Page 14 of Make Me Remember

I shook my head then stood to start working on him. Instead of keeping my mouth shut, I asked, “Do you know who killed your father?”

“Yep. My uncles walked in on him fucking my mama up. He’d broken her nose, bruised her ribs, and was probably gonna kill her for trying to leave him. They beat the brakes off his ass, then my mama shot him.”

“Wow. I’m sorry. That’s a lot to deal with.”

“Yeah.”

I rubbed his ankle and turned to stare at him. He’d closed his eyes and laid his head against the couch. There was a frown on his face. “Jacob, is this hurting?”

“Naw.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah. Just talking about that nigga puts me in a fucked-up mood. That was why I changed my last name to my mama’s maiden name… Henderson.”

“I’m sorry.”

“You good.”

I should have never asked questions about his father, because he remained quiet for the rest of our session, similar to how I had retreated a couple of days ago. My plans were to tell him that he could call me. Maybe this moment was supposed to happen so I could see that neither of us were ready for what he was trying to embark upon when we first met.

CHAPTER 5

JACOB

“Jacob Henderson, you are under arrest for the murder of Traylon Anderson. Can you please stand, sir?”

I rolled my eyes as I stood from my seat at the barbershop. I slowly shook my head as Uncle Jasper came from the back. He frowned hard and said, “Whoa! What the fuck y’all arresting him for?”

“For applying deadly force.”

“Hell naw. Y’all arrest him and haul him out of here, then we gon’ sue y’all fucking asses! This some bullshit.”

He immediately got on the phone and started calling people. He was right though. It was all bullshit. My cousin had gotten shot and was about to get killed. Had I not stepped in, Kane would be dead. He was finally home, but he was in a bad mood and didn’t want visitors. So I hadn’t seen him since that day in the hospital.

There was someone high up the ladder that had the puppet by the strings. Someone was out for us, trying to fuck with the Hendersons. My case shouldn’t have even been a case. In the state of Texas, with proof of self-defense, even if it was to protect someone else, committing murder was legal and justified. It was clear as hell that Kane was the proof. This shit was beyond the Andersons’ pull. Their ghetto asses didn’t have pull like this at all.

They cuffed me but kept the cuffs really loose. One of the cops said, “It’s out of our hands, Mister Henderson. We’re just executing the warrant. We don’t get to decide in cases like this.”

The other cop pulled me toward the door and saw my limp and slowed down. This shit wasn’t gon’ ever heal. I was sick of fucking around with it. I had been in the house, refusing to come out for the past week and a half. Mekayla had still been coming, but things were a little different. I hadn’t been talking as much because I had been having nightmares. That shit had me tripping.

I kept dreaming about killing Traylon, but every time I walked up to him to look at him, it would be my father’s face. It was like my words from the other day with Mekayla were haunting me. I had grown to hate his ass, and maybe I needed to just let go. If talking about him still did this to me, then I hadn’t released him from all the bullshit. I had more in common with Jakari, Christian, and Rylan than I cared to admit.

I thought I would be done with that shit, knowing he’d suffered the ultimate punishment for all the years of abuse he put my mama and sister through. He tried to indoctrinate that shit in me, but thankfully, I had strong men around me who taught me what it meant to be a man. It was like the abuse he inflicted on them made him feel like more of a man.

The mention of his name or the last name Monroe pissed me off, but it never affected me this badly. However, I never really went into detail about that night. I knew Uncle WJ had killed him, but I also knew he could still be prosecuted if that ever got out. Only people in the family knew that he’d killed Joseph, but I didn’t think everyone in the Henderson family even knew that shit.

After helping me into the car, the officer closed the door. Uncle Jasper was standing outside the door and said loudly, “Sidney and Shy gon’ meet you there.”

I nodded. Shy’s slick ass mouth might get me some serious time. That nigga didn’t have a filter at all. He was one step away from cursing a judge out. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d already done so. He’d teeter tottered on the edge of that when SS was in trouble. It seemed people just wanted to discredit us anyway they could, and I believed he’d caught that vibe too.

When the cops finally took off, I lay my head back thinking about what my life had come to, simply for sliding my dick in the wrong place. It was like my actions opened Pandora’s box, and I just wanted that shit to close… right fucking now. All my uncles and aunts had gathered at the barbershop, but seeing the disappointed look on my mama’s face was bothering the hell out of me.

I thought about Mekayla and how distant we had become. It seemed she was about to give in to me that day, and that conversation had fucked everything up. She was happy, the happiest I had ever seen her. Re-establishing her relationship with her dad had put her on a high like none other. I just hoped he didn’t let her down.

My inner turmoil had kept me from truly pursuing her. It didn’t stop me from admiring her ass in those scrubs though. She was fine as fuck, and I’d let my shit with Joseph Monroe fuck all that up.

When we got to the police station, the cop who had cuffed me opened the door and helped me out. The minute I turned toward the building and saw both Shy and Sidney standing there, I knew I was in for a show. Thankfully, it was lunchtime, so I probably wouldn’t have to stay overnight. I was hungry as fuck too. After my haircut, I was supposed to be heading to the diner to meet up with my boys.

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