“You sure?” I asked, and he nodded.
“Yeah,” he answered with a humorless laugh. “I need to call my wife anyway, let her know I’m going to be late. He stepped to the side, and I was surprised as hell about how calm he was.
A few minutes later, the door to Tulane’s plane opened, and he walked down the stairs. He looked stressed, but what surprised me the most was the woman behind him. She looked almost identical to Yale, except her skin was darker and her hair was short. There was no denying that Tulane’s genes were strong, which made me wonder what Xavier looked like.
“Young buck,” Tulane greeted me. “This is my daughter, Spelman Forrester.”
“The sports agent,” I said with a nod. Her dark eyes lifted in surprise. I smirked. “I know everyone I’m supposed to know when it comes to my woman.”
Xayne came back to the group, and I was about to introduce them, but Xayne put his hand out to shake Tulane’s.
“TJ,” Xayne greeted him. “How’s life?”
“It’s moving,” Tulane replied. He stepped back, and Spelman stepped forward. “This is Spelman.”
“We’ve met,” Xayne said, shaking Spelman’s hand. “It’s good to see you again.”
“Same,” Spelman replied. Her voice kicked me in the gut because it sounded so much like Yale’s. “How are you and Xia?”
“She’s good, she sends her best,” Xayne said. He turned to me and chuckled. “I’m guessing you brought us here because of Xavier?”
“You know?” I asked.
“That Tulane is her father?” Xayne questioned and shrugged. “Yes, I’ve always known. He and my sister’s relationship wasn’t public knowledge, but none of Tulane’s relationships are.”
“I dated Xierra, we broke up for a little while, but we eventually got back together. By that time, she’d had Mirror, and Spelman was on the way. We were good with the other having kids because we loved each other. Xavier came along about a year, almost two, into the relationship.”
“Why did you break up?”
“My lifestyle got Mirror snatched,” Tulane answered. “After we got him back, killed a few niggas and made more enemies, I decided that I needed to step back.” He wiped a hand over his beard, then shook his head. “You see, young buck, I was heavy in the streets back then. Xayne and his family moved differently than I did. I was learning from them, but still running my shit a certain way. The only thing everyone knew I didn’t play about was my family. They thought Mirror was mine, so snatching him from school was their only play. I killed plenty of people that weekend. I didn’t stop until my son was in my arms. It didn’t matter to me that Mirror wasn’t mine by blood because he’s mine, you understand?”
“Yeah,” I nodded. “So why was it so easy to walk away?”
“Who said it was easy?” Tulane countered with a humorless laugh. “I partnered with two other people, and they knew what I was going through, having to walk away from my family, butI did it to keep them safe. I cut off contact with Xierra, Mirror, Xavier, Spelman, and damn near everybody except for work. Eventually, shit seemed to calm down, Xierra was living her life, and my family was safe. I took a page out of Xayne’s book and ran my business the way I have since and watched my family from afar.”
“Where did Yale fall into place in this?”
“She’s a few years younger than Spelman and two years older than Berkeley.”
“Xavier, Spelman, Yale, Clarke, and Berkeley?”
“The colleges I met, they mama at. Shit went with my name, and you know if I ain’t nothing, I’m a nigga that likes cohesiveness,” he chuckled. “Now I know you didn’t call me about this history lesson.”
“I didn’t,” I said, shaking my head.
“Then spit it out,” Tulane replied. “I need to get back on that plane and head home to finish taking care of some things.”
“Xavier is dead,” I said. The two men exchanged looks and nodded.
“Give me a name,” Tulane said, pulling his gun from the back of his pants. He checked it, then looked up at me with a mug on his face. “I’m not going to ask again.”
“A name, Amethyst,” Xayne demanded when I hesitated.
“I did it,” I lied. I wasn’t about to let Yale take the fall for this shit.
I expected Xayne and Tulane to make a move, but instead, I felt the barrel of a gun push into the back of my head.
“Say that again,” A deep voice that I immediately recognized said from behind me. “And say it slowly so I know I didn’t miss anything.”
