“I know,” Pop said, nodding.
“After he left, I called you, told you what he was asking for, and you said that it would be handled on your end. That this shit would never touch me and mine.” She shook her head, then ran her hand over her short hair. “I should’ve known not to listen to you. That shit wasn’t my got-damn fight. That we were good because I kept my damn mouth shut. My grandparents said they would handle this. That even back then, they had it under control. The shit they did?” She looked like she wanted to cry, but didn’t. “They did it because they had to. They asked y’all to step off then, and you did. But now?” She let out a humorless laugh. “I should’ve fucking listened to Uri.” She ran her blood-stained hands over her face. “I should’ve listened to him because he said this wasn’t my fucking fight. That y’all were asking for too much. I told him I was strong enough to handle it. That I would step back if it became too much. Well, guess what?” She gave us a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “It’s too much, but it's too late to back out.”
“And I understand that you--”
“You don’t understand shit!” she yelled and pointed at Pop. “You came to me with this bullshit! I was content living my fucking life. Not remembering my fucking past, and then you came and ruined that shit! Now Uri is lying in a fucking hospital bed, fighting for his damn life. My son is scared that the only man who has loved him outside of his own blood may die!”
“Corin--”
“Shut the fuck up, Tulane!” she yelled, turning her wrath on him. “You shut the fuck up because you are no better than them! Your ass knew not to step to me then, and damn sure not now! I’m telling y’all right fucking now if Uri dies, I’m going to kill every single fucking one of y’all. I’m going to drag my parents from the pits of hell by the back of their got-damn necks and fling their souls into their skeletons just to beat them with their own bones. I don’t give a fuck about shit else but me and mine from here on out.” She turned to me. “You want to kill Quincy, cool. I’ll drag him out of whatever hiding spot he’s in. You want Robert? Done too. Ask Pyrite if he wants Javien Sr. while I’m at it. I’ll have that nigga standing on his front porch as soon as he gives the word.”
“Corinthians.” Pop called her name one last time. “Let me explain.”
“There isn’t shit you can do to explain! Your time is up.” She turned back to me. “Figure your shit out with Yale. Like I said, you want Quincy, I’ll have him to you within a few days. I don’t care what bullshit I have to uncover to do it. The secrets? The lies? I don’t care at this point, because I’m now involved. Finish your part in this so I can do mine.” It was like a switch had flipped, and she was now calm. “If you thought Cross was bad, then you haven’t seen shit yet.”
Just as quickly as she entered the house, she was gone, and I turned to look at my parents.
“What did you tell her you had handled?” I asked my Pop.
“It’s nothing,” he said, shaking his head. “I will handle it.”
“Nah,” I chuckled, then licked my lips. “It ain’t no I in this. This shit is a we situation from here on out. Obviously, we got two different things moving, and it ain’t doing shit but pissing folks off, and that ain’t how you raised us to move. You keep getting on my ass about not listening, so now I’m all ears.” I sat on the couch and crossed my legs at the ankle. “Let’s start from the beginning, though. How do y’all know each other?” I pointed to him and Tulane. “I know it’s a history there. What is it and how does it involve the DeCortes and Strongs?”
“How do you know it involves them?” Pop asked.
“Because you didn’t deny it,” I chuckled. “Let’s stop wasting time. I gotta kill a nigga then get my woman back before our baby is born.”
**
“Women hold grudges,” Citrine said, and I nodded. “Some are good at letting it go, but then some hold that shit close to their vest until the time is right.”
“I know.” I kept watching Pyrite move around Yamari’s room. Every time a nurse or doctor came in to check her, he was on their neck. Nobody could do anything without his permission and he had even pulled a gun a few times. My connections were the only thing keeping him out of jail right now. Fable sat next to her, asleep for the first time in almost twenty-four hours. I looked up at the BP and sighed. “We need to look into making--”
“No,” Pyrite said, shaking his head. I didn’t have to finish my sentence for him to know what I was going to say. He spent a lot of time helping me study when I was in school. “She’s going to be okay.” Guilt was eating away at him. Yamari being in town was his idea. He knew that, to keep Fable here, he would have to get Yamari to agree to stay. From what he told me, she was down to stay after spending the last few weeks here and was going to tell Fable after the party.
“Py--”
“After Pop and Tulane broke down their history with the DeCortes and Strongs, what happened?” Pyrite asked. He leaned against the wall and put his hands in his pockets.
“I left,” I answered, and he nodded. “I sent the Numbers a text asking to meet so we could talk.”
“And they said, yeah?” Citrine asked.
“Zero said yeah,” I chuckled. Of all people, Zero was the last one I expected to answer, and when he did, I was stuck for a second. Nine was typically the spokesperson for the Numbers; every so often, Six or Mahogany would step up, but it was never Zero.
“What time?” Citrine asked.
“Now,” I answered, then shook my head. “Pyrite, I understand if you don’t want to leave Fable. I can handle this on my own. I pulled some strings and got the conference room on this floor for about an hour to be able to talk.” I stood, wiped my hands over my hair, then looked at my brothers.
“Stop being stupid,” Pyrite grunted, then pushed off the wall. He approached Fable, kissed her forehead, and then gently moved her hair from her face. “Itty Bitty?” Immediately, her head lifted, and she looked around in panic. Her eyes went from Yamari’s face to the monitor. “She’s still stable. I gotta step out and talk to my brothers. I’m not leaving the hospital; I’ll be down the hall.”
“Okay,” she said, nodding. She laid her head back down next to Yamari’s and closed her eyes. “I love you, Pyrite.”
“I’m obsessed with you,” he said, then kissed her head.
My brothers and I left Yamari’s room and stepped into the hallway. Yeti, the head of Stone Ent security, sat outside her door.
“I’m going to a meeting down the hall, don’t let anyone in,” Pyrite instructed, and Yeti nodded.
