Page 71 of Hood Legacy

“Madea told me to come check on y’all, and I’m glad I did,” she said, taking the brush from Mercy and waving her out of the way. She quickly pulled my hair into a slick bun at the base of my neck and secured the knot. “It won’t last all day, but it’ll do for a few hours.”

“Thank you,” I said, nodding.

“We’re family; we look out for each other,” Corinthians replied. My eyes watered at hearing her say that. Ms. Arlene told me in her letter that I had family, and it was starting to dawn on me how right she was. Mercy was the closest thing I had to a sister, and her cousins treated me as if I were one of them. She hugged me, kissed my cheek, and turned to leave. “See you at the gravesite.”

“Okay,” I said, nodding.

“Love y’all!” Corinthians said, then walked out of the room.

Mercy took my hand, and we walked out of the room and left the house. Aceyn stood next to his car with Pop and Givens. He was dressed in a black fitted suit, with his everyday iced-out watch, studs in his ears, and his signature L necklace. I let go of Mercy’s hand and wrapped my arms around his waist.

“You okay?” I asked softly. I knew he wasn’t, no matter what he said.

“I am now that you’re by my side,” he answered, kissing me. “Let’s get this over with.”

“I’ll drive,” I said as I let him go. Aceyn shook his head, and I put my hand out for him to hand me his keys. “Aceyn, let me do this, please. I don’t want you behind the wheel right now, and since you refused to get a driver or use the family car that handled everything, you need to let me do this.” He kissed his teeth and stared down at my hand. “Baby, I need to do this for you, okay?” He lifted his head to the sky, sighed, nodded, and handed me his keys. “Thank you.”

“I’m driving,” Pop said, and I cut my eyes at him. He knew I expected him to be in the car with us because we discussed it this morning. “I’m going back to my house after the service and don’t want you going out of your way.” He kissed my forehead. “My son will need all your attention when he y’all get back here. Please give it to him. I’ll check in later.”

“If you don’t check in, I’m coming to find you,” I threatened him, and Pop nodded before walking to his car.

“We are going to be behind y’all,” Givens said, dapping up Aceyn and hugging me. “Pyrite is already there, waiting.”

“Appreciate it, bro,” Aceyn said.

“Don’t mention it,” Givens said, leading Mercy to his car.

Aceyn opened the door for me, and I got in the car. I watched as he rounded it and then got in. I started the car, put on my seatbelt, put it in drive, and pulled out of the driveway. Even though I was the driver, Aceyn rested his hand on my thigh and relaxed in his seat.

“I’m going to marry her,”I told Givens as I watched Legacy sleep. She’d been by my side for the last few days, making sure I was good, and I knew she was running on fumes, but baby never complained. She was going nonstop between practice and preparing for her season to start and trying to help me navigate my life. Mama didn’t want a big ass funeral and had set up a simple gravesite service. Pastor DeCorte did the service, and a few people spoke on Mama's behalf. After the funeral, we rode through the city; Legacy didn’t even ask me what I needed. She knew I didn’t want to be around people and needed time. We drove for almost four hours, only stopping to get some gas at the end and then coming home.

When we arrived, we showered together, climbed into the bed, and chilled. She curled under me and fell asleep. Shit was the most peaceful thing I’d ever seen.

“You call Yale?” he asked.

“Nah,” I answered, shaking my head. I reached over to the bedside table and grabbed Legacy’s bonnet to put on her hair. “She’s supposed to be in town this week, so I will talk to her then.”

“She’s coming to town willingly?” he laughed. “Amethyst must be gone because ain’t no way she would be coming if he wasn’t.”

“I think so.” I secured her bonnet, leaned back, and wiped my hand over my face. “Pyrite is flying her in.”

“Bullshit,” he replied and kissed his teeth. “That nigga ain’t flying her ass in, and his brother doesn’t know.”

“Yeah, he is,” I laughed. “Pyrite told me himself.”

“Amethyst gonna crash the fuck out,” Givens grunted. “The arena about to be lit.”

“Probably,” I said, shaking my head. “But Pyrite already got his hands full with the Baker. I know you saw that nigga’s black eye and busted lip.”

“I did,” he answered. “I asked him about it, and his twisted ass smiled and said it was well worth it.”

“That nigga getting beat the fuck up by that woman, and he likes that shit,” I laughed.

“Hell yeah, he is,” Givens agreed. “But let me get off this fucking phone and go check on my woman and daughter. They are downstairs yelling about wanting food like they didn’t just eat a few hours ago.” He kissed his teeth. “Greedy asses.”

“Bet,” I said, then hung up. I put the phone on the end table, pulled Legacy close, and closed my eyes. I wasn’t tired just yet, but I was going to relax.

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