Page 58 of I Need It

Maui grabbed my hand and took me to the kitchen, where I noticed the infamous twins were seated. They didn’t smile at all… just stared at me like they’d never seen me before. “Dee and Dum, this is Mya, Christian’s boo,” Maui said.

They shot her the finger simultaneously, and one of them mumbled, “Bitch.”

Apparently, it was an inside joke I had no knowledge of, but Maui clued me in. “Daddy Mayor used to call them Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. I was their friend, Alice. Our brother, SS, was the rabbit.”

She giggled as she shook her head. “Mya, that’s Bali, the one who called me a bitch, and that’s Noni. They aren’t all that friendly, so don’t take it personally, but you probably remember that from the FaceTime a month ago. They have to warm up around you first.”

I nodded. “Sounds like my type of carrying on. I love your dad.”

“Yeah, you definitely with the shits if you love my daddy.”

Surprisingly, the one introduced to me as Bali stood from her seat and extended her hand. She still wasn’t smiling, but I accepted the gesture and shook it. Noni had gone back to her phone like I wasn’t standing there. They seemed to be worse than their father. Like Maui said, I didn’t take it personally. However, I wouldn’t be in their face trying to talk to them either. I didn’t beg for nobody’s attention. As I went to the stove to see what Angel and Ashanni were preparing, a cousin I hadn’t met grabbed my hand.

I turned to look at her and reciprocated her smile. “Hi, Mya. I’m Karima, KJ’s sister.”

My eyebrows lifted slightly. I knew she was the one who Christian had confided in. I pulled her away from everyone and threw my arms around her. She was a beautiful woman. Her natural coils caught my attention first. When I pulled away from her, I wiped the couple of tears that fell down my cheeks.

“Thank you for pouring into him. I wish I would have been wise and strong enough to do it.”

“That doesn’t matter. We can only do what we can. It was wise to let him know you couldn’t. That took a lot of courage.”

I smiled at her. “How old are you? You don’t look any older than me, but you have the wisdom of a woman twice our ages.”

“I’m twenty-eight,” she said then giggled. “I never really had a lot of friends, so I hung around the older folk, especially Aunt Tiffany. Plus, despite the things my parents went through, they taught us a lot as well. It doesn’t seem like my youngest brother, Kane, has learned anything, but time will tell.”

I chuckled. “How old is he?”

“Nineteen, girl.”

“Oh, he has time. He’s young.”

“Yeah, he does.”

“Oh shit! We gotta go!” someone yelled.

I turned to see KJ, Rylan, my baby, and Jacob running out of the house, and I panicked… panicked my ass right into an anxiety attack. Christian came to me and wrapped me in his arms for a minute as Karima asked, “What’s going on? What happened?”

I lifted my head to see the women running to their cars. “SS got arrested.”

I remembered Maui had just said SS was her brother. My mouth opened slightly as I tried to wait to see why. Christian gently turned my chin. “Come on, baby. The whole family is going to see about him.”

“What… what happened?”

He swallowed hard then helped me into his Escalade without a word. I knew Mister Mayor was about to tear some shit up. The twins looked like Tasmanian devils leaving out of that house.

When Christian got into the driver’s seat, he said, “He got arrested for murder. He killed some white boy. Courtney was with the white guy but got away. He would have killed her ass too. They were trying to rob him but didn’t know who they were fucking with.”

“Oh shit. A black man killing a white man. This is going to be an uphill battle.”

“Yep, but it ain’t one the Hendersons gon’ take lying down. He fucked that boy up. Shot him in the chest with his hunting rifle.”

“So where are we going?”

“Honestly, I’m assuming the courthouse. I’m sure they already got a lawyer or two. Sidney Taylor and Shyrón Berotte are already on contract with us. Sidney is a defense attorney though.”

“I’ve heard of her. She’s a legend.”

“Yeah. I just hope it’s something we can get him out of. Fuck! You realize that could have been my ass? I would have killed Courtney. She knows the family and probably knew exactly who SS was. The nigga got Henderson Ranch and Farms on the back glass of his truck. I’m willing to bet she targeted his ass. SS looks soft, but they fucked around and found out.”

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