Page 5 of Soft On Her
Losing Milani and dropping two bodies to protect her altered my brain chemistry in the most sinister way and helped me choose the path for my future. I wanted to fill my father’s shoes and run shit how I saw fit. And one day, I prayed I would have the connections and resources to figure out where Milani and Janice disappeared to, because it definitely wasn’t into thin air like my father and his men swore.
Present Day
Beads of sweat formed on my forehead and slid down my chest as the scorching Florida summer sun beat down on me during my two mile morning run. The lyrics fromChains & Whipsby The Clipse were suddenly interrupted when a call from my best friend Quinn was announced through my AirPods. After my gap year, Sand Cranes suffocated me; every corner was steeped in memories of Milani that I couldn’t handle anymore. Especially when I didn’t know where she was and if she was okay. While attending Georgia Tech, I met the geeky stem with the oversized glasses, baggy clothes, and a silk press better than mine. Our meeting wasn’t by happenstance. I sought Quinn out after hearing how she hacked into one of my classmates’ boyfriends’ security cameras for a fee.
My best friend held a PhD in Cybersecurity, and I can admit my intentions for getting to know Quinn were strictly business. She had the skills to help me find Milani, and I had the money to help her finish graduate school debt free. My father had his people looking into their disappearance, but I wanted to tap into someone outside of the four families to get the job done.
Quinn was from Nashville, and I felt like I could trust her with that task without wondering if my father or the four families influenced the results I received. After getting to know Quinn, I knew she was the perfect person for the task at hand. When Quinn wasn’t attending school, she was moonlighting as a private investigator, helping families find their missing loved ones. Quinn was born a twin, but her sister went missing when they were fourteen, and she turned up in a morgue three years later. They still didn’t have answers about what happened, and Quinn made it her life’s mission to offer investigative services to families who found themselves in the same position her family had been in, unable to hire a private investigator when the police decided to mark a missing Black teen as a runaway before completing a thorough investigation.
Prior to meeting Quinn, I had doubts about the story the four families told about Milani and Janice’s disappearance. However, we were in year nine since they went missing and year eight since Quinn was tasked with finding them, and we still didn’t have answers. I’d been around to witness Quinn provide answers to every family that either paid for her services or received them pro bono. There wasn’t a single family she encountered that could say Quinn didn’t come through, whether the news was joyful or grim. Well, except for me. Even Quinn’s unorthodox and illegal means hadn’t been able to find a single clue as to what happened to Janice and Milani.
My phone rested in the arm band attached to my right arm. I twisted it toward me and pressed the red button, ignoring thecall. Pushing through my run, I increased my speed to work off some steam. I’d call Quinn back later when I was in a better mood. We weren’t back from my birthday vacation for twenty-four hours, and the business was already giving me a headache.
From the moment I opened my eyes that morning, I’d been hit with bad news. One of our trucks was unaccounted for, and the men who were transporting it disappeared without a trace. Just my luck, it was a truck carrying a load for the Clayton family, and they woke me up bitching and complaining like they just watched their last lifeline go down the drain and wouldn’t be able to make rent. They were a smaller family that joined our coalition a few years ago through a marriage that connected the Claytons to the Harris family.
I couldn’t really say for sure because I never gave a fuck about attending events after Milani went missing. Sitting with Milani and talking shit about everybody in attendance who was putting up a front while their homes were in shambles was the highlight of those events. It didn’t hit the same at all without Milani. Terrel would be trying to trick somebody’s silly ass daughter out of her panties, and Levi just sat silent and observed. My parents did all of the politicking and fake smiling; I just wanted to move the guns and watch the money pile up.
When I made it back onto the compound, I greeted the men at the gate as I jogged in place. They opened the gate, and I jogged up the street, veering to the right, and up the first driveway on our street. After my graduation party turned into a deadly gunfight, my parents transformed the empty fourth home into a shared space for everyone. They knocked down the walls on the first floor and created a party hall, where all family events were held. On the second floor, there was a fully equipped gym, a private theater room, an arcade, a library, and a cigar lounge. After keying in the code, I ascended the stairs, grabbed a towelfrom the rack near the entrance to wipe the sweat off, then dropped to the mat and moved straight into a quick core routine.
The low whizzing of a golf cart and my father’s deep voice outside let me know he was about to come up here and piss me off too. His out of shape ass never came over here in the middle of the day to work out. He only came when he knew I was here.
“Let me go grab Sneaux for you,” he announced once he was inside.
I held my plank, happy that I was close to finishing up because I already knew what my pops was on.
“In a minute, I’m going to turn one of the vacant rooms in my house into a gym. I can never come in here to work out in peace. If it’s not you coming to talk business, it’s Mom coming in here to gossip. I bless y’all with my presence for breakfast after I work out and shower every morning, so the constant interruptions are beyond me,” I gritted out when I heard him enter the gym. If I didn’t have another thirty seconds to hold the plank, I would’ve laid into him harder, but I was focused on my form.
“Well, good morning to you, too, Sneaux. Deja is here to see you,” he remarked, stepping further into the room until he was right in front of my mat.
Falling flat on my stomach, I turned over on my back and scowled up at my father. He was already dressed for the day in a perfectly tailored black suit and a pair of Louboutin loafers. Even with one foot in retirement, waking up and dressing in a tailored suit was a part of his personality. Unless we were on vacation or doing something athletic, my father would have on his suit.
“Why do you have to look evil all the damn time?” He chuckled, peering down at me.
“Because you blowing me early this morning. My phone has been going nonstop since I woke up. I haven’t even eaten breakfast yet, and here you go.”
“What happened that your phone is blowing up? I can always come in today,” he offered.
“If I had a dick between my legs would you be offering to help me figure the shit out?”
He opened his mouth then closed it again. “Exactly. I can’t have my daddy thinking he can step in to clean up messes for me. That’s making me look weaker than some of these niggas already think I am.”
“Understood.”
“Good. Now, back to the real issue at hand. I don’t know why you keep entertaining Deja’s father. Deja is fake gay, and Ion have time for the bullshit,” I groaned, my chest heaving up and down while I caught my breath.
“I don’t understand the problem. The only difference is it’s between two women. Mikel didn’t even know Jericka before their parents cut a deal for their marriage,” he responded, referring to Terrel’s ex-best friend and his new fiancée, who were scheduled to be wed in a few months.
Our friendship with Mikel was never the same after my graduation party. There was distrust on both sides of the aisle. Mikel thought there was a possibility that my father had something to do with their disappearance since he was the last person to see them alive. All of our parents were very scarce on the details of what happened that day. However, I wasn’t so sure that Mikel’s family didn’t have something to do with it. Everybody within the four families knew that the elders in the Harris family never fully welcomed Janice into their family. In fact, they went great lengths to make sure that Janice knew they didn’t fuck with her like that.
My father walked over to the full size fridge and retrieved a bottle of water. I sat up and grabbed the towel to clean off my sweaty forehead. “It’s different because Deja doesn’t like women. Never had a girlfriend. Never ate pussy. I’m not aboutto play with her. I don’t care how much she claims she has had a crush on me and would be open to the union,” I laughed.
“According to her father you’ve been standoffish to her during previous interactions. Are you sure you’re not projecting? Besides, her father said she’s always been bisexual,” he clarified. “They aren’t even from here. How can you dispute her past life?”
I rolled my eyes because I didn’t believe that she was bisexual. Deja was just willing to make sacrifices to change her family’s position in the hierarchy. Most parents in our world weren’t as liberal and understanding as my father. Their children were pawns, each with a role to play in continuing their family’s legacy. He’d always let it be known that I could do whatever the fuck I wanted to do with my life. I didn’t have to take a role within the organization. College, money to start a business, or anything else was on the table for my future. My role within the organization was always optional. That wasn’t the case for a lot of other people in our world.
“Listen, when y’all sit around and plan hetero arranged marriages, at least the women like dick. That’s the difference. We both know Deja’s family would be catapulted to another stratosphere if we get married. Plus, Deja being a widow and single mom makes her damaged goods in most families’ eyes. I’m a lesbian, also damaged goods in their eyes.”
“Who the fuck called you damaged goods?” My father’s fists instantly balled, and his eyes narrowed in on me.
