“Because I do. Be mad at me all you want, I’m telling you the truth, son.”
“Don’t call me that shit. I ain’t shit to you, nigga.”
“I’m your blood, your father, regardless of how much you and your brother try to denounce me.”
“Denounce you? Get the fuck out of here. You ain’t never been a father. Shit, you ain’t ever been shit to either one of us. I’m willing to bet your other kids feel the same. Best thing you could do for any of us is to go ahead and die. And to do you a favor, I’ma make sure nobody claims your body, so they’ll burnthat motherfucker to a crisp with all the other unclaimed meat suits that sit there.”
“You aight? Standing out here in the cold like this ain’t Chicago and it’s not twenty-four degrees out here.” A familiar voice filled the patio behind me.
I glanced over my shoulder, seeing Indiri rubbing his hands together like it was that cold.
“It’s not that cold, you’re just used to that Nevada heat.” My eyes left him and landed on the crisp snow now covering the ground. Christmas was right around the corner and I had a whole other set of responsibilities instead of showing up with money as gifts and an empty stomach to eat.
He chuckled. “What, don’t tell me you’re settling into it. Got your ass out here in a coat and happy ‘bout it.”
“Something like that. You see how I’m moving lately.”
“Hell yeah. You’re growing up, leaving me to be the only irresponsible one out of the group.”
I chortled. “Funny, but keeping it a buck, growth and life don’t leave you no choice. When it’s time to grow the fuck up that shit catches you by complete surprise and leaves you no choice. When me and Renny first got here, nobody could have ever told me I’d be moving like this. Shit, Renny neither.” I shrugged, watching the snow begin to fall again.
A brief silence settled around us, seemingly opening the space for me to say what I had been meaning to say for months since all my other siblings decided to leave it up to me.
“I wanna talk to you about something.” My mouth went dry by the end of the statement. Shit, why was this so hard?
He shifted a little. “I already know.”
Those three words from his lips had me turning my head in his direction quickly before I repeated what he said. “You know?”
“Yeah. My pops told me the day before he died.”
I nodded. “And how did that make you feel?
“Pissed me off because why the fuck would he tell me that shit while he was dying? I mean he had what, a day and a half. I didn’t get the chance to be pissed off with him for keeping it from me. I had to get over it because there was no room for me to feel that shit. Then, after he died, I felt like I had to bury it in my mind because I damn sure ain’t wanna fuck up y’all’s minds as well.”
“Nothing you could have said would’ve fucked up anything for any of us. We’re family regardless of any of that.”
He nodded. “I hear you.”
“Don’t hear me, understand what I’m saying. Call me with all that shit, ’cause I’m here and always will be.”
He and I stood outside and talked for a while longer before we joined everyone else in the house. In other words, it got too damn cold. When we walked in, I didn’t know what I was walking into as I caught the end of Jade’s statement.
“…Destination Christmas.”
“That sounds like a good idea, but where would we even go?” Beyah asked.
“Yo, ain’t you pregnant as fuck? Hell nah.” I stopped that shit in the door. “Oden knows about this?”
Jade flipped me off. “I was thinking a road trip. Somewhere not far, like a Michigan mansion or something.”
While Jade and the ladies talked back and forth, my attention found my lady who was sitting back with Ro in her lap. They were on that damn iPad.
“Did you hear me, Karim? Michigan for Christmas,” Jade called out, making Karim look up from the iPad.
“Mhmm. Send Rem the details.”
I smiled because I knew enough about Rim to know she wasn’t too interested. Then again, maybe she was, but she was giving all her damn attention to Romance and this damn game.
