Total pages in book: 43
Estimated words: 38978 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 195(@200wpm)___ 156(@250wpm)___ 130(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 38978 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 195(@200wpm)___ 156(@250wpm)___ 130(@300wpm)
I drove down the long-ass driveway to the monstrosity I was raised in; it looked like every light in that motherfucker was blazing. Before I could turn the car off, the front door was thrown open, and a whirlwind descended; I barely got the door open before I was holding my sister in my arms. Shit, she was crying.
"Okay, Tiffany, it's okay." I held her close and comforted her the best I could while watching the rest of my family, including her husband Derrick, coming down the steps. She pulled back in my arms, shaking her head while drying her tears. She opened her mouth as if to speak but then just shook her head and squeezed me as tight as her little arms could. I kissed the top of her head and passed her off to Derrick as my mother took her place.
"Welcome home, son; it's all going to be fine now; come on inside." My dad patted my back as I passed him; Brian was surprisingly quiet, which I don't think I had ever seen; Connie had red-rimmed eyes as she reached over to kiss my cheek. I heard feet scrambling on the marble floors as we entered and knelt down to give my baby some love.
"Hey Rex, hey boy, how you doing?"
"He cried the whole first day he was here, but Zeus and Xerxes have been keeping him busy, so he finally settled in." Mom bent to kiss my head as she went towards the kitchen.
I roughhoused with my dog, just happy as shit that he still remembered me and wasn't mad at me for deserting him. I followed the family into the kitchen where mom had a spread going on; she'd made my favorite, lasagna with Parmesan garlic bread. My stomach growled, and my mouth watered; I felt hunger for the first time in days. No one mentioned the fuckery that was my life as we gathered around the kitchen table eating, but every once in a while, I would catch Brian looking at me. The last time I looked, he inclined his head towards the backyard. Alrighty then.
"Mom, this is amazing. Thanks; thank all of you for being here; it really means a lot to me."
My family lived close to each other, all within an hour of here, but they all had their own lives. Brian ran the construction side of the family biz, Derrick was an Architect, Tiffany had her own designing company, and Connie stayed home with my nephew Jonathan; before that, she ran her own mechanic shop of all things. The fact that they were all here on a weeknight meant they had probably taken time off from their own lives to be here for me, and where was I? Hiding away like a jackass.
I decided to put Brian out of his misery and followed him outside while mom and the girls cleared the dishes and cleaned up. I wasn't at all surprised when Derrick and pops followed us outside. It was powwow time.
CHAPTER 7
Brian started shit off. "So what the fuck Gage, what're we gonna do about this shit? Say the word, and I'll have that fucker in traction..."
I would laugh if I didn't know how serious he was. Brian was a big softie, but when shit was real big, bro was a beast.
"Brian..."
"Fuck that shit, dad; this is my little brother; no one fucks with him and live."
"Yeah, but Brian, we need to keep a cool head here; we can't rush into anything. First things first, Gage, how much do you know about the situation?"
That was Derrick, always the cool one; Okay, we're gonna do this now. I took a deep breath and tried to compose myself. I didn't think this shit would be this hard, damn. Shit is whacked.
"All I know is what she told me, which wasn't much." I felt that bitter taste of bile in my throat again just thinking about it.
"It was right after we left the stage at the awards show; I don't know, maybe someone called and gave her a heads up about the pictures cause she told me they caught them kissing."
"What, that's the first time, and that's all she said?
"Yeah, Derrick, that's it. Needless to say, I lost my shit right then and there. Took everything in me not to fuck the whole place up." I ran my hands through my hair in frustration.
"Well, the first thing we need to do is see what the fuck is being said; you can't fight this shit if you don't know what you're up against. You know these fucks better than we do. You deal with them every day. I know some of this shit is fabricated, but we need to figure out what's real and what's not. Have you been watching the news at all?"