Page 83 of Heart Of A Goon II

“There’s some shit that I need to do before I could head out. I’m gonna be there,” he promised me.

“I’ll have a je⁠—”

“I’m a grown ass man… I promise I can get myself to your island. For real, I appreciate you wanting to look out, but you don’t have to do that with me. One less muthafucka you gotta worry about,” he chuckled. “And if you wanna hold hands again, just let me know… ight?”

I snickered. “Sassy ass nigga.”

He knew what it felt like to be the oldest. Always looking out and making sure everyone was straight before yourself. You never got a break because you were always the first to fix shit.

“Just get in the whip,” Bruster told him.

Geoffrey shook his head. “Nah… not leaving here without my brother. Nigga is stubborn.”

Just like it wouldn’t have been wheels up without Don or Bruster, I could respect he couldn’t leave without them. “We’ll wait.”

“Fuck you mean? Get on that jet and go to your wife and son… I’m coming. Let my wife know that.”

“I heard you, Mr. Caselli.”

“Stop fucking with me… she coming off that Caselli name real soon,” he laughed, as he walked backwards.

Him and Quasim hit their IG shake, as he and the other freakishly tall man with locs got into the third whip.

“Take me to Won island,” I told Duke, watching the scenery bypass us, as he headed to the private airport in Philly. “I could smell her from here.”

“This gonna be a long fucking flight,” Don muttered under his breath.

ZOYA

Wonder Island

The weather wasn’t the best, and we still found ourselves sitting on the beach in lounge chairs. From the way the clouds gathered in the sky and the choppiness of the water, a storm was about to swing through. There was electricity on the island, however, it wasn’t as stable as back home. The smallest gust of wind or storm could knock out the power and leave us in the dark. Other than a few light storms in the afternoon, we had been good.

“The lights are on back home,” Navy looked up from her computer with a smile. “Nana just texted me.”

Greene sighed. “She could have been on this beautiful island with electricity.”

Navy and Greene’s grandparents stayed behind. They didn’t want to come to the island and that was their right. Soon as Don heard they weren’t going, he had security put at their house.

“You know how stubborn they were. We were literally telling them it was an emergency and they refused to listen.”

Greene shrugged. “And your parents?”

“Now you know my mother wasn’t going nowhere if her mother wasn’t. Same reason your mother stayed behind, too,” Navy called her cousin out.

“They want Menace. Probably don’t even know your family exists. I’d like to think they’re safe,” I spoke, as I looked up from reading my book.

I understood why Menace required quiet hour. When I came out here alone with my book, I expected that I would have remained alone. Not even twenty minutes into enjoying the wind and the view, Navy came out here.

She was recording a video for a book she had finished and was loud with her different takes of the damn video. Each time she messed up, she would suck her teeth loudly and mutter something.

As soon as I got used to her talking to herself while filming her video, then Green came out with her laptop. The sound of her fingers moving across that screen had me about to strangle her ass.

They both were looking at me like I had seven heads. “So, fuck our family. They’re not important?” Greene accused.

First, she was around Menace too much. Second, she needed to understand how important it was that her family was not important. If she wanted her grandma to keep dancing at block parties every Sunday, she wouldn’t have been as offended as she was.

I stared at them both blankly, annoyed that I was being interrupted from reading my book again. “Well yes. When it comes to wanting to put a bullet into your skull, or any person connected to you, they’re way down on the totem pole. I could have someone snipe me right now because that’s how high up I am, and how important I am to Menace. So, yeah, being important isn’t all what it’s cracked up to be.”