“I understand fully. That shit don’t matter when it comes to her. The time is coming. I’ve already talked to?—”
“You better get your Black ass out of here before they try to send you to Africa.”
I bit my bottom lip, trying to contain my laughter. I swore Mr. Storm and my Pop stayed at each other’s throats. The fact that they were about to share a grandchild was insane. My dad turned around and shot him the finger. They laughed and shook hands.
“Baby girl and Mythic are talking about getting married soon. They just wanna do it at the family barn,” Mr. Storm said as he gave me a head nod.
I extended my hand, and he shook it.
“I know. Mythic told me earlier. He said end of next month, after nationals.”
I smiled slightly. They already knew everybody would be in Vegas, especially, Milana, Rylan, Red, Karima, and me. Hell, Maui and Mythic would probably be on the trip. Mythic had always made sure he was in Vegas to support me, even when he was involved in bullshit. He didn’t miss.
“A’ight. Well, I’ll let y’all get Treasure home,” Mr. Storm said and shook my dad’s hand.
I glanced at Bali to see her talking to Noni. Before I could give my attention back to my dad, I saw Kingsley standing there just watching Treasure.Damn.That nigga had it bad. There was no doubt in my mind that his country ass would take care of mysister, though. If that nigga could fight an alligator, I knew he would fight another nigga without a problem.
Treasure turned to him and gave him a tight smile. He did the same to her and slid his hands in his pockets.
“We gon’ see you later, son. You still on for Mississippi next weekend, right?”
“Yes, sir. It’s the last rodeo before nationals.”
He nodded. “A’ight. Remember what I said.”
I nodded. There wasn’t shit to think about. If them people came at my baby, they would meet the barrel of my gun. Plain and simple.
“She always got her nose in shit. Can’t even hold a fucking conversation with her without having to repeat myself.”
“Squared, you can’t be serious, dawg. ICE is trying to fuck with her uncle, which could lead to them fucking with the entire family. You wanted her to disregard her family and what was going on to cater to you? I know I didn’t hear that shit right.”
He slid his hand down his face as we practiced. His mama was getting situated in the box to haze for him as I sat at the back of the chute.
“Man, I know she had shit going on, but what could she do about it? They’d already talked and told them what was pertinent for them to know.”
“Nigga, that shit is still affecting their mental. You need to get yourself together before Noni snap and fuck you up. I’m surprised she ain’t done that shit yet.”
“I’m not you. She not gon’ put her hands on me without consequence. She know that shit.”
I slowly shook my head. “You can try to throw shade all you want, nigga. I got who I want, and our relationship is on the up and up. Instead of hating, you need to be taking notes. Now get yo’ mind right to wrestle this steer.”
He shot me the finger. That was his fucking problem. He was way too hotheaded and selfish. The world didn’t revolve around his ass.
“Yo, nigga! You ready to stop running yo’ fucking mouth and work?” my dad asked.
Squared huffed and got himself together as his dad slowly shook his head. Whenever we were practicing, everybody referred to him as Squared, since the original Red was here. Squared tried to crack a joke and said we should be calling his dad Old Man Red. Uncle Red had to prove a point and wrestle a steer, showing Squared that he still had it. He got a better time than him. That killed that shit.
Finally, Squared gave the head nod and his dad released the steer. That nigga took off and wrestled him to the ground in four seconds flat. That was good as hell. He still wasn’t as good as Uncle Red in his hay day, but it was still good.
When I told his time, he yelled, “Fuck!”
I slowly shook my head. I understood where he was coming from, but he was letting that shit consume him. He was constantly comparing himself to his dad. I couldn’t do that. There would never be another Legend Semien. I still hadn’t broken his high score. I didn’t give a fuck. As long as I was leading the muthafuckas I was competing against, that was all that mattered.
Me trying to break his National Finals Rodeo appearances record was just a friendly competition between the two of us. I didn’t allow that shit to consume me. Whether I did or didn’t, I would still be good. I was proud of how far I’d come in my career. Having eight appearances at nationals was a big deal.
I glanced at the time and saw it was already eleven. I told Bali I would go meet her for lunch. I’d already practiced, but I still needed to go shower. She went to lunch at twelve thirty. Squared had one more run, then I would be done for the day. I did my best not to ever renege on our time together, because we didn’t always see each other every day.
After the bullshit Friday, I spent the day with her Saturday until she had to go to work, and I didn’t see her at all yesterday. Whenever I didn’t see her, it felt like my day was missing something. I couldn’t wait until she was my wife. I pulled out my phone and texted her.Are we still on for lunch?
