Page 32 of Reckless Forever (Jennings Mafia Family #3)

Judah

The bass inside the condo shook the walls like an earthquake, rattling the framed art and making the glasses on the bar shake.

Money covered the floor, bread spread everywhere so heavy you couldn’t take a single step without hearing the crunch of paper underneath your shoes.

These niggas had flooded the whole place with cash.

The entire organization had pulled up for the occasion, people from every level of our operation.

The OGs who were barely seen, soldiers, block boys, and a couple of elites in the mix.

Some lounging on the couches, others posted up against the walls, laughing and talking shit.

The air was thick with smoke, blunts moving from hand to hand, and bottles of Henny, D’usse, and tequila half open on every table.

Strippers walked through the room wearing nothing but heels, glitter all over their bodies, and perfume, mixing in with the smell of liquor and weed.

It was the night before my wedding, and my brothers had gone all out for me. Coming together to celebrate wasn’t new for us, but this one felt different. Tonight was rare. No business, no drops, no sit-downs, no hits, just all us niggas under one roof chilling like family.

Migos’ “Freak No More” blasted from the speakers.

One of the girls climbed the pole they’d installed in the middle of the room, with no effort.

She did a trick with a liquor bottle, flipped upside down, and fell into a split like she ain’t have any joints.

The niggas were locked in. They came out of their pockets without hesitation, making it rain until the whole area below her was deep enough to swim in.

I glanced to my right. Trouble was lying back in a chair with a dancer riding his lap, her hair falling in his face.

He let her sit there, but it was the way that he looked at her that made me laugh.

Man looked like he’d rather shoot her than touch her.

His jaw was tight, eyes cold, like we had forced him to come.

Zo was off in the corner, chilling by himself with a blunt hanging from his lips, like he was more entertained by people watching than the actual party.

Across the room, Jax stood at the bar, getting a drink poured by one of the bartenders.

A dancer leaned against him, pressing into his side, but Jax grabbed his glass and walked off without a glance, not even trying to catch her when she stumbled backwards.

That was married life. And I couldn’t lie, when Trouble told me I had niggas around me who’d never let me fail, I believed him. The proof was right there in front of me. These niggas were my examples of loyalty, every last one of them.

I used to think I couldn’t be tied down, couldn’t be faithful to just one woman, with all the temptation that came with this life.

I had women around me willing to do whatever just to say that they were attached to me.

But that was before Ivy. Since her, I hadn’t seen another woman. I did, but not really. Not in that way.

One of the dancers I recognized from around the way came over, her body already moving to the beat.

She dropped herself onto my lap, grinding against me like she had a point to prove.

For a second, I let myself get out of my head, laughing as I pulled out a stack and made it rain on her.

She turned toward me, legs in the air as she caught the stacks of money with her thighs.

Biting her lips and smiling as I grabbed more bills from the stack beside me on the couch.

But the truth was, the whole scene was funny as hell.

All of us sat there looking like we didn’t even want to be in the room, while strippers we didn’t even book danced around us.

We had all planned to gamble; this shit was supposed to be a dice and card game.

Our wives had been the ones who sent the strippers.

They all got together and chose the women who would entertain us for the night.

That was a different type of trust, the kind we weren’t about to break.

They trusted us with their love, their loyalty, and their safety.

And no amount of cash, liquor, or ass could make us fuck that up.

The dancer leaned down into my ear, “You sure you're ready for married life, Judah?”

I smirked at her as I pulled more money from my side and gave it to her. “Hell yeah, this shit is just noise.”

Another one of the dancers slid in the seat beside me. She rubbed on the first woman and looked at me with her lips tucked between her teeth.

“You don’t want to have fun tonight? That’s what a bachelor party is for. The last night of freedom.”

I lit a blunt and took a slow pull as I sat back and looked at them. “If I cheat on Ivy and she leaves me, I’d have to kill y’all.”

I blew the smoke out as one of the girl’s eyes widened, “I ain’t worth dying for.” I chuckled and threw more money into the air and let it fall down on them.

The second girl who had come up and asked me that stupid ass question left just as quickly as she came. The first dancer just turned back around and continued to make her money.

Jax came beside me, “Nigga you good?”

He wasn’t checking on me; that was meant to be a warning that I needed to remember that I was getting married the next day. I was more than good.

“Yeah, I’m straight,” I said as he nodded and disappeared into the back room.

I saw Trouble check his phone and hurry outside the door. I noticed the change in his body language, so I tapped Shorty, who was sitting on my lap, and told her to get up for a second. I followed him outside and closed the door behind us.

Just as I made it outside, he was hanging up the phone.

“What’s up, OG?” I questioned as I looked at the expression on his face.

“Sanchez just called, he said that Storm just ordered six bottles. It’s only four of them muhfuckas in the section. I’m going over there.” His tone was serious. I chuckled. That was Rainstorm, sis was a vibe for real, and he never let her live.

“Let them have that…” I said just as Jax and Zo came out to join us.

“Everything straight?” Zo asked. Nigga was always on go.

Trouble told them what Sanchez had just called and what he had told him. Now the plan had gone from us having a bachelor party to us going to the bachelorette party and figuring out what the fuck was going on.

I walked through the condo to find Hollow. “Ay, we're about to go out for a second. We have some business to handle. Make sure nothing happens, and everybody is out if we don’t come back.” He nodded, and we hopped into the truck.

Smoke fogged the windows of the truck as we all sat inside, blunts still in rotation and cups in our hands.

Trouble sat in the driver’s seat, Zo on the passenger side, and me and Jax in the backseat.

Being in this position made me think about all the times when Moms forced Trouble to let me hang with him and Jax. But this time we were on a mission.

“We just gone pull up and look. If they're not doing anything too crazy, we let them hang and go back to the condo.” Jax said. His voice slowed, and I knew the weed was probably getting to him. He was the only one of the four of us who didn’t smoke.

“Aight,” Trouble agreed, but turned the curb like he was driving a getaway car.

“How much cash y’all got on y’all?” I asked before they all looked at me crazy. Neither of them said anything.

“I bet twenty thousand that when we get there, somebody’s going to be standing on the couch. And I’ll bet it’s Storm.”

“I’ll go in on that,” Jax chuckled.

“Me too,” Zo said as he exhaled.

“My wife don’t do that no more, clown ass niggas. I’ll bet you fifty it’s not her.” He chuckled.

“Bet,” I said just as he slowed across the street from the lounge that they had reserved for the night.

He cut the engine, and we watched them through the tints.

And even though we all agreed to let them hang, we had to stop Trouble from blowing our cover twice already, and we had only been there for fifteen minutes.

Storm was taking shots like water and handing them to everybody who passed by.

They were outside this lounge, music could be heard down the street, and they had a section outside on the terrace.

“Jax, your wife just took a waterfall out of a tequila bottle,” Zo said as he looked across the street, eyes wide at the shit happening across from us. “See, Rem be on some chill shit, she won’t do me like this,” He continued. Sounding like a prayer more than a statement.

Remy had been occupied by something on her phone, but she had been around us way too long, and he knew better. All of them were just alike, especially when they were together. And they were about to turn Ivy out.

Ivy had been the calmest, wearing this white dress and a short veil. I could see her mouth open like she was screaming, so I cracked the window. All the way across the street, I could hear her laughter. They were drunk out of their minds and having a good time.

The bartenders came over with drink towers, and I was damn near ready to intervene at that point. Ivy’s little ass was only so big that she was going to end up with alcohol poisoning.

I pulled from the blunt, a slow drag as we all kept our eyes trained on the women. Whenever we were out, we always kept our guard up. But at the moment, neither of us was concerned with danger. Didn’t check our surroundings, look in the rearview mirror, nothing. Just tunnel vision on them.

There must have been a song change. Remy, out of nowhere, put her phone in her bag, jumped out of her seat, and stood on it.

“Ahhhhh!” We all hollered as Zo put his hand on the doorknob. I pulled him back by his shoulder to stop him.

“Give me my fucking bread.” Trouble gritted as we all reached into our pockets to pay him.

“My baby done grew up, she ain’t like that no more.” He bragged just as Storm used Kennedy’s shoulder to steady herself and got on the couch too. We all broke into laughter again.