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CHAPTER ELEVEN

MILANA

“ I had to get him out of here, Uncle Mayor. I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”

He rolled his eyes at me. “You need to leave that nigga alone until this shit is done. You ain’t got time to be focusing on a relationship. You gotta tie this shit up and focus on making the nationals. That’s it.”

When he walked away from me, I sat at a table.

My life was fucked up, and my actions brought drama to my entire family.

Grabbing my phone, I checked my account to see I had nearly a hundred and fifty grand in there.

That was more than enough money to disappear for a while.

I didn’t want it to seem like I was running though.

I wasn’t trying to escape my problems, but at the same time, I didn’t want my family having to endure them either.

When I saw Mr. Ali walk through the door, I knew things had gotten bad.

He looked right at me and tilted his head, calling me to him.

I wasn’t sure how he knew who I was, but I supposed that was what made him a good P.I.

When I got close, he gestured for me to have a seat.

I did as he said and stared at my fingers. I could feel him staring at me.

“Were you embarrassed when you rolled up to Malik’s house?

I need that same confidence you had then.

That’s the only way we gon’ get these people to fuck off.

That muthafucka fucked with the wrong one.

Let his family know that shit too. Quit fucking running.

I don’t give a fuck what nobody say or think.

Grab your gun and fuck some shit up when they have the fucking audacity to show they face on your turf. ”

I stared at him wide-eyed. He was talking to me like I was his street soldier or some shit, but I liked it. I nodded repeatedly as he extended his fist. I bumped it with mine. He took out his phone and said, “I need you to see if you can identify some of these people so we know who to fuck up.”

A smirk made its way to my lips as I picked out their sister, Julius’s mama, Malik’s mama, and a few of their cousins on their father’s side.

The sister was also a child from the father.

She had a different mother as well, but I had never met her mother.

I was also able to pick out one of their uncles.

Julius’s mama was the one that put her son in this situation.

What the fuck did she expect to happen? Mrs. Nita was gung-ho about me seeing him fucking somebody else.

People always looked at the finality of things instead of looking at what got them there.

Yeah, I fucked over them better than Julius had fucked over me, but they would still be alive had they not attacked my grandfather.

Grandpa was so innocent in all this bullshit.

Hell, I seemed to be the one they wanted, like I had killed them.

They didn’t seem to be looking for Ace. They were looking for me because they didn’t feel threatened by me.

Mr. Ali was right. I was acting all scared and timid when I was far from it.

I wasn’t timid. I just didn’t like this shit.

After he made notes, he said, “You did good. Next time, I want you out here with a gun pointed at somebody’s dome. You hear me?”

“Yes, sir.”

He winked at me and smiled, and damn if I wasn’t smitten.

His smile was everything. I shook my head, breaking myself out of the trance his smile had me in.

My mind immediately went back to Ferris.

His last text message, saying he was sorry too, felt like a stab wound to the heart.

It was like he was saying he was sorry he met me.

This was a lot. Maybe Unc was right. I needed to let Ferris go and focus on the things I needed to be focused on.

I grabbed my keys and was about to head out when I saw Karima come in through the back door.

The diner was closed for business, but the family was welcomed to come in at any time.

I made my way to the back to greet her as Aunt Chrissy and Aunt Jen doted on her.

When her eyes met mine, she gave me a tight smile.

She looked so beautiful. She was due at the end of the month, Cassie was due two weeks before her, and Mekayla was due at the end of the month as well.

Hopefully, their due dates didn’t clash with the graduations.

King and SS would be graduating next weekend with bachelor’s degrees in business management, and my brother would be graduating at the end of the month from high school.

Maui was also getting her master’s degree in accounting, and Ashanni was getting her master’s in finance.

Everyone seemed to be on their shit except me.

I received a bachelor’s degree already, but I didn’t participate in graduation because I had a rodeo that same weekend.

My mama had left the decision up to me on which one I wanted to attend, and I chose the rodeo.

I somewhat regretted that now. I’d had accomplishments, but this mess I was in seemed to overshadow it all.

After Aunt Chrissy and Aunt Jen went back to what they were doing, I approached Karima and hugged her. “How are you feeling?” I asked her.

When I pulled away, she grabbed my hands. “I’m okay, but you aren’t. I can feel it.”

I lowered my head. “I’ll be fine. Let me fix your food so you can go rest.”

“I’m not here to fix food, Milana. I’m here for you. God sent me here for you.”

I swallowed hard and nodded. Grabbing her hand, I gently caressed it between mine. “Should we go to a table, or would you like to go to your house? I know comfort is probably the main goal right now. You only have a month to go!”

She giggled and rubbed her belly. “Yep. I’ll be thirty-six weeks Sunday. We can go to my house.”

She giggled more, and I led her to her car. “I’m surprised Rhodes is letting you drive alone.”

“He’s at my house,” she said then giggled again.

Seeing her so happy was rubbing off on me.

She had me smiling so big. Rima was my big sister, and her well-being meant a lot to me, although I didn’t act like it a few months ago.

I let my own selfishness get in the way, and I vowed to myself I would never do that again.

That was why I hadn’t been reaching out to her. She was under enough stress.

After getting inside my truck, I followed her to her house only to see KJ back out of his driveway on two wheels. He put his window down, and I could see Cassie in the passenger seat, holding her belly. It was time. I hopped out of my truck and went to Karima. “Talk on hold, right?”

“Right! Another Henderson is coming into the world!”

I kissed her cheek as she called Rhodes then headed to my truck.

Instead of going home, I decided to make my way to Uncle Marcus’s house.

My talk with Ace was well overdue. Leaving Henderson Village, I made my way back to Highway 90.

My legs were trembling, and I could feel the shiver go up my spine.

I was so nervous to talk to him. I felt like he was gonna tear me a new asshole.

It was time to face the music though. If I could turn back the hands of time, I would have done that shit already.

When I turned in Uncle Marcus’s driveway, I noticed a couple of cars were here.

One of them I recognized as PJ’s. Aww fuck.

I didn’t feel like hearing his mouth. PJ was just as reckless as Uncle Philly used to be.

The minute I got out of the truck, I saw Malia come out of the house with a deep frown on her face.

I took a deep breath and headed in that direction, not knowing what I was about to walk in on.

“Hi, Malia.”

“Hey,” she said dryly.

I knew she was upset. She was always happy to see me, along with Maui and Ashanni.

She always wanted to hang with us when she was little, although we were older.

We didn’t mind either. We would play in her hair all the time like she was our human doll.

After stepping onto the porch, I went to the door and rang the bell.

When the door opened, Uncle Marcus was standing there. He gave me a tight smile as he stepped aside to let me inside. “Hey, Uncle Marcus.”

“What’s up, baby? You good?” he asked as he gave me a one-armed hug.

“I’m okay. I finally gathered the audacity to come check on Ace.”

“What audacity did you need? We family. When he found out what they did to you, he was even less remorseful about what he did. Not that he was even feeling remorse,” he said and slowly shook his head.

“Shit happens. We do shit sometimes without worrying about the consequences. Believe me. I know. The point is that you learned from it and moved on.”

I nodded and gave him a tight smile. “Thanks, Unc.”

“Mm-hmm. I ain’t got room to judge nobody’s actions or reactions. Ace and PJ in the back. I gotta go smoke and check on baby girl.”

“Is Aunt Syn in there?”

“Yeah. She’s in the kitchen talking to Heaven.”

I nodded and went inside, closing the door behind me. When I got to the kitchen, I smiled at Heaven and went to Aunt Syn to hug her. Hendrix was on her lap, and Seneda was at the stove, stirring a pot. I lifted my eyebrows at the sight. She was only seven or so.

“Hey, Aunt Syn.”

“Hey, Lana. How are you?”

“I’m okay. How are you?”

“I’m good. I came to check on my cousin.”

“He’s back there. Make sure PJ ain’t poisoning him even more.”

I chuckled as Heaven said, “Right. He bad enough on his own.”

I laid my hand on her shoulder as I walked out of the kitchen, heading to the back room.

That was where they used to smoke. However, since Aunt Syn had Hendrix, they had to go outside.

He had asthma. The minute I stood in the doorway, Ace said, “It’s about time you brought your ratchet ass to see me. ”