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“No. I want you to stop harboring hatred and guilt in your soul for his actions. Those two things have taken over your life, and it’s beyond time that you take that control back. You have to forgive him and yourself. Forgive yourself for hurting Yendi, because of how you chose to deal with the situation between you and your father. Life happens. We can either learn from it or fall victim to it.”
Learn from it or fall victim to it.I’d fallen victim to it. I stared at her for a moment. “You’re right. I fell victim and stayed there for twelve years. It’s time to handle this like an adult and move on from it. That means I’ll have to have a conversation with him?”
“Not unless you want to, although I think it will be healthy if you do. That doesn’t have to be in person. You can email him if you want. Let him know what all you went through and how you are choosing to heal from it. Let him know what your boundaries are.”
“I don’t want a relationship with him, but I’m okay with him reaching out every now and then to see how I am, like he’s been doing with my mom.”
“Tell him that.”
“Thank you, Serita.”
“That’s what I’m here for. We’ll talk about how things went next week?”
“Yes, ma’am. See you then.”
“Okay. I’m proud of you, Mr. Henderson.”
“I’m proud of me too.”
I gave her a smile as I left her office to schedule another appointment next week with the receptionist. Hearing her call me Mr. Henderson felt a little weird. I’d gotten my name changed. I didn’t want to be associated with Avery. I did that the Monday after the game. While his blood was still running through me, I would no longer be advertising that shit by carrying his last name. I’d be getting back to the old me but a better version of him.
* * *
“He’s dead.”
“What?”
“You heard me. Seneca shot his ass. He said if y’all wanted to keep playing with him, it was just gonna give him time to recruit more muthafuckas y’all would have to worry about later. The ones working with him are backing out of this shit. You have nothing to worry about.”
I’d gone to Watchful Eyes to talk to Ali. Our updates could no longer be done by phone, so I went to their business office to get them. “Well, damn. I guess so.”
He chuckled. “We don’t play around with bullshit. He was trying to destroy y’all shit. Why allow him time to get that shit more organized? Naw. Take his ass down now. Send a message to the ones thinking about continuing what he started. Ain’t nobody gon’ fuck with the Hendersons. Not on their best day.”
“Are you a Henderson or me?” I asked Ali.
He chuckled as I shook his hand. I’d come here after running errands, checking on the local stores. There hadn’t been any mishaps at any of them. While I was checking, I decided to come here. Since I was in Beaumont already, it wouldn’t have made sense to make another trip tomorrow just for that.
“Your uncle stopped by yesterday. He seemed to be cool with us doing whatever we had to do to get rid of the problem.”
I frowned. “Storm?”
Only his ass would do some shit like that. My eyebrows lifted even more as Ali said, “Naw. Storm is the tallest one, right?”
“Yeah. Who was it then?”
“Kenny. He and Philly came by. Philly is working with us this weekend to learn the ropes and how we operate.”
“You know what? I can see that. Between me and you, he delivered the final blow that killed that nigga’s uncle. He nearly destroyed Uncle Kenny’s homelife.”
“Makes sense then. Well, don’t hesitate calling if y’all need us for anything else. Rondo loved being out there since he a country ass nigga.”
I chuckled. “We appreciate y’all handling that bit of business for us. I’ll be sure to keep y’all in mind. Keep my family in mind too for catering, wheels, haircuts… shit whatever y’all need that we can offer.”
“Oh yeah. I’ve already been talking with Marcus about custom upholstery for my whip.”
“That’s what’s up. Thanks again for handling that.”
We shook hands, and I made my way back to my pickup. My SUV needed a break. I was running that shit in the ground. My pickup usually only got driven around Nome unless I had something to haul somewhere.
