Page 16

CHAPTER TWELVE

FERRIS

“ W hew, shit, nigga! That was a four point one. You getting there!” Carter Legend said to Red Squared as we watched.

Before I could even get to China, Asad had called, asking if I wanted to meet them at Mr. Red’s house.

I made a U-turn and made my way back, hoping that would take my mind off Milana and the bullshit that happened today.

It hadn’t. I’d been here for three hours, and I was still thinking about her.

It didn’t help that her cousins were here, getting pointers from Mr. Red and Mr. Zayson about team roping.

Asad was playing with his son, and I was just here, zoned the fuck out. Her cousins had left about an hour ago, and I was about to leave as well. Before I could go, though, Mister Red caught me. “You good, Ferris?”

I slid my hand over my face and shook my head.

“I heard some shit went down at the diner today. Those Hendersons got so many haters, I can’t keep count.

When you doing something right, those niggas come out the woodwork.

Most times, it’s gon’ be niggas not doing half of what you doing.

I mean, look at all the haters Beyoncé got.

That woman working hard and minding her business.

They always hate on somebody doing better than them. Jealous muthafuckas.”

My eyebrows lifted slightly. “I was there when it started. How did it end?”

“Those people got the hell on. I mean, what you gon’ do if you got ten guns pointed at your ass?”

He laughed as I slowly shook my head. “I guess.”

“You were there eating lunch?”

“Something like that. I was eating, but I was mainly there to see Milana.”

“Oh yeah, that’s right. Asad told me y’all were getting to know each other.”

“I had to pump the brakes on that though. I can’t do drama, and she got plenty of it right now. That wasn’t all Andersons there at that diner.”

“I heard,” he said. “Them people need to be focused on what got them niggas killed. Ain’t no fucking revenge for them to be seeking.

They got fucked up for attacking Mister Henderson…

nothing more. Nobody even knew that shit about them and Milana.

All Ace knew was that they attacked his grandfather.

They need to focus on that shit and go on about their business. ”

I nodded. “Well, I’m gonna go, man.”

“A’ight. Be careful heading home. Don’t pump those brakes too long. Despite what you heard or what she even told you, she comes from good stock. One poor decision doesn’t make her a bad person.”

I nodded again. Talking to him didn’t help shit.

It only made me think about her more. When my phone chimed, I glanced at it to see it was from her.

I was more than sure her cousins told her they saw me here.

They all seemed to be pretty close, and they definitely rode for each other.

When I got to my SUV, I checked it to see what she had to say.

I miss you already. I truly wish things were different.

I wished things were different too. I couldn’t respond to her right now though.

Taking a shower was all I could think about.

Plus, I had leftovers to go kill. I was starving.

The next couple of days, I would probably focus on finishing this game and getting my data turned in so I could relax Sunday.

My mama had already informed me that she would be cooking Sunday dinner for the family.

Since I didn’t spend Easter with everyone, I had to make it to that.

I would never hear the end of it if I didn’t.

She’d told me to bring Milana with me, but I wouldn’t be able to honor that wish.

I needed time away from her to think. That was way too much drama, but Mr. Red had a point.

He actually had several points, and I decided that I would mull over them for the next few days.

Had the drama only been the family drama with the Andersons, I would have fucked her into next year at my house earlier.

It took my dick a while to go down, even after what she’d told me.

Thinking about her now was causing him to rise again.

It seemed when it came to her, I didn’t have control of that.

When I got to the traffic light in China, I looked at her message again, wanting to go against my previous decision.

It was shocking that she even had all that shit going on.

She seemed so mild mannered and laid-back.

It was hard to fathom that she would do that ratchet shit she said.

When I got home, I went straight to work.

I had to focus on something else to clear my mind of my reservations and my strong desire to say fuck whatever she had going on.

After simply a four-hour break from her, I felt like I still wanted her.

I had to be thinking with the right head, because the other head didn’t know what he was missing.

Still, . . . I would give myself time to see if I wanted her as much as I thought I did.

“Where’s Milana?”

“They had plans already,” I said, blatantly lying to my mama.

“Mm-hmm. You lying, boy, but I’ll let you make it until everyone leaves.”

I didn’t know why I even tried to lie to my mama.

She was the one that told me to be careful, so she would surely understand me taking a step back.

As far as the Henderson shit, I wasn’t a punk.

I would jump right in to defend them if necessary.

I noticed that they tended to the business that paid them.

I never witnessed them bothering or bullying anybody, not even the mayor.

I missed Milana so fucking much. We hadn’t been talking long, but damn if she hadn’t burrowed herself deep within me simply by being herself.

She would grow out of that immaturity eventually, especially if she surrounded herself with the right people.

From her explanation, I knew she was provoked to do the shit that she did, but the fact that it was even an option was what was bothering the hell out of me.

“Uncle Ferris!”

I turned to see my niece running toward me. I picked her up and swung her around as she laughed. The minute I stopped and set her on her feet, she frowned at me and put her hands on her hips. “Why weren’t you here to see me get my Easter eggs?”

“Baby, I went somewhere with Cousin Asad. I wanted to attend a rodeo. I’m sorry I missed the hunt. How can I make it up to you?”

“I wanna go to the rodeo!” she said with her hands lifted in the air.

I wanted to roll my eyes. The last place I wanted to find myself at right now was a rodeo.

Even if Milana wasn’t there, I knew someone from her family would be there.

Instead of voicing all of that, I said, “Okay! Next time I go to one, I will take you. We just have to make sure it’s okay with your mom and dad. ”

“Yay! Will I be able to ride the horsey?”

“Naw, Kam. You only get to watch other people ride.”

“Well, that’s no fun. How come I can’t ride?”

“Because they are in a contest. They are trying to win a prize to do a specific thing. Maybe I can take you to Mister Red’s house instead and see if he has a horse you can ride. Would you like that better?”

“Yes! Can we go tomorrow?”

“Don’t you have school tomorrow?”

“Oh.”

“I’ll check with Mister Red to see when we can go.”

“Okay!”

That seemed to be enough for now. She ran off to go play with her brother, and I could hear her talking to him about riding the horse. When I heard my mama chuckle, I turned to her.

“What?”

She slowly shook her head. “You know you gon’ end up with all four of them. She’s going to talk about that all day, then the rest will want to go. Get ready to make a day of it. Maybe that will help keep your mind off why you and Milana aren’t together.”

I twisted my lips to the side. It was bad enough the next game I was supposed to be working on had to go back.

They discovered something big that needed to be fixed before I could play it, so they wanted to correct it first. My notes and reports were always super thorough, and that was why I stayed busy.

Me grading the game kept them on their toes.

When the game was released, I often posted reviews on the overall appeal of the game.

It would benefit them to make sure the game was produced to the best of their abilities before sending it to me.

I had a huge following of gamers who were ready for the next game, so they were waiting for my review to say if the game was worth their time.

They trusted my opinion, because it aligned with what they expected from a game.

“You taking Kam to ride horses and not taking Kohl, Kiley, and Loren?”

My mama laughed as I rolled my eyes. I turned to my brother as he held Loren in his arms. I glanced down to see Kohl and my sister’s daughter, Kiley, right next to him. Loren was only two; Kohl and Kiley were four. Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

“I’ll take all of them, Kyle. Why you tryna paint me out to be the bad guy?”

He chuckled as the kids hopped up and down with excitement. When they ran back to the other room to play, I said, “Now you got me having to babysit Angelica, Phil and Lil, and Kimi.”

He laughed at my Rugrats reference. When they were all together, that was exactly what they were like.

Kam was Angelica. She was the boss and had to tell all the “babies” what to do since she was the oldest. Kohl and Kiley were Phil and Lil.

Although they weren’t twins, they were the same age and looked a lot alike.

People always thought they were twins instead of first cousins.

Loren was Kimi simply because she was the only girl left other than Susie.

She was too young to be Susie. Her personality was more like Baby Dill, but I couldn’t call her a boy.

She was whiny when she couldn’t get her way and meddled with everything.

My hands would be full. There was no way I would be able to think about Milana while watching them.

“You tryna call our babies Rugrats ?” he asked with an amused grin on his face.

“I’m not trying, bruh. I am calling them rug rats. They bad when they all together. You don’t even watch all four of them alone, and three of them are your kids!”

He laughed. “Well, I guess you better get your mind right, nigga.”

My mama laughed loudly as my dad joined us. “What’s so funny?” he asked.

“Ferris gets to take all his nieces and nephew to ride horses on a day of his choosing. He’s so excited about it,” my mama said sarcastically. “He’s trying to keep his mind off the young lady he’s falling for.”

I frowned hard. “Wait a minute . . . Ain’t nobody said nothing about falling for nobody. I don’t know her well enough to be falling for her.”

“So you are trying to keep your mind off her though, right?” my dad asked.

I huffed and rolled my eyes as they laughed. I swore I should have stayed home today. Slowly shaking my head, I said, “Yeah. She got a lot of shit going on, and I’m tryna reevaluate whether I wanna deal with her while she’s trying to resolve it.”

“Well, that’s only a decision you can make. Just don’t take too long to make it. Time waits for no one, son,” he said.

I nodded, recalling the words from Mr. Red.

I supposed my decision would have to be made pretty soon if I wanted a chance at her heart.

However, my heart was saying that she was waiting for me, because she was all in and trying to deflect Thursday, simply to avoid losing me.

She needed me, but my decision would be made on the premise of if I needed her just as badly.