Page 57 of Bear
Once I heard the front doors close, I let my shoulders fall. I had so much shit to wrap my head around and my father knew telling me he was coming home in three weeks would put me in a jam. He probably knew he was getting out months before he actually told me. It would explain why he blew up when I told him he wasn’t here to make decisions.
I wouldn’t have been upset about him coming home if he wasn’t trying to force himself on the woman I just realized I loved and trying to kill the only mother I’d ever known. He could have his operation back. I knew it wasn’t mine. It wouldn’t last forever. I hated to let the reigns go because I poured everything I had into his dying drug kingdom and brought it back to life.
I wasn’t willing to let him touch Cecily though.
I loved her and I knew eventually I’d marry her and put as many kids in her as I could. Nobody would ever lay a finger on her.
I went upstairs and ran the hottest shower I could stand. Steam billowed out from the glass doors as I stepped inside. I had the entire bathroom renovated to house a walk-in waterfall shower. It hit my body from every angle. I thought about fucking Cecily against the heated walls and my body reacted.
Yeah…
I wasn’t going to be able to hide the anger I had toward my father. I knew he’d have a ton to say about the way I redesigned his house and the way I rebuilt the structure of his businesses from the lumberyard to the barbershop. He was going to steamroll over everything.
Fuck.
I let my mind stew in reluctance while I showered and every thought I had pissed me off more than the last one. I lost track of time in there but once I was done letting my thoughts consume me, I got out. I put on a pair of camel-colored slacks and a black button-down shirt then I grabbed my cigar case and hopped in the Monte Carlo.
I went to the lumberyard first and called an emergency meeting. That meant everything got shut down for at least thirty minutes while I told every man face-to-face that Griffon was coming home. I expected to see cheers. I expected hearty handclaps that would forever be seared into my head as a gentle mutiny punctuated by the smell of fresh-cut wood.
There was only silence though. Uncertain gazes bounced around the room from man to man and I sighed. “Where’s your fucking enthusiasm, fellas?”
“That’s good to hear, Bear. Thanks for the heads up.” That was the general consensus. I thought the outcome would be different at the butcher shop but it wasn’t. I thought surely the barbershop and salon would be fucking elated since those were the first businesses started by my father.
I got the same response everywhere I went. I took time to personally relay the news to what were supposed to be Dad’s soldiers and none of them cracked a fucking smile. I didn’t know how to take it. I was leery to pull any of them to the side to ask questions and probe because I didn’t know who my father had gotten to and who was loyal to me. Because of that, everyone was a suspect in my eyes. Every soldier on my roster could have been in on some elaborate scheme to test me. To see if I was a loyal son. So I kept my mouth shut about my true feelings surrounding Dad’s homecoming.
I’d driven all over Louisiana and I was ready to go home and think. My initial anger subsided and I was ready to plot. When I walked into the house, I knew Cecily hadn’t been back. The air was stale and cold in contrast to the warmth she usually brought with her. I went into the study and lit a cigar while Miles Davis on the speakers.
I needed someone to bounce ideas off of. Someone who wasn’t in Dad’s circle. I couldn’t even call Ace. I had to be leery of everyone.
Saxophone notes wrapped around my mind as I tried to let go of everything unnecessary and only focus on the things I needed. Cecily rose to the top of my mind like the sweetest cream. I rubbed my temples and stared at the spot on the wall where my fist landed.
I had to handle this shit with my father immediately.
I called the only person who wasn’t attached to any drug circle in Louisiana. I called the only true lone wolf I knew. Shadow.
He didn’t sell heavy drugs. He lived in Sugar Bayou, grew medical-grade weed and baked edibles from it then he sold it to the only dispensary in town. He was the only person my father didn’t have an influence on. I was glad now that he refused to join my team.
“Yo, what’s good, Bear?” He answered after a few rings I heard his daughter in the background making noise and I heard his wife, Ivy fussing after her. I’d give anything to have something so simple but so potent filling up my days.
“I hear you’re with the fam and I hate to pull you away…”
“What’s wrong?”
“I need to talk to someone, man. The only person I could think to call was you.” My words hung in the air and Shadow sighed quietly.
“I can’t get away from the house right now but you can come over, Bear. Ivy would love to see you. We can figure out whatever the fuck is bothering you. That’s what friends are for, right?”
Friends…
I’d never had a friend before. The closest I got was Cecily and evidently, that wasn’t a friendship so much as it was me being blindly in love with her. If anyone was my friend though, it was Shadow.
“Yeah, man. Thanks. I’ll be over in a little while.” Maybe the drive would be good for me. I’d been to Sugar Bayou a few times and it was always peaceful. It was like driving back through time when Louisiana was picturesque.
I took the hour-long drive southbound and watched the houses and neighborhoods turn into huge cypress trees hugging the edge of bayous that tumbled down the streets. When I got to Sugar Bayou, the first thing I saw on Main Street was Honey Sugar. The sweet shop was bustling with customers. A line poured out of the doors and down the block with people waiting to buy candies and sweets.
It didn’t take long to reach Bayou Drive where Shadow and Ivy lived in a huge house on more than ten acres of land. I pulled around the circular driveway and got out to stretch my legs.
The front door swung open and I saw a pair of green eyes watching me. I hadn’t seen Ivy in a few months so I knew she was staring me down with an attitude. I walked up to the front door with my head low.
