Page 27 of Maceo

“There’s no need for that.”

“Nah. I think I need to reaffirm the fact that I will die about mine.”

“Nobody needs to die. I’m good, and when I’m not good, I know my man has my back. Maceo won’t let anything happen to me.”

“If he values his life, he better not. We cool and all, but you’re my baby.” He cupped my chin. “You’re too pretty to be any nigga’s ride or die. You deserve a good, soft life. You don’t have to be a rider for a nigga to love you, Sharina.”

“I know, Daddy. Maceo is good to me. He loves me no matter what.”

“He may love you, but daddy will always love you more.”

He stood to his feet and pulled me into a hug. I closed my eyes and hugged him tighter. Paul Gladden could do the absolute most, but he was a damn good man and a hell of a father. Maceo possessed many of his qualities, and that was what made me fall in love with him.

My father pulled away, but not before kissing my forehead.

“Now… what did you bring me to eat? I hope you brought yourself some ’cause I ain’t sharing.”

I giggled. “I ate breakfast with Salima, so I’m good. Even if I didn’t, you were gonna share, ’cause I’m your favorite child.”

“All of y’all are my favorite.”

I waved him off. “Please. You don’t even like Kilow and Damaris like that. That’s why you had them last.”

He laughed. “What kind of shit is that?”

“I mean, look how long you waited to have them. You got perfection when you got me. You and Mommy tried to duplicate that and failed… twice.”

“You hell, man,” he said, pulling the container of food from the bag. “You’re too old to tease your brothers.”

I shrugged. “It’s a rite of passage.”

Kilow was sixteen, and Damaris was seventeen. I cracked jokes on them, but they were my babies. Kilow had the biggest crush on Mace’s little sister Deja. Every time he saw her, he got to blushing and stuttering and shit. It was adorable, considering he was a carbon copy of my dad. If he ever got her, I knew he would treat her right.

I ended up sitting with my dad for about an hour before I had to let him get back to work. He’d tried to pry more information out of me about my new job. I didn’t give him much because I’d said too much already. The conversation ended with him threatening to snatch me up once again. I knew he meant that, but he had nothing to worry about.

Maceo had my back, and I trusted him with my life.

What we were doing was, in fact, dangerous, but what was life without a little walk on the wild side?

It had been a week.

On top of handling things with the safe house, I’d been busy with my legit businesses. All of us found different areas to produce consistent streams of legit income. Deuce had the lounges. Kerrion taught self-defense classes. Devin sold guns and taught weapons training classes. Jaeda and Mia co-owned several restaurants.

I owned a laundromat, a gas station, a cleaning service, and the local movie theatre. I also had my hands in a few franchises across the state. Plus, I had stock and investments. Even if I never took another job from this day forth, I would be straight.

It was around five when I got done making my rounds for the day. I decided to go by the safe house and check on things. All week long, people had been leaving to go home to their families. The only people left were Colin and Charity.

When I pulled up to the house, I saw a strange car with Florida plates in the driveway. Just as I got out of the car, Colin walked out with a small child on his hip and a woman on his arm.

“Maceo, this is my son, Ernest, and my wife, Penelope. Baby, this is one of the men that rescued us.”

Penelope left his side and came to me with open arms. For someone so small, she packed a mighty hug.

“Thank you… Thank you!” She kissed my cheek, then hugged me again. “We’ve been worried sick about him.”

“I’m glad I could be of service. You drive safe, and best of luck to you.”

Colin extended a hand to me. I shook it, and he, too, pulled me in for a hug. Again, he thanked me before climbing in the car with his family. I headed up to the front porch where Tiny stood.

---