Page 54 of Can I?

“You and Ryder J. You following in her footsteps makes me proud because she is the best example for you. She’s the best in this industry, man or woman. She’s strong, strong-willed, and a go-getter. Nothing will stop her from accomplishing just what she wants to accomplish. You are going to be great just like her. Do you believe that?”

“I’m gonna be even better!”

He looked right into the camera with his eyebrows lifted and his eyes wide, causing everybody watching to laugh. I could hear Karima giggle from the camera footage. I could recognize her laugh anywhere. She was who was recording this.“Well, hell yeah. I know that’s right, Grandpa’s baby.”

My mama stood and walked out with tears falling down her face. She was taking Grandpa’s death so hard. She was such a daddy’s girl. I thought there was more to why she was so angry, but after my evaluation of her relationship with Grandpa, I knew that she was his favorite daughter. He would have never admitted that, but if anyone paid close enough attention, they would know just how close the two of them were. Whenever my mama was on the phone, there was a 75-percent chance that she was on the phone with Grandpa, especially if she and my dad were together.

More pictures were shown, then there was another video. It was clear Jakari was the one videoing. He’d asked him what was the toughest thing about being married to Grandma.

“Dealing with her loud ass mouth.”

We all laughed as we saw a towel fly and hit him in the head. The frown on his face was hilarious. He looked like Fred Sanford when he frowned. More pictures showed and a couple of other videos of him at sporting events, rodeos, and dancing at some of our family gatherings. Jakari had done an amazing job putting this together. The last video was Grandpa talking. It was clearly the twins talking to him.

“Grandpa, who’s your favorite grandchild?”

“This gotta be a trick question.”

We laughed.“Come on Grandpa. We’ll split it up. Out of Nesha, Jess, Jakari, Christian, Rylan, KJ, and Jacob, who’s your favorite?”

He acted like he was thinking hard.“I don’t know. That’s tough.”

“Well forget them. They aren’t important. What about us, Maui, Ashanni, Milana, and all those bad a—boys?”

He frowned slightly.“Bali, did you cuss?”

We all laughed. I couldn’t stand them when we were younger. They got on everybody’s nerves. Ferris chuckled. “They’ve been a handful for a long time.”

I chuckled as I tuned in to the rest of the video.“I didn’t cuss, Grandpa. Stop stalling. You said we were your favorites?”

“Hell n—I mean, no, I didn’t say that.”

Everybody laughed so hard. Finally, he said,“Make sure you get this.”He looked right into the camera and said,“I love all of y’all so much. My kids, my grandbabies, and the great-grandbabies. I don’t have favorites, but I file y’all in the chambers of my heart under different categories. WJ, your leadership; Jenahra, your cooking; Chrissy, your sweet spirit;Kenny, your brilliant mind; Jasper, your wit; Tiff, your hustle; and Storm, your I don’t give a fucks.”

Everybody laughed then quieted down as he continued.“I have enough love for all of y’all. While there are different things that I love about each of you, I love you just the same. Together, you all exemplify what it means to be a Henderson. We all make mistakes and bad decisions along the way, but it’s your heart that determines who you truly are. Don’t ever lose who you are and who you are to each other based on bullshit you may engage in. Don’t forget each other’s heart.”

“Is that it?”

“Yep.”

“Good.”We could see that they’d walked off, leaving him outside with the cattle.“This gon’ take up too much space in my phone. I ought to delete it like I did Grandma’s. They talk too much.”

I chuckled as the slide show ended. I closed my eyes and thought on Grandpa’s words. The tears rained down my cheeks as Ferris held me tightly. I missed that man so much. However, I knew a day would come where I could think about him and smile just like I’d done with Grandma. When my mama reentered the barn, Uncle Jasper hugged her tightly.

Afterward, he went to the mic. “Yo, family. That shit almost took me out. So, the family smoke session will resume right fucking now, then we will be back on Fridays.”

He stepped down, and I chuckled a bit as he pulled a blunt from his shirt pocket. He sparked up right there and started passing the shit around. Cassie slowly shook her head and left out with the baby. I looked up at Ferris and said, “After all this, I need it slow and rough with plenty of eye contact.”

“Mm, hell yeah. It’ll be my fucking pleasure.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

FERRIS

It felt like my dick was knocking holes in her cervix. My strokes were slow but powerful. I was doing my best to give my baby just what she asked for. This shit was so fucking good too. It was emotion-filled, and I could barely hold my nut off. After me telling her I loved her today and then the emotions her family had just went through, she was on overload.

Tears had been dropping from her eyes since we were at the barndominium. Then she had the audacity to take a pull from Uncle Jasper’s blunt. Baby girl was feeling good. I could tell she probably never smoked. I had to practically carry her in the house. If she did smoke, that shit was rare. The minute we stepped inside, she started pulling her clothes off. She said she wanted to pick up where we left off and pretend our time in Nome didn’t happen.

I didn’t mind doing just that. She would be going back home tomorrow, so I planned to spend as much time with her as possible before she left. I needed to make her feel so good until she missed me as soon as she left. I wanted her fiending for me while she was driving home. This level of clinginess was new to me, but I wanted her all to myself.

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