Page 42 of Welcome to the Table
I walked over to the car. The door was already open. I reached inside to pick her up and put her in the backseat. I tried my best to not look at her, but it was hard not to. I grabbed her key fob, sat in the driver’s seat, and pushed the button to start the car. I backed it up and drove it away from my house. I drove for about thirty minutes and turned into an open field. I used my phone to call my crew and let them know the location.
They wasted no time pulling up. Five men got out of a black van and went to work. One walked over to me, and I gave himthree knots of money, and he walked away. No words needed to be exchanged. I didn’t care about the distance because I needed the walk to clear my mind. I wanted to call Hellcat, but I didn’t feel like hearing his ‘I told you so’. That would send me over the edge.
Before I realized it, I was walking down the dirt road that led to my house. It took me twenty minutes to get to my house. Once I was inside, I slammed the door, took my elevator to the third floor, and went straight to the shower. I had to wash all the sins off me. After I got out of the shower, I threw on Polo boxers and joggers and put my clothes in a black bag. The only thing I kept was my jacket. I could get that cleaned.
I went downstairs in my backyard and threw the bag in a barrel. Then, I flicked my lighter, threw it in the barrel, and watched the blaze of fire burn. My heart was burning like the fire before me, and there was nothing that I could do about it.
I walked back into my house and went straight to my sanctuary. It was the only place I found peace in my fucked-up world. The only thing missing was Klarity. She was my peace when my mind was in shambles. She made sure my soul was at peace before I closed my eyes, and now that she was dead, I knew sleep wouldn’t find me so easily.
Chapter 10
Hellcat
Iknew some shit was off with my brother, but I would let him be. Even when he came to the club, I knew the shit from what happened at our parents’ house was fucking with him, but what did he expect? For Athena to feel that strongly about Klarity, it had to be some shit that neither he nor I knew about, and it was for good reason. Calliope would kill a nigga in broad daylight, but when it came to matters of his heart, all that shit went out the window. He was a marshmallow.
I didn’t give a fuck about a bitch. I didn’t have a heart to give or emotions to feel. All I gave was big dick for these hoes to feel. I ain’t have time for feelings because I knew how my mind worked. I have detachment and attachment issues. If I really made love to a bitch, the next day we go together, then by a month, we would be getting married. Nah, it’s a hard no for me. The only attachment I needed was the one for my mother, and that was enough for me. Fuck hoes and love my mother. That’s how I lived.
After I dapped Hollygrove up, and we parted ways at the club, that entire scene didn’t sit right with me. If Fanucci called Melph already, then what was the fucking purpose of Frenchy and his crew coming through our club? Shit wasn’t adding up.Melph knew we didn’t move coke through our clubs. It would bring too much heat. The shit Frenchy was implying had to be a lie. I would have to hear that shit from Melph’s mouth myself.
I knew they had different motives, but we would soon have a sit down with these niggas if they wanted to do business with us. It wouldn’t hurt because we would profit from the shit, but I knew how my brother worked. Calliope wanted everything in black and white. We had spent years building our table, and the families who sat at it earned that shit. It wasn’t given to them. I knew this shit would get risky with not telling the other families, but we were the heads, so what we said went.
“You think Wisdom gon’ go for this contract shit we putting on the table? Then, we gotta give the other family the heads up on what’s about to happen. Drugs have never been our thing,” Hollygrove said as we stepped out of the club and waited for our cars to be pulled around.
“Fuck Wisdom. All his bitch ass worried about is Melph leaving, so he can fuck Athena. I saw the way he was looking at her when we were at the house. That nigga ain’t right, and he living in the fucking house while my paw is gone. I’m telling you, he gon’ try, and Imma slice his fucking throat.” Just thinking about the shit had me hot. My gut told me the minute that nigga walked through the door like he was God that he was up to no good.
“Nigga, you are overthinking shit. Athena wouldn’t touch that nigga with a ten-foot pole. Melph and Wisdom are best friends. Athena loves Melph too fucking much to even take it there with his best friend,” he tried to reason with me, but my mind was saying something else.
I didn’t overthink at all. I left that to this nigga and my brother, but I knew I was right about this shit.
“Nah, I ain’t overthinking about shit. His beady ass eyes, demeanor, and the way he smirked at Athena. I saw all that shit.Melph wasn’t paying attention, but I was,” I told him as they brought my Spider around and his bike.
He shook his head before walking away, but I pulled his arm.
“Let all that shit play out. Wisdom don’t have shit to do with what we got going on, so fuck it. But that other shit, we just gotta see it through. Jaci is home, and I know she wasn’t expecting all this shit, so let’s just enjoy her and be gangstas later,” Grove told me, and I nodded.
I had to agree. Jaci and I didn’t get along, but for the most part, it was because of our emotional connection.
We presented this hard ass shell, but inside, we were emotional creatures. We mirrored each other. The only difference was that I was flamboyant with my shit, whereas she was quiet, and she hated my loudness.
“We gotta take Jaci shopping. It was supposed to be tomorrow, but Imma make her nipple head ass wait another day just to piss her off. She thinks she's a fucking princess, but she gon’ see how much of a princess she is.” I laughed and thought about how she would punch me in my shit when I showed up a day late. Shit, she was lucky I didn’t make her ass wait a week. Then, Athena would come looking for me.
“Bet. This should be fun. It’s your turn to pay, anyway. I paid when she went to college, so shopping spree on you, nigga.” He saluted me, hopped on his bike, and threw his helmet on.
I laughed because he was telling the truth. He swirled off on his bike, and I hopped in my car.
It didn’t take me long to make it home. I resided in the city. Every streetlight in the city shone. The buildings were massive in size, and I lived to see it when the sun went down. I couldn’t live like a caveman as Calliope did, but I understood it. He needed peace and quiet, but I loved the hustle and bustle of the city.
It took me all of twenty minutes to get to the underground parking garage, and I made my way to the elevator. Stepping on,I leaned my back against the back glass so I could see everything in front of me. Just as the door was about to close, I saw a pair of bow ass legs turn the corner, but a tatted arm stopped the elevator door from closing. My eyes went from her legs to her face as she walked onto the elevator with the same nigga who stopped the door from closing. Raven.
In the back of my mind, I thought she was different. Our eyes locked, and she bit her bottom lip like dude wasn’t even with or touching her. She was a fucking pit-bull in a skirt, but that shit turned me on. He was trying to grab her hand, and she was trying to discreetly pull away from him. I noticed the uncomfortable look on her face. I wanted to take action, but I didn’t know the dynamic, so I stood, minding my business.
He leaned over and whispered something in her ear, and her face frowned. I felt a spike in my fucking blood pressure and knew this shit wouldn’t end well if I didn’t get the fuck off that elevator. My palms started to sweat, and I started to feel suffocated. Why the fuck was I feeling like this? Chest tightened, but I wouldn’t let it show on my face. Her legs looked smooth as a baby’s ass, and the skintight dress she wore could drive a nigga crazy. The heels she had on made her calves and thighs look thick as fuck. She looked like she was coming from some after-five shit.
I didn’t know how to take the nigga touching her. It wasn’t in a seductive way, but tell that shit to my mind. Raven turned her head and looked at the nigga whose hands were like a fucking octopus, and gave him a tight lip. She seemed like she could handle herself, so I let it be. She caught my eye again, and this time, it was the pleading in them that caught my eye. I ignored that shit, but that vessel in my chest couldn’t ignore it.
I slickly pulled my favorite knife out of my back pocket and let it snap open. It was a silent one, but her eyes caught it. They got wide as fuck then she looked up at me and shook herhead from left to right, secretly telling me to stand down. She looked down at my blade, then back in my eyes, and knew I was on demon time. She was too familiar with this nigga if she was trying to spare his life. I chuckled and shook my head because this bitch wasn’t worth the drama.
I never felt a need to protect any woman outside of my mother and sister. This shit felt different because I didn’t know her, but I felt like she was different. I shut the emotional part of my brain off a long time ago and wasn’t about to open it for a female I didn’t know.
