Page 14 of Bodyguard My Heart
“You know Mara ain’t never had a good example of love or a relationship. She was too young to remember when our parents were happy. I tried my best as her big brother to showher what love from a man looks like, but it isn’t the same. All Mara remembers is living in an empty mansion and fending for herself. She ain’t never had a relationship with our father. He was always gone, always working. The cartel came first. He wasn’t even there when Mom or Darnell passed away.”
I took in what he said. We’d been friends for so long that there wasn’t much about him or Samara’s childhood that I wasn’t hip on. I’d seen their father’s lifestyle tear their family apart. My mom used to allow Ro, Darnell, and Samara to sleep over at our house when their mama was getting high, and their father was with mine off running the cartel. Samara and I both had daddy issues. That was probably why the universe had stuck us together. I recognized her scars and she mine. It allowed me to offer her a little patience.
“Samara just needs to know that you will not abandon her for the cartel’s business, like our pops,” Royale continued. I heard what he said, but I didn’t know how to do that. The cartel was my life. It came before everybody. Sometimes, it came before me. I hit the blunt I’d been babysitting. It was the only thing keeping me mellow.
“You know I dropped the L bomb, and she flat out said she ain’t love a nigga,” I blurted.
“Damn! Like that!”
“Yeah, yo’ sister a fucking savage.”
“Don’t I know it?” Ro echoed my sentiments. “You love her though, nigga? I can see it on you. You weren’t even acting like this with Naveah.”
“Bruh, on some real shit, I love your sister. I ain’t trying to be with nobody but her. She the headache I don’t ever want to stop having.” I took one last puff of the blunt before passing it to Fabian. “I don’t know what else to do. She doesn’t want anything to do with the cartel, and I run that motherfucker. Probably gon’run it until I’m six feet under. Ain’t no other options for me. So where does that leave us?”
It felt good to get that all off my chest. Ro understood this shit better than anyone, and he never passed judgment. Even when I was doing something stupid, he was there helping me fix it. Not many people were blessed to have the brotherhood we had. The more I thought about it, the more guilt clouded my mind. I needed to be one hundred with my boy and tell him the truth about Samara and my situation. He was gon’ be pissed, but he didn’t have a choice but to understand. We’d done this shit for him.
“I don’t know what to tell you other than kidnap her,” he joked. “I’m probably not the best motherfucker to ask for advice. You see how I got my wife.”
I shook my head.
“Samara will probably call the police on my ass if I pulled some shit like that.”
“Yeah, she would.” We shared a laugh. “Sister or not, she stubborn.”
“Fuck yeah.” I agreed.
“Keep applying that pressure. She’ll come around. I already know what color tux I’m gon’ walk her down the aisle in.”
There went that fucking guilty feeling again. There was no need to lie about it anymore since the divorce would be final soon.
“I appreciate it.” I took a deep breath. “I need to be one hundred about something.” Now was as good as any to come clean.
“Go ahead.” Royale stared at me.
“Samara and I are—”
“This nigga up here crying over Samara, ain’t he?” Polo interrupted me as he entered our section. “You invited us out to the strip club to kick it, but I’m not seeing nan ass bouncing inthis section.” His loud mouth ass was already faded. I could tell by the tone in his voice.
“Try being with his simping ass almost every day!” Fabian cosigned, making everyone snicker.
“Sup, bro!” I ignored them all and greeted my brother. We dapped each other up before he dapped Fabian and Ro. Polo was everything I used to be back in the day. Loud, flashy, and turned the hell up. Well, I was still flashy, but his ass had me beat on everything else.
“Must you come in here with that loud shit?” I teased him.
“Man, you just finish simping, so we can get some naked ass in this bitch.” Polo waved me off. “I did not come out here to talk that mushy shit with y’all niggas all night.”
“Finally, somebody said it,” Fabian interjected.
“Fuck both y’all niggas.” I threw them both the middle finger.
“Don’t trip off them lonely ass niggas. We’ll talk later.” Royale grinned.
“Definitely don’t include me on that call. Old, in love ass niggas,” Polo mumbled. Royale and I burst out laughing at his bitter ass.
“You only feel that way because Contessa ain’t giving you no play.” I called him out.
“Fuck you, bitch. Ain’t nobody thinking about that girl.” He shot back as we all laughed. This was normally how shit went when we all got together. Just a bunch of jokes and shit talking. A trail of women entered our section, and I knew Polo had requested them. Royale and I sat back, enjoying the views as Polo let a big bankroll of money go in the air. I had no urge to trick tonight, so I just sat back and let him do his thing.