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As I watchedthe Q-Dawgs hop around and bark, I laughed at Mariena. She was right in the middle as always, hopping right along with them while Dylan rolled his eyes. Skyler was holding their son Mason as she rubbed Dylan’s back. A one cheeked smile made its way to his lips as “Atomic Dog” went off and “Wipe Me Down” started to play.
I watched him and Shy carefully, because it seemed they had something up their sleeves. When Shavozz’s oldest son, Trayveon, stood and joined them, everyone yelled. I assumed he’d crossed over. However, the killer was when Dylan walked over and got Foster. He was a year and a half. Chad frowned hard as Dylan put him on his feet. When that baby started trying to shimmy, the entire yard erupted.
Chad went and snatched his son up and yelled, “Aww hell no!”
Alexz was laughing so hard she was as red as the shirt she wore. She, Skyler, and Ariana stepped as well. Ariana was only three or four, but she was learning. When Jericka and Aina joined them, everyone smiled. Ali looked at Riley as he rubbed her growing belly, and she only smiled. She was a Delta, but clearly the women weren’t as concerned as Chad and Dylan were.
When Jericka suddenly yelled, “Mommy!” we all turned to see Kaysyn, Ellington, and Joyy walking through the backyard toward us.
Chelsea stood from my lap, but only after kissing my lips and made her way to them. It had been a good day, despite that ass whupping. Seneca’s nose was indeed broken, and he had a broken rib. Jericho had also knocked out two of that nigga’s teeth. I stood to go to Joyy to see if she had any updates. I was glad that she didn’t seem to be angry about it.
When I got to them, I hugged Kaysyn then turned to Joyy and asked, “He good?”
She nodded. “I was angry. He told me that he should have gotten worse. After he struggled to tell me what he did, my anger transferred to him. I couldn’t believe he would do something like that. I was avoiding my friend, because I thought I needed to be there for my brother. Today, he finally came clean. I sympathize with him, because that’s my brother, but he was wrong as hell for what he did. This didn’t have to get to this point, but leave it to Seneca’s cynical ass to take things too far.”
I hugged her then looked over at Chelsea and Kaysyn. They were talking and Jericka was hopping between the two of them holding each of their hands. As I was about to head to my seat, Mrs. Anissa stopped me. “Family looks good on you, baby.”
“Yeah. It was time for me to come out the wild and be civilized. That’s my queen.”
She giggled then kissed my cheek and said, “Twelve down, one more to go. Then all of our boys will have settled down.”
I didn’t dare tell her what had gone down between Seneca and Kaysyn. However, I knew if he couldn’t have Kaysyn, he wouldn’t have anyone. She walked away, and Alexz approached with a slice of cheesecake and a small cup of banana pudding. “Thanks, Alexz with a Z. I appreciate you, sis.”
“You’re welcome.”
I made my way back to my seat and watched the kids play. There was enough of them to start a little league football team, not to mention the three that were on their way. Chelsea plopped her sexy ass in my lap and kissed my lips. “I was surely missing out on a lot, but I’m not going to waste any time catching up on what I missed out on.”
I smiled at her. “Mm hmm. You’re exactly where you should be.”
EPILOGUE
JUNGLE
TWO WEEKS LATER…
“Listen, baby. You gon’ have to slow down. I don’t know if you remember or not, but I’m forty-four. I ain’t built for all that damn running.”
Chelsea laughed loudly then turned to kiss me. We were at Disney World having the time of our lives. Jericka had made sure we all had Mickey Mouse hats and that we’d taken plenty of pictures. We didn’t go alone, so we had plenty of family with us. Kaysyn and her son, Ellington had flown out with us, along with Jerico, Whitney, Manman, Ali, Riley, and Aina, one of Jericka’s favorite playmates. Fawn, Law, and the boys had met us here.
Shy and Chad were pissed, because we didn’t give them enough notice to make the trip, so we were planning another trip for summer. The entire Berotte family would be going, including Mr. Sheldon and Mrs. Anissa. Hopefully, Seneca would be able to make that one as well.
Kaysyn had said that they had an in-person conversation the day before we left, and he’d cried. She said he’d had his first appointment with the psychiatrist and was waiting to see if there was a diagnosis or if what he did was behavior that was just embedded in him that needed to be dug out. I told her that I didn’t have a problem digging that shit out of him. She didn’t say whether they would be getting back together or not, but I was glad that they’d at least talked.
Chelsea had also gone to see Isaiah. It wasn’t just a counseling session. I believed it was more of them just talking. Through her sessions, they’d established a friendship. There weren’t many people I trusted, but besides my brothers at Watchful Eyes, Vegas, and my brothers-in-law, Isaiah was at the top of the list. I appreciated my extended family for always making me feel included and having my back. It made me grateful every day for my journey. Had I not met Ali, I wouldn’t know them.
Although my lil tryst with Lexi could have ruined things, I was happy that it didn’t. There were no feelings involved. She was a good fuck, and she’d said the same about me. There were no hard feelings when that ended. It helped that Chad wasn’t an insecure nigga, because if he were, there would have been no room for Jericho, Seneca, and me, and there was no telling where we would have been without the wise words of Mr. Sheldon and Isaiah.
As we made our way through the park for Aina and Jericka to meet characters from Aladdin, I couldn’t help but pull Chelsea close. I kissed the side of her head as she smiled big. “Jungle, this is amazing. I’m so happy I’m experiencing all of this with you.”
“I’m happy too, baby. I wish I could have shown you how happy I really was last night.”
She giggled. “I refuse to deprive you tonight. Your dick gon’ be inside of me for so long tonight he’s gonna sprout roots.”
“Shit! We need to start that shit right fucking now then. Where will Jericka be?”
“With Kaysyn. They need to catch up since they haven’t talked much the past few days. You have any objections?”
“Look down and tell me if I have any objections. This nigga done started without you.”
