Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 94686 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94686 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 379(@250wpm)___ 316(@300wpm)
“I heard. I haven’t talked to Mom, but my niece Valerie goes crazy about her new school when I call her.”
“The moment Jasmine comes to her senses and ends this with Chase is the very second he kicks them out of that shiny new home and school.”
“You hate not being the only rich white guy in our lives, huh?”
Benny paused and glared at me with a smile. I closed my mouth. He never hit me, but he could’ve. Mom never stopped the others from beating me. Why would she stop my dad? One of the men on my right coughed into his hand. Benny waved him away.
Must be some sort of signal between them.
“What happened between you and Vivian is a tragedy that both of you could’ve avoided,” he said. “I told you both many times not to talk to each other in that way.”
“What can I say? You make pretty kids. It was inevitable,” I said as a doctor headed past me and went into my sister’s room.
“You know there is no more relationship with Vivian, right?” Benny asked.
“Of course not.”
He opened his mouth, closed it, and then tried to speak before stopping again with a confused look on his face.
Just like Jazz does when she has something to say but too scared to spill it. Why didn’t I see that shit before? How much Jazz and Benny are alike.
“I could find you plenty of women if you needed it,” he had the nerve to offer.
“No. I’m straight. You’ve done enough.”
He waved me to him. I remained where I was. If he hadn’t had these men, I might’ve sucker-punched him. Sometimes I was just that stupid, letting anger get the best of me.
Benny could beat me all by himself. I can’t ever forget that shit.
Jazz watched him break a boy’s leg for sneaking into Viv’s room at home. I saw him beat the living shit out of one of my mom’s ex-boyfriends. I’d told Benny how the guy would threaten to burn me with the iron if I fucked up the crease on his work pants. Benny jumped out of the car, stormed into my mom’s crappy apartment, and bloodied that man. The dumb fuck was all blood and sores at the end of the night. I never had to iron for his ass again.
“How are things?” Benny asked. “You know I care about you, right?”
“Things are good.” I gritted my teeth.
“You working?”
“Yeah, security for Stone Industries.”
He said a curse under his breath. “You think that shit is a coincidence?”
“No. He did it for Jazz.”
“No, my boy. He’s doing it because of me. He’s been after me for a while and now he’s trying to get me through my kids.”
Interesting.
“What did you do?” I asked.
“Nothing.” That time he didn’t look me in the eyes. One thing about Benny, he couldn’t lie worth shit, just like Jazz. They both always darted their eyes another way or twisted something on their shirt as they spouted out the bullshit. But the difference between him and Jazz was that Benny could twist his answers just enough to leave you thinking you got all the truth. Like with him being our father, there was something else still unsaid, something that was probably worse than what we imagined. If he’d been a man, he would’ve let it all out. Not Benny. We’d have to dig if we needed to know more.
And I’m not sure I want to know more about anything dealing with him. Or do I?
“Why don’t you want me working for Chase?” I asked.
“Doesn’t matter, Troy. You shouldn’t be working for him. You’re more than security. You’ve got a quick brain like your sister. I don’t know who you both got that from, but you’re both smart. You read biology and astronomy like you’re getting paid to do it.”
“I’m also a black felon. My career choices are rap or construction.”
“You could go to college or. . .” Even Benny saw the bullshit in his sermon. “I just don’t like you working for him.”
“Why not?”
“He’s poison. People around him die or wither away.”
“I haven’t felt sick yet.”
“Your sister has been shot.”
“Who did it?”
“One of his women. I’m sure.”
“Hmmmm.”
“What?”
I gestured to the men around us. “These guys yours?”
“They’re my friends.”
“You always have friends with guns?”
“That’s the best kind to have.” He checked each one. “You’ve always been good with noticing things that aren’t out in the open.”
Chase and the doctor left my sister’s room. Chase spotted me. No joy rushed over his face, but he didn’t seem annoyed either. I couldn’t say the same thing for when he glanced at Benny. There was hate there. They emitted a fuck you vibe at each other.
What the hell is up with these two?
“Troy, right?” Chase asked.
I nodded.
“Can we talk for a minute?”
I ignored the agitated noise coming from Benny and shrugged. “Sure.”