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“Yeah. You cool with that?”
“Yes, ma’am. He seems fun to be around.”
“He is. He can be an entire nut at times. Come on. Let’s go back downstairs.”
Jericka giggled then grabbed my hand on the way down while Kaysyn followed behind us. While I’d had my share of heartache, I would hate to be in her position with the love of my life. This was her second attempt at love, and it seemed like a failed one due to no fault of her own. Not only was she feeling like she’d lost her daughter, but she was having to deal with losing Seneca too if she chose not to forgive him.
After getting to the kitchen, everyone turned our direction, and Jericka went straight to Manman. “I didn’t know you were my grandmother!”
“Yes!”
“What do I call you? I call my other grandmother Granny, Mr. Seneca’s mom is Nana, and Mrs. Anissa is GiGi. I used to call my dad’s mother Grandma.”
“Hmm. Well, since you are of Haitian descent, you can call me Granmè.”
“Haitian descent?”
“Yes. I was born in a country called Haiti and so was your mom. We moved to the United States when she was a year old. We speak Haitian Creole and English. I’d be happy to teach you the language.”
Once again, Jericka’s eyes widened. “I’ll be able to speak two languages? Wow!”
I smiled big and grabbed Kaysyn’s hand, leading her to the dinner table. As I did, Jungle’s phone started to ring, and I noticed the frown on Jericho’s face. “Excuse us. We have to take this outside,” he said.
Whitney slowly shook her head. “Must be Watchful Eyes business. I’m glad that you two have worked out your differences. The ladies of Watchful Eyes have gained a member,” Whitney said, then chuckled.
Kaysyn smiled slightly, but I already knew what she was thinking. If she left Seneca, the group would lose a member. Whitney turned back to the stove, and Manman brought Jericka to it to show her how to fry plantains. I was about to say something to Kaysyn, but my phone chimed. When I saw a message from Van, I froze.
I need to talk to you, please. It’s important.
That nigga wasn’t about to have me getting into it with my man. If I responded to him, Jungle would be sitting next to me watching the text or listening to the phone call.
CHAPTER21
JUNGLE
“Iknow I’m probably the last nigga either of you wanna hear from right now. I just wanted to check on baby girl. Is she okay?”
“She hasn’t been here but maybe thirty minutes. She’s fine. Kaysyn is still here,” I responded.
“Well, I’m sure she probably told y’all that she was only listening to me and what I told her to do regarding the situation. I fucked up.”
“She hadn’t told us shit,” I said. “But we figured that shit out by her response to you in the courtroom.”
Jericho looked like he wanted to go through the phone and fuck that nigga up. He hadn’t said a word although I had told Seneca that he was listening. “All my life, I had to fight for what was mine. I had to protect my mama and my sister at all costs. It didn’t matter how or who I had to step on to do it. There was no one I had to be loyal to but them. They were all I had. Jericho, when you told me about Chelsea and Jericka being hers, my mind went back there.”
“You a bitch nigga,” Jericho said. “You tried to make my sister seem like a trifling ass mother who threw her baby away when you knew got damn well that wasn’t the case. You gon’ have to answer for that shit, because all you got now is yo’ mama and yo’ sister again. Don’t think this call gon’ make everything good. It ain’t. It’s on site when I see yo’ fucking ass.”
He went back inside. The line was quiet, so I said, “We don’t want to hear excuses. I know you better than anybody. I know how you are, but that don’t make the shit right. You tried to throw us all under the bus. You had that lawyer saying I was a suspected drug dealer. I know niggas that have been killed for less. Just like I know you, you know me. I don’t talk out the side of my neck. You owe Chelsea and her family an apology. You owe Kaysyn an apology. Whether they accept that shit or not, don’t matter. You right. You fucked up, and you gon’ have to accept the consequences of that.”
My voice had remained calm, although I was fucking steaming on the inside. As much as I loved Chelsea, when I saw her face when that attorney said that fuck shit, I was ready to eat that nigga up. He was showing his naked ass, and I wanted to shoot him in that shit. If he was telling the truth about her that would be one thing. He was straight up lying.
We were his brothers. We’d accepted him into our circle and shared shit with him that we trusted him to keep to himself. I didn’t know how much or what exactly he told that attorney about us, but I refused to take any more chances with his ass. If Ali wanted to trust him, that was on him, but I’d be damned if Ali was gonna share any information on me with him.
“You right.”
“Hell yeah, I’m right. I’m glad you know that though. You a grown ass man… too fucking old for fucking excuses for this bullshit. You know I keep it trill, and always have, so expect to get fucked up about this. Jericho plexing like a muthafucka, and I ain’t far from that shit myself. Take the whupping like a man when it comes to you, and be glad that’s all you getting.”
I ended the call before I got loud with his ass. It was bad enough Jericho had stormed back in the house, alerting the ladies that something was up. However, even with all this, I still considered his punk ass family. I slowly shook my head. I wanted to smoke some good right now so bad, but with baby girl in the house, I didn’t want to light up. Looked like I would be sitting on buck in a minute with DJ Screw blasting, because I needed to hit this shit something fierce to calm my fucking nerves.
