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I nodded and kissed Chelsea’s head as Ali knocked on the patio glass. I waved him in. He’d taken Judge out the same day, and Van was panicking. The funeral was scheduled for this weekend. He hadn’t gone back to the police, and I wanted to believe that his ass was scared too. He’d dipped in an arena he didn’t have a clue about. He wasn’t about to crawfish out of this shit though. He was gonna suffer the same fate as Judge just as soon as the police moved on to the next piece of news.
“What’s up, bruh?”
“Not too much,” I said as I slapped his hand.
Chelsea stood and hugged him then made her way upstairs to give us privacy and probably to call Jericho. “I think Rondo got a clue about Kennedy. He’s turning cold toward her. You can probably reach out to that nigga about what Vegas said about Darlena if you want to.”
“A’ight. Has he gotten his daughter?”
“Yep. He took her and all her things the day he got there, amidst the shit Kennedy was trying to start. They are supposed to be going to court in a little while. Baby girl didn’t know what was going on. Hopefully, he explained it to her.”
“How old is she?”
“I think around eleven or twelve.”
I nodded as I thought about how that could be affecting her. Ali was quiet for a moment, so I asked, “How’s Riley and the pregnancy going?”
The smile that adorned his face told me just how happy he was. “She’s four months, and she’s finally past the throwing up stage. I mean, some things still get to her, but not everything like before. Aina is excited that she’s going to have a sister or brother.”
“That’s cool, man. I’m happy for you. When are y’all gonna get married?”
“Shit, I don’t know. I guess I need to ask her first, huh?”
“Yeah, that might be a part of the process. You scared?”
“A little bit. Not about her but that I won’t be everything she needs me to be. I can see that she worries about me, especially that last bullshit with Jericho’s brother. That’s why I’m trying to be legit as soon as I can. I can’t be having her stressed out. She’ll never say she is, but I can tell.”
“Nigga, you probably already know what she’s having. I ain’t never seen a nigga that know shit that should be impossible for him to know.”
He chuckled. “I can’t help it.”
“Mm hmm. We hated when you left. You were an asset to the Patterson empire. You know you would have been right there with Vegas had you stayed.”
“Hell yeah. But Shy saw something in me that I barely saw in myself. I’m grateful for that shit too. Nigga get tired of looking over his shoulder all the damn time.”
“Who you telling? That’s why I’m done with the drugs. When I let all the runners go, they were shocked as hell. Niggas looked like they wanted to kill me… not that I was intimidated.”
Ali chuckled. “So, I just wanted to come by and give you the go ahead with Rondo before I headed back to Beaumont. I had to go to Jamel’s house to pick up something for Riley. Arrow was there, so I kicked it with them for a minute. I gotta get back to my baby now though.”
“I hear you, man. When did they get back?”
“A few days ago,” he said as he stood. “Oh, and by the way, Judge was the one that was supposed to take Fawn out. He had his bags packed for a road trip to Atlanta. I didn’t want to tell you that by phone. I have a tracking device on Van’s whip and a couple of bugs in his office at work and a few at his house. Ain’t shit gon’ get by me concerning that nigga. Whenever you give me the word go, he’s good as gone.”
“That’s what’s up. I appreciate you. Any word on Seneca and Kaysyn?” I asked as I walked him to the door.
“Naw. I been trying to give them their space. For once, I don’t even wanna know what’s going on. He hasn’t been to the office since last week. Surprisingly, Arrow ain’t had shit to say about it either.”
“Hmm. I hope that nigga alright, even though he a backstabbing muthafucka.”
“Yeah. I might check on him. I’m sure Joyy and his mama got him covered though.” We slapped hands, and he said, “I’ll probably see you this weekend.”
“A’ight. I’ll let you know how things go with Kaysyn and Chelsea tomorrow.”
“A’ight, bruh.”
When he left, I decided to stay outside and smoke. I was grateful for Ali. Had Judge gotten to my sister, I would have been no good. Chelsea would have seen the side of me that I kept hidden from her. I was trying not to be that nigga anymore. Now that I had her, I was thinking more and more about starting a family. I didn’t know how Ice kept this shit going and kept Mama happy at the same time.
Before I could even get my blunt going good, the doorbell rang. I frowned because it was rare I had niggas just pop up. I always knew who was coming by. The only person that dropped by unannounced was Ali, and that nigga never rang a doorbell. I got up to head back inside to see Chelsea coming down the stairs. She gave me a slight smile as I licked my lips while staring at her. That woman was a rare treasure.
