Page 141 of Smoke

I guessed I missed the nigga.

“You better not drop my baby,” I said, going into the room.

He glanced up at me and kissed his teeth. “Nigga, I had six kids. I know how to hold a baby.”

“You right. You’re the most experienced pappy I know.”

“Kiss my ass, Smoke.”

I chuckled as I took a seat. “You enjoying grandpa duty?”

“Man, I love this shit. It takes me back to when you all were babies. You, Maceo, and Deuce used to crawl all over me anytime I laid on the floor. And don’t let one of you get more attention than the other. I’d never seen toddlers fight like that.”

I laughed. “Been savages since we were in diapers.”

“Bad as hell. Especially yo’ ass. Deuce was always the serious one. Kerrion was the calm one. Jaeda was curious about other shit. Maceo was the clown, and you were the hothead. Still a damn hothead.”

“I ain’t that bad.”

“Bullshit. You’ve been causing havoc all over town about Romi.”

I couldn’t argue with him there, because I’d been on one. From kidnapping to dropping bodies, threatening the chief and his officers, pulling up at funerals and running up in a nigga’s house, I was a level ten crash out behind that woman. Would I do it all again?

Hell yeah.

There was still the matter of Dana Mathis to deal with. I didn’t know where she was hiding out, but baby had to come out at some point. I mean, she had a funeral to attend. Three days had passed since I filled her daddy with bullets.

The police deemed it as a robbery gone wrong, and nobody could say otherwise. Dana couldn’t come forward without implicating herself, so I had nothing to worry about. Sooner or later, she’d show her hand, and when she did, she was going to meet her maker.

“That’s different,” I finally responded. “I love her.”

Pops smirked. “I know you do, son. You handled your shit like I would have about my woman.”

I smirked. “You don’t have a woman anymore, Senior.”

He glared at me. “Fuck you. The point is, you protected yours just like I taught you. I’m glad you’re happy, Smoke. Romi is a good girl. And this one didn’t get kidnapped.”

“Uh, technically, she did. That Patrick nigga snatched her up from her house once and took her back to the shop. Bitch ass left her stranded.”

I was mad as fuck when she confessed that to me one night a few weeks ago. If he wasn’t already dead, he’dbedead.

Pops shook his head. “You and your brothers have a type. Let’s hope Steel finds a normal girl with no damn drama.”

I kissed my teeth. “Man, your son gotta get past that old hurt first. He’s out here fucking these women because he got his heart broken, knowing he ain’t really even like that. He should have been the first one of us to settle down.”

“I agree with you there. You know, I always wondered why he never got Jaeda to find that girl so he could get closure.”

“Because there was no closure for him to get. Kerrion would have begged her to come back.”

My brother was a savage in his own right, but he was a lover at heart. Once upon a time, he was right next to Jaeda as the good one. The woman that broke his heart had no idea of the beast she woke up. He was moving through life covering bullet wounds with Band-Aids.

Pops shook his head. “He deserves a good girl. One that’s gonna give him a shitload of kids.”

As though we’d talked him up, Steel came walking into the house. He came straight to our father and scooped Juri off his chest before stooping to kiss Darlyn.

“What are y’all in here gossiping about?” he asked, making himself comfortable on the chaise end of the sectional. He gave Juri a sniff like he did every baby he held. “She always smells like a baby.”

“Nigga, she is a baby,” I said, laughing.

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