Page 175 of The Ninth

“Thank you, Duke. And dad, I dyed it months ago. This is all still my hair; I just have tape-ins added to make it look fuller if that makes sense.”

“It doesn’t. None of this does. I don’t understand how you could move here and find a gun toting nigga that has you wearing tight clothes and changing your hair. Why you would ever move to a city and not call and check up on your family? How could you just not return your mother’s calls? She needs you!”

“She needs me? Dad...why did you come here?”

“I covered Cook County for a week or two about two months ago. There was a riot and the “head inmate in charge” sent the jailers after me and other guards. I had to give a report.”

From the corner of my eye, I could see K3 counting back the weeks on his fingers. Cassie nudged him as Duke shook his head.

“You and Cassandra’s grandmother is showing signs of early onset dementia and it’s advancing quickly. She’s doing things like leaving the stove on, leaving her door open or just getting in her car and driving off.”

“Oh wow...” Cassandra whispered. Her hand found my back, rubbing it softly.

“Is mom okay?”

My dad shook his head once, “She’s trying to be. You know how she can get. It’s always been us four in Jeffersonville. It hurts losing a piece of our family.”

I felt a sting in my chest for Cassandra. Her head immediately ducked down but didn’t stay there for long. K3 picked her chin up, kissing her in front of all of us.

That was the nasty truth. Everyone in Jeffersonville always considered us to have a separate family from Cassie, Aunt Tami and Uncle Cash. The way he said it was as if their death didn’t impact us at all but Grandmother’s will.

“Anyways, your mother could use some help. You’ll need to come home to Jeffersonville or we move here so you can be there for them.”

Duke who was already sitting straight sat even straighter. Cassie’s hand stopped rubbing on my back. Instead, her fingers clasped around my side, almost as if she was pulling me away from him and towards her. My dad casually put calamari on his plate, eating as if he wasn’t ruining my world.

"Dad, mom doesn’t work. She’s able to stay with grandmother full-time, why does she need me to come back? I’m a grown adult; I don’t want to live with you all anymore. I’ve started an entirely separate life.”

“You went from staying with us to staying with Cassandra. Obviously you haven’t gotten on your feet that much. You’re exactly the same as we left you besides your choice of men and hair.”

My eyes welled up, “That’s not true....I found a tattoo shop. My name is on the door! I have my own booth! Cassandra has even offered me to tattoo out of her salon. I have a separate life here. I don’t want to be with you guys getting bossed around or picked apart. You’ve caused me more anxiety in the past twenty-four hours than I’ve experienced in months. I love my cousin. I love K3, Tati, and McKenzie. I’m in love with Duke. You can’t just come here and shit on everything I’ve worked so hard to achieve and maintain. I’m not coming back! I don’t want you to come here and force me to live with you all. No. No, Dad. I won’t. I’m fucking twenty-eight! You can’t make me. You can’—”

“Devyn.”

At this point, my face was soaking wet. A few people around us were looking at me. Duke’s deep voice cut me off mid rant. I looked over at him, panting heavily. He was leaned back into the seat with a glass in his hand. After taking a long sip, he sat it down before dusting his lap off.

“Come here.”

All of us looked to him. The only person’s gaze he returned was mine. He was serious and the three of us outside of my dad didn’t want to see what would happened if I remained seated. The only thing was...I was trapped.

“Dad, just let me up.”

After staring at Duke long and hard, he slid out of the booth with me following behind him. Duke’s eyes tracked me as I made my way to him. Instead of standing or scooting over, he just politely grabbed my hip, sitting me on his lap. Before I could tell him maybe we shouldn’t, his hand was on my face.

The anger, the sadness, the nervousness all left my body when our lips connected. Duke told me it would be okay and it wasn’t until this moment that I believed him. Nobody is going to force me or guilt me into doing anything that I do not want to do. Not while I’m Duke’s.

“Your daughter is gorgeous...” Duke said, looking at my father who was seething. “I plan on spending the rest of my life with her, so her burdens are now mine. She expressed she doesn’t want to move back, and I feel the same. So we won’t. Devyn has established herself in Chicago as an amazing tattoo artist. I have several pictures of her work if you want to se—”

“I don’t want to see that bullshit!” my father barked.

Duke clenched, “That’s fine. Just know it’s amazing and so is she. We can’t force you not to move to Chicago. I’m sure she would love having you just a drive away since she speaks about you all the time. However, her life will not be disrupted. She will continue taking my card, doing whatever her heart desires that day. Laying around. Tattooing. Spending time with her cousin and friends. Her dreams aren’t going to stop so that she could be home with her family yet again. Her mother taking care of her mother may be very emotional for her. I’d be glad to find and pay for a home aid to help he—”

“I don’t want shit from you or your fucking drug money. You came here thinking you were finding yourself but really you just duplicated Cassandra’s life. Yeah she’s with a pill slanging street nigga, but that’s who she is. That’s who her mother was. That’s not you. She has a salon, something of her own. You don’t have anything. You’re just aimlessly following after her in Chicago. If you don’t come back with us, then we’re done. I won’t be around this.”

K3 chuckled, “Cassandra has her own salon because her husband bought it for her with his pill slanging money. My shorty deserved it and I’d sell pills to a recovering addict before she went without. I just got out of Cook County. My life choices and what I’ve done put me in there. My brother has never a day in his life sold a pill or any other drug. What he did do is take care of my wife and your daughter for months while I was gone. Years for Cassandra. It’s crazy for me and Cassie to hear you speak down on him when you’ve actually sold drugs. You don’t think I remember all them times Cash fronted you pills and I had to be the one to meet you at the state lines? If he was alive, you’d still owe that man money right now. I been had asked to murk you over them fees but he charged them all because y’all family. A nigga smuggling in pills into a jail and hiding it from his family is worse than a man watching over his family while owning a tattoo shop with his own money. Diego gon be straight with us. We’re her family. She ain’t taking care of that old lady with your shorty, folks. I think it’s time you head back home, because you done said a lil too much directed to my wife that I’m not sure I’m willing to forgive. Get far away before I finish this food. Consider this your headstart.”

“Papa...” Cassandra whispered. They stared into each other’s eyes as my father sat with his mouth dropped open.

“Here, Crybaby. Don’t let your food get cold.”