Page 40 of Can I?

“My girl broke up with me. I got a lil heated about it and cussed her out. King had to restrain me because I was about to choke her ass when she called me a fucking low-level thug. She was acting like she didn’t know me better than that. What really fucked me up was that she did that shit in front of all her lil bougie ass friends.”

His curly hair was everywhere, and his grill was sparkling under the recess lighting. At first glance, Ace looked like a thug, just like Uncle Marcus. He had tattoos, but not as many as his dad. He slabbed his pants at times, but he was growing up . . . maturing. He used to be an entire ho. This was his first real relationship, although they’d only been together a couple of months before the situation with Grandpa. After what he just said, I wasn’t sure just how real the relationship was at this point.

“I’m sorry. I’m glad King was there.”

“Me too, because they would have thrown me under the fucking jail had I assaulted her. It would have looked like I had anger issues and was a violent person. She embarrassed the fuck out of me, and all I saw was rage.”

“I can relate,” I said, thinking about what I’d done with Malik. “That Henderson in us ain’t no joke.”

“You ain’t lying, because my mama is low-key as well. You barely know she’s there because she’s so quiet. That’s probably what drew my dad to her back in the day.”

I draped my arms around his shoulders, being that we were about the same height. He was only a couple of inches taller than me, if that. I rested the side of my head against his. “Did you love her?”

He was quiet for a moment as if he were evaluating his feelings. “Yeah. I never told her though. Janiya was everything. She was smart, beautiful, sweet, and about her business. She wasn’t one of those ghetto ass chicks. She go to church and shit, simply because she wants to. I never thought she would do me like that.”

He pulled away from me and took a deep breath. “I guess from the outside looking in, I do look like a thug, but I know I gave her the inside track. She had my heart and don’t even know it. I didn’t just kill those niggas for the hell of it. She shouldn’t have felt threatened by that.”

“Maybe she wasn’t meant to be the one for you, baby. Maybe she was your practice run. Are you still going to try to get her back?”

“Naw. If she can ignite my crazy like that, it’s best that we aren’t together. I might mess around and kill her ass. I saw a different side of her earlier, and I didn’t like that shit at all. I’m gon’ be the same nigga, no matter who I’m around.”

“Well, you know I’m always here for you. Did that happen up here?”

“Yeah. Not long before you got here. That’s why the twins being all sensitive and shit with me.” He smirked. “They walked in on it and got in Janiya’s face, threatening to whup her and her homegirls’ asses. It was four of them here. I don’t know why she thought she needed all that reinforcement. Ashanni brought her loud ass out there too. They got out of here quick, especially when she thought I was about to get away from King.”

I brought my hand to his cheek. “I love you, Ace. Better is coming for you. She was just here to prepare you for better.”

“I love you too. I don’t even care about being in another relationship right now.”

“I know, but that feeling is only temporary. Believe me.”

“Yeah, I see you and Ferris. That nigga dove on top of you like he was Jackie Chan tryna save those ancient artifacts inRush Hour.”

I fell out laughing as he chuckled. “I’m falling for him. I hate that I do that so quickly. Nigga had me depressed as hell when he wasn’t responding to me.”

“Girl, this Henderson hostility is a lot, and everybody can’t handle that shit. I can respect him for taking a step back to make sure it was something he could deal with. He made the right decision, because you the shit. That’s why those muthafuckas were so salty about what you did to their lil egos.”

I smiled at him and grabbed his hand to go back inside. “Thanks, cuz. You the shit too.”

“Mm-hmm. I know that shit. Look at this smooth ass skin, good hair, grill, six-pack, and big ass feet.”

I slightly rolled my eyes. “Okay. Your Henderson cocky is coming out. Time for me to throw you back to the wolves.”

He laughed and put his arm around me then kissed my head. “Thanks for checking on me.”

“Always. We all we got.”

With that, I made my way back inside to see my daddy and Ferris getting along well. My mama was up helping Aunt Chas, Aunt Aspen, Aunt Keisha, Aunt Jen, and Aunt Chrissy. The music had gotten cranked up, and Maui, Ashanni, and Malia were up doing one of those line dances. There were so many now I couldn’t keep up. Crew, SS, and Kane joined them as I shook my head. Before I could count to ten, the dance floor was filled with my cousins, cutting up.

I wasn’t a dancer, so I made my way to Ferris. When I sat next to him, he smiled. “Everything cool?”

“Yeah. He just got his heart broken. I know a thing or two about that.”

He kissed my head. “How are you feeling, besides hungry?”

He chuckled. “I’m cool. As soon as I eat, I’m gonna take a pain pill.”

“Okay, baby. Well, let me go fix you something to eat.”

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