Page 63 of That Fire

Royal took pride in his appearance, but the past few days, that wasn’t a priority. He was in basketball shorts and a T-shirt every day. His skin was dry, and he had bags under his eyes. When he came back to the bedroom, his skin was red. I frowned slightly as he stared at me.

“What happened?” I asked.

“Mythic went to Liberty to find the guy that beat Crew. Watchful Eyes was with him. They found him and killed him . . . executioner style.”

My eyebrows lifted. “Umm . . . that should provide you a little relief, right?”

“It does. I just didn’t know they were doing that. I appreciate Mythic for putting his life in danger to seek retribution for Crew. That means a lot.”

I nodded as my lifted eyebrows scrunched together. “Who called to tell you?”

“Seven and PJ.”

I frowned. His face only got redder as I sat up. “What?”

“Fuck!” he whisper shouted. He huffed, then looked at me. “Aaliyah, you can’t say shit to anyone. Please.” After taking a deep breath, he said, “PJ isn’t dead. They had to go through the motions like he was dead so the FBI didn’t kill him. He was working undercover for Watchful Eyes and found out some shit he shouldn’t have. The FBI is working with those niggas in Liberty to get at Seven and Uncle Marcus.”

My heart was beating fast as hell. “Oh my God. PJ is still alive? Shit! Do his parents know?”

“I know for sure that Uncle Philly knows. I don’t know if he ever told Aunt Kema or not.”

“Damn. Is that how you found out the truth about what happened between us? I know you didn’t just take my word for it. You were so angry.”

“I took your word for it, Aaliyah, but I did ask to put my mind more at ease.”

I was at a loss for words, not believing the shit I’d heard. He joined me in bed and kissed my cheek. “Please don’t tell anyone, not even your mom.”

“I won’t.”

He lay back against me and started to fall asleep once again. Hopefully, that news would help him sleep better, knowing that the man responsible for killing his brother had suffered the same fate.

Chapter 21

Royal

“I’m just glad the funeral is over so we can try to regain some semblance of normalcy,” I said to the fellas.

We were at the family barn for Crew’s repast. The Semiens and Mr. Red had gotten some people they knew to cater it so my aunts could grieve with everyone else without having to worry about food. It was the first time we’d eaten food they hadn’t cooked in the family barn. It felt weird. The food was good, but to us Hendersons, no one’s food was better than Aunt Jen’s and Aunt Chrissy’s.

Kane and Ryder J had cried more than I did. It made me wonder if they knew anything about the shit he was doing. I knew if they did, they wouldn’t dare tell us, but it would surely eat them alive, knowing they could have helped him. For their sakes, I hoped they didn’t know.

I glanced over at Aaliyah as she talked to Bali, Shani, Noni, Maui, Iesha, and Milana. She looked so happy. Maui was holding her baby, Shani was holding hers, Aaliyah and Iesha had the twins, and the other three women were pregnant.Lord have mercy.I already knew when the twins had their babies, it was gonna be hell on everybody in the vicinity.

I could tell Aaliyah really didn’t want to have the twins out and about so soon, as well as Karima with her baby girl, but this was an extenuating circumstance. Everyone wanted to be here to support us.

Seeing my brother in that casket was hard . . . hard as fuck. My mama nearly passed out. Dad hadn’t smoked since we found out Crew was on drugs. I knew that shit was hard on him. He had been smoking since before I was born. I didn’t know if he would return to it or not. Now that we knew Crew’s possible diagnosis, we knew it was primarily the mental illness that had him seeking out something stronger.

I hoped that revelation would help Dad release the guilt he had inside as well. We all wanted the playful, crazy version of him to return . . . the entire Henderson family. He held all the fun. The entire family smoked with him at one time or another. No one smoked as much as he did, but everyone had joined in at some point, even Uncle WJ. Uncle Kenny stayed close to him. I hoped he would be able to help him through this. He blamed himself for Kendrick’s death for a long time, saying he should have never trusted Tasha to take care of him.

He knew what it felt like to die inside and feel like a piece of him was gone. While I was sure he still had his moments, he was able to move on in a healthy mental space and continue loving and taking care of the family members that were still here. It had been over twenty-five years, because it was before Kingsley was born. He had his hair loose today, reminiscent of him. I noticed he did that when my grandparents died as well. I thought he would do it for PJ, but since he knew PJ wasn’t deceased, he didn’t.

“So you and Treasure talking again?” Seven asked Kingsley.

“Somewhat. We haven’t been anywhere together, but we talk on the phone. When Aaliyah went into labor, she and Missus Harper were there. I heard the commotion, because Liyah wasscreaming. I was standing outside as they were getting her in the car. When she saw me, she ran to me and literally jumped in my arms. It felt like my soul had been revived. I have hope in us. I feel like with the right counseling, we will be okay.”

“That’s good, bro. I hope it works out. I know how you feel about her,” Kane said surprising us all.

The nigga was hard as fuck all the time. Maybe Crew’s death had him feeling as sensitive as the rest of us did. I glanced at Ace to see him following someone with his eyes. I turned to see who it was and saw Mr. Zayson’s daughter, Lauren. Maaaaann, he was gon’ have to put in work for that one. She was bougie as hell.