Page 3 of Disrespectfully, Relic
“No, she don’t! Grann Judy doesn’t say stuff like that. When I ask her to tell me about when you were a kid, she says that she don’t remember or to ask Uncle Shabu. She gave me a picture of you, though!”
Jahleel tossed his controller on the bed and took off toward his dresser—yanking his top drawer open to shuffle through its contents. Relic watched, befuddled.
He grappled with digesting his son’s words since Judith sending Jahleel to Shabu for answers was a courtesy he hadn’t expected. Relic assumed she’d muddy his name the moment an opportunity presented itself. Judith had made it her mission to warp her version of their past into one that made her the saint and him the villain in every aspect, the same way she’d done Joseph. Their mother, son relationship was nonexistent unless it pertained to the restaurant.
“Look!” Jahleel raced up, shoving an old polaroid picture in his face. Relic forced a smile at the image of Judith’s petite frame beside his matching pre-teen height with an arm draped across his bare shoulder. “We look just alike right here!”
“We do. I tell you all the time, you look like me, Jah.”
“I know, but I really look like you as a kid. Grann Judy said, if I had your eyes, we’d be twins.”
Relic spit out a laugh although nothing was amusing. “Oh, yea? I bet, she didn’t tell you that she doesn’t like my eyes. Your grann used to tell me all the time, I was her pitit madichon.”
“Her...” Jahleel paused, giving a subtle shake of his head while trying to figure out the dialect he’d been learning. “Her something child?”
“Her cursed child.”
His eyes ballooned and head reared back as he quizzed, “Cursed by what?”
“That’s the million-dollar question, Jah. When you find out, let me know.”
Relic murmured that while setting down the game controller before he laid back, stretching across his son’s queen-sized bed. A brewing headache from conversing about Judith, among other shit he’d rather not rehash, made his eyes shut.
“Wait, why are you laying down? We not done playing!” Jahleel griped, evoking a faint chuckle from him.
“You got it, Jah. I need to rest because, unlike you, I got business to tend to in the morning. You better not still be in front of that game when I wake up, either.”
“You’re staying in here with me?”
“Yea,” he answered, peeking open an eye to see his son cheesing as he reclaimed his seat.
“Okay, bet!”
Jahleel’s excitement made Relic smirk before resting his hands behind his head, allowing his body to relax in a manner it wouldn’t when he was tossing and turning on his king-sized mattress. Not even Egyptian cotton sheets could bring him an ease like seeing his son happy and carefree could. His main goal since finding out about Jahleel was ensuring that didn’t change.
“Relic! Relic, can you hear me? Somebody’s at the door!”
Jahleel shouting in the distance made Relic scoff as he lifted his head—his gaze focusing on his reflection in the mirror as he rolled his electric toothbrush around his mouth. The light eyes glaring back at him caused his nostrils to flare before he lowered toward the sink, spitting out his excess toothpaste while turning on the water to rinse away the gunk. If he was right with the Lord, he’d thank Him for not giving Jahleel his hereditycurse.
Blue eyes surrounded by black skin made him the most noticeable man in a room, and if there was one thing he abhorred in his line of business, it was unwanted attention. His flagrant feature was a burden he’d gouge out with a knife if he could.
Those jinxed irises downcast to the watch glued on his wrist because time was just as important as his money. Relic huffed a breath at noticing he was behind schedule after sleeping longer than usual since Jahleel’s presence had brought him sound sleep. The unwanted guest at his door would only set his routine back further.
“Relic, what’re you doing? You take longer than a girl in the bathroom!”
His first name rolling off his son’s tongue put a grimace on his lips as he glanced over a shoulder just as Jahleel barged into the bathroom. Fatherhood came with a lack of privacy he hadn’t grown accustomed to yet. He shot his son a chastising scowl while wetting his face cloth, but Jahleel just grinned before holding out a device that Relic had left on his bed to ignore the world.
“Here. I couldn’t remember the passcode to check it myself.”
Relic took his phone before reminding Jahleel, “I set up the door camera app on yours for a reason. Why didn’t you check that?”
“Because you’re here. I only gotta do it if I’m in danger again.”
Those words rang in Relic’s ear like a silent alarm, jolting his fucking heart and stalling his thumb on his phone screen. Knowing he was the reason Jahleel had hidden in a closet, while Jessica was shot execution style mere feet away, compressed his chest to where he avoided eye contact with his son. It was a first for him. Relic couldn’t recall a single time when looking a man square in the eyes was an issue, but his own child had pulled his bitch card with that simple reminder of his fuck up.
“Next time, check it anyway. Only the fanmi and a few associates know where we live, but that doesn’t mean shit,” he muttered, making his son nod.
Relic pulled up his full surveillance system, and his fingers clenched around his phone at the vaguely familiar but unauthorized worker shivering on his doorstep while balancing two handfuls of plastic bags. The groceries he’d requested for drop off had slipped his mind. What he hadn’t forgotten was whom he’d specifically delegated the task to since becoming more cautious of allowing anyone to his spot because of Jahleel. He placed his phone on the sink while expelling a breath because incompetence from those around him was at an all-time high.
