I wasn’t sure why I didn’t expect to see him. Joshua was his son, and this cookout was the talk of Clover. I honestly hadn’t thought about him much since I moved here.
His head bucked back a little. “Damn, it’s Jordan and not Dad or Daddy? That’s cold-blooded.”
I stared at him blankly for a second. “Yes, it’s Jordan. That’s your name.”
Before either of us could say anything more, the last person that I wanted to see in my life bobbed into the kitchen. “Oh shit! Is that lil Nee? Damn, girl, you done grown up,” my uncle Jacob said.
When he advanced toward me, my eyes widened to the panic I felt in my gut. Like the protector he was, Bolt moved in the path of Jacob. I never told him what happened, but I was sure he felt my angst. “Is you cool?” Bolt asked him.
Jacob took a step back with his hands in the air. “My bad, man. I just wanted to give my lil niece a hug. I didn’t know it was that serious.”
“It is, so chill your weird ass out. Aren’t you the one that forgot her ass called all those years ago when her mama died, so you didn’t tell Pop Jordan? Well, forget her ass now.”
My ears perked to that comment because, what the fuck. When my father didn’t return my call the day my mother died, I just chopped it up to him being an insensitive asshole. Now it sounded like he never got the message. My eyes trailed over tohim where he stood with an uncomfortable and, if I had to guess, guilty expression.
I wanted to get away from this kitchen as fast as I could. I grabbed the pan that I came to get and exited the kitchen without a word. I put the pan in its rightful place, then threw the empty pan in the trash. I felt Bolt on my heels as I walked to my seat.
When I sat, he took his seat next to me. I felt his eyes on me. He leaned toward me, then asked, “What the hell was that about, P’Nee?” When I told him that it was nothing, he grabbed the arm of my seat and abruptly turned my chair to face him. “Nee, we lying to each other now?”
I didn’t respond, because I was distracted by my father and uncle as they moved around the yard. People greeted them, laughed with them, and all that nice family-oriented stuff. I didn’t snap out of my surveillance until Bolt’s hand squeezed my thigh. “Baby, I’m not lying. I don’t want to talk about it right now. I just don’t like my uncle.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, that’s believable because I don’t like his ass either. His ass is weird as fuck.”That he is.“You want something to drink, baby?”
After I told him that I wanted a water, he kissed my lips and left me at the table. I couldn’t keep my eyes off Jacob. He walked around the yard like he owned the place and was the flyest nigga at the cookout. It was clear that he thought he was a lady’s man or some corny shit. I hated him.
Bethany, Jojo, and Josh came over and sat at the table. Josh asked if I saw my father, and I told him that I did. While we had casual conversation, my eyes stayed trained on the sick fuck. He sat next to a girl that was one of my students. Christy was a quiet girl who was a loner. She looked uncomfortable, but I could have been projecting.
“Baby, you good?” Bolt’s voice broke me out of my stare. “Nee, baby, what’s wrong?”
Before I had a chance to answer, my protective mode kicked in, and I was out of my seat marching toward Jacob and Christy. When she noticed me, her eyes held fear and a cry for help. “Christy, come with me, now,” I demanded with my hand extended toward her once I reached where they sat.
She didn’t pause, talk back, or refuse my request. She grabbed my hand and jumped up out of her seat. When I turned to lead her away, Jacob jumped up and grabbed my wrist. “What the fuck are you doing?”
Something in me snapped. I turned around, and it was over from that point. The fight, hurt, and trauma came out through my punches. “Don’t fucking touch me, pedo!”
If you had toldme last year that I would fall in love with my best friend’s sister, I would have told you to shut the hell up. I hadn’t seen P’Nee since she was thirteen years old. She was literally out of sight, out of mind. The second that I saw her in that principal’s office, it was like I had to see what was up with her. My heart thanked me for what I did.
It had been a little rough since that shit popped off with Anna. I remembered the day she was called into that meeting with the board at her school. She called me afterward, from her office, in hysterics. I had no idea what happened, but what I did know was that I was on my way to the school with a switch just in case I needed to light some shit up. I was far from a thug nigga, but I was a real man who protected his queen. It would be foolishfor a person to provoke me to come off my leash. That would be the equivalent to submitting a life insurance claim.
When I got to the school, my heart broke for my woman. I might have shed a few tears with her. Nee loved what she did for two reasons: It was her passion, and it kept her connected to her mother. Her passion for education came from her mother. I loved when we were at her house and she pulled out her scrapbooks. The pure joy that beamed from her when she talked about her mother lit up rooms.
For the two months that she was on her administrative leave, I was stuck to her like super glue. The first few days, I could tell that she was about to sink into a depression. From that point, I was on her ass in whatever way needed, to help her feel better.
It was crazy that Anna’s ass popped up here on some kumbaya shit. That bitch caused a bunch of chaos but wanted to be forgiven so easily. If I banned you from my restaurants, why would you think it was alright to come to a cookout damn near sponsored by my restaurant. I couldn’t even say that her elevator didn’t go all the way up to the top floor. You had to have an elevator for it to go anywhere.
Everyone knew that my grandma didn’t give a damn about what she said or where she said it. If you talked shit about it, she would let you know about the life she lived that afforded her the right to say whatever she wanted. When she went in on Anna, everyone fell out laughing. Grandma told that girl that she hoped she got everything she needed and it still not be enough. What kind of thing was that to say?
Oh, and by the end of her rant, she told me that I owed her eight hundred dollars for her whore usage. I waved her off, but it was hard to wave off the Cash App request she sent me. I didn’t know Catherine Deers had a Cash App account. I also didn’t like that her fucking cash tag wasCougarDeers69.The hell was my grandma on?
“Yo, what’s up with her?” Joshua asked after Nee jumped up from the table.
I didn’t have a solid answer to his question. “I’m not sure. She’s been acting weird ever since Pop Jordan and Jacob got here. I asked her, but she said that she didn’t want to . . . Oh shit!”
We all jumped up from our seats to run to P’Nee, with me leading the way. Her ass was tearing Jacob’s ass up. She was yelling shit, but I was focused on pulling her up off him before he swung back. “You muthafuckin’ pedophile. I fuckin’ hate you!” she yelled as she punched him in his face. Her kick to his dick made all the men cringe.
“Nee! Nee! What the fuck?” I pulled her off him and put her in a bear hug. My mouth went to her ear. “Calm down, baby. Calm down.”
Her breathing was erratic. Some other men helped Jacob who was popping shit about her being crazy. P’Nee’s head snapped around frantically. She was looking for someone or something. “Christy!” I let her go when she pulled from me, but I was on her ass in case she decided to attack again.
