Page 86 of Maceo

“No,” I said firmly. “I need to see Maceo and my father and brothers.”

“Sharina—”

“Take me to them! I need to lay eyes on them. I need to see that they are okay with my own two eyes before I go any fucking where.”

He sighed and kept driving in the direction of the venue. Salima’s phone rang again, and it was Jaeda. This time, I answered.

“I don’t care what his instructions were, Jaeda. I need to see him and my family. I’ll do whatever he wants after that, but I need to see them.”

I hung up, not giving her a chance to say anything else. Handing Salima her phone back, I sat in the seat with my nerves on ten. I knew they wouldn’t settle until we got to the venue or after. Ten painstaking minutes went by before we pulled up to the scene. Police cars, ambulances, fire trucks, and coroner vans were everywhere. Amp had barely come to a full stop before I was jumping out of the car. Picking up the bottom of my dress, I ran toward the building.

“Maceo! Daddy! Kilow! Damaris!”

The first person to grab me was my father. I wasn’t sure where he came from, but when I saw his face, I instantly grew angry.

“What the hell happened to your face!” I yelled.

“Him and Mr. Dillinger got in a fight,” Damaris answered.

I gasped. “What!”

“It ain’t shit, Sharina.”

“Daddy, look at your face!”

“You should see his.”

My mother came running over, immediately checking my brothers first, then my father.

“Oh my God, Paul!”

“Don’t start, Cicely. I’m fine.”

“You aren’t fine! Look at your face!”

“It’ll heal.”

I could see we weren’t going to get anywhere with him. Turning to my brother, I asked, “Damaris, what happened?”

“Mama, can I curse?”

“Damaris, tell us what the fuck happened!” my mother yelled.

“Okay, so boom. Maceo told him what happened here and why, and Daddy got mad as hell. He started yelling and cussing, then he punched Maceo in the gut. That’s when his daddy jumped in like, ‘Don’t put your fucking hands on my son.’ Daddy was like, ‘Then you take this ass whupping for him.’ That’s when they started fighting. It was crazy. It took everybody to break them up.”

I palmed my face. “Daddy, you shouldn’t have hit him.”

“Fuck that. Maceo had you out here in his bullshit?—”

“I knew what I was doing!” I yelled.

“Wait, back it up,” my mother said. “What did Damaris mean by the reason all of this happened?”

“I’ll tell you what it means,” my father said, glaring at me. “She’s been working with Maceo to take down a black-market organ trafficking organization.”

My mother gasped. “Sharina, please tell me he’s joking.”

I was quiet.

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