Page 69 of Mr. Calloway

“You’re expecting company?” Indigo asked.

“Something like that. Hold on,” I told them as I stood from the table and went to the door.

I answered, and he greeted me with a short smile. “I feel like you needed to be here. You cool?” I asked.

He scratched the scar on the side of his face as he slowly nodded. I stepped back to allow him inside. He followed me into the dining room, and when the twins saw him, they were surprised.

“Anthony!” Indigo squealed.

Tania’s eyes became watery as she ran into his arms. “I missed you.”

“I missed you, too.”

Watching them interact with the person they knew as their brother made me feel some kind of way. Even though my feelings were in a tizzy, I also didn’t want to exclude those they were used to. Tania glanced over at me.

“Come on, June. You missed out on enough; we don’t want any more missed moments.”

I walked over to everyone as they sat down. Indigo smiled. “Okay, well, big brother, introduce us to your unsalted, non-GMO food you have here.”

I nodded slowly. “I mean, shit, we eat healthy around here, so check it,” I said as I rubbed my hands together.

This type of shit felt different, but I was with it. The twins had the world on a platter while Anthony and I were served an empty one. While he was the boy in the photo, I was the one missing, but neither of us got the one thing we were looking for, and that was a mother’s love. To be a changed man, you had to be a man willing to change, and this was what separated me from Chevy. The man I was in this moment was the nigga they called June.

Dionysus

PRESS PLAY

Peace and Savior had finally gone to sleep, and Mars used my bathroom to shower. I stepped onto the balcony to get some fresh air and clear my mind. Bike weekend was approaching in the next couple of weeks, and after that was school. To know that I was going back to Covana to a house as a single nigga was a thought that never escaped my mind.

I sat on the futon on my deck, almost not wanting to sit on it because it was a spot that Mars and I had shared more than once.

“Fuck it,” I said out loud.

I picked up my weed tray and rolled myself a blunt. As I tried to figure out what was next for me, I couldn’t see past tomorrow. What I did know was that a piece of my heart ran cold, and that scared me. The last thing I wanted was to turn back into the menace I was before everything unfolded.

After rolling my blunt, I sparked it, and Mars came onto the balcony with me.

“Can I join you?” she asked.

“The world is yours, Mars,” I told her.

She laughed. “You know I always loved it when you called me that. It made me feel so special,” she said as she sat next to me.

“I mean, you are, but it isn’t up to me to tell you that; you have to see it for yourself.”

She gave me a tight-lipped smile as she nodded. “Little sister is so pretty and sweet.”

“Yeah, she’s a little wiz. I’m going to spoil the shit out of her, too. Zeus needed this.”

Since Sy’ann had been here, Zeus had been on his toes. She had been running him and Sash nonstop, which left no room for either of the two to do anything.

Mars scooted closer. “Now that things are changing, do you think Chevy is going to walk away from the Zoo?”

My head flew back. “Hell nah.” I paused. “I feel like he needs to, though. My nigga has been through a lot, and it’s time for him to walk the hall of fame as one of the greatest to ever do it. He got kids and shit, you know.”

“I think you are the next—” she reached out, turning my face to her, “—King. All the OGs have done their jobs; it is you who will lead the pack now.”

I laughed. “Nigga, am I smoking or you?”