Page 136 of Heart Of A Goon II

I stared at her. “You hanging around moms too damn much. They not even gonna think that.”

“Uh huh… until they saying it under their breath or y’all get to talking like Sebastian again.”

“Yo, fuck up.” I kissed her neck, as she held onto me, and we sat in the video. “I want to show you home.”

“Weren’t you born in America though?”

“Not home… Jamaica has been home. I want you to witness it through my family’s eyes. Moms ain’t been home since she lost her leg… I want to do this for her. Khaos and Inez haven’t been in a while. They need to be around our elders.”

“I’m nervous and excited at the same time,” she admitted.

Kissing her lips, I said, “I want to bring our baby back as often as possible. Want my grandparents to know my pickney.”

“My baby ain’t no damn pitbull.” I kissed her before scooting from behind and leaving her on the damn floor.

“Pack yo’ damn clothes, Zoya.”

I left her silly ass laughing on the floor as I left to head to her brother’s house. Inez had been going through withdrawals there, and from what I’d heard of it, she sounded like she had the demon up in her.

Corleon convincing me to let him take care of her was the best solution. I couldn’t imagine my mother and Boobie having to handle that. She was already throwing up with chills when she was at our villa.

“Hey Goon,” Jeffie greeted me as she came from the kitchen with a hot bowl.

She went into the dining room, and Inez was sitting up at the table. The last few times I had been over here, she was locked in that room with Corleon sitting in there. She was pleading with him to take the pain away.

“I’m not hungry.”

“I didn’t ask if you were hungry. You need something on your stomach and electrolytes.” Jeffie sat down across from her and went back to working on her laptop.

“Came to yell at me and say this is all my fault like Kenneth?”

I leaned in the archway. “Nah.”

“Then why are you here, Goo?”

“Cause he cares about you, but you are too selfish to see the shit,” Corleon came into the dining room and kissed Jeffie on the lips, while going over and checking Inez’s temperature.

Her entire act straightened up when he entered the room. All of a sudden, her appearance mattered. She was fluffing her hair and fixing the old vintage Pepsi t-shirt. I peeped that shit when we were at his house when shit first went down.

“Her fever has come down, so you should be good to travel tomorrow,” Jeffie told me, never looking up from her laptop.

I left Inez to finish her soup while going to look for Menace. I was surprised when I found him sitting in the sand with his son. They both had their hands shoved into the sand and were playing with it.

“Relaxing?” I took a seat on the steps next to where he sat.

“Yeah. I don’t like when it sticks to my fucking hands though.” He swiped it off on his pants.

Knowing his ass, he would probably burn them later. I looked out at the ocean and felt this sense of peace. Bringing my mom back home was real big for me. She and my aunt used to visit back home together, but once she got sick and then lost her leg she refused. My aunt offered to help her, and she didn’t want to be a burden on her.

Instead, she was reduced to facetime calls whenever Maxine visited. The service was spotty as hell, so she couldn’t even depend on those video calls. I could tell she missed her parents and with them getting older, I didn’t want too much time to past without her seeing them.

Shit, me included.

It had been a while since I went to visit them. I enjoyed being off the map with them. My grandmother was always humming while cooking mad food. It was just her and my grandfather, and she cooked like her kids were still home.

“I want to marry your sister,” I broke the silence.

Neither of us looked at each other. “I’m already knowing.”