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I did as he requested. His thug appeal was so sexy. I loved the way he spoke to me. It almost always made me wet with desire. When his tongue slid to mine, I nearly forgot we weren’t alone and straddled him. I brought my hands to his beard and slid my fingers through that shit. Pulling away from him, I said, “Damn, I love you.”
“I love you too. Don’t ever be afraid or nervous about anything in my presence. The only things I need you to feel in my presence are sensitivity, love, sexual desire, safety, and how cherished you are. It doesn’t matter what the situation is, especially if you’ve done nothing wrong. You feel me?”
“I do.”
“Good. Now do you and Jericka know where we’re going?”
“No. I know where I want to go, but she wants to go to Disney World. I’m a little hesitant to show my face in Florida.”
“What did I just say to you? If I’m in your presence, you shouldn’t be nervous or fearful of shit. Girl, you can hop out the boat like Peter and walk on water. Quit tripping. The organization has basically fallen apart. I got connections in Miami too. I’m not exclusive to Houston.”
I bit my bottom lip as he stared at me. “Naw. You know we can’t go there,” he said, then chuckled, showing that he knew exactly what I was thinking.
“Mom!”
I smiled at Jungle and turned to see Jericka running down the stairs in her pajamas. “Yes, baby?”
“Can you tie this scarf on my head?”
“Of course. How have you enjoyed your stay so far?”
“I’ve had fun. I miss Mommy, Ellington, and Mr. Seneca, but my mommy said it will be like that for a little while. She said that I will learn to love you and Mr. Jungle just as much as I love them. I think she’s right, because I’m starting to love you already.”
This little girl was an angel. “Well, I’m happy to hear that, baby. So, I guess our vacation will be to Disney World when summer rolls around.”
She screamed in excitement. “Thank you, Mom! Thank you, Mr. Jungle!”
She hopped right on top of us as we laughed. We were going to be a family. My heart was full, and I just prayed that it stayed that way.
CHAPTER23
JUNGLE
“Did Ali say if Seneca is going to be there?” I asked Jericho.
“Yeah. He’s gonna be there. I told Ali, that I needed to fuck him up on sight, so it will happen either as soon as we walk in or as soon as he walks in. Whoever is there first.”
I nodded repeatedly. That nigga was gon’ feel set up, but then he’d know how we felt in that courtroom almost a week ago. Jericka had been doing good, as far as I knew, with being at our house. Chelsea had slept with her all three nights though. I’d dropped them off at Jericho’s house and once the meeting was over, I would pick them up and we would go to Sunday dinner at the Berottes’. Kaysyn would be there to see Jericka, although they’d talked briefly every day. Chelsea made sure of it.
To say she could be immature at times, she handled that shit like a grown ass woman. I was glad she did, because while Chelsea didn’t deserve to be dragged to court, Kaysyn didn’t deserve to be fucked up either. That nigga Seneca did. Had Chelsea went apeshit on Kaysyn and then found out that Seneca had been selling her lies, she would have felt bad about that shit.
That was one of the reasons I told Chelsea instead of waiting until summer, we would go to Disney World during spring break. It was coming up in a couple of weeks. Whitney was booking the trip for us through her travel agency. Chelsea was just as excited as Jericka was, if not more. She’d lived in Miami all those years and had never been. I hated that her father deprived her of the life she deserved.
One thing I could give my dad credit for was how he took care of Fawn. He shielded her as best he could from the game. He didn’t want Fawn to be in that street shit. He really didn’t ask us to do it. It was just that I wanted to be just like him, especially after Mama died. Her death was hard on all of us so I clung to my dad even more after that. If he was on the block, I was on the block. Since I was ten years old, I’d been learning the game.
That was why the decision to shut that shit down had come easy now. I’d been in it for over thirty years. Next time, I wouldn’t go to jail. Somebody would end up killing my ass. Now that I had Chelsea and Jericka, I was finally beginning to live. I couldn’t go out now. I had too much to live for.
As we drove to the Watchful Eyes office, my phone rang. When I saw Fawn’s number, I answered. “What’s up, bucket head?”
“I got’cho bucket head, nigga. I heard I’m free and clear. I’ve been meaning to call, but work been busy. I just got back from New York, scoping out this singer.”
Fawn was an A&R exec for a record label. She’d been doing that for the past eight or nine years, and she loved it. Music was her thing… all types. One wouldn’t know it from being around her, but she loved the classics, like Nat King Cole and shit. “Yeah, you free and clear.”
“So I can come dine to H-Tine whenever I’m good and got damn ready, right?”
“Right, Fawn,” I said as I rolled my eyes.
“See, you already got that attitude brewing. Where my sister-in-law?”
