Page 13

A Very Little Time Later…

“Man, I have to go see Mama Bee today before she comes to my house and beat my ass. I haven’t seen her since before we went to Paris,” I said to Sully. Mama Bee had been blowing my phone up, and I continued to tell her that I was busy.

Sully and I were at our motorcycle dealership. We’d just gotten a few bikes in that were requested by the Basil brothers who led the Mount Olympus Riders Motorcycle Club. Our dealership was one of the most popular in the area because we could get anything. That was our assurance.

Sully’s eyes bucked. “The hell do you mean you haven’t seen her since before we went to Paris? Yeah, you better get your ass over there. It’s better to get your ass beat in her house instead of yours.” He laughed at his own joke.

“Shut the hell up, man. What’s the word on Jeremy’s bitch ass?”

Jeremy was the boss of our rival. Actually, I couldn’t call them our rivals because we didn’t give a damn about them. They called themselves running up in one of our traps and got laid out earlier this week. That was why I had been so busy.

On top of that, I tried daily to be a good host to Reya and Jedi.

The day before we moved them to my house, I changed one of my bedrooms into a kid’s room for Jedi and had this company put a playground in the backyard.

Sully thought that I did too much, but I didn’t think so.

We couldn’t be sure how long they would be with me, and I wanted them to be comfortable, especially my lil homie Jedi.

Sully tittered. “You know that bitch nigga is in hiding now. I don’t know what possessed his ass to think his piss ant crew would be successful running up in our shit.”

He drank a sip of his coffee. Sully was the hoodest dude that I knew, but he had a customized, daily, standing order at Starbucks. If they got that shit wrong, there would be hell to pay.

“I think we should put extra security on Glitter Girls,” I suggested. I didn’t want shit to happen to the girls or, more importantly, Simone. Our security guards were straight ass killers. In my mind, you couldn’t ever have too many killers.

Sully sucked his teeth. “You know that’s already done. I’m not playing with anything that has to do with my wife. I’ll slaughter niggas then kill myself just to go slaughter their asses in hell behind my wife.”

I believed his ass too because Sullivan Carson did not play about Simone and SJ, Sullivan Junior.

That was the kind of love I hoped to get from Alexi.

I needed a woman to be my peace when I walked in my house after a long day.

Shit, half the time I got home, her ass was still in the streets.

Sully’s next question ushered me out of my thoughts.

“How’s shit going with Reya at the crib? I’m sure she likes that you customized your place just for them.”

I side eyed the hell out of him. “No one customized shit. I just want to make sure my lil homie is comfortable. Shit, at this point, I’m trying to understand why Jeremy is even concerned with her. It’s clear that he knows we murked his cousin and bitch boy.”

“Shit, I think he put that price on her head out of aggravation because he can’t get at GeGi,” Sully pointed out. “He might think she means something to you since you feel the need to make sure she straight.”

He put a potato chip in his mouth. Once he finished chewing it, he asked, “How’s Reya, though? How is it with her at the crib?”

Tsireya. Her ass was fine as hell in a hood, dorky way. She wore those circle glasses that I felt like only she could pull off.

“Man, it’s been cool. She a real chill female. Jedi makes us all watch a movie together every night until he falls asleep.”

Sully’s hand stopped mid-motion as he prepared to put a potato chip into his mouth. He gawked at me for a beat.

“Jedi, the two-year-old, makes you watch a movie with his mama? Is that the story you’re going to stick with, with your Charmin soft ass?” He chortled. “Is that why your ass be watching the clock in the evening? Let me find out you got a curfew, man!”

“Fuck you, first.” He always had damn jokes. “We need to find a way to smoke that nigga out. Find out who his people are. I would say look to see if he has any kids, but he doesn’t look like the type to take care of his kids.”

Sully’s face scrunched. “How does that look? The hell!”

“It looks like that bitch Jeremy. He has a mama, daddy, sister, or someone he loves. Find them,” I instructed.

Sully picked his burner for the week up to text Ethan or Joey to get on that. Both of them were at my house. Although Reya seemed cool like she wouldn’t leave, I couldn’t trust her just yet.

“What you need to be doing right now is going to see Mama Bee. I know she’s texted or called your phone since we’ve been here talking.”

He wasn’t lying. “I just texted her not too long ago to tell her that I was on my way.” I stood from my seat. “Let me go so I can handle some business. I need to holler at Louie anyway.”

I was a silent investor in Louie’s Sandwich Shop.

The shop had been open for years but had hard times and was about to close about six years ago.

For 60 percent of the profit, I invested.

We shut it down for renovations and an upgrade to all the equipment.

Per our contract, after five years of a certain threshold of profit, my percentage of profit dropped to 30 percent.

If the shop met its thresholds for the next four years, Louie would own it at 100 percent.

I’d go holler at him first because I had a feeling that I’d be with my grandma for a while today.

“Alright, that’s fine. Hell, short of robbing me, there would never be a reason that I would fire Reya. Thank God she taught our workers how to make her secret menu sandwiches. They’re great but not as amazing as when she makes them,” Louie said.

I’d heard about their secret menu sandwiches and tasted some of one that Alexi loved.

When I asked her who made it, her response was always some bum bitch at Louie’s.

Hindsight was twenty-twenty. Now that I wasn’t in Alexi’s company daily, I had the time to sit down and just dissect her.

I couldn’t recall a time that she ever had anything nice or kind to say about another female.

The spirit of jealousy was a real thing in her, but I didn’t get why. Alexi was a beautiful woman.

“I’m happy to hear that. I promise to have her back to you as soon as I can. Shit just up right now, and I don’t want that shit around the business,” I let him know.

He stood when I did, and we shook hands. “Nah, that’s understandable. Reya is a good girl. I want her safe.”

We chopped it up for a few more minutes before we left the office.

When I got to the front of the shop, it was poppin’.

I dapped up some of the niggas from around the way.

Some were my workers, and others were not.

At a corner table, I noticed Meka and Carmella enjoying their food.

When they noticed me, they gave me an ardent wave and kept it cute.

Next, it was time to see Mama Bee. I sent a prayer up to the Lord the entire way to her house. She must have heard my Ducati pull up, because by the time I climbed off my bike and took my helmet off, she stood on the porch with her arms crossed over her body, hip poked out, and a frowned face.

“Oh, now you decide to bring your black ass over here when I been calling you. I could have been half dead,” she fussed.

I knew she wasn’t because I had someone on her while I was not available to come through. I wasn’t going to rebut her statement with facts. There was no need for her to try to cave my chest in. As savage as I was, Beulah Jordan was a monster when pushed.

I walked onto the porch and kissed her cheek. “Ma, my bad. It’s been crazy, but shit is calming down. You know that I would never stay away if I didn’t have to.”

She glowered at me for a moment before she spun on her heels and walked into her house.

“I don’t give a damn what that street got going on. You could have FaceTimed me or something, little boy.” She stopped short in front of me, causing me to stop abruptly. Her finger was in my face. “Remember that y’all never be growner than me.”

At five feet five inches, you would think she was a giant. Her yell was a roar.

“I know, Ma. Everything good with you? Where the kids?”

She sat in her favorite recliner in her den before she answered my questions.

“They’re at swim class.” She crossed an ankle over the other. “No, everything is not good.”

I knew no one was fuckin’ with my ma. Her bills were paid because they were on autopay from an account that I made sure was funded.

“What’s wrong, Ma? Somebody messing with you?”

Her head drew back. “Boy, ain’t no one that crazy.

I was calling you because I needed you to look into something for me.

A few weeks ago, one of my mamas, Reya, came in here in the dead of the morning and snatched Lucas…

I mean Jedi. She claimed she had some kinda family emergency.

I ain’t heard from that girl since. I went to her house, and it looks like she ain’t been there, and someone been through there and tossed it up. I’m worried about her.”

I huffed. Last week, Jeremy’s people vandalized her house. I hated it when we told her that shit. It was me, Sully, and Joey that told her. She claimed she was alright, but I heard her crying in her room. Sully had to tell me not to buy her a house, but I felt like I needed to.