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“To know why the hell you’ve been avoiding me and why didn’t you tell me you…knew him.” He tipped his head toward me. I was right beside Ju on the couch because wherever she was, I was.
“I was going to tell you when I got the time,” she explained, pressing her palms together. It took so much restraint for her not to fly off the handle.
“I asked you if you knew about the LOKs and you told me no.”
“Don’t fucking call us that shit,” I spat angrily.
“I’ll call you whatever the hell I want if you want to stay outside of a jail cell.”
“You realize I could put a bullet in your head right now and not give a fuck, right?”
“And you realize you’d be in jail for life and away from Juju, right?” Marsh countered, venom in his voice.
“So moving the fuck on,” Ju said, standing. She had to pace. Just like me. “Marsh, this is King. King, this is Marsh. I’m fucking him,” she said, pointing to me. “That’s all me right there. He’s my man. I love him. You lock him up for any fucking thing and I will never speak to you again. I swear.” The conviction in her voice was like a knife slicing through Marsh. He cleared his throat and leveled a hateful stare at me.
“With all that being said, you two need to work together. You don’t have to like each other but just work with each other. I’ve been avoiding this because…well, shit you see what happened.” Juju’s brown eyes swung from me to her father. Neither of us said anything or offered any apologies.
“Is that why you’ve been pushing me to work with the LOKs?”
“You need to get our motherfucking name right,” I warned.
“What should I call a fucking gang that robs and murders, King?” He said my name with a pointed ring that worked under my skin.
“You call us Legion of Kings,” I told him, making my voice go still. Marsh studied me for a while then looked at Juju. His eyes took her face in first, and I wondered if he really loved her or if he felt guilty for allowing her to be given up. My chest ached thinking about baby Jupiter in the system when she had a well-off father who could have brought her in.
“What the fuck is that around your neck, Juju?” Marsh’s eyes landed on her fresh king of clubs chain.
“It’s a necklace. Your eyes broke?” I loved how she refused to back down, even in the face of her father. She was such a force to be reckoned with.
“Why are you wearing it?” His eyes darted to my neck then back to hers as if he wanted to see if she just had my chain on or if she had her own. He should have known the answer to that. Juju wasn’t the type of woman I could hang my chain around. She required her own and I made sure she had it.
“Because I’m a fucking King, Marsh. That’s why you need to work with us. Stop being so stubborn. Get your officers on board too.” She tossed her hands in the air, frustration making her muscles taut.
“Why are you doing this, Ju? You have a good job and a good side hustle. You don’t need this shit.” So he knew about her embezzling funds from customer accounts. Seemed like Marsh wasn’t as squeaky clean as he liked to make believe.
“You know why, Marsh? Because I grew up without a mommy or daddy. I grew up getting abused and fucked over because my father wasn’t there to protect me from predators. I had to fend for myself and you know what? I’m fucking tired.” Her voice wobbled a little and my stomach lurched. I hated hearing her in pain.
I wanted to burn the fucking world down.
“The Kings are my family. They’ll protect me and I’ll protect them.” Her eyes were hard and unforgiving. Marsh couldn’t hold her gaze so he swallowed and looked at the floor. “Now like I said, we can help each other. Talk to King.”
There was a stretch of loaded silence that fell over all of us. I had to make myself okay working side by side with the same man who abandoned Jupiter. It was heavy on my mind and I didn’t like it but I needed the protection Inglewood PD could offer.
“I’m running for governor in the fall,” Marsh said to me, breaking apart the silence. “I need votes in the minority communities. I’m not exactly popular in the polls in places like Inglewood, Compton, Watts…you get the idea.” Looking at me killed him. I saw the disgust in his eyes. I laughed at it because he really thought he was above me.
“Governor,” I nodded, stroking my chin. “Sounds like that could be a powerful relationship.”
“I never said I’d extend my reach if I win.”
“You don’t have to say it.I’msaying it. If you want the Legion of Kings to help you win, then you still extend your protection once you become governor. That’s the deal. Or, I can make sure you lose the fucking election. Either way, I’m on top.” I sat still, watching him turn over my words in his head.
“What exactly can you do to help me more than my team?” Marsh asked finally.
“You’ve seen my reach. You know we’re already spreading beyond Inglewood. If I had twelve on my side, that reach could expand a lot quicker.”
“Don’t call us that twelve shit,” Marsh snapped at me, baring his teeth. I smiled and leaned forward.
“You stop calling us the LOKs and I’ll think about it.”
