Page 41 of Contract With A G

Yogi had been working for Pops for so long that, to me, he was family too. He didn't talk much, he didn't demand anything, and he was just there to be at Pops every beck and call. Yogi opened the door, and I picked Pops up, putting him into the cab of my truck. I walked around, hopped inside, and took off.

"So have you called her?" he asked.

"No, I didn't call her. You said you wanted to go ask her in person."

He closed his eyes and leaned his head back like he was in pain.

"You alright? You took some pain medicine today?"

"Yeah, but it doesn’t work that well anymore. So now, I’m just dealing with the pain. I'll never be alright."

"You will be when you get to heaven."

"I'm not going to fucking heaven. Stop talking crazy, boy," he snapped.

I chuckled to myself because I knew he wasn’t lying, and I said that shit on purpose. Pops would see hell for sure, even if I didn’t. With all the shit we'd done in the streets, we'd have to beg God for forgiveness. Pops, however, was the kind of man that wouldn’t beg for shit. Not even a spot through them pearly gates.

"Why didn’t you call your sidekick Caine to come over here and help you get your shit back? You know Diamond would've given it to him too. She been wanting to fuck with that nigga too so she can say she’s slept with every Essex nigga."

"Look, Caine handles business in a different way than you do. It's always been that way, and you know it."

"Yeah, I do. So why won't you just go ahead and sign over the Essex Empire to him then? Stop making him run around here trying to figure out if he's going to be the next up on the throne when you already know he is. Obviously, it isn’t easy for any of us to have a son. As many bitches I've fucked, you think I would have a son by now or at least twenty daughters. I’m starting to think my soldiers don't even march anymore after making Mirical."

"Soldiers won't march without a strong general. You know that, right?"

"Yeah, I guess, but what is the reason you only had a daughter? You not a strong general either?"

He looked at me out of the corner of his eye with the same look he always gave me anytime I said some slick shit he didn't like. Back in the day, Pops was known to grab me up by my collar and throw me against a wall. That was until I got bigger and stronger than his ass. He couldn’t make me move an inch once I turned eighteen, and he sure as hell couldn’t do shit with me now.

"You know, Duke, you always talking about Caine wanting the business and the empire, but why have you never wanted it for yourself?"

I laughed.

"You know I ain't cut out for no shit like that."

"Says who? You have to want it, son. You or your dumb ass brother Easy never fought for shit but street credibility and whores. Other than that, y’all want shit to be handed to you. You never want to work for anything. I told y'all to put your Johnsons in a bitch and make me a great grandson to carry on my name, but even that's too much work for you niggas.” He coughed into a napkin.

“I mean, that is the same shit you two do every day anyway but can’t do it for the betterment of your family. You leave it up to Caine to accomplish, as you do everything else."

"If that’s what you say, Pops. We all know you're rooting for Caine to come up, be next in line, and run the business. He's the businessman, and you just admitted that shit, right? So why would I interfere with what you want to be destiny anyway?” I looked over at him as I gripped the steering wheel.

"Yeah, Caine is my smartest grandson, but never underestimate yourself, Dukarii. You are the most like me, boy. And look at the power I have accumulated."

I looked over at grandpa, then back at the road, because I didn’t even know how to respond to what he'd just said. My whole life I figured he would never want to see me or Easy take over his businesses. I guess I was wrong. Either that, or this nigga is on some helluva pain meds.

Pops closed his eyes, still moving his face every time pain hit him. I always looked at cancer differently than I do now because of him. He wasn’t lying in a bed, letting that shit kill him slowly. He was still trying to be strong and showing me that Cancer doesn’t make you weak. Your mentality does. They only gave him months to live, but the way Grandpops acts, he will be here much longer than that.

We rode in silence for the rest of the ride and pulled up to the Wilshire apartments where Diamond lived. Once I pulled outside her building, I called her, and it rang a few times before she answered.

"How can I help you, Big Duke?"

"Where you at?"

"I'm at the club. I had to come clean my locker out."

"Why, you got fired?"

"No, I just got Princess to make me some more outfits, and I'm getting rid of the ones that are up here. What you need?" she asked.