Page 22 of Where You Should Be

“Her flight leaves out at nine tonight, but I think she might need to see a doctor. Fawn put on a fucking clinic on her ass.”

“Again, she needs to be thanking you for her fucking life. When I heard who she was connected to, I had a severe case of PTSD,” Fawn said.

I pulled her to me. “I know, baby. Me too. The guilt is even more overwhelming now.”

She stared up at me, but I looked away as Vegas walked in with Chad and Shy behind him. When they looked out to the patio, Chad said, “Fuck!”

“Ali, could you fill him in? I can’t say all that shit again.”

I stood from my seat and went to the bar to pour myself a drink. Fawn appeared next to me and asked, “What do you mean by guilt? None of this is your fault. Place blame where it’s due.”

“Had I not been so busy tryna fuck the ho at the convenience store, I would have known she was setting my ass up… just like now. If I wouldn’t have been locked up, none of that shit would have gone down. You know that.”

“Yeah, and I would have never met Lark. That man is the love of my life. My boys wouldn’t be here. As much as I miss Daddy and Mega, I can’t live in regret. They lost their lives so I can live mine. Let go of that guilt, Jungle. The guilt lies on the rogue muthafuckas that set you up. Roulette paid for his crimes with his life and so did Slice.”

My phone rang, and I didn’t bother pulling it out of my pocket to look at it. Nothing was more important than what was going on here. I downed my drink as Jericho stood next to me. “Tell me what you need, bruh, and I got’chu.”

I knew what he was insinuating, but I didn’t wanna hurt Rondo any more than he already was. If I said the word and she turned up dead, he would know that I had something to do with it. Although we weren’t that close to him, we ran in the same circles. There was already enough shit going in our circle between Seneca and Jericho. The tension between the two of them had it ice cold in here.

I used to think Seneca was a crazy nigga and didn’t have a heart, but Jericho would kill him without a second thought. Jericho was deadly as fuck, especially when it came to his family. That was why we bonded. That was why Kennedy had better be happy Rondo was here today. Had I found out what she was doing without knowing who she was connected to, I would have let Fawn kill her ass.

“I’m good, bruh. I just hate I got y’all here in my shit. Y’all should have been able to enjoy the reception like everyone else.” After downing my drink, I asked, “So you met Chelsea’s date?”

“Yeah. Something ain’t right about that. I don’t like the vibes I’m picking up from that nigga. My intuition has never been wrong, and something tells me he got some shit to him. Do you know him?”

“Naw. He works at the grocery store. I think he’s the store manager. Whenever I’m in there, he’s usually walking around the store in a white shirt and tie. I could tell that he recognized me. I just hope he ain’t on no bullshit. We never make a clean exit from bullshit. When we try to leave this shit behind, it’s like it just pulls us right back.”

“Hell yeah,” he said as he checked his phone. Slowly shaking his head, he said, “Chelsea is checking on you. Said she called you, but you didn’t answer.”

“Man, you know Chelsea my girl, but the way she been ghosting my ass ain’t cool. I’m tryna be patient with her. I know she with that nigga because I haven’t been honest with her.”

He frowned, so I gestured for him to follow me to another room. I kissed Fawn’s head and said, “We’ll be right back.”

Jericho followed me to the kitchen, and when I turned to him, he wore the same frown. “No need to be defensive. I’ve been resisting her out of respect for you and to make sure I was ready to love her like she deserves. I’m only telling you this because you my brother. You tell anybody I was baring my feelings to your ass, I’m gon’ take you out in your sleep.”

He slid his hand down his face, trying to contain his smile. I smiled slightly but became serious again. “It’s not just that. I don’t have a great track record with protecting the ones I love. I’m afraid that I’m gon’ let her down. This bullshit with Kennedy proved I could be faithful. We weren’t even really in a committed relationship, and she’s the only woman I’ve been with since I met her. C-Mar deserves the world, but she doesn’t deserve any more hurt than she’s already endured.”

“Man, you stressing for nothing. Although I was completely against it in the beginning, I know how much you cut for her. Just ’cause I’m not here doesn’t mean I don’t know. Chelsea can’t afford all the shit she be doing on her salary at Kroger. Her hair is always looking fly. I know you paying for that shit. I appreciate you for looking out for her… taking care of her. She loves you so much she can’t fucking see straight.”

I lowered my head, debating what I would say next. Since I was already baring my feelings and shit, I went ahead and admitted it. “I’m afraid of being hurt too. I know she has trauma that she’s dealing with, but man… this ghosting shit is heartbreaking. If I try to make things work with her and she do this shit again, I don’t know how I’ll handle it.”

“Whatever you do, just love her through it… whatever that looks like for you. I trust you, and that’s saying a lot. There’s not a lot of people I trust. I know you have her best interest at heart. Call her.”

“It won’t be today. I probably won’t reach out again until next week. I gotta handle this shit with Kennedy. I almost killed her ass. Had it not been for Fawn stopping me, I probably would have. Just hearing that nigga name fall from her lips sent me somewhere I almost couldn’t come back from. It was like I was a caged, wild animal all over again. I was sitting in that jail cell when I found out what happened to my family. I couldn’t even attend their funeral. That shit haunts me every day, man.”

“What’s important is that you didn’t. You’ll get through it, and I believe that you and Chelsea will heal each other. She’s a little childish, but I believe that you will help that as well.”

I smiled slightly. “I hope so.”

He nodded, and we headed back to the front room where everyone was. I noticed Rondo and DJ were outside with Kennedy. Shy approached me and said, “Rondo is going to take her to the airport. The love of money is the root of all evil. She claims she did this because Darlena was paying her to.” He slowly shook his head. “One day, all this fuck shit is gonna end.”

“Hopefully one day soon, ’cause a nigga exhausted,” Seneca added.

The look on Jericho’s face had me on guard. He looked like he wanted to break that nigga in half. Seneca noticed and said, “Man, why you looking at me like that?”

Before Seneca could get his whole question out, Jericho was in his face and had grabbed him by the neck and had him on his tippy toes. “You my boy, but that’s my sister. What y’all are doing is hurting her. You can say it’s all Kaysyn, but I think you’re a fucking liar. A real man don’t put all the heat on his woman. I think that shit was your idea, and she just went with it.”

Seneca pulled his gun, and we all jumped in to separate them. Jericho was fuming, and I was afraid that Seneca wouldn’t make it to court. After releasing him, Jericho said, “If you point that shit at me, you better kill me. Real shit. We both won’t make it, and there will be no coming back from that shit either.”

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