Page 40 of The Deed to a Gangsta's Heart

“Unfortunately, yeah, but I’m not going to letyousee it.”

“I can only imagine your big ass acting a fool on them people’s ride. It probably wasn’t even that bad.”

“Yeah, aight. I’ma let you think that until you do it.”

“You fly all the time, bruh,” he said through his laughter.

“Yeah, in an enclosed plane. And I be prepared for that. With the flyover shit, I didn’t know what it was. So as soon as it started moving and blowing air and stuff…” My head shook at the thought. “I’m good on that.”

He laughed until his eyes watered at my expense, but I didn’t care.

“In all seriousness, though, you look happy. Me and Luci give each other hell at times, but I love her. I’m happy y’all are making each other happy. You both deserve it.”

“Yeah, I been thinking about that a lot lately. I feel the same about you and Callie. We deserve this shit, man. It’s been a long time coming, but we here.”

Silence found us as we ruminated on how much our lives had changed over the course of the summer, and it wasn’t even over yet. We had our coffee and our usual mid-month check in. When it was over, I called Luci to check in and make sure she was coming over for dinner tonight.

She confirmed, and we ended the call so I could prepare for a couple of showings this afternoon. As Ileft my office, I couldn’t stop the smile that spread my lips. Shit with my family may not have been the best still, but work and my relationship were flourishing, and that was more than okay with me.

Later that Evening

“My man is so sexy,”Luci said before wrapping her arms around me. She placed a kiss on my back before I turned in her arms.

“Thank you, sweetheart. I gotta be standing next to a woman as beautiful as you.”

My hand went from her ass to between her cheeks. When my fingers brushed against her pussy, she moaned.

“If you don’t behave, you’re going to be eating me instead of what you’re cooking.”

“I’ma eat both,” I clarified before lowering myself to her lips.

My phone vibrated on top of the counter, and that was the only reason I pulled away. As she grabbed the wine off the island and filled her glass, I sighed at the sight of my mama’s FaceTime request. I’d been keeping our calls even shorter than usual because she only wanted to talk about Adam, and he wasn’t answering any of her calls. I called him once to try and explain the situation and he didn’t answer. I hadn’t called since. I was at a point where I was tired of placating him. He was my brother and I cared about him, but he was a grown man.

He needed to learn how to handle his feelings and express them. I felt like he was using his anger as an excuse to justify staying away from us. Things were crazy when wewere growing up, but I’d never deny me and Mama had his best interests at heart. If he didn’t appreciate that… fuck it.

As I accepted the FaceTime request, I wrapped my free arm around Luci as she tried to walk past me.

“Wassup, Ma?”

“Hey, Son. What are you doing?”

“Fixing dinner for your future daughter-in-law.”

I pulled Luci into my chest, and she shifted behind me. With her head poking out, she looked into the camera and waved with a smile.

“Hi.”

Me and Mama chuckled. “Hey, sweet girl. How are you?”

“I’m good. How are you?”

“Good. Armor, I didn’t mean to interrupt. Call me later.”

“I will, Ma. And once we get things taken care of with your other son, I’ll set something up so you can meet Luci in person.”

“Sounds good. I’m looking forward to it.” Her head tilted as if that would allow her to get a better look at Luci. “It was nice to see you, Luci.”

“You as well.”

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