Page 43 of Search My Soul (Taylor Family Saga #3)

My sisters had been planning this day for months, but it hadn’t hit me until the moment I pulled into my grandparents’ driveway that this was really happening.

All these cars on the sidewalk sent my anxiety through the roof.

Being around large crowds made me uncomfortable, but it was even worse when the people were giving me looks of sympathy.

My parents have been gone for over a decade, but the pain was still just as fresh as it was the night we got the news.

I was against this celebration because I still didn’t trust a soul after what happened.

The family was divided after Uncle Fletch went missing, but no one really spoke about it.

The only reason I even let this happen was because my sisters were my soft spot.

Anything they asked for, I went out of my way to make sure they had.

It’s been this way since we were younger.

My father taught us that we needed to protect them with our lives, and I took my job very seriously.

If Adore and Lovely hadn’t ambushed me with their pouty faces, there would be no party.

I sat in my car for a moment, trying to get myself together.

Everyone knew I didn’t have a filter, and I spoke whatever was on my heart.

However, in this setting, I was aware this wouldn’t be the right place or time.

My sisters wanted this to be a beautiful night, and I wouldn’t dare take that away from them. Here goes nothing.

The moment I walked through the door, I wanted to walk my ass right back out of it. There were people everywhere in the house like roaches. As soon as my sisters spotted me, they ran over to me.

“Soulie!” Adore squealed as she hopped her heavy ass into my arms. I swear my sisters were like my children. They loved me regardless of my demons and looked up to me like a hero, even though I was the opposite.

“Adore, I’mma drop your ass on this ground in about three seconds. What the hell is wrong with you?” I chuckled. Her silly ass ignored me and proceeded to place kisses on my face. Her and Roro loved doing that aggravating shit whenever they saw me.

“Bruh, go on somewhere. I don’t even know where your lips have been. I might wake up tomorrow with blisters on my face or something,” I grumbled.

“Boy, bye. First of all, my lips haven’t been anywhere you wouldn’t approve of. Secondly, you should be lucky that someone wants to kiss your mean ass.” She scoffed as I placed her on the ground.

“You don’t even believe that. Mean or not, the bitches can’t get enough of daddy Soul.” Adore and Lovely both rolled their eyes at me.

“You need to grow up. Anyways, how have you been, brother of mine? I feel like I never see you anymore. What has been going on with you lately?” The judgment behind her eyes couldn’t be hidden, but I deserved that.

I’ve been MIA at most of the family gatherings.

I preferred to be by myself most of the time.

I only showed up when I absolutely had to.

“You know where I live, chump. If you miss me that bad, you can always slide on me.”

“Well, I hope you keep that same energy when I pop up over your house with my pajamas on and a blanket. We haven’t had a sleepover in a long time.” The sadness in Lovely’s voice made me feel guilty.

“Well, y’all are the ones who like to plan shit, so I’ll leave it all up to you.

Now, where are the drinks at? If you want to have me around all of these people, the least you can do is make sure I’m drunk,” I joked, even though I meant what I said.

There was no way I would be able to get through this night without a drink or five.

“Right this way, brother. Try to be nice. Uncle Remus and our cousins are here.” My jaw flinched, but I attempted to keep my expression neutral.

When my parents passed away, the family wasted no time calling a meeting to discuss who would take over the family business.

Mind you, my grandfather’s brothers barely played a role in building this organization, but they somehow felt that since his son had been killed, one of their sons should have taken his place.

The dirt was still fresh on my parents’ graves when they came to assert their dominance.

Poppa wasn’t having it, though, because he and my parents had turned the Taylor Gang into more than just a street hustle.

Our family had our hands in a little bit of everything.

My mother attended school for business management and marketing, and she applied her knowledge to washing and investing the money my father earned.

If we wanted to retire right now and live off the businesses and properties in our family name, we would still be millionaires.

My parents had tripled the value of our family name, and these mothafuckas really thought they were entitled to it.

We’ve been beefing about this for years, but I thought we had a clear understanding that nothing was going to change.

Once Pure turned eighteen, he stepped right in as the new leader of the organization, and I followed suit as his right-hand and enforcer.

“I’m cool as long as they stay the fuck away from me. This isn’t the place for any fuck shit, and if they make it an issue, I’mma show them exactly who I am in these streets,” I warned.

The women in my family believed that love was all you needed to keep a family together, but it was so much deeper than that.

After my parents were murdered, I began to see people for who they were.

A title wouldn’t stop a mothafucka from betraying you.

In fact, they were usually the people who would be most likely to gamble your life away for a few dollars.

I didn’t give a damn who you were supposed to be to me.

If I felt like you were on some snake shit, you would be dealt with.

My family deemed Pure and me as coldhearted, but none of our other siblings knew the truth about what really happened.

As far as they were aware, our parents were killed in a wrong place, wrong time situation.

The same went for Uncle Brent and Uncle Fletch.

Poppa thought it was best to keep the truth from them because they were all so young, and we agreed.

As a result, they had no idea why we didn’t trust anyone in our immediate family.

Lovely ushered me over to where the drinks were while Adore dipped off to mingle with the guests.

I took a moment to observe the decorations around the house.

They had blown up pictures of my parents on these gold stands.

I stared at the photo of them on the day of my father’s birthday.

They sported the biggest smiles on their faces, dripping in designer from head to toe.

My mother, Angel, was the prettiest woman in the world, and you couldn’t tell me any different.

Everyone said that Pure and I looked the most like her, and I could see the resemblance more and more as I got older.

You could tell that my parents loved each other from the way they held each other.

Nana used to share stories about them when they were teens. She said they were inseparable.

I still had plenty of memories of them, but I chose not to relive them. It was much too painful and purposeless, in my opinion. They weren’t here to create any more memories, and I hated torturing myself with thoughts from the past.

“What’s up, bro?” I heard Duke’s voice behind me. We clapped hands and I could tell he was observing me to see how I was handling this.

“What’s up? What are you doing here?” I asked before taking a sip of my drink. My sisters had an open bar, which I had a feeling would be coming in handy tonight.

“I see you already got yourself a drink. You good?” I read between the lines of what he wasn’t saying.

“I’m always good. I wanted to prepare myself because if I know my sisters the way I believe I do, this is going to be a long night.” He nodded, downing his own drink.

“Yeah, I see they invited the whole family. I haven’t seen this many Taylors in the same room since, well, you know.

” He was referring to my parents’ funeral.

The family came out in droves, and while it appeared to be in solidarity, I couldn’t help but wonder how many of them were plotting against my parents along with Fletch and Brent.

“Yeah, I know. I pray for their own safety, and that they stay the hell away from me. I’m not in the mood to fake the funk with these people.”

“I saw Poppa in his chair downstairs smoking a cigar. He must be feeling the same way.” I nodded. Poppa hated large crowds just as I did, so I had a feeling he would duck off to be alone. My nana loved to host, so she was walking around the room smiling and greeting everyone as well.

Before long, the rest of my siblings had made it.

I wasn’t sure if my little brother, Dreamier, would make it, so I was happy to see him walk through the door.

He had his best friend Yumira, aka Yumi, right next to him.

I didn’t understand why the two of them weren’t together when it was clear they loved each other.

They’ve been glued to each other’s hips since we were kids, and nothing has changed.

“What’s good, superstar? I didn’t know if a celebrity of your status would be gracing us with your presence,” I teased, pulling Dreamier into a hug. I wasn’t big on affection, but when it came to my siblings, all bets were off. They wouldn’t let me get away with it anyway.

“You would have known had you answered any of my calls,” he said in a playful way, but I knew better.

“My bad.” There was no use in making an excuse when I knew I was the one in the wrong. “Hey, pretty girl. I see you’re still friends with this knucklehead. I figured you would have found a newer, more handsome best friend in BSU.” I gave Yumi a hug as well.