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T he quicker we could come to an agreement, the quicker I could get his ass out of my house.

Perc wasn’t saying shit to him and neither was I.

All three of us were just sitting in my office silent.

I lit my blunt and put my feet up on my desk.

I had everything laid out the way me and Perc wanted it.

My father was the one that didn’t agree.

He was about to deal with what we had or bury her himself and we both knew he couldn’t afford it.

“This all I’mma say, mama, getting buried in white. Her casket will be closed for obvious reason. We’ll have it at my grandmother’s church, and she’ll be buried next to grandma. That’s it,” I said with finality.

“We have a plot that we were going to get buried in,” my father stated. “It was right next to each other.”

“Nigga I checked on that shit and it ain’t been paid for, so they put somebody else there.

You wanna go dig they ass up so my mama can get in that spot?

” I asked him. “You got a lot to say with no fucking money to give. Let me and my brother handle this shit, and you just pop up like you been doing.”

“She was my wife. I don’t give a damn how y’all feel about me, but I loved her and this shit is fucking with me.”

“Oh, yea? Then how the fuck you still over there with your mistress?” Perc asked. “If you were home with your wife, she would still be alive right?”

My father looked away and stared off into space.

I didn’t give a fuck about his feelings.

I wanted him out of my house. My decision was final.

He could show or he could not. It didn’t matter.

The sooner I got my mama in the ground and found out who did this, the better I would feel, and I could get my life back to normal.

It would never fully be normal again but it damn sure will be close.

“My decision is final. The funeral will be this Saturday. She’s been out long enough waiting for you. If you’re not happy with our decision, you can gladly front the money and bury her your way and we’ll show up,” I eyed him.

“Do what the fuck y’all wanna do.” He grabbed his shit and exited out of my office. I knew this was the last time I was going to ever lay eyes on him again. The next time I saw him; he was going to be dead.

“Have you heard anything?” Perc asked.

“Last I heard it was Big Bank people. Nobody knows anything else. He didn’t have a solid crew so once she gets in the ground, niggas will get to talking. It was a messy ass job, and we know for a fact an amateur did it. We just gotta find out who.”

“This shit really been fucking with me. It’s hard being under the same roof with Merci and we not talking. She doesn’t even fuck with my daughter.”

“Damn she don’t fuck with my niece?”

“Nah, she loves her she just doesn’t wanna deal with Lexus.”

“You gotta make that girl feel like she safe with you. You ain’t got no boundaries with Lexus.

You let that hoe do and say whatever. She like for you to beat on her and that’s why she keeps coming around.

To her, you beating her ass means you love her.

You got to come at her another way to let her know you ain’t playing.

” I told my brother. He sat there like he was taking it in.

“Come on, we gotta eat. It’s been days since I put something on my stomach. ”

We grabbed some food and went to join the ladies outside.

We had a lot to talk about because I had no idea my father raised them.

The shit really bothered me that he played with these girl’s emotions like that.

Merci was bothered and I could tell. She was just starting off into the sky with tears running down the side of her face as she bounced my niece on her leg.

She didn’t have a choice but to get her being that we were couped up in my office handling business with our dad.

I looked at Perc and nodded my head towards Merci so he could get his ass over there and see how she was doing.

“You good?” I asked Blessyn.

“Yeah, I’m good. Good thing we ain’t brothers and sister I guess.”

“Man, that shit would’ve been fucked up. We gotta make sure we don’t repeat what our parents did.”

“I want to apologize on my mama behalf. I heard his side of the story, but I don’t think my mama would’ve done no snake shit like that. She loved that nigga and still do.”

“I don’t blame her. That nigga knew what he was doing. He played everybody. We don’t have to bring that toxic ass shit into our family. We are good and now all I gotta do is get my mama funeral over and we can go back to living our lives.”

Blessyn ran her hand through my beard. “I’m sorry that this had to happen. I gotta be honest and say that I’m nervous that if you find out who did this, I’ll lose you.”

“Never. I ain’t going nowhere.”

“You can sit here and say it all day but, in my heart, I need to feel it. I’m afraid and I can’t help it.”

“Have I ever told you something and not showed you with my actions? I’m not going anywhere.”

I held Blessyn tight as we walked out of the church.

Security was so tight that they had every block covered and none knew it because they looked like normal dope boys standing on the corner.

Perc and Merci were getting on my nerve with all the bickering back and forth they were doing.

I just wanted to get this day over with and go home to be with my wife.

“Can y’all both just shut the fuck up? Goddamn, just sit on the opposite and shut up until we finish this shit,” I told them as we rode in the car to the gravesite.

Blessyn grabbed my hand and laid her head on my shoulder.

Everything was setting me off. My father not showing up to the funeral added to the problem.

Perc leg tapped against the door as we pulled up the burial site.

He didn’t want to get out the car, so I left him in there with Merci.

Hopefully, they wouldn’t tear the people car up trying to kill each other.

I had made it this far, the least I could do is see my girl one last time before the dirt got threw on her gold casket.

“You okay?” Blessyn asked.

“Yeah, I’m straight.”

I pushed the shades up on my face and took my seat in the front while the man recited some scripture and released a dove into the air.

I put a fake smile on my face as her friends and a few family members came by and gave me words of encouragement.

It was nice but I didn’t want to hear any of that shit right now.

Maybe after my heart healed, I can reflect on the words they were saying.

Since this shit happened, today was the first time I saw my brother break down. Perc never showed signs of weakness, but I understood how close him and my mother were. He was the baby, and she nurtured him. I let him have his moment until the car pulled back up to my house.

“You and your sister go in the house. I’m going ride with my brother so we can talk,” I told Blessyn.

They had to take the car back, so I grabbed my brother out the car and walked him to my car.

“Get in.” I didn’t have a destination in mind.

I just wanted him to know I was here for him.

Even with me starting my own family, he was still my baby brother, and this shit was not going to go away for him.

“Perc, I know this shit got you fucked up. All I want you to know is I’m here for you.

If you need to come crash at my spot or you wanna go to one of my other spots you know you can.

You got access to all my shit. I need you to take all the time you need to grieve because I can’t have you out here crashing out. ”

“When I catch who did this shit to mama, I’mma make sure they ass suffer,” he said coldly.

“I’m with you. They will forever know not to fuck with us. You wanna crash with me or you going home?”

“Take me home. I need to get some sleep. My damn head about to bust.”

I dropped him off and headed home. It was time to give my wife some time. She was patient with me for the past two weeks. As much as I brushed her off, she never gave up. Merci was gone when I got back. Blessyn was I the bed reading. I took the book out of her hand and sat on the side of the bed.

“I love the fuck outta you. You solid as fuck and I can’t wait to build this shit with you.”

“Where is this coming from?”

“I don’t think I say it enough. I buy you shit all time, but I need to say it too. You stayed down through the roughest time in my life. Women not doing that these days.”

“I’m your wife. It’s not just about me, it’s about us.”

I kissed her and slid the cover off her body and placed kisses on her stomach.

Blessyn had no clue how many bitches was pissed with me for fucking with her.

There wasn’t a woman that could say they were ever seen with me.

Relationships weren’t my thing. Finding the right woman wasn’t easy as it used to be.

Blessyn fell right in my lap. It was going to take death to keep me away from her and I wasn’t willing to die that easy.

“I got the envelope from the doctor, but I didn’t want to open it with you going through the death of your mama. We can open this weekend.”

“Nigga that’s a whole week from now.”

“I know. We can throw a party or some shit.”

“I don’t know if I want my brother and your sister in the same room again.”

“They just need to be together. The baby is his so what they doing?”

“Perc said it ain’t him, it’s your sister on this single girl shit.”

Blessyn laughed, “Let my sister be great. She’s doing a lot of better than I thought she would.”

“For you, I’ll wait, damn. You gotta convince me a little more.”