Page 14 of Welcome to the Heart Of A Maniac
“Bye, Nylah.” Yanking away from her, I exited the house and hit the fob on the car. Climbing inside, I backed out the parking space and headed for my parents’ house.
When I pulled up to the steel gate of the estate, I placed my code in and waited for the gate to open. The doors split in two and I pulled through them and took the long driveway up to the house.
My parents’ house sat on acres and acres of land. They didn’t have any neighbors for miles. Pops preferred it that way. He didn’t want people in his business, and he said that he didn’t want to walk out his front door and be looking his neighbors in the eyes. I’on blame him though. My house sat on land as well, but it was nowhere near as much as theirs.
Stopping in front of the door, I parked behind the Rolls Royce and hopped out the car. Since Pops retired years ago, he didn’t know what to do with himself. Most of the time, himand Ma were out traveling the world somewhere. This man had picked up the hobby of golfing. Seeing him in the backyard, swinging a golf club was wild to me, but hey, if it made him happy, I was cool with it.
Nearing the front door, I used my key and let myself inside. My eyes roamed the foyer when the scent of snickerdoodle smacked me in the face. I had to make sure Wren’s ass wasn’t in here.
Following the aroma, I ended up in the kitchen, finding Ma bent down in the oven. She must’ve got in one of her spells where she wanted to spend the day baking. I still hadn’t told them about the deal that I worked out with Trayvon. The only person that knew the bullshit I did was Wicked. I’m surprised that he went along with it. Maybe he thought that someone would finally make me feel something again, knowing that I closed my heart off after the last bitch.
Ma spun around and dropped her pan on the counter. All of her cookies shifted all over the place. A couple of them landed on the marble countertop. “You scared the daylights out of me,” she said with her hand resting over her chest.
“I ain’t mean to.”
“What are you doing here?” She collected her cookies, placing them back on the pan to cool.
“I came by to talk to Pops. Is he ’round?”
“He should be out there in the back yard. At least that’s where he was the last time I saw him.”
“A’ight.” Stepping to her, I pecked her on her olive cheek. Ma wasn’t the tallest woman. Her head stopped at my chest. She was pure Italian with long black hair that stopped in the center of her back. That’s how we got into the family business in the first place. She didn’t have any siblings, and her daddy ran a drug empire. He wanted her to marry Italian, but that’s not what Ma wanted for herself. When Pops came into the picture and tookover the family business, everyone was shocked. Most people didn’t want to deal with him because he was black. Pops ain’t let that shit discourage him though.
With Pops in charge of the family, he ended up tripling their revenue. Grandpa was suddenly excited about him being his son-in-law. As long as he was making money was the only thing that mattered.
Stepping out the back door, I stopped on the porch and scanned the back yard for Pops, who I saw out in the middle of the yard with a golf cart. I ain’t even feel like walking that got damn far. This man was so into golf now that he turned part of the back yard into a fucking golf course.
“Shit,” I mumbled underneath my breath and started the stroll toward him. It took me a minute to get out there, but I finally made it. “Sup, Pops.”
Pops looked back at me over his shoulder and positioned his golf club behind the ball.
“What you doing here, son?” He swung his arm back and hit the ball.
“I needed to talk to you ’bout something.”
“About?...”
He headed to the cart and got in the driver’s seat. When his gaze met mine, I figured he wanted me to get on with him, which only meant that he’s about to take me further away from the house. Shit.
I slipped into the seat alongside him, and he pulled off. “We had a lil problem with Trayvon.”
“Again?” He briefly stared over at me.
“Yeah.” For the last couple of years, Trayvon has become a problem. We were holding on to him because he’d been an asset in the past, but it’s getting to the point where we gon’ have to let his ass go. Wicked already made that shit clear. He had to go. “He owed us some money, but he traded his debt.”
“For?...” The cart stopped and he got out. I followed closely behind him as he searched for his golf ball.
“A girl.”
“A girl?” Turning, he faced me with a scowl. “She must be dipped in gold or something?”
Something like that.
“Nah, but I really think that she can be an asset. I took her.”
“So, what are you trying to say? You gon’ marry her?”
“I’on know yet.”
