiveable.”
Nothing but defiance in his eyes, Brandon glared up at his mother. “Okay so where is the person he wronged? If she can’t forgive him, I get that, but how does that give Onyx’s bitch ass the right to slither in this motherfucker trying to claim my father’s head? He never did shit tohim.”
“His mother took out all the trauma from what your father did on Onyx—as a damn child,” I spoke up, since I was the only one here with the answer to his question. “She tormented him because the Belroses used anybody and anything at their disposal to tormenther. And then she turned him over to them,” I said, tearing up just thinking about it. “If this situation were turned around, and you were finally free to make it happen, I’m pretty sure you’d want somebody to pay for what you suffered too.”
Brandon switched his scowl to me and I scowled right back at his ass.
“Blue,” Randy said. “Do you remember how you got that nickname?” she asked, pulling his attention back to her.
He shrugged. “I was a sad kid.”
“Not sad—melancholy,” she corrected. “Always soblue.Your father would get so worried about you—afraid that we’d transferred our deficiencies to you, afraid you were missing some of the civilization that got stripped out of us. So, it was important to him, that as we regained our humanity, we made sure none of those things—compassion, empathy, kindness, fondness,none of that—it never missed you, little boy,” she said, gripping his chin so hard I could see the flex in her arm. “We were kids when we were brought intoThe Gardenand turned into monsters, and we were never shown any care. And you know what your father said to me, when we found out I was pregnant? I was scared, we were young, and didn’t know if we could do this. And he told me we could.No child of mine will ever lack affection.”
“What are you saying to me, Mama?”
She released her hold on his chin to step back, arms crossed. “You know exactly what I’m saying. Regardless of how you feel about thesituation, that man is your brother. He is my husband’s child. If you care at all about honoring your father… you’ll honor your father. And I’m going to do what I know Jesse would’ve done if he had the chance—embrace him.”
“I don’t know how much of an embrace he’ll want after we drugged him and kicked his ass, girl,” my mother laughed and my eyes went wide.
“It’s not funny, Mama,” I scolded and she pressed her lips together, shaking her head.
“You’re right, sweetheart,” she agreed. “But… am I lying, though? Maybe I can cook him something. You know where he is? Did he at least get a meal?”
I sighed. “He’s… safe,” I said, looking at Brandon, who rolled his eyes.
“I know his ass ran to Alicia.”
“Alicia?” Randy asked and I nodded.
“Alicia Pelletier. She’s the one who tookThe Gardendown; she’s the reason Etienne Belrose is in prison.”
“No,” my mother tutted. “As long as those evil motherfuckers are alive,The Gardenisnottaken down. But it will be.”
My eyes went wide. “Excuse me?” I asked. “Uhh… what the hell do you thinkyou’regoing to do?!”
“I don’tthinkanything lil’ girl, and watch your mouth,” she fussed. “Iknowthat I won’t rest until those bastards are six feet under.”
“Agreed,” Randy spoke up. “We thought all this was behind us, but clearly our vision has been selective. It’s fine though, we know now.”
My mother nodded. “Mhmmm. And when you know better, you do better, so knowthis—Renard Belrose is going to wish he’d let us be.”
“He sure is,” Randy agreed. “Because now? We’re going to make him regret the day he stepped foot in this damn town.”
“Okay let’s pump the brakes a bit onthat,” Brandon said, standing. “I don’t give a shit what youusedto be; right now, you’re my mother, and it falls on me to make sure you’re insulated from danger.”
“Agreed,” I said. “I’m not saying you couldn’t still fuck somebody up. I saw Onyx’s face. But Iamsaying, we’ve got this under control. We just need all the available information.”
“And we’re not accepting any arguments about it either,” Brandon continued. “AfterThe Fall,y’allwere the ones who said you were taking your hands off it, and leaving it to us. So keep the same damn energy now.”
“Who the hell you think you’re talking to?” Randy asked, propping hands on her hips. “You’re not too old for an ass whooping.”
