Page 36 of Truth

“I don’t, even though that’s not why I’m here. So, let’s cut to the chase and lay it on your old man.”

“Speaking of Auntie My, I need to know about Ma, Beast. She won’t tell me, but she said something that made me feel like Ma’s hands wasn’t clean. That maybe her death was as a result of her own doing.”

He looked away with tucked lips. I could tell that even if it were true, he still loved my mother to the point he didn’t want to speak ill of her. He had a few women over the years that came to visit him, but he never loved another woman like he did Enrietta Saint.

“Enrietta’s hands weren’t clean, but neither were mine. All I’ll say is sometimes a man can push a woman to do something she’s not proud of and worse… something she can’t reverse.”

It was no secret he had a few rumblers that flaunted the dirty deeds he participated in. He didn’t love them, but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt my mother.

“As a man, your penalty is waking up every day and looking at the one thing she did but can’t take back. You still love her, though, and you love what comes with her. Hell, even if what you love isn’t yours, you raise him like he is.”

His orbs filled with tears before he squeezed them and grunted. I frowned, wondering if she stepped out and did the unthinkable. She was killed just months after Alix’s birth. When I calculated that, it all began to make sense.

“Wait, do you mean he’s not?—”

“I don’t love him any differently, Emric,” he intervened, cutting me off. “He’smyson. Always will be.”

He knocked on the table once and took a deep breath. I saw old habits didn’t change, causing me to smile. Damn, Beast had laid some shit on me, but the fact he ate that shit and still called Alix his own made me love him on a whole different level.

“What do you say about getting your old man some nachos with cheese, two Twinkies, a Dr. Pepper, and a honey bun? I can stand to lose a few pounds, but fuck that, my son is here. Eat with me.”

Damn, he slid that on me, but I still had questions.

“Beast?”

“He’s a Saint,” he spoke firmly. “The fuck the DPs could do with him when his mother was a Saint? They would have discarded of him, treated him like trash,” he spat with disgust.

“My heart wouldn’t have been able to handle it. So, after they threatened your mother for staying with me, I took their president Cinco out. Fucking sperm donor. If I regret anything, it was that. That’s why I took my time and sat in this prison so the beef could end with you all. Enrietta’s fate was already written, although I wished it had ended with me in the ground. Trust me. The trouble you’re running into isn’t with the DPs,” he stated. “If they even think about touching you, the Saints would be required to wipe those bitches out.”

I stood and sighed, still trying to process what I’d learned. As I headed to the vending machine, he called my name.

“Yeah, Dad?”

He smiled. I guess because I called him Dad. I didn’t realize it until I had. He was my father, and no matter our history, I was proud to call him that.

“That girl you have stashed away, you’re doing the right thing. At the sign of trouble, that was your job to keep her safe. Guard her with your life, but it’s also okay to give her your heart.”

“What do I do?”

“Nothing.” He smiled. “Jenson’s a pussy,” he added. “I’m on that shit. Trust me. No one comes for my fucking seeds and I not act on it.”

I wondered how he knew so fucking much behind prison walls.

“Trust me, Charlene’s low on the totem pole. Her nigga is Jenson’s nephew. He’s trying to prove himself. He had to befriend a DP to throw y’all off. I told you that truce is solid. That don’t mean hold hands and fuck with the DPs, but it means we stay out of each other’s way.”

I bent down and hugged him like I was a little boy again. I wanted to cry, but I knew he’d tell Brick who would clown my ass about it.

“Hey.” He held me close. “I called in a favor too. By the time you make it back home, they’ll be dealt with. Pull the Saints out from that warehouse detail when you leave here. I don’t want more bloodshed and certainly not on your hands. Give the girl a shot. Besides, I heard she’s feisty as fuck.”

I stood and smiled, shaking my head.

“Auntie My can’t hold shit.”

He laughed. “Never could.”

“Girl,Biscuit is a nervous wreck. Scared to come see me.” Teenie giggled, and I shrugged.

I knew Sahmeer. He wouldn’t leave well enough alone. As for Charlie, he’d been calling, but I wasn’t pressed to see him. I’d done my own research, and some of his trips were not business-related. I couldn’t be upset, and I wouldn't say a word. Truth would kill him, but he was good for business. Therefore he was worth more to us alive than dead.

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