Page 19 of I Need It

“Because she don’t want nothing serious right now.”

“Okay, and? Convince her ass otherwise. Show her who the fuck she gon’ be missing out on.”

I chuckled. “That’s why you my nigga. That’s why I’m here. I’m tryna show her I’m the real deal. She ain’t gon’ find a muthafucka better than me.”

“Period, bruh! Put her ass up on game. Real shit. We Hendersons.”

I chuckled, and he did too. Seemed like the older we got, the more unhinged we became… just like Uncle Jasper and Uncle Storm. “Well, we are stopping by the diner on our way to Houston. I’m taking her car to Houston for her since she can’t drive it.”

“A’ight, bruh. See you in a few.”

“A’ight.”

I ended the call right in time to see Mr. Ceasar driving away from the pickup zone. I pulled out and watched them fall in behind me, then headed to Nome. Mya said she didn’t want to meet my family, but ready or not, it was about to happen, because those nosy fools would go outside just to see who I was getting food for.

“Hey, Mama. I need you to discreetly fix to-go plates for me. Mya and her dad wanna taste your food, but Mya isn’t in any shape to come inside. She was discharged a lil bit ago. We are about to blow through China.”

“Hey, baby. Okay. They want the stuffed chicken?”

“They said whatever you wanted to fix they would be happy. I’ll take care of the tab when I get there.”

“Okay, baby. I’ll get started on it now. You know everybody’s here.”

“I figured as much. I got something for the nosy ones.”

She chuckled. “If you say so. See you in a few minutes.”

“Okay.”

I ended the call as we sat at the traffic light. My phone chimed with a text message. I picked it up to see it was from Mya. Slightly smiling, I opened it to see, I really appreciate you, Christian.

Don’t mention it.

I took off from the light, but not before seeing Courtney. Fuck! I hoped she didn’t see me. She seemed to be preoccupied with the nigga she was talking to. After about five minutes, I was turning into the diner parking lot, and Uncle Jasper was just pulling up. He wasn’t as bad as Uncle Storm, but his ass was nosy too.

When I got out of my truck, I noticed Mr. Ceasar got out as well. When he joined me, we headed inside. The minute I walked in, Uncle Storm stood from his seat. “Just the nigga I need to see.”

“I suppose I should tell you now that my family is crazy as hell, especially the one headed this way,” I said to Mr. Ceasar.

He chuckled quietly. Once Uncle Storm got close, he said, “Marcus said you came and got the flatbed.”

I just stared at him as he frowned. “You gon’ ask a question or not?”

“Nigga, you know what that statement meant.”

I slowly shook my head as Uncle Marcus joined us. “Last time I checked, I didn’t answer to neither one of y’all. I went through the appropriate channels before I took off with it. Secondly, I’m doing fine, thanks. Thirdly, Uncle Marcus, seem like you tryna be all up Uncle Storm’s ass recently. You sure you not tryna butter him up to take his spot?”

Uncle Marcus frowned, but Uncle Storm frowned harder and looked right at him. I chuckled and continued to the counter where my mama stood with our food.

“Damn. She’s beautiful.”

I glanced at Mr. Ceasar and decided to let him make it with that comment. Chrissy Henderson was indeed beautiful. Instead, I smiled at my mama and leaned over the counter to kiss her cheek. “Hey, Mama. Thank you for getting this together for me.”

“Of course, baby. I like how you got those two fools over there arguing with each other and not pressing you.”

She laughed, and I did too. “Mama, this is Mister Ceasar.”

“Andre,” he said, extending his hand.

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