Page 13 of Rhodes to Love

“Not today. Can I just get a grilled chicken salad?”

“Of course, baby. What type of dressing?”

“Honey mustard.”

“Got’chu,” she said, then winked at me.

Normally, I would have torn a hole in that stuffed fried chicken. As I walked away to go find a table, I heard someone say, “I heard some shit from my wife that puzzled the fuck out of me.”

I turned around to see Uncle Storm standing behind me with a frown on his face. He glanced down at my belly and frowned harder. Everyone expected better out of me, and I knew they would be disappointed. I lowered my head and said, “I’m sorry, Uncle Mayor.”

I pushed my hair behind my ear as he lifted my head by my chin. “Bring yo’ lil ass here, girl.”

I smiled slightly and fell into his outstretched arms. Uncle Storm was a teddy bear at heart, and not many people were blessed enough to see that side of him. Thankfully, I happened to be one of those people. He pulled away from me and led me to a table, pulling out my chair. After I sat, he sat across from me and asked, “So who do I need to fuck up? I ain’t seen no nigga ’round here.”

“I just told him today. So there’s no one to fuck up. I didn’t tell anyone at first, because I needed to calm down.”

“Aaaaah, so that Henderson came out of your lil ass, huh? I wish I could have seen that shit.”

I slowly shook my head. He always called me a lil ass. Maui and I were the shortest Hendersons. Even some of the kids were taller than us. Remy had passed me up by the time he was ten. It didn’t help that his father was six feet eight.

“I pulled my heat on him. That was so uncalled for.”

“He was threatening you?”

“Not in the least. He was wanting to apologize for some things, and I wanted him out of my face. I was way too angry to deal with him at that moment.”

“Why were you angry?”

I looked away and sighed. “I would really rather not?—”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m gon’ figure the shit out. I always do. I still might fuck him up on GP. I’m gon’ get the Henderson hoodlums to help me.”

I slightly rolled my eyes. Between SS, Ace, Ryder J, Royal, Kane, Crew, and Kingsley, I didn’t know who was worse. Kane and Kingsley could get extremely unhinged, especially Kane. I saw him teetering on the verge of that last week, along with KJ. However, SS had a “great” example in his father, and so did Ace. Those niggas’ tempers were ridiculous, and their petty was diabolical. It was crazy that Uncle Storm and Uncle Marcus were the ones politically running Nome.

“Do you know what you’re having?”

“Not yet. I’ll find out in two weeks.”

Aunt Chrissy set my salad in front of me as King and Kane joined us. They kissed my cheek, then both shook Uncle Storm’s hand. Once they sat, he said, “This nigga gon’ eventually show up, and we gotta present a united front against his ass.”

King glanced at me, so Uncle Storm did as well. “Please leave it alone, Uncle Mayor. You know I’m about my peace. If a time comes when I need y’all to fuck somebody up, I’ll be the first to let you know.”

His eyebrows lifted, then his lips curled into a slight smile. I slowly shook my head. Typically, I didn’t curse in front of them, especially not the word fuck. That just wasn’t who I was at my core. I was a beacon of love, peace, and positivity. If I was feeling anything other than that, I usually kept to myself.

He nodded repeatedly. “Uh-huh. That Henderson ain’t lying so deep down right now. All you gotta do is say go. I’ll have a whole legion of angels swooping in.”

I stared at him blankly then burst into laughter. I swore, my grandma had to have dropped this nigga on his head at some point. He didn’t have the sense God gave him sometimes. He chuckled and winked at me. “Your laughter was what I needed, Rima. I can tell it reached your soul. That old lady didn’t call me Gabriel for nothing. A nigga sense things too. I could tell you weren’t happy, baby. You’re carrying a lot of hurt. Anybody that can have you operating in your Henderson Chi deserves to be fucked up for messing with a true angel of God. You don’t bother nobody, and I’ll be damned if I’m gon’ sit here and let anybody bother you. Fuck that shit.”

I slowly shook my head. Maybe he wasn’t so crazy after all. I stood from my seat and hugged him as SS, Ace, Ryder J, Royal, and Crew came in. When I released Uncle Storm, he turned to them and smiled. He looked back at me and said, “See. My legion. I ain’t even call their asses.”

This man was a whole ass mess. I dug into my salad, and my eyes nearly rolled to the back of my head. I was starving. After waving at all my cousins, I continued eating. They sat at the table next to us. The door opened again, and Milana, Maui, and Ashanni walked in. Maui and Ashanni were working for the family business, and they would both be graduating in May with their master’s degrees. I was beyond proud of them. Milana had chosen not to pursue a master’s.

Milana was like my little sister. I was around her just as much as I was around my brothers. Aunt Tiff started training me not long after she was born. When she became of age, we were training and practicing together. She was a natural, just like Aunt Tiff. She could run the hell out of those barrels, and she was practicing barebacking as well. Aunt Tiff was the first black woman to do so and the first woman to go to the finals and win the championship buckle.

After accepting all their kisses, I looked around to see my brothers, cousins, Uncle Storm, and now Uncle Marcus surrounding my table, blocking my view. I didn’t know what was going on. Being that they were so tall, I couldn’t see a thing. A frown graced my face as I stood and made my way behind Kingsley. They were standing close to each other, shielding me from whatever or whoever was on the other side.

“King, what’s going on?”

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