Shabu broke their silence with that before shutting the door behind her to stand in front of it like he was blocking anyone from going out rather than coming inside. His gun was clenched in his hand, and after Kennedy observed the others, she noted Los had his weapon out, too, while Sarge stood near a corner, empty handed. She assumed they had been searched before entering the venue and didn’t have their weapons on them.
“What the fuck you got us roped into, Kennedy?! You got that nigga texting Zeke, pretending to be you. Inviting us into bullshit ass setups!” Sarge ranted, going off. “You supposed to be our family! What’s all this?”
The stare Kennedy leveled at him was emotionless, dull, and unenthused by the chaotic scene before her. Her expression was the exact opposite of what she was feeling in that moment.
She hoped her chest wasn’t rising and falling as fast her heart was beating from seeing Ezekiel and Relic in the same room. A ball of anger and frustration formed in her gut after hearing Sarge blast what Relic had done, but she didn’t show it because they were a team. She couldn’t let those niggas see them at odds.
One thing she’d finally learned about Relic was that he never enacted a plan without intent behind it, so she’d wait for his explanation and not move too fast. She’d give him grace because if he wanted to solve her problems and dirty his hands in her name, then she’d let him. If clearing up the confusion that had her bawling in bathrooms and on beaches while on vacation made him feel like more of a man; who in the hell was she to stop him. After hearing how his father used the term weakness as a manipulation tactic, she wouldn’t dare belittle and reprimand him in a room of grown men. She didn’t have it in her to make him feel like that again.
Kennedy turned to Relic and gave him eye contact as she set her independent tendencies and trust issues aside to let himlead like Shabu had just schooled her to do. She just hoped Relic wasn’t about to lead her astray.
“That’s my gift to you,” he stated, pointing at Ezekiel who groaned as he stood up, bloodied and bruised.
The visual reminded her of a cat gifting a dead mouse to its owner. Although disgusting, it was done as an act of affection, so she said nothing.
“Beating his ass was a gift to me, but that’s not why I invited him. You think he killed your brother, right?”
Relic didn’t beat around the bush, and Kennedy was too exhausted from the stress of it all to lie.
“Yes.”
“You think what?”
Her gaze went to Ezekiel after detecting the genuine disbelief in his tone. Agony contorted his swollen features as he looked from her to Sarge, waiting for one of them to tell him it was a joke or defend his fucking honor.
“Koda was my goddamn brother! Why y’all standing there, looking at me like I’m an enemy? Like I’m a fucking opp,” he sneered, glaring at Kennedy. “You’re coming up with delusional ass lies all because I chose another woman over you? Or is it still about the fucking money?”
“Fuck that money! None of this is about that money!”
“Exactly,” Relic butted in, vying for her attention. He didn’t like her placing it or her energy on another man. “It wasn’t about the money. When you first told me that your brother died after Zeke broke up with you, I assumed that he did the shit, so he wouldn’t get nixed out of the money if your brother cut him off for what he did. I wasn’t seeing the full picture ‘til me and Los got into it recently.”
“How the fuck do I keep getting thrown in shit?” Los griped, and Relic grilled him.
“Nigga, shut the hell up. The point is, you were mad that you bowed out, and I didn’t cut you in. Kennedy, the first time you told me about Koda, you said his partners were home because they’d bowed out, so Zeke had given up his cut beforehand. He had nothing to lose if he’d told Koda about y’all, Larenn. Nothing but his friendship, and that wasn’t worth setting him up over. You get what I’m saying to you?”
Kennedy gripped her chest and stuttered an inhale as if she suddenly had a surplus of air that was too great for her to breathe. Her eyes wandered to Ezekiel, who looked heartbroken at her even fathoming the thought, and that alone sent her lids flittering to not flood with tears.
“I don’t get—” She choked on her words but cleared her throat to interrogate Relic, whose eyes hadn’t left her once. “So, you brought him here to tell me you don’t think he did it?”
“As much as I don’t want to admit it to you, Zeke is innocent, and you needed to know that. To see it. To feel it so that you’ll stop blaming yourself. I know it was eating away at you. I know how that guilt festers inside to where it makes everything dark, and even the brightest moments aren’t truly enjoyable, like on our vacation. I live that shit every day, Kennedy, so I know everyone can’t stomach it, and you don’t deserve to. I couldn’t leave you stuck inside that lonely a space, baby. I had to bring you proof, so you could know for sure.”
Kennedy whimpered, fighting back a sob as her entire core rocked from the inside. The faces in the room blurred, but she knew Relic was still there. He was still watching to see if she’d break, and she was trying so goddamn hard to contain it.
“You didn’t unintentionally get Koda killed, Larenn. You didn’t take your nephew’s father from him, or a son from Diane and Butch,” Relic stressed, studying her as she trembled from emotion. “You got lucky, Kennedy. Let it go.”
As if that were Relic’s subtle permission for her to fall apart, she spit out a heavy sob, hunching over as she held her stomach and violently shook from the emotional relief. She didn’t have to avoid her nephew or breakdown at the mere sight of him, and she didn’t have to stress if it’d ever come to light and ruin their relationship. Her leaking eyes drifted to Relic, and she saw the injustice in his gaze that he blinked away. The words he didn’t say were written in the air between them.
She got lucky, but he didn’t.
“You good, Kenn Dog?” Shabu quizzed, rubbing her shoulder as she dabbed her face and stood tall, getting her emotions in check. “You don’t want to knock my brother’s head off, do you?”
“That’s still up for debate,” she uttered. Her attention went to Ezekiel before she pressed, “Why didn’t you go to Koda’s party? He told me to stay home, thinking you were coming.”
“I was, but I changed my mind ‘cause you know how your brother gets when he’s drunk. I figured it was better to just wait until the next day to holler at him but...”
Ezekiel rolled his tongue across his teeth and heaved a breath. He’d run from Koda’s death for years out of guilt because he should’ve been there to have his back.
“I don’t talk about Koda because I wasn’t there when he needed me. I failed him. I didn’t deserve to shed a tear at his funeral or treat his family like mine,” he expressed before pressing his thumb and index finger to his eyes to contain his tears. “I deserved the bullet you gave me, and that’s why I never tripped about it. I wish you came to me about this instead of thinking the worst all this time.”
