Page 53 of Welcome to the Table
She shook her head from left to right as she sipped her drink. “Nah, it ain’t nothing to do with his ass. Hellcat gon’ always beHellcat. That shit ain’t gon’ change, but I do need you to have his back through the good and bad shit.”
I nodded my head up and down. So, I knew it wasn’t about him.
“I know the Colombia Point Dawgs are here and have been here since before Fanucci talked to my husband. They really trying to move product this way, but the shit gon’ bring too much heat. I know you got an eye for fucking snakes like me. I need you to keep your eyes open better than Hellcat.”
I swiped my hand down my beard. “You know my eyes are always open. More now since Jaci is down here. I knew some shit was going on,” I told her, and she smiled.
“Jaci may look quiet, but she knows how to handle business, and I also know that at the end of the day, she is a woman. Those mutt motherfuckers know that she is all of y’all weakness but in different ways.” She winked at me and smiled.
“Listen, Jaci’s ass has been in love with you since she was a teenager, but we both know that her brothers weren’t going for that shit. Before she came back down here, she told me she would kill a bitch that you were with or fucking. I laughed at her but just listened. She’s dangerous as fuck. The years she was in New York made her cold as their fucking weather, but she has a soft spot for you, a bad one, and I don’t want my baby to get hurt. So, if you not ready for that real shit, forget this conversation and continue what you been doing and treat her as you should.” She finished her drink and looked into my eyes to gauge my reaction.
I thought about telling her what happened upstairs, but I decided against it. I held her gaze and smiled. Her eyes matched Jaci’s. They were twins.
“I know something happened in that room when you went up there. You ain’t gon’ tell me, and if she doesn’t, my cameras will. She hadn’t been up that long, so I knew you saw some shit. Shegrown, but I will say this, and you can go. My baby is a virgin. A real one, never been touched at all. Kissed or nothing, so tread lightly if you take it there with her. She is the female version of Hellcat.” She laughed, but this time, I didn’t.
Her words fucked with me because I knew how wild that nigga was.
“Not Hollygrove confused. I know you like Jaci. The shit is written all over you, but you don’t wanna fuck up you and Hellcat’s bond. I get it, but the heart wants what the heart wants. I can handle Hellcat. He’ll be mad for a while, but he’ll get over it.” She grabbed my face and kissed my cheek.
I felt like a child receiving a kiss. I blushed.
“Now, go ahead ’fore his impatient ass come back in here, trying to be nosey, but remember what I said about my baby.” She let me go, and I walked out of the house to my car.
Jaci was in the backseat, and Hellcat was in the front. I hopped in the driver’s seat and looked at Hellcat. She had a scowl on his face like he was ready to kill something. I looked in the backseat, and Jaci shrugged like she didn’t know what was going on. She made her hand like a phone and put it to her ear. Someone had called and pissed him off. I rubbed my hand through my dreads and put my foot on the brake.
“Nigga, you gon’ sit there mad or you gon’ start talking? I can’t read yo’ fucking mind,” I told him before backing out of the driveway.
“We might have to reschedule this fucking shopping trip,” he said, and I knew shit was crazy.
“No, the fuck we not. You already made me wait for two days because you wanted to piss me off. Whatever business you gotta handle, handle that shit with me in the car because we're not going back home. Y’all promised,” she whined.
Hellcat looked back at her, then at me. I ain’t have shit to say. This was his call to make.
“Okay, witcho whiny, booboo kitty ass. You better stay in the fucking car, too, and don’t tell Calliope about this shit. He already dealing with some shit, and I don’t need his big ass fucking nothing up. She got shit to handle on his end of this shit.”
When he said that, I already knew what the fuck was going on.
He looked at me. “Take me to Hustler’s on Bourbon Street. These fucking dawgs just don’t know when to fucking go back to the wetlands where they belong.”
I wanted to laugh and tell that nigga that the meeting was tomorrow, so don’t trip, but they must have started moving product without our permission.
“We need backup?” I asked him.
He smiled wickedly. “Nah, our backup is in the back seat, nigga.”
I looked in the mirror, and she winked at me and smiled as I pulled onto the highway.
Chapter 13
Jaci
Isat in the back seat and smiled when my brother winked at me. When we were on good terms, we were a force to be reckoned with. Hellcat was impulsive, but so was I. My family just didn’t know it.
They thought I didn’t read the room at the dinner table, but I did, and I knew that the Colombia Point Dawgs were a threat, but not a big one. I didn’t tell anyone, but I had a lot of time on my hands when I was in New York. Just like they were watching me, I knew what was going on in New Orleans. I knew when Hollygrove popped up at my apartment that shit was happening. I was irritated because I didn’t want to leave my home where I was comfortable and move my entire life back to New Orleans, only to be in the house like I was scary.
Had Calliope been the one in the front seat, I wouldn’t be with them. I was quiet but deadly. I had to admit that the transition from New York to New Orleans was a little hard. I moved at my own convenience out there, but at home, I had to move with my brothers or bodyguards, and that made me feel like I was in prison. I wanted that same freedom, but I didn’t need the lecture on why I needed protection. I had a blade in my mouth and in my panty line for extra measure. I didn’t trust theentire situation, and it left me with a bitter taste in my mouth. My father's leaving us made me uneasy because that was a first. I was a daddy’s girl, and he broke my heart when he left, not even twenty-four hours after I came home. We handled everything as a family, and now a piece was missing, so we had to handle shit on our own.
The Colombia Point Dawgs were treacherous and known to get what they wanted by any means. They didn’t ask for shit, they took it, but they were no match for our family. I didn’t know much, but I knew they’d wanted a seat at our table for years, and my father always said no. My mind was boggled by him leaving with Fanucci after years of telling the nigga that he couldn’t come to the table. It smelled like a setup, and I was sure my brothers knew that, and that’s why nobody said anything about my father’s departure, but I knew different. If something happened to my father because he trusted this nigga too much, the other side of Jaci would come out, and not even my mother would be able to stop me.
