“I mean, you could be.” Wilde was the first to say it. “Niggas been dodging bullets and you conveniently dip out and shit. You tell us what we should think.”
“Yeah, bro, your absence is suspect as fuck,” Rio added.
Vic’s mouth gaped as he sat back in his seat. “Y’all really think I would sneak my bro? Are y’all for real right now?”
“Prove that you was with your mama,” Zayd commanded.
“Prove it?” Vic repeated with disgust. “Now my word ain't good enough? I gotta show a fucking written excuse as to why I had to go back to St. Louis. Y’all niggas trippin’.”
“No, mothafucka, I ain't trippin’!” Noble bellowed. “Jovanis get killed, they shoot at my wife, then come for me. Youwould be suspicious of everybody if it was you. Don't sit up here and act like we gotta take your word when your bitch-ass barely answered when we called. And you didn’t tell us you even had to go out of town, so miss me with that bullshit you talking.”
“Wife?” Zayd questioned. “You and Irish married?”
Wilde eyed the diamond wedding band on Noble’s finger. “This private-ass nigga don't never let us in on the new fucking developments in his life. Sassy, bitch-ass!”
Rio laughed. “Congrats, my nigga. That’s a good look on you.”
Noble couldn’t bask in his well wishes because shit wasn’t adding up with Vic.
“Alright, listen.” The bass had vanished from Vic’s tone. “I get why you got your head on a swivel. I swear, I get it but this is me, Noble.” He pointed at his chest. “You know I would never go against the grain like that. We family and you know I'm all about loyalty. Don't treat me like I haven’t proven myself.”
Noble pondered his speech but he couldn’t deny his intuition. It was never wrong. It had saved him over the years, alerting him of who was a snake and who wasn’t.
“Besides, I ain't talked to Tuck since last year. I ain't never went to see his ass either. Shit, the only ones who did were you and Nuke. I ain't got no communication with that nigga.”
Noble turned his head toward Nuke. “You went to see Tuck?”
He nodded. “Yeah, it was before Jovanis got killed.”
“Why you ain't say shit?”
Nuke’s forehead wrinkled. “Why would I have to say anything about going to see my cousin?”
“Nigga, you didn’t think we should know that before Noble told us all that shit about him?” Zayd interrogated, sporting a glower.
“I ain't think it was important.”
Rio sighed while dragging his hand down his face. “Nuke, come on. You on some bullshit.”
“What the fuck happened at the visit?”
Nibbling on his bottom lip, Nuke confessed, “Man that nigga sat there the entire time trying to convince me that those pictures and videos of him weren’t real. That’s basically what the whole visit was about.”
Noble was heated but kept his composure. All of this newfound information did nothing to quiet his suspicions. He thought back to the day he’d gotten shot at. Nuke had been MIA until that night. At the time, Noble didn’t have any doubts but Nuke had been withholding information and to him, that was a red flag. Abruptly, he stood, needing a minute to think through all the information that had been thrown in his lap.
“You leaving?” Wilde asked.
“I’ll holla at y’all later.”
Noble walked out the lounge and got inside his car. He drove home and sat in the garage for a while. He had never approached a moment in life where he couldn’t trust his family. Vic’s story sounded like bullshit, and Nuke visiting Tuck without telling him didn’t sit right with Noble. He wasn’t an impulsive man, opting to plan his moves to a T. Yet, Noble was ready to eliminate anyone who seemed suspicious—including Vic and Nuke.
After a while, he got out the car and walked inside his home. The aroma of cooked food permeated his nostrils, making his stomach grumble. He walked down the hall and spotted Irishand Kenji at the dining room table. She propped up his science project and took a good look at it. Leaning against the door frame, they were oblivious to his presence.
“How does it look? Do you think we’re missing something?” she asked Kenji. She was dressed in yoga capris and a white crop top with her belly on full display.
Kenji cocked his head, peering intensely at the board. “Uh, nope. I think it’s finish. I bet I’m going to win first place at the fair.”
Irish grinned at him. “I think you are, too.”
