Page 19 of Maceo

“How are you just gonna take my bowl while I’m eating? You know that’s child abuse, right?”

“You’re a grown ass man, Maceo.”

“I’m a child of God, and I’m your child.”

“You go in my pot again and you’re gonna meet your heavenly father. Here.” She thrusted the bowl back into my hands and looked over at Alec. “And you just let him do it.”

“In my defense, the bowl was already fixed when I walked in.”

She rolled her eyes, and all I could do was laugh. Leaning in, I kissed her cheek.

“I love you, Ma.”

“Mm-hmm. Where is your brother?”

Before I could answer, I heard the loud ass bass bumping out of Smoke’s ’67 Chevy Impala. In addition to guns, my brother loved cars. He’d restored this particular one by himself, and that bitch was clean. Of course, he gave it modern updates, but the outside was sick. My brothers and I always joked about him fitting his six-foot-four, 260-pound ass in that car.

The front door opened, and he walked in, making a beeline for the kitchen.

“What’s up, family?” he asked.

After dapping Alec and me, he scooped our mother up in a bear hug.

“Devin, put me down!” she fussed, smacking his arm. “Goodness. You don’t know your own strength.”

Allison Proctor was a little thing in height and weight. To look at her, one would never guess she birthed my and Devin’s big asses.

“My bad, Ma,” he said, kissing her cheek. “Is that gumbo? Ah, hell yeah. I’m hungry as hell.”

“Like I told your brother, you ain’t been hungry a day in your life. If you got you a respectable woman, you wouldn’t be coming over here to eat up my food.”

Smoke kissed his teeth. “Here you go again. I’m not looking for a commitment, woman. And I can cook for myself. I don’t need a woman for that.”

“Then why are you always running between here, Stephanie’s, and Tavia’s for a meal? They tell me how y’all come clean your plates and the pots every chance y’all get.”

I smirked as I shoved a helping of gumbo in my mouth.

“So y’all be in the group chat talking about us, huh?” Smoke asked.

“And do. We talk about y’all and y’all’s big head, ho ass daddy.”

“Not too much on my pops, now,” I said, pointing my spoon at her. “Remember it takes two to tango, Allison.”

She grabbed a dish towel and swatted me with it. “Get out of my kitchen, Maceo. And take your brother with you.”

Smoke threw his hands up. “Dang, Ma. I ain’t even said nothing, and I didn’t get my plate.”

“I’ll call you when dinner is done.”

“Man, okay. Where’s Deja?”

“Upstairs, studying with a friend.” Our mother turned to us. “I know y’all are about to go bother her. Leave that young man alone.”

“Young man!” Smoke and I exclaimed.

I set my bowl on the counter and walked out of the kitchen with my brother on my heels. Mom yelled after us but didn’t follow. We took the stairs two at a time until we made it to the top floor. Moms and Alec were tripping letting her have a nappy head lil’ nigga in her room. When we were her age, we weren’t allowed to have girls in our bedroom. Of course, we weren’t trying to study with them either.

When we made it to Deja’s room, she was standing at the door with her arms crossed.

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