Chapter 1
Papa
I’m on my knees in front of the altar. I open a box and pull out a long wooden match. Striking the match, I light the red and black candles on the altar. Once the candles are lit, I prepare a fresh Cuban cigar and pour out a glass of Macallan twenty-five.
“Papa Legba, open the gate. Your child is calling. Papa Legba, open the gate. Let your child pass.”
I continue the chant as I slip into an altered consciousness, seeking the answers I need. My heart is heavy. The woman I love keeps rejecting me. Rejecting us. She doesn’t feel like she’s good enough.
“Please help me show her. I wish she could see herself through my eyes. Not only mine, but our friends. Hell, everyone. She has no idea what a light she is in this dark, dark world.”
Listen to your heart.
“Mémé?”
Listen to your heart, Gabriel. It will show you the way.
I feel a sudden chill and the candles go out. I stumble to my feet and grab for my phone. Finding it, I turn on the flashlight and look around my room. I head to the windows first. They’re closed. Next, I make my way to the door. I don’t know why I don’t turn on a light, but I use the phone to navigate through my apartment.
I know I’m drunk, but there’s not a window or door open. Nothing that would cause a draft big enough to blow out all the candles on my altar. Add my grandmother’s voice to that and I’mthinking of swearing off that new strain of weed Inara gave me to try.
Likely it was the copious amounts of Macallan combined with the new strain. I double-check the front door to make sure it’s locked before heading for the shower.
Twenty minutes later, I’m showered and feel a whole hell of a lot better. I check my phone and see I missed a call from Gambit. He’s the club president, and also my best friend. We met in basic and have been inseparable ever since. He brought me home with him on leave and introduced me to his pops, Chief. Chief is the president of the Baton Rouge chapter and co-founder of the club. He and his VP Trinity started the club together back in the day.
I return the call. He picks up on the second ring.
“Brother, meet me in Wizard’s room. He has some information I think you’ll want to see.”
I head out of my apartment and take the stairs down to the second floor. It’s quicker than waiting for the elevator. Wizard’s rooms are on the second floor, unlike the rest of the brass. He has a double room because he insists on housing his computers in his room.
I don’t bother knocking since my brothers know I’m coming. I find them huddled around one of Wizard’s many computer screens. He not only has three on the desk in front of him, he has an entire wall of mounted computer monitors.
“What are we looking at?”
“I want you to view it without input,” Gambit says.
“Alright. Play it.”
The video on the desk is now displayed as one large video synced on all the wall monitors. I watch as a scene plays out at the docks. Men unloading young men and women from an unmarked van, forcing them into a shipping crate.
It sickens me, but the gut punch comes when the camera gets a closeup of two men after the container is closed. Linden Fucking Danvers, Chardonnay’s low-life uncle, who she thought was dead. As dead as her father. I had that mother fucker’s remains exhumed and identified.
Another sin to add to the list of things I need to ask her forgiveness for. I wouldn’t have to if she’d let me in. She’s ashamed of her past. So she hides it from me and everyone else. It’s one of the reasons she won’t be with me in public.
I’ll convince her of her worthiness if it’s the last thing I do. I have the name of a therapist from Lily, who specializes in trauma therapy.
Nay’s childhood is filled with one trauma after another. Some she has shared with me. I know she’s shared more about her past with me than anyone, but she still keeps me at arms’ length, emotionally.
“Linden Fucking Danvers. I thought that mother fucker was dead.”
“So does everyone else, including the U.S. government,” Wizards says.
Chapter 2
Nay
“Oh, girls, here comes Lord Fuckyou. You better hide your asses,” Millie whispers.