Page 26 of Disrespectfully, Relic
“You told me it wasn’t boss-like to hire you without doing my homework, so I did,” he cut her off to state as if it weren’t a big deal. “I found out some interesting shit, but not as much as I’d like, so I need you to fill in the gaps. Tell me the full story about your brother’s passing.”
Kennedy slouched in her seat and gnawed her inner jaw at his request. He was chartering into territory she didn’t speak on with anyone outside of her nephew. Koda was sacred. Her brother’s illicit lifestyle wasn’t one she spoke about in leisure, and their special talks weren’t meant for sharing with the world. With Relic being in the same line of business; he knew that of all people.
“I’ll pass,” she murmured, peering around the suffocating room that she wished she hadn’t entered.
“One mention of your brother, and you’re folding. Look at me, Kennedy. I like it when you give me the eye contact I know he taught you.”
Her lids fluttered over damp eyes before finding the demanding voice that was closer than before. The lady was strolling away, while Relic was sauntering so close that she could smell the luring scent of his cologne. Bergamot with a hint of sandalwood. Her stomach churned as he reached her chair and rested a hand on each arm, trapping her in place while leering at her with the icy eyes that made bitches moist and niggas march to his powerful drum. She sat up to return the gesture, refusing to fold a second time.
“That’s what I’m talking ‘bout. Keep that fucking energy.” A set of pearly teeth emerged from behind his full lips, causing a flittering in her belly. “How about a secret for a secret. I’ll give you something, and you give me that.”
“There’s nothing I want to know.”
“Let that be the first and last time that you lie to me, Kennedy.”
Her stomach tanked before she glanced away and swallowed the sudden knot in her throat. The uneasiness cloaking her doubled when Relic cupped her chin to direct her eyes back on his.
“Now, ask me what you want to know.”
“Why are you so eager to hear about my brother?”
“Let’s just say, there’s a magic survival number in the game. Thirty. Your brother didn’t make it past that and neither did my mentor. I’ll be thirty-one this year.”
“If you make it past thirty,” she concluded, catching a flicker of emotion in his eyes that left as fast as it’d come. A sigh spilled from her before she asked, “How did your mentor die?”
Relic huffed a breath with his thumb grazing her cheek burns like it was natural, while a mental game of tug of war ensued in his head. He couldn’t determine whether to starve her with lies or to feed her truths to gain the information he desired. The latter won because her past held more value than his.
“I killed Bishop because he tried to pop Los behind a bitch. I fucked his sister the same night as an alibi, and she went to bat for my innocence. Harmony is the reason I’m still breathing.”
He left it at that instead of expounding on the fact that Harmony was dumb because she’d thought with her heart and the wet slit between her thighs rather than her brain. A part of him believed she’d known the truth but had rather believed the lie.
“Wow. That wasn’t what I expected to hear. Is she the one that fucked Los?”
Kennedy catching on to that from Pierre mentioning his two exes vexed him, but he didn’t show it. “Yea,” he uttered, and she nodded.
“What was she like?”
“Wild, spoiled, and more focused on finding love through her pussy than getting money with the skills her brother had taught her. She was nothing like you.”
His confession made Kennedy tuck her lips before pushing them outward with a heavy exhale. She flipped her hand palm up, placing a finger in the center to explain the night of her brother’s death in the same terms Koda would’ve broken it down to her.
“Koda went out guns blazing a week after his thirtieth birthday. He had this big ass party, but when it was time to go, he was drunk off his ass. So were his pawns.” Her finger swiped across her imaginary chess board to knock away the pieces on the front line. “Tekken’s mom died during childbirth, and my brother took that loss heavy. No queen.” She picked up another imaginary piece off the board to toss over her shoulder. “His knight and bishop were home with their families because, even though they held him down, they had bowed out of the game before him. I guess, they cared about that magic number more than my brother.”
Los. Relic immediately thought of his cousin leaving the game after getting shot while grabbing a pregnant Nubia ice cream from the corner store. His folks still came through whenever he called, but Los had played it safe since then.
“Your brother was wide open,” he surmised, dissecting her imaginary board. It struck him, he lacked even more pieces than Koda.
“Yes. By the time anyone noticed what was happening, it was too late. They got the guys, but my brother went down first. Checkmate.”
“Where were you?”
Kennedy blinked, taken aback by his question. Her tongue grazed across her top row of teeth when that night flashed through her mind. She and Tekken had sat up all night, waiting for Koda to walk through the door, but it never happened.
“I was supposed to go, but Koda changed his mind at the last minute. He always wanted me home, even though I was old enough to roll with him by then. I should’ve pushed harder to go since I knew he’d get wasted and that his people wouldn’t watch him like they should. I always told him that, but he didn’t see it. I swear, as much as he taught me, sometimes I still saw the board clearer than he did.”
“Two eyes are better than one,” Relic stated before he stood. “Take a ride with me.”
“What?”
