Page 26 of Can I?

I swallowed hard and nodded. Grabbing her hand, I gently caressed it between mine. “Should we go to a table, or would you like to go to your house? I know comfort is probably the main goal right now. You only have a month to go!”

She giggled and rubbed her belly. “Yep. I’ll be thirty-six weeks Sunday. We can go to my house.”

She giggled more, and I led her to her car. “I’m surprised Rhodes is letting you drive alone.”

“He’s at my house,” she said then giggled again.

Seeing her so happy was rubbing off on me. She had me smiling so big. Rima was my big sister, and her well-being meant a lot to me, although I didn’t act like it a few months ago. I let my own selfishness get in the way, and I vowed to myself I would never do that again. That was why I hadn’t been reaching out to her. She was under enough stress.

After getting inside my truck, I followed her to her house only to see KJ back out of his driveway on two wheels. He put his window down, and I could see Cassie in the passenger seat, holding her belly. It was time. I hopped out of my truck and went to Karima. “Talk on hold, right?”

“Right! Another Henderson is coming into the world!”

I kissed her cheek as she called Rhodes then headed to my truck. Instead of going home, I decided to make my way to Uncle Marcus’s house. My talk with Ace was well overdue. Leaving Henderson Village, I made my way back to Highway 90. My legs were trembling, and I could feel the shiver go up my spine. I was so nervous to talk to him. I felt like he was gonna tear me a new asshole. It was time to face the music though. If I could turn back the hands of time, I would have done that shit already.

When I turned in Uncle Marcus’s driveway, I noticed a couple of cars were here. One of them I recognized as PJ’s.Aww fuck.I didn’t feel like hearing his mouth. PJ was just as reckless as Uncle Philly used to be. The minute I got out of the truck, I saw Malia come out of the house with a deep frown on her face. I took a deep breath and headed in that direction, not knowing what I was about to walk in on.

“Hi, Malia.”

“Hey,” she said dryly.

I knew she was upset. She was always happy to see me, along with Maui and Ashanni. She always wanted to hang with us when she was little, although we were older. We didn’t mind either. We would play in her hair all the time like she was our human doll. After stepping onto the porch, I went to the door and rang the bell.

When the door opened, Uncle Marcus was standing there. He gave me a tight smile as he stepped aside to let me inside. “Hey, Uncle Marcus.”

“What’s up, baby? You good?” he asked as he gave me a one-armed hug.

“I’m okay. I finally gathered the audacity to come check on Ace.”

“What audacity did you need? We family. When he found out what they did to you, he was even less remorseful about what he did. Not that he was even feeling remorse,” he said and slowly shook his head. “Shit happens. We do shit sometimes without worrying about the consequences. Believe me. I know. The point is that you learned from it and moved on.”

I nodded and gave him a tight smile. “Thanks, Unc.”

“Mm-hmm. I ain’t got room to judge nobody’s actions or reactions. Ace and PJ in the back. I gotta go smoke and check on baby girl.”

“Is Aunt Syn in there?”

“Yeah. She’s in the kitchen talking to Heaven.”

I nodded and went inside, closing the door behind me. When I got to the kitchen, I smiled at Heaven and went to Aunt Syn to hug her. Hendrix was on her lap, and Seneda was at the stove, stirring a pot. I lifted my eyebrows at the sight. She was only seven or so.

“Hey, Aunt Syn.”

“Hey, Lana. How are you?”

“I’m okay. How are you?”

“I’m good. I came to check on my cousin.”

“He’s back there. Make sure PJ ain’t poisoning him even more.”

I chuckled as Heaven said, “Right. He bad enough on his own.”

I laid my hand on her shoulder as I walked out of the kitchen, heading to the back room. That was where they used to smoke. However, since Aunt Syn had Hendrix, they had to go outside. He had asthma. The minute I stood in the doorway, Ace said, “It’s about time you brought your ratchet ass to see me.”

I smiled, glad he was in good spirits. PJ chuckled, and my nerves took a much-needed break. I hugged Ace then PJ. “Hey, y’all. Sorry it took me so long to come over. The last time I was here didn’t end well. I never made it inside the house.”

“Yeah, I heard. That was when I first heard what happened with you. You should have told me about that fucker the same day it happened. Me and PJ would have got his ass then. I heard Karima kept you from calling us a couple of months before they got to Grandpa.”

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