Page 104 of Maceo

I gave a nervous laugh. “Maybe you had a little too much wine with dinner.”

She took another sip from the glass in her hand. “Nope. That’s not it. Are you pregnant?”

“What? No. God, no. Me and Maceo aren’t having kids any time soon.”

“Hmmm. Any more secrets we should know about?”

“It wouldn’t be a secret if you knew, now would it?”

“Don’t be a smart ass. You’re hiding something, aren’t you?”

“No, Mommy.”

She set her glass down and came over to where I was at the dishwasher.

“Look at me. Look me in my eyes and tell me you aren’t hiding anything.”

I hated when she did that. She did it all the time when I was a kid, and I could never lie to her. It had been years since she invoked that detrimental stare on me, but she did it with Kilow and Damaris all the time, and they always folded. I swallowed hard as I stood up straight and looked her in the eye.

“Are you hiding something from me?” she asked.

“No, ma’am.”

She squinted as she stared at me. Her face softened as she took a step back and cupped my chin.

“Mm-hmm. It’ll come out.” Picking up her glass of wine, she headed for the back door. “I’m going to see what your father and Maceo are talking about.”

I nodded. As soon as she was on the other side of the door, I expelled a breath of relief. That was a close one.

Suited and booted,I stood in the courtyard with my brothers and Mia, smoking a blunt. We were about to ride out to the farmhouse and were waiting for everybody to get here. It would be great if Charity’s ass was there, but Jaeda had been surveying the house all day, and she hadn’t shown up. She overheard one of the guys say she had to go out of town to meet with someone that knew her father.

I wasn’t sure if she was trying to secure a new contract or what, but when she came back, she was gonna be assed out and in these streets alone. I’d been hoping to be able to track her, but it looked like she’d gotten rid of the phone she used to call the burner with.

“I need the rest of these niggas to hurry up,” Smoke mumbled, lighting his own blunt.

“You got somewhere to be?” I asked.

“I might have something to slide up in when we’re done,” he said, grinning. “I’m not trying to keep her waiting.”

“Hos don’t mind waiting,” Mia said. “That’s all you and Steel mess with, anyway.”

“Why are you bringing me into this?” Steel asked. “I ain’t even said nothing.”

Mia rolled her eyes. “You’re sneaky about yours, but we know you love these thots.”

“See, that’s why Titan doesn’t like your ass. You don’t know how to be a lady.”

Mia punched him in the arm. “Fuck you, and fuck Titan too.”

As though she had talked him up, he walked out of the house with Pops and Ms. Maddie, who were both dressed to go.

“Here we go,” Deuce said, rolling his eyes.

Mia scoffed. “Mama! Daddy! What is he doing here!”

“He offered to help,” Ms. Maddie said. “I mean, he’s the reason you all got the live footage. I figured he’d be of good use.”

“Daddy, what happened to not working with outsiders?”

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