Page 55 of Anything Necessary for Her (Crenshaw Kings #9)

“I been getting by because of me. I never met my father and don’t know that nigga.

Wouldn’t recognize him if he walked up on me and made conversation.

” I blew out smoke. “From ten, I started robbing stores and shit to feed myself and kept on until I was old enough to work in order to feed my brother. Them department store jobs and fast-food gigs wasn’t enough money, though, and that’s how I got into hustling. ”

“With Sif.”

“Yeah. When I came in, though, I was wild as fuck, and he put me in line. If it wasn’t for him, I’m sure I would’ve been dead or in jail.

I was so focused on getting paid and nothing else.

He taught me how to be low-key, make this shit last and work for me for as long as I needed it to.

Showed me how to not just make petty cash to eat, but how to eat for real.

I been straight on the money tip ever since. ”

“Glad to hear that,” Prime replied, looking over at me. I could tell he was studying a nigga, fighting with himself internally on whether or not to stamp me with an approval for his daughter.

“Mr. St. Thomas?—”

“Prime or P is good.”

“Prime, I lo—like yo’ daughter a lot. I don’t even think I’ve ever liked a woman as much as I do her, because I ain’t ever felt anything like this.

She make me wanna do shit I ain’t used to doing and makes me wanna sacrifice in ways I never would for a random female.

I get excited waking up just because I know at some point, I’m gon’ see her or talk to her.

I don’t even know what the fuck I was doing before I met her.

” I peered down at the smoking cigar between my fingers, speaking the last line of my statement more so to myself.

“I respect her and Sif way too much to play around when it come to her. She’s too special, and Sif too real for me to do either of them dirty.

” I finally picked my eyes up to lock with his.

He inhaled on the cigar, then asked, “You love my daughter? I heard the slipup.”

I’d been hoping he’d ignore the shit, the same way Banks had done the few times I’d almost said it.

Shrugging, I responded, “I think so. I don’t wanna make her think she gotta return my affections though.”

“Well . . .” He ashed the cigar and sighed, interlocking his fingers as he pressed his elbows into his thighs.

“One thing about Banks is that she loves her family, so if she’s willing to live with disunity among us to be with you, she loves you.

I know my daughter, and she’s not willing to risk her people that she cares for dearly just to be spiteful or for any old nigga.

” His eyes pierced mine as he spoke, the same way his daughter’s often did. “Tell her.”

“I don’t want her to lose her people behind me, but I also can’t let her go,” I admitted. “As selfish as that shit may sound.”

“She not gon’ lose nobody. That ain’t in our nature to stop talking over some shit like this. For one, you seem to really wanna do right by her, and secondly, if I or her brothers felt you was gon’ bring her harm, we’d just murk you. Wouldn’t be no estrangement over you ’cause you’d be a memory.”

I nodded with a smirk. “Nah, not unless I murked one of y’all first.”

His brows kissed his hairline as he took me in momentarily.

Expelling a breathy chuckle, he said, “As badly as I wanna wring yo’ fucking neck for that comment, I wouldn’t want my daughter with a different type of nigga.

” He sipped some of the alcohol from his dinner glass that he’d brought over.

“I didn’t wanna say this, but I like you.

I like that you don’t stand down when it come to her and you being with her, but you also know how to show some respect.

I like that you give a fuck about her restoring shit with her family while also not playing pussy and surrendering the relationship.

I like that you brought yo’ ass here tonight and acted like you had some sense, all for the love of my daughter,” he confessed.

“Fuck.” He grunted before we guffawed in unison. “I don’t even wanna hear Sif’s mouth.”

“He gon’ gloat for sure,” I said, and Prime bobbed his head, concurring. “You need to be honest, though, and tell her you love her.”

“Eh.” I shrugged again, staring out at the night sky and mountains, noticing how peaceful that shit looked.

For the first time in my life, I wanted to use my money to buy a peaceful ass but big ass home. Have Banks as my wife and some kids in that bitch too.

At the moment, my house was simply something nice my siblings, mama, and I could lay our heads in. It wasn’t special to a nigga, and crossing the threshold didn’t immediately provide me with solace.

“Why the hesitance? You think I don’t know my baby girl?” he queried.

“I’m just not the lovable type, and I don’t wanna make her lie nor do I want to mess up what we got by the thoughts I start having because she ain’t say it back.” I ashed my own cigar, polishing off my whiskey.

“Who told you that you not the lovable type? I hope you not assuming that shit because of ya father. As a father, I can tell you any nigga who abandons his child ain’t do it because of the child; it’s because he ain’t a man.

That child could be predicted as the future Kobe Bryant, and that nigga still wouldn’t stick around to raise him.

“Being a father is hard work, and little boys don’t like doing shit that’s hard. Now when that kid makes it to the NBA and starts pulling in millions, the muthafucka gon’ def show up then. All the hard work is done at that point.”

I pondered on his words, understanding his logic. My mother had used the fact that my father never even met me as evidence to support her theory on me, so hearing Prime break it down in this manner made me see shit a little differently.

“My mama told me I wasn’t the type,” I finally professed.

“She made some valid points though. Everybody around me, pre-Banks, is there because of something I provide them with. Ain’t always a bad thing, but it is what it is.

Women especially like what it means to say they’ve fucked me or fucked with me, and what I could possibly do for ’em.

Banks ain’t like that, so what reason would she have to be in love? ”

“Ask her that when you tell her, young nigga.” He finished his drink as well. “Let me ask you this though. Why would a man as intelligent and stand up as you listen to a person who can’t get by without a bottle?”

I had nothing, so I just looked up at him since he’d ascended from the chair.

We left the room, and I went to the bathroom to freshen up some since I knew Banks would complain about the cigar smoke.

I ate another slice of pie while just chopping it up with the three St. Thomases, then Banks and I left.

“It wasn’t so bad, right?” she asked as she buckled up.

“It was actually good.” I whipped my car around the driveway to pull to the gate. “Yo’ pops is cool. Knowledgeable. He remind me of Sif.”

“They are father and son.”

“I know, smart ass.” I shook my head with a smirk as she chuckled. “You looking like you trying to get into something.” I glanced her way briefly as I drove down the street, watching the palm trees sway in the breeze of the night.

“I am.” She put her phone to the side before reaching to unbuckle my jeans.

As she started to suck on the tip of my dick while I whipped the car, her phone buzzed. Zoning in on it while driving and experiencing Banks’s wet, warm mouth plus her soft hands toying with my balls, I did my best to see who was hitting her line.

When the contact name finally formed into Trayvon, I bobbed my head slightly, groaning some at the pleasure I was feeling as I made a mental note to handle him.

Trayvon: I miss you. I know you do too and don’t like that nigga keeping you from me.

Little nigga couldn’t say I didn’t warn him. He’d been extended more grace than most niggas since I wasn’t the type to operate off warnings and shit.

When you violated, I handled you. I didn’t have time to give grown ass men a talking to. Therefore, my next move would be warranted, and unfortunately for Trayvon, his inability to recognize a real threat was about to alter the life he’d planned out for himself.