Page 51 of Reckless Forever
“Nah.” I shook my head. My voice came out lower than I expected.
He smirked and crossed his arms. “It’s hitting you hard because you already knew. You want her. You want to marry her. But now it’s not just a thought. It’s written on paper now. Santos said it, and her father stamped it. Now your tough ass scared, huh?”
I shot him a sharp look. He held up his hands in mock surrender, grinning.
“I been there. I married Storm first and panicked when I realized I wanted her to be my wife for real. Ain’t nothing wrong with that fear. It just means you're serious about her. Whatever you decide, you got four niggas around you who won’t let you fail.”
He extended his hand, and I clasped it tight.
“Preciate it.”
I climbed out of the truck, still feeling Ivany’s words. Trouble raised an eyebrow at me. “You sure you good, my nigga?”
I cleared my throat. “Yeah. I’m good.”
Then I cracked a small grin, shaking it off and coming back into the moment. “But let’s go. That letter shit was deep and all, but Santos still gotta answer for sending them niggas in my moms’ crib and disrespecting my grass.”
Trouble chuckled, shaking his head, knowing that no matter what, I wouldn’t be in my head for long. Then we walked toward Jax and Santos. The war wasn’t over, but something in me had shifted. I wasn’t just fighting for Ivy anymore. I was fighting with her.
We walked into Santos’ crib. But I was still on guard. We still had done some things to each other that should make us enemies for life. I may have left the rifle on the backseat of the truck, but I still had my Glock on my hip. Trouble and Jax were on the same time, I could see them clutching too.
Santos could have realized that Ivy was the only weakness he could target in me and play on that. But it wouldn’t be that easy. For now, I would accept his truce, but I would still watch him closely.
We sat at the table and talked for hours. Jax was the translator between us. The conversation didn’t do anything other than give me a better understanding of who Ivy was. A little bit about her father and her upbringing. Speaking to Santos really just confirmed his loyalty to her father, and vice versa.
Trouble sat by quietly the whole time. I know that he was downloading the conversation so he could give me his last round of advice. But I appreciated that nigga. We joked and said that he had started to act like Pops with the advice, but I heard every word he said, even when I told him I didn’t.
By the time I got up from the table, I didn’t really feel any better than when I had sat down. But I had clarity. All the things that Santos had known and how he moved in regard to us gave me a different level of respect for him. He had always treated us like family, but this just solidified his position in our lives.
We got up from the table, and Santos stood to shake each of our hands. When it came to me, he put his hand on my shoulder and said what Jax told me was a Bolivian prayer. I nodded to him and touched my chest in respect.
The walk to the trucks was quiet. We rode through the streets with the fleet behind us like the secret service. I had come here to burn this muhfucka to the ground, but I was leaving with responsibility.
Jax hadn’t been able to give his opinion, so as soon as we got into the jet, he made sure to let me know his stance on the situation.
“Santos fucks with you. He kept calling you the toro, which means the bull in Spanish. It’s a sign of respect for your heart. He did what was asked of him in the way that he knows how. He was about to die about it, but he got it done. His ass is paying for our grass, though; I made that clear.” He scoffed.
I chuckled.
“Now you know what you got to do, right?” Trouble came behind him like I knew he would. I nodded because I already knew what the next step was. I didn’t know if I was ready for it, but today solidified that I am now more ready than ever.
Ivy’s name flashed across my screen as we rode back to the safehouse. I had just let her know that we had touched down, and she responded, “I’m glad you’re safe, I love you.” When we went through the gate, I could see in the distance that our parents had just pulled up as well. I pushed open the door and walked up to Pops, who was closest to me. He shook my hand and brought me to him and held the back of my neck for a while. The silence in the air was louder than anything that had been said to me.
Trouble’s ass was going to beat us to Moms every time. Then she came over to me and pulled me into her.
“I’ll tell everybody who will listen that I have the best boys on Earth. Every time I think you’ve done it all, you all surprise me again,” Moms beamed as we parted, and she touched my chin.
“Love you, Mama,” I said as I kissed her temple.
“Love you too, baby boy.” She said as she gave me her hand so that I could help her up the stairs.
Zo opened the door and greeted my parents as we walked past them and into the family room. My eyes scanned the room for Ivy. Kennedy was sitting on the couch with Juree between her legs, fixing her ponytails. Storm was on the other couch, lying across Remy’s lap while she scrolled on the phone.
“Where’s Ivy?” I asked without even speaking first.
They all started giggling, “Cupcake loves her, she’s got that girl held hostage somewhere around here, painting her nails. She even fell asleep in her room last night.” Storm laughed before getting off the couch to run over to Moms.
I walked through the house looking for her until I saw a room door open. I looked through the crack at Ivy on her knees in front of Cupcake, painting her toes.
