Page 8 of Maceo

“I don’t know how much longer I can keep this a secret from Salima. She’s already suspicious and asking why I run off with you every time you run off.”

“Listen, they don’t need to know everything, a’ight? I’m careful and I got this. I gotyou. If you wanna tap out at any time, you just say the word and you’re done.”

“Did you see them? I can’t just tap out. This shit is making me soft as fuck, and I don’t like that.”

I chuckled. “You wanted to be a rider so bad. Now look at you. My poor lil’ hood baby.”

She playfully shoved me. “Fuck you.”

I grinned as I pulled her back into my chest and kissed her lips.

“I love you for being here, mama.”

“Mm-hmm. You better. My daddy is gonna kill us both.”

Paul Gladden didn’t play about his baby. Even though he and I were cool and smoked together every now and then, he always let me know he would fuck me up about his only daughter. I couldn’t do shit but respect that. My pops, with his hoing ass, would fuck up the world behind my siblings and me, and I would do the same if I were a father.

“I can handle your father,” I informed her.

“Yeah, okay. You might have all this training and shit, but my father is the real hood baby. He will get it in with you anytime, anyplace, and if you put your hands on my father, I’ma shoot you my damn self.”

I chuckled. “Calm down, killa. Nobody is gonna touch the precious Paul Gladden.”

“Bet not. I’ll cut your dick off.” She playfully grabbed my dick.

“If you ever want another taste of this dick, you better leave it where it’s at.”

“Oh, baby. I can always get new dick.”

“How are they gonna fuck you when they’re dead?”

She kissed her teeth. “Yeah, you and Deuce are brothers. Crazy ass niggas.”

“I’m your crazy ass nigga, though.”

“Yeah… you are.”

She beckoned me to her for another kiss. My hands drifted to her ass like they always did when she was in my arms. I almost forgot that we weren’t alone in the room until one of the guys cleared their throat.

“Uh… there are lights outside,” Tiny informed us.

“It’s probably the food I ordered,” Shar said, pulling away. “Can you get that? I’m gonna go check on everybody.”

“I got you. We can dip out once you get back.”

“Okay.”

I watched her as she ascended the stairs, thankful that even if I had to keep my people out of the loop, at least there was somebody here that I wholeheartedly trusted.

If someone had toldme eight months ago that I would be a part of this shit, I would have laughed. Being where I was from, I wasn’t afraid of anything, but this right here was next level. I knew I had to have loved this man to want to be wherever he was and do whatever he was doing. This shit was dangerous as hell, but if I was being honest, I felt a sense of accomplishment every time we rescued someone from a most painful fate.

About two months before Maceo brought me in on what he was doing, I was ready to take his fucking head off. He’d been secretive, answering calls in the middle of the night, always running off at some ungodly hour, and being gone for a week at a time with hardly any communication.

I knew when he took missions with the family. I wasn’t worried about that because I knew they had each other. But this… hell no. He was keeping me in the dark, and that left waytoo much room for my mind to wander. At first, I was convinced that he was cheating on me, and if that had been the case, I would have popped him in his shit.

I’d felt him ease out of bed one night because I wasn’t asleep like he thought. I listened as he slipped out of my bedroom before I got out of bed to follow him. As I tipped down the hallway to the living room, I found him talking softly on the phone.

“Yeah, I can do that. What time?”

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