Page 34

Don Caselli

“Good looks,” I told the pilot as I jogged down the steps of the jet.

My tie was loosened and instead of the dress shoes I had got on the jet with, I had a pair of slides on as security held the door opened for me to get in the back of the Rezvani.

I called that shit a tank because that was what it reminded me of.

Menace had me playing his doppelg?nger and attending all these meetings and events.

I had to give my brother respect because all I thought his ass did was sit in the house and count his grapes and macaroons.

Corleon exited the jet behind me and got in on the other side.

Menace had sent him with me to make sure I kept my head straight and to explain certain things.

I’ve known our family had our hands in everything, but Menace kept me distanced from a lot of it.

He kept us all distanced from what our uncle was into.

Now that everything had been crossed over into the Caselli name, there was so much power and shit that I wasn’t privy to.

My brother had his hands in all of it, and the pressure on his shoulders was immense, because he had to carry it all alone, never wanting to place the burden onto us.

With him becoming a father, there was no other choice but to lean onto me.

I was old enough to step in when he couldn’t and although he wanted to be in control with everything, he had no choice but to allow me to fill those roles for him.

I had a new respect for Menace after the two days I spent meeting all the people I had met.

Big world type shit that our name was part of.

“Baby, I told you that I was landing around this time. Why the fuck you starting?” Corleon argued with Skyler, as he had been doing the whole two days we were away.

He sighed and leaned his head back, as I looked at the driver. “Take me to my house.”

“Boss said to bring you to him,” he replied.

“For what?”

He shrugged. “He never said… just told me to get you and bring you to him.”

I leaned my head back and texted to see if Pooh had texted me. While I had been away, she had been distant. One-word answers, taking forever to answer a facetime, and then she never really had any conversation to give.

I had never been the kind of nigga that couldn’t read a room or give somebody space. If she wanted space, I could respect that. The last message she sent was wishing me a safe flight home.

“Geeky, why the fuck would I be messing with another chick? Where that even make sense? I don’t give a fuck.

Yeah, go on that date and I’m handling my business, Skyler.

” He leaned forward and closed his eyes as he held the phone to his ear.

“Yeah, keep thinking that I’m playing around… ask Jeffie how I handle shit.”

She must have ended the call because he tossed his phone into the cup holder. “Trouble in paradise?”

“Shut the fuck up, Don.”

I could tell Skyler had this man stressed with the shit she had been putting him through. He leaned forward for a minute before he leaned back. “She dating?”

“She like to get under my fucking skin with her bullshit,” he snarled, as he looked out the window. “I don’t give a fuck what she do… let her cut shit off with my daughter.”

I looked at Core, who was like a second big brother to me. “You know that she isn’t your daughter, right?”

“Why you want me to toss you up in the back of this whip?” he asked the question like he didn’t just threaten to fuck me up back here.

“I pay for her private school, health insurance, dance classes and anything that she wants to do. I’m sending her to coding camp this summer.

Her deadbeat ass father in court trying to act like he doing shit. ”

When it came to Estella, she was the niece I never knew I needed. She could get anything out of everybody, including Menace. The man taught her what quiet hour was, and now she had her own quiet hour when she was home.

“You right… my bad.”

“Something going on with Geeky… can’t put my finger on that shit,” he spoke more to himself than me.

I allowed him the silence as I sent a quick text message to Navy.

Me: What you doing?

Pooh: Nothing right now. ...Soon gonna go over to Nana and Poppa’s block… landed?

Me: Yeah.

“What’s good with you and Kennedy?”

“Nothing.”

“You sure?”

I looked over at him. “She played me, Core.”

He nodded his head, understanding where I was coming from. Kennedy knew where my feelings were, and what I wanted when it came to her. She had so many times to tell me she was fucking with her client, and shit was serious between them.

Even at her birthday dinner, she could have pulled me to the side and told me something. Each time she could have told me the truth, she avoided it until the shit was slapped in my face. Kennedy knew what she was doing and that was some shit I couldn’t pretend to turn the other cheek for.

“Your brother warned you about her.”

“Mens be chatting though… always wanting to be in control of some shit,” I replied, watching a kid point to the truck, trying to take a picture of us speeding past them.

“It always seems that way, but your brother only wants the best for each of you.” There was a time when that was hard to believe.

I never believed Menace wanted the best for us because of the way he moved. Always taking shit into his own hands and never giving us a say in anything. He killed one of my best friends and never told me the reason.

Just handed Beans to me like he was some fucking object that I should have been grateful for.

It wasn’t until years later that I figured out the reason and motives for why he moved the way he did.

It was hard trying to get to know a man who never let anyone in, even his family.

As I became more familiar with the family business, I could see why he was guarded.

It was to keep us protected.

A life of always lurking in the shadows because you couldn’t come into the light.

The same applied with Kora. She wasn’t allowed to celebrate her family in the public because she wasn’t supposed to be connected to us.

I didn’t take anything for granted that my older siblings had sacrificed for this family.

“Yeah, he got what he wanted ‘cause I ain’t fucking with Kennedy. She wanna play victim and both sides. I ain’t fucking with that.”

“Ken is worried about herself. I get you was all in love and shit, but she was looking out for her. She doesn’t come from much, so in her head she has to protect her.

I’m not gonna say whatever you both shared wasn’t real, because if she hid it from you, it’s because she cared and didn’t know how to break the truth to you. ”

“If she fucking cared she would have told me the truth. I always kept it a buck with her,” I replied, not wanting to talk about Kennedy anymore.

The reason Corleon and Menace had a friendship for as long as they did was because he could listen. He knew when to push and when to let things be, and that was what he did. He allowed me to sit in silence like I had allowed him moments before.

We went through the usual security check before we were given clearance to enter the gates. I yawned, as I got ready to exit the truck and see what the fuck my brother wanted. His ass couldn’t wait for another day to have this meeting.

The sanitizing mist sprinkled us as we walked through. Duke was at the kitchen counter reading something on his phone. “Welcome back, Don.”

“What’s up, Duke?” I dapped him.

“Looking just like your brother after one of those trips.” He snickered and nodded down the hall toward his office.

Stevie came down the steps holding bottles and some pump thing in her hand. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail, the silkiness of her hair slapping against her back.

Once she got to the bottom step, she realized me and Corleon were standing there. “Am I interrupting something?” she questioned.

“Nah. They here to see Menace, Steve-o,” Duke answered.

She came around the counter, placing everything into the sink. “You hate my baby, Landon?”

“Stevie, what?”

Duke snickered, clearly tickled by Menace rubbing off on his wife. “What other reason would you have for not coming to see the baby? Zoya has come and Kora has come. Jeffie and Skyler both have come. You are the only one that hasn’t come to meet your nephew.”

“I was busy, Stevie. I’m here now though. How are you, sis’?” I held my arms out and she smiled, coming to give me a hug.

“Other than my boobs leaking and the baby screaming all night, I am perfect… oh and the fact that I have to wear diapers with the baby.”

“Steve-o… too much.”

She smiled. “The baby is with Mavie. I needed a minute to pump and clear my head.”

Corleon had sat down at the counter. “Still no nanny?”

“And have someone come and steal my child and fuck my husband?” Stevie replied, staring at us with a straight face.

Core shook his head and stood up. “I’m going to see my godson. Might need to save him from this house one day.”

I followed behind him while Stevie and Duke spoke about her taking him with her to the store. She didn’t need anything, she just wanted to people watch, and Duke was gonna make it happen for her.

“Daddy will kill anybody that complain about you crying. You cry until your lungs hurt, Dennis.” My brother was leaned over a bassinet with his back turned.

I half expected him to talk to the baby in baby talk, but his ass was talking like he was having a whole conversation with somebody. “What’s up, Mens?”

He didn’t rush to turn around. I could see him still messing with his son before he decided to turn around.

It was crazy seeing him without a fresh line up, and his facial hair was overgrown. The shirt he wore was stretched out around the neck, and he had a pair of sweats on. He looked just as tired as Stevie looked as he crossed the room and sat behind his desk.