20
Jakari
“Damn.Thegang’sallhere.”
I surveyed the room. Joe was right; everybody who was anybody was here. My brothers, my sister, my mama, my Uncle Prez, and my cousins Ced and Randall.
“Aight, listen up.” I cleared my throat. “Everybody in this room knew I was in Atlanta. Nobody outside of y’all had that information. So that lets me know one thing.” I looked each of them in the face. “Somebody in this room opened their mouth.”
I waited for somebody to speak up and fail my test. The silence was thick and uncomfortably long, but that’s exactly what I wanted. I wanted them to think I was on the wrong track.
But nobody said shit.
“So nobody’s gon’ cop to talking about my whereabouts? I mean, if you did, I ain’t mad, I just need to know.”
“Why?” Ced asked.
“Cuz whoever went at me followed me out of Atlanta. That’s why.”
Their faces fell as that news sank in.
“I hope you don’t need to hear none of us say it,” Nay said. “You gotta know everybody in this room is blood, and we don’t go against blood.”
Yeah. My daddy used to say that, too. And then he went and did exactly that. My loyal, still-grieving spirit wouldn’t let me call it hypocrisy, but that’s exactly what that shit was.
“Why you think I asked if y’all talked?” I smiled. “I know none of y’all would do that. But somebody might have mentioned it in passing or something. That’s all.”
Again, I was met with silence.
I locked eyes with Joe for a second before moving on to the next topic.
“Alright, then. Moving on.”
It was trippy, me presiding over shit like I had any right to fill my daddy’s shoes. Shit almost felt like a movie. Why did these niggas even listen to me? Why did they basically sit at my feet like I was their god and promise to do my bidding? Shit made me uncomfortable, but at the same time, a small part of me couldn’t imagine it any other way. I couldn’t see myself in none of their shoes, taking orders from somebody knowing I knew better.
The meeting droned on, but at least we got some shit done. It was decided that we needed to get some new businesses in our portfolio. With my daddy gone, nobody on our payroll was a guarantee anymore, so it was a good idea to build up a new base just in case.
We wrapped up, but everybody sat around for a minute, talking amongst themselves, deciding if they were gonna sleep over or drive home. The Windermere house was everybody’s second home, so all were welcome.
Eris looked around. “Ayo, where your wife at?”
“She’s at her sister’s.”
“Alone?” Everybody looked at each other like they had opinions on how I conducted my motherfucking relationship.
“Yeah. She’s good.” I stared at them, daring them to challenge me.
“Did you at least put Cyrus on her?” That was my Uncle Prez.
“Man, what I just say? Don’t none of y’all need to worry about Mal. She solid.”
After we called it a night, everybody trickled out to go on about their business, whatever it was. I headed into the kitchen for a snack. Mama came in a few minutes later when I was heating up some pork chops from last night. She waited til I was sitting down at the table before she got started.
“So…Mal, huh?”
“What?”
She smirked. “You shortening her name now? Y’all that familiar?”