Page 32 of Disrespectfully, Relic

“Was it a lie?”

“Wait.” Kennedy glanced between them before inquiring, “What do you mean, you’re cursed?”

Los clapped his hands. “Aight, we’re about to wrap this up, so grab your guns and put them on safety to take to the table. We’ll eat, and... walk!” he shouted, shaking his head as Jahleel and Nairi dashed away before he finished his sentence.

Kennedy fell in line with him and Relic as they strolled toward the table behind the kids. She was itching to bring up the question again but respected their privacy. Los had changed the subject for a reason.

“Dyab je ble.” Relic speaking a language she couldn’t decipher made her peer at him with pinched brows. He translated, “Blue eyed devil. There are superstitions that surround our eye color dating back generations. It was said that our great, great, great grandmother was a priestess, who’d been raped by a white man. He soiled our lineage with a fair skinned, blue-eyed baby that became the talk of the town since her husband was as dark as night. After that, they did everything to ensure it wouldn’t trickle down the line, but here we are.”

He lifted his shades and then lowered them just as fast before pointing at Los. Kennedy frowned because she couldn’t recall a time she witnessed Los shielding his eyes from the world.

“Is one color worse than the other?” she pried.

Relic walked off at the inquiry, but Los eased by her side after noting the genuine confusion etched in her features.

“Nah, one ain’t worse than the other, and on some real shit, it’s not a big deal in our culture or households. Just in his. That’s what his mother called him, not because of a superstition, but because that’s how she saw him. My manman would never call me no shit like that.”

Before she could delve further into their pasts, Los headed toward Relic, where he stood at one end of the table, scrolling through his phone. It wasn’t Los’s place to tell Kennedy about Relic, but he was damn sure interested in hearing about whatever the hell Relic was cooking up with her. Los usually caught on to his cousin’s ploys, but the sticky situation regarding Kennedy was one he hadn’t figured out.

“Since when are you so buddy buddy with Kenn? Where the hell are you going with this?” He didn’t beat around the bush as he turned away from the table so that Kennedy couldn’t read his lips. Relic did the same.

“That’s for me to know and for you to find out.”

“Yea, aight. You’re playing with fucking fire, and you know it. The problem with yo ass is, you don’t know when to leave well enough alone. When she denied the salon, you should’ve kept your distance then, but you think you’re smarter than everyone and that your bullshit will never catch up to you.”

“It hasn’t caught up to me yet.”

“What goes up must come down, nigga,” Los reminded him, stepping closer to look him square in the face. “You’re almost out the game. I’d hate to see you fall behind a bitch after all the work you put in.”

“You know me better than that. I’d put her body on ice first.”

“Will you? Because after you let a witness make it, stopped P from doing her in after she threatened him, and then tried to give her a free business, I’m starting to think you like the damn girl. Either that, or you feel guilty about her being a casualty to your and Mya’s bullshit.”

Both accusations caused Relic’s brows to furrow before he rolled his neck, trying remove the immediate tension there. He slipped his phone in his pocket and proceeded to trek away but stopped short to give Los a quick reminder.

“Ask Jessica how farlikeorguiltgets a bitch with me, folks. Oh, wait. You can’t.”

Los’s face dropped, and a satisfied smirk covered Relic’s as he went to sit beside Kennedy. She was chatting with Jahleel, but his presence made her pause to give him her undivided attention. The pitying gaze she pinned on Relic almost made him get up.

“Are you alright?” she asked in a concerned tone he didn’t know she possessed. He’d gotten used to her talking shit.

“Without question. Why would you think I’m not, big dog Kennedy?”

Because he had a fucked-up mother who’d convinced him that he was defective when he was far from it, tried climbing its way up her throat. Since Relic was a man of little to no emotion, Kennedy swallowed that down and chose another route.

“Oh, so I’m a big dog again?” she pointed out, stuffing a chip in her mouth. He propped an elbow on the table and angled his body to face her.

“To be determined. Ask me again after tomorrow night.”

“What’s tomorrow night?”

“I have a business meeting, and I’m bringing you along. Might as well show you what you’re in for. Right, partner?”

Relic held out his hand, and Kennedy shook on it before biting the half sandwich that Jahleel had shared with her. It was the most she could do to play it cool. Nausea struck her after the second bite, but it had nothing to do with her food and everything to do with being sucked into a lifestyle she’d sworn to avoid after losing her brother. It didn’t surprise her that Relic was the nigga she’d allowed to convince her to stick her foot back into familiar waters.

“Good to knowmy friend is still alive because I like this one. You could’ve done whatever to that last bitch, though.”

At the intrusive voice cutting through the silent office, Relic lifted his gaze from the sales and expenses reports scattered on the desk to glance at Savvy where she stood in the doorway with his nephew propped on her hip. His mouth balled at the mention of her snake ass friend, Kiko, who he’d entertained for a short time. It ended when she fled town in a car that he’d upgraded after cracking the window with her head because she’d launched his phone at him after sneaking through it. Relic hadn’t seen her since, and if he did, he’d do her worse.

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