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“I remember when you used to play in dirt, and I used to look at you and never understood. Moms even had us take a picture in the dirt and I shoved you away from me. You fell back and hit your head. I’m sorry for that because I can see how you’re dealing with it as an adult.

” He stood up and paced the waiting room.

“Menace, shut the fuck up. I’m doing it because I found myself in a situation.”

He slowly turned to look at me. “What kind of situation?”

“Navy was pregnant… that was why she was bleeding at the dinner.”

He looked at me. “Did the stain come out that chair?”

I slapped my hand on my forehead because why was he focused about the damn chair, and not the fact that Navy was pregnant. “Yes.”

“Guessing the baby didn’t make it?”

“Nah.”

“Sorry.”

I leaned my head against the wall, nervous for them to mess around with my dick. This was my prized possession. “Thanks.”

“And because of that you don’t want kids at all?” He sat back in the chair, and gave me his attention, which was fucking weird.

“ We don’t want children.”

“I respect it. After Dennis, it would be hard to compete with him… fucking boy is perfect. It’s because of the way I sme… never mind.”

I chuckled. “Yeah, we don’t want to compete with Dennis.”

“You committing to forever with her. Is that something you can deal with?”

I ignored the fuck out my brother and looked at the lady behind the desk. “I saw how scared she was that night, and it made me realize I never want to see her in pain like that. Not from something that she doesn’t want.”

“What do you want?”

“I want her. Kids ain’t never been a thought, so why the fuck would I give up the love of my life for some fluid floating around in my ball sack?”

“Fair.”

“Yeah. I told her to plan the wedding of her dreams… Mens, wanna do me a favor?”

He looked over at me slowly. “What?”

“Be my best man.”

He snorted with a smirk. “Word?”

“Yeah… you ain’t my favorite person, but I don’t want to take that next step without you by my side.”

“Not Beans.”

“Beans don’t give a fuck ‘bout shit like that, not when it comes to him or you.” I laughed because Beans just happened to be in the function.

“Let me cover the wedding… my gift.”

I leaned forward and looked my brother in the eyes. “Fuck no.”

I’d fuck a dolphin before I let my brother give me any money for my wedding. I watched the way he was on Jeffie for this damn gala; he wasn’t about to make an already stressful process even more stressful.

“I’m a bum?”

“Ain’t say that.”

He leaned up, getting serious. “Childbirth is the closest thing to death a woman experiences. I like death, live for death, but for the first time death scared me. It involved Wonder, and I didn’t like that shit.”

This was the deepest conversation I had ever had with my brother. “You understand how I felt then.”

“Yeah.”

“She’s healthy and had your baby boy… don’t even think about it.” I could see him in his head, running back different scenarios.

“Question? Angie always been good to you, right?”

The random fucking questions never failed with him. “Hell yeah, Ang was good to me,” I replied, knowing how much she meant to me, and how she was like a mother to all of us.

“In what way?”

“What way you mean, Maverick?”

“In any fucking way, Landon,” he shot back.

“Are you asking if I fucked Angie? Nigga, eww.”

His body relaxed and he nodded his head. “Cool, cool, cool,” he repeated himself, and stopped rubbing his hands and looked at me.

“You gonna tell me what that question is about?”

“Nah.”

We both remained quiet, waiting for them to call me to the back to get this shit over with. Navy sent me a bunch of vasectomy jokes she saw online, not making the shit any better.

“I know I didn’t pay much attention to you, Don. I’m sorry for that.”

I leaned up. “Menace, are you dying?”

“Nah. Just being in therapy has me having to look at my shit… that’s all,” he rubbed his hands together, and was feeling uncomfortable.

“It’s okay not to be alright, Mens… I ain’t gonna never look at you different,” I told him, and he looked over at me.

“We not about to be having sleepovers and shit, Landon.”

I chuckled. “Pooh showed me a house in your neighborhood, so you never know,” I winked at him.

“Advil started helping with the baby.”

I closed my eyes. “Her name is Avril, Menace… Avril.”

He acted like it was news to him. “She don’t ever correct me… been calling her that for a week now.”

“Cause she has learned how to deal with you.”

He nodded. “She’s good people.”

“Yeah, make you feel all warm and shit.” I always felt warm and cared for when Avril was around.

“Reminds me of Mom,” he mumbled.

I allowed him the silence, not pressing him because he became overwhelmed, and then shut down.

My hope was that the more therapy he did, the more he opened up about our parents.

Working with him, I wanted him to open up about a lot of shit that he had to keep to himself.

Kora, Jeffie, and Corleon knew everything about Menace. I just wanted to be included in that.

“I’m coming back there with you.”

“What? You not looking at my dick… the fuck.”

Menace sat there with his legs crossed and bent forward. “I’m coming in there.”

I stared at him before closing my eyes, getting ready to get this shit done and over with. Anything for my baby. Right now, we were using condoms, and I was pulling out. If she felt unsure, she would pop a plan b.

To avoid her having surgery, especially since she had a miscarriage, I was gonna make sure we protected ourselves, and that started with me getting snipped. I wasn’t about to make her take birth control again and fuck up her cycle and shit when I could do this fifteen-minute procedure.

Anything for the future Mrs. Caselli.