Page 12 of Captivated By Danger

“Yeah, what time you leaving?”

“What’s going on son?” our dad spoke.

There was a short pause. “Not shit, but I’m going as soon as I get this bag together. I’m cool.”

The second I looked at my dad, I thought about his proposal to go get cigars.

“Wait.”

My dad waved me off, letting me know that it was okay.

“Never mind, it’s cool. I can ride.”

“If you got something else to do, then you don’t have to come. Just wanted to make sure I asked because last time you talked bad to me when I left without telling you. Where you at?”

“I did. And I’m at the office.”

“Aw hell. Diesel, if you riding, you need to be leaving now. You know how you get.”

He was referring to me getting lost in paperwork, not coming up for air for hours.

“I’m good. I don’t even have to go get a bag; I have one in my trunk.”

“Alright fool. If you ain’t there by the time I snap my seatbelt, you are getting left.”

“Got you.”

“Yup.” He ended the call.

There was silence while I gathered his papers, folding the corners of the ones that I’d already looked over. Even though Dymon forgave our parents for being pieces of shit to him, their relationship was still kind of rocky. They talked more than they used to, maybe twice a week. In the beginning, he tried to force it, and Dymon was pulling away. I told him he’d know when the relationship got to the point where he could text him every day, but to also keep in mind that they’d never have a relationship like ours, so he had to tame his speech in front of him. They hadn’t spoken in a while because of a loose joke he made about Quinci’s mom when we were down there for the birth of my niece. It was something along the lines of how he could tell that she could suck a mean dick, something like that. Dymon nearly knocked his head off. Dad apologized, and it took him a minute to forgive him.

“You been going down there a lot lately. You got a little honey down there that you ain’t told me about?”

I looked at him. “Nah. It ain’t nothing like that. I enjoy spoiling my little niece. I been looking though, but no one has jumped out at me. I’m going to chill for a while after Rachel fucked my place up this morning.”

“I understand. Well, send me some photos of my granddaughter when you get down there. I think your mother is supposed to be going down there soon. She’s excited.”

“Yeah, she is. Dymon, well, Quinci finally approved her to stay for a lil’ minute, so we’ll see how that goes.”

Dymon’s relationship with our mother was the same as it was with our father, strained, but building. It’s been hard for them to earn Quinci’s trust as she said she’s never met any family as dysfunctional as ours. She feared that my mother or father would say something out of the way during the birth, so she’d banned them both from the hospital, but they were able to see her at her welcome home party. That was the last time they’d seen her.

“That damn girl.”

I nodded my head. “I know.”

Standing, I put all my dad’s paperwork in my bag. “This will be done and ready by the time I get back. Not sure how long I’ll stay. Try not to get in any trouble while I’m gone.”

“No promises. Be safe, Son.”

An hour later…

Looking at my baby brother, I said, “Almost a year, huh? How you feel?”

We were on the jet heading to Citrus Grove. Since the first time he’d visited, it’s been hard to pull him away from there. Since the baby was born, he’d been working remotely, and was pissed the few times he had to leave them to come to New York. Quinci had to force him to leave.

He inhaled and exhaled before grinning. “Man, that’s my mothafuckin’ baby man. I can’t get enough of her. I never felt something like this. It’s scary for me.”

“Scary? How so?”

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