Haze flicked his nose, and Gideon could tell he was trying to hold on to his patience.
“If you know how well I’m doin’, why you ain’t reach out?” The anger in Haze’s tone was more present now, but he stillspoke to Juke with respect. There would always be a level of respect there.
“What I look like reachin’ out to my godson, the nigga I helped raise, to help me sort through my pile of shit?” Juke asked with his head cocked to the side and his face screwed up.
“You look like a man, my nigga,” Haze snapped. “My pops always taught me that a real nigga knows when to ask for help, and I don’t know, OG. Ya shit looks like it’s way past help. You sittin’ up in here rotting, ain’t got no more pull in the streets, and Glimmer?—”
“What about Glimmer?” Juke’s tone completely changed. His face softened with concern, and he spoke with urgency. “She aight?”
“No, she ain’t fuckin’ alright, man,” Haze said, his tone heavily laced with irritation. “She showed up at my childhood home in a wedding dress and all fucked up because of Trick. Why you okay with sittin’ back and letting that nigga marry her?”
Gideon watched as Juke’s facial expression turned confused and then crumpled. He put his head in his hands and shook it. “That mothafucka.”
“You didn’t know.” Gideon said it more as a statement than a question. He was good at reading people, and he knew Juke wasn’t privy to anything that had been happening on the outside.
“Nah, I didn’t fuckin’ know. Camille told me they were ducked off and in hiding, doin’ well,” Juke said. Frustration oozed from him, and Gideon knew an angry man—no—an angry father, was never a good thing.
“Keep ya head, OG. You locked up now. You can’t let shit on the outside drive you crazy. We came here today to help the situation. We ain’t just gon’ bring this to your attention and then leave it alone,” Gideon coached, always the voice of reason.
Juke shook his head, and Gideon could tell he was trying hard to process what he was just told. “I don’t get why Camille would lie to me. We ain’t been on good terms at all since the divorce, but I always thought she would come to me if there was ever a problem, especially about our daughter.”
Gideon didn’t have the answer to the questions he sought, so he remained quiet.
“Why didn’tGlimmertell you?” Haze asked the question Gideon had been wondering.
Juke shook his head. “I haven’t talked to her since I got knocked. Her mama said she ain’t want to talk to me. She was disappointed or some shit. I didn’t press it. I know I let them both down.”
“That don’t even sound like Glimm,” Haze said. “I might not have seen her in a long ass time, but from what I remember, she was a daddy’s girl. My guess is Trick had them scared to talk.”
“My baby girl been with that nigga for the past six months?” Juke asked. He had tears in his eyes, and Gideon’s heart went out to him. Juke looked like a defeated man, and that was never an easy sight to witness.
“From what I gather, but she got away from him yesterday. She came to the right people too. We ain’t gon’ let him take her back,” Haze said with conviction in his tone.
“It ain’t that simple, lil Henry. Trick got ways about him I don’t even understand. He took me down, nigga.Me. He took ya pops down . . .” Juke looked down at the table.
“I heard about that, but I want to hear it from you. What happened to my pops?” Haze asked.
Juke let out a long breath. “Me and ya pops was shoppin’ around for some new product to shake shit up in the streets and make more money. We got greedy. Trick was a young nigga, but he came to us with some good ass product for a good price. When it came time for the sale, he must have switched theproduct out. Ya pops was pushin’ the shit to all the kingpins, and them niggas wasn’t happy, rightfully so.
“One of them got to him before we could fix the situation. I took care of the nigga that got him, but I always felt guilty. I convinced Henry that we should take Trick’s deal. The shit felt like my fault, which was why I fell back. I couldn’t look ya mama in her eyes or you kids and know I was the reason you ain’t have Henry anymore.”
Gideon’s heart ached. He loved Big Henry like he was his own father. One glance at Haze, and Gideon could tell he was barely keeping it together too. Finally knowing the full story of what happened to Big Henry settled on their shoulders. Gideon was glad when Haze spoke the very words that were on the tip of his tongue.
“That shit ain’t ya fault.”
“I appreciate ya words, but that’s a guilt I’ll live with until I die. If I never convinced him we needed to take that deal, he would still be alive. Plain and simple.” Juke’s eyes found Haze again, and then they trailed over to Gideon. His lips tugged up into a sad smile. “It’s damn good to see y’all though. But I can’t have you tied to this shit with Trick. If something happened to y’all?—”
“Why everyone keep testin’ us like we lil niggas or somethin’?” Haze asked Gideon, cutting Juke off.
Gideon shook his head. “I ain’t got a clue.”
Haze leaned forward on the table again. “Let me kick it to you straight, OG. I ain’t take up after my father. I ain’t slangin’ dope, you feel me?”
“I know what you deal in,” Juke said matter-of-factly.
“Then you know there ain’t no weapons movin’ in Desmore Bay that haven’t passed through me first. I have warehouses with enough weaponry to fund a winning war against Russia.Hell,America. Not only do we have the weapons, we have the money and the niggas.
“I might be out the way and looked at as just the president of a motorcycle club, but I promise you I’m so much more than that. When I say I’ma handle this nigga, I mean I’ma handle this nigga.”
