Page 32 of Merci

“Hey, Cujo,” Ariel spoke, voice syrupy and light.

“Wassup, pooh?”

“Pooh?” Hammer and I parroted at the same time, making them laugh.

“Y’all should be talking to each other, not listening to me,” Cujo said with a smile.

I knew that was true, but it didn’t stop me from avoiding Hammer’s eyes. He made his way in front of me and tilted my head by my chin. The more I looked into his eyes, the more I wanted to cry.

“Ms. Merci,” was all he said, and I crumbled in his arms. Hammer sat down and set me on his lap. When he tried to look at me, I held him tighter and buried my face in his neck. “Sweetheart…”

“I’ma cry.”

He chuckled. “Why?”

“I miss you.”

Hammer kissed my neck. “I miss you too.” His hands stroked my back, providing a comfort I felt like I’d been robbed of for the last month. “Think about you every day,” he confessed against my ear. “I didn’t realize I was just existing until I met you. That was the first time I started to live. Since you’ve been gone, lifeain’t been the same. It feels like the sun has been stripped away. All I have now is darkness.”

Shifting my face slightly, I looked into his eyes. “Hammer, I?—”

“Aw hell,” Ariel said. “Don’t tell me you invited your brothers here.”

“Oh shit! I told them where we’d be when I was talking to Heir on my way here. I completely forgot.”

When I tried to lift myself from Hammer’s lap, he held me there. After kissing my neck, he said, “It’s time,” and for some reason, that made my heart drop.

“Oh, so we finally get to meetyo’ man, yo’ man, yo’ man,” Marz said, rubbing the palms of his hands together.

I laughed as I stood and hugged Heir and then my brothers.

“That wasn’t the plan. I didn’t know he and his brother would be here, but I guess it’s time.”

Hammer stood and extended his hand for them to shake.

“Hammer,” he spoke, looking over at Cujo. “That’s my brother Cujo.”

“The one that beat Raheem’s ass?” Neptune confirmed, shaking Hammer’s hand.

“The one and only,” Cujo replied with his signature mug, walking over to shake their hands as well.

Marz looked from one brother to the other. “Y’all names aren’t familiar, but your faces are. Who y’all daddy?”

“You wouldn’t know us or him, but your daddy does,” Hammer replied. “Gatlin. Gatlin Freeman.”

That was a name I knew all too well. I wasn’t even born when that shit went down, but I knew that situation was how my parents reconnected. Daddy had killed Gatlin and Bart because of a beef Bart had with Rey.

“Wait.” My hands trembled as they lifted while I put space between us. “Your father is Gatlin? The man my daddy killed?”

“Yeah,” Hammer replied casually, as if he didn’t care at all.

“You on some get-back shit, my nigga?” Marz questioned, pulling me behind him while Neptune grabbed Ariel. “I know yo’ folks been on that for a while when it comes to my Pops. They love talking shit about how they gon’ get revenge for him taking your people out. And I’m supposed to believe that ain’t your intention?”

“It don’t matter if you believe that or not. I’m telling you what it is,” Hammer said. “They might feel some type of way over what Merc did, but I don’t.”

“Nah, that’s bullshit,” Neptune countered. “Ain’t no way you don’t want revenge behind that. You probably been plotting and waiting for the chance to get at my pops through my sister. You can’t convince me that ain’t the type of time you on.”

When I felt Marz reaching for his gun, I gripped his wrist and stared up at him with wide eyes.