Page 74 of Don Caselli

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Don Caselli

“Good looks,”I told the pilot as I jogged down the steps of the jet. My tie was loosened and instead of the dress shoes I had got on the jet with, I had a pair of slides on as security held the door opened for me to get in the back of the Rezvani. I called that shit a tank because that was what it reminded me of.

Menace had me playing his doppelgänger and attending all these meetings and events. I had to give my brother respect because all I thought his ass did was sit in the house and count his grapes and macaroons. Corleon exited the jet behind me and got in on the other side. Menace had sent him with me to make sure I kept my head straight and to explain certain things. I’ve known our family had our hands in everything, but Menace kept me distanced from a lot of it.

He kept us all distanced from what our uncle was into. Now that everything had been crossed over into the Caselli name, there was so much power and shit that I wasn’t privy to. My brother had his hands in all of it, and the pressure on his shoulders was immense, because he had to carry it all alone,never wanting to place the burden onto us. With him becoming a father, there was no other choice but to lean onto me.

I was old enough to step in when he couldn’t and although he wanted to be in control with everything, he had no choice but to allow me to fill those roles for him. I had a new respect for Menace after the two days I spent meeting all the people I had met. Big world type shit that our name was part of.

“Baby, I told you that I was landing around this time. Why the fuck you starting?” Corleon argued with Skyler, as he had been doing the whole two days we were away.

He sighed and leaned his head back, as I looked at the driver. “Take me to my house.”

“Boss said to bring you to him,” he replied.

“For what?”

He shrugged. “He never said… just told me to get you and bring you to him.”

I leaned my head back and texted to see if Pooh had texted me. While I had been away, she had been distant. One-word answers, taking forever to answer a facetime, and then she never really had any conversation to give.

I had never been the kind of nigga that couldn’t read a room or give somebody space. If she wanted space, I could respect that. The last message she sent was wishing me a safe flight home.

“Geeky, why the fuck would I be messing with another chick? Where that even make sense? I don’t give a fuck. Yeah, go on that date and I’m handling my business, Skyler.” He leaned forward and closed his eyes as he held the phone to his ear. “Yeah, keep thinking that I’m playing around… ask Jeffie how I handle shit.”

She must have ended the call because he tossed his phone into the cup holder. “Trouble in paradise?”

“Shut the fuck up, Don.”

I could tell Skyler had this man stressed with the shit she had been putting him through. He leaned forward for a minute before he leaned back. “She dating?”

“She like to get under my fucking skin with her bullshit,” he snarled, as he looked out the window. “I don’t give a fuck what she do… let her cut shit off with my daughter.”

I looked at Core, who was like a second big brother to me. “You know that she isn’t your daughter, right?”

“Why you want me to toss you up in the back of this whip?” he asked the question like he didn’t just threaten to fuck me up back here. “I pay for her private school, health insurance, dance classes and anything that she wants to do. I’m sending her to coding camp this summer. Her deadbeat ass father in court trying to act like he doing shit.”

When it came to Estella, she was the niece I never knew I needed. She could get anything out of everybody, including Menace. The man taught her what quiet hour was, and now she had her own quiet hour when she was home.

“You right… my bad.”

“Something going on with Geeky… can’t put my finger on that shit,” he spoke more to himself than me.

I allowed him the silence as I sent a quick text message to Navy.

Me: What you doing?

Pooh: Nothing right now. ...Soon gonna go over to Nana and Poppa’s block… landed?

Me: Yeah.

“What’s good with you and Kennedy?”

“Nothing.”

“You sure?”

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