Page 138 of Steel

“He definitely has to find him a woman.” I chuckled. “You know, since his woman is married to Aaron.”

Deuce shot me a glare. “Don’t do that shit. Senior better leave my mama the fuck alone. He had his turn. Aaron is good for her, and you know I couldn’t stand that nigga at first.”

“You can’t stand anyone that tried to holla at Ma.”

“And? You always liked Hershel?”

“Actually, I did. Hersh ain’t ever been on no fuck shit. He came in with love and respect. Never treated me or Jaeda like anything less than his kids, even when him and Ma had their own. What do you have against Senior and Ma being a thing?”

“Look, I love and respect your daddy, a’ight? But that woman is my heart, and he’s made it clear he can’t handle hers correctly. She’s got a good nigga now. He can find him a good woman, any good woman. Just not her. History ain’t repeating around this muthafucka.”

I shrugged. “There’s three sides to every story. His, hers, and the truth. That’s all I’m saying. I don’t think you have anything to worry about, though. Aaron ain’t coming up off Ma anytime soon. That man was all over her at the spot.”

“Please don’t piss me off.”

I laughed and shook my head.

It wasn’t long before our brothers finally joined us out back. They sat down, breathing all hard and shit.

“Y’all got tired of shaking what your mama gave you?” Deuce asked with a smirk.

Smoke shot him a middle finger. “Fuck you. It’s lit in this house. Just wait ‘til I get my boy. We are really gonna turn up.”

I laughed. “Nigga, you got four kids already. You want another? You really are yo’ daddy’s son.”

“Listen, I love this daddy shit. I want as many as my wife is gonna give me, but I really want my boy. Don’t get me wrong. I love my girls. Those are my lil’ hittas, for real. I just want somebody to carry on the Dillinger name.” He pointed at Quaid. “This nigga already made Jaeda a Michaels.”

Quaid rolled his eyes. “She hyphenated her name, jackass. Our kids will have hyphenated names as well. I know how important your last name is for your sister. Shit, I even offered to take her last name as a sign of respect, but she said no.”

Maceo smirked. “Jaeda got your ass whipped.”

Quaid grinned. “Man, you don’t even know.”

“At least y’all ain’t like Mia and your best friend,” Deuce said. “He crashed out about her leaving yet?”

Quaid chuckled. “You know he’s already plotting on making his over there. Vinchi is watching her. I do know he’s been trying to get her to come back, but she ain’t hearing him. She won’t answer his calls or texts. Nigga said the only other thing he can do is go snatch her ass back up.”

Deuce shook his head. “I’ma stay outta their shit. They already give me a fucking headache. Nothing we say will keep them apart anyway.”

That much was true. I was just waiting on the day they stopped their bullshit and got it together. It was clear that he loved her, and she loved him. If they stopped fighting the shit, they might actually be happy. But alas, you couldn’t tell grown niggas what to do. Just like the rest of us, they had to figure their own shit out.

Hopefully, it was sooner rather than later.

I sighed heavilyas I pulled up in front of Ms. Anita’s house.

I hadn’t heard from her since the water park incident a few weeks ago. She hadn’t called. She hadn’t texted. She hadn’t checked in on KJ. She and I needed to have a serious conversation because, while I understood she was going through a lot, I was sick of this back-and-forth shit. Like I told her, my son wouldn’t have any part-time people in his life.

I’d been patient.

I’d been accommodating.

But I was fed up. When she called me this morning, I was reluctant to answer. She said we needed to talk, so here I was. Climbing out of the truck, I grabbed a sleeping KJ and headed up the front steps to ring the doorbell. A minute or so passed before she finally answered with a smile on her face.

“Hey, Kerrion.”

“Ms. Anita.”

“Come on in.”