Page 8 of One Good Reason

I could sit up here and tell him till I was blue in the face how shit with Adele was more than sex and the only thing his ass would see was her age. Adele and my mama were best friendsat one point. When she and I started our illicit affair, she pulled away from my mama and used the divorce from her husband as the excuse. My parents, Adele, and her husband ran in the same social circle so naturally when they split, my pops took her husband’s side. My mama tried to remain neutral, but the entire situation left a bad taste in Adele’s mouth, coupled with the fact that I was bending her ass over every chance I got.

“Exactly. Grown.” I chuckled.

“Y’all back kicking it now that you and Dah done split.

My head shook vehemently. “Nawl. Ships sailed. I’m too busy trying to enjoy my newfound singleness.”

“You miss her though,” Preme surmised and folded his hands behind his head.

“Immensely, but it’s for the best.” Gazing down at my watch I knew it was time for this visit to come to an end. “I gotta jet. I got just enough time to make it back to the city for my first meeting.”

“Yeah, I need to get going myself. I ain’t seen the inside of my crib in thirty-six hours.”

“Stay out them streets. You too old for that shit.”

Clicking his tongue against his teeth, Preme waved me off. “And have you popping up on my ass accusing me of slacking.”

“More like checking on my shit.”

“If you wanna call it that,” he rasped smugly. “Next time you come up here, you should stop by the crib and visit Mama.”

“You already know I’m not ‘bout to do that shit.” Rising from the spot I was seated on, I slid my sports coat on.

“Forgiveness goes a long way. You can’t hate her forever.”

Supreme never ceased to bring up our mother. He out of all people knew how annoyed I got at the mention of her name.

“I don’thateher Sincere. I pay the mortgage on her house, all of her bills, on top of depositing a hefty stipend in her account monthly. Shit, I wouldn’t dare do that for someone I hate.”

Tossing a frustrated look my way, Preme maintained his stance. “Out of obligation though Lawton.”

Anytime he referred to me by my government name, I knew he was annoyed. Shit, the fact that he even brought her up had me aggravated. Valerie Harvey was a sore subject for me and had been since the day I learned of Supreme’s existence. Preme was proof of our father’s infidelity and to satisfy Val, our pops didn’t have a relationship with him.

Financially, Preme was taken care of and had been their well-kept secret until the day the local hospital called informing them of his biological mothers sudden passing. For a woman that didn’t want her husband involved in his outside child’s life, she quickly got herself together and went to the hospital to pick him up. Sincere was ten when my parents brought him home.

By that time, I was already out of the house and in college. After a frantic phone call from my mother, I took the first flight out of D.C. to meet my brother. He and I hit it off immediately while my relationship with my parents took a nosedive.

As far back as I could remember, my relationship with my dad had always been stronger. My mom was too busy flossing around town to really be a mother. However, the minute Preme moved in, she found time to mother him. That caused the biggest strain in our relationship.

For years I had heard Val never wanted me. When my pops, Elias, learned of her pregnancy, he begged her not to terminate it. On paper, my parents had the perfect marriage. Inside the walls of their house, it was anything but. Elias couldn’t be faithful if you paid him which was the reason Val didn’twantme per say. My entire life I had heard how much I reminded her of Elias, I mean after all, I shared his chocolate skin complexion, the same hooded eyes, and our statures were similar.

Val despised me because, again, I was the child she didn’t want. Having me kept her in a marriage that she so desperatelydesired to get out of. My pops hated the way she treated me which is why our bond was so strong.

As a huge “fuck you”to him, she forbade him from having anything to do with Sincere. One look at him ten years later, she somehow fell in love and was the mother to him that she had never been to me. On the outside looking in, you would think I was jealous of the relationship Sincere shared with my mother, but that was the furthest from the tree. Whereas he needed a mom, I no longer desired that connection with her.

So naturally once my father passed, out of sheer obligation, I made sure Val didn’t want for anything but that was as far as our relationship extended.

“Shemade it this way.”

“Don’t mean you gotta keep it up. Somebody gotta be the bigger person.”

“Somebody does,” I acknowledged. “But that somebody won’t be me.”

Holding his palms in the air he said, “You got it Dutch. Be careful and hit me up if you need me.”

“Don’t I always,” I confirmed after a beat.

Following Preme to the door, I hit the lights on the warehouse, pulled the door closed, and secured the locks. After hugging my baby brother, I slid in the back of the SUV and headed back into town to handle the rest of my business.

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