“I’m just fucking with you. Come on so I can drink in your face.”
She snickered. “You're such an asshole.”
Lo had to admit that this had been one of the best vacations he’d had the pleasure of being on. There had been no Mob business, no killing, and no lab work. Just him, his baby, and family. There were no threats against their lives, so they were able to relax without paranoia. They went into town with the locals. They’d shopped, ate, and swam with the dolphins. Lo had even snorkeled and took Bria for a spin on the jet skis. It was their final night in Isla Mujeres and Lo was finally ready to reveal to his brothers the proposal the chiefs had presented him with.
He found them in the game room playing pool. Axel sat on the stool while Devyn and Meco talked shit to each other.
“You ‘bout to come off that bread, Dev,” Meco warned, positioning his pool stick in his hand while eyeing the corner pocket.
“You definitely about to miss.”
“Aye, I need to holla at y’all about something,” Lo announced.
Meco peered at him then stood up straight. “About what?”
Lo took a seat on the stool. His legs gaped as his foot rested on the bar.
“Y’all remember when the chiefs said they wanted to see me?”
“Oh yeah? What was that about?” Devyn asked, giving him his full attention.
“They offered me a position to come work with them.”
Meco’s brows furrowed as he looked to Devyn then back at Lo. “Work with them? What the fuck they mean by that?”
“Like join their family?” Axel asked.
“No, like handle niggas for them but I’ll be on my own, basically.”
“So, you won’t be in the family no more?” Devyn asked.
The expression on his face evoked a bit of guilt. Devyn rarely showed emotion in the capacity of him being hurt. Meco would express his pain all day to him, but Devyn never did.
“Yeah.”
“And what you say?” Meco asked.
“I didn’t say shit. They told me to think about it so I’m doing it.”
Meco tossed the pool stick on the table before folding his arms over his chest. Lo knew him well enough to know that the bullshit was set to arrive at any moment.
“You should’ve told them no. What the fuck you need time to think about that for? You're a Crown, nigga,” Devyn reminded him.
Lo’s eyes seared into him. “I know what the fuck I am.”
“Then act like it,” Devyn retorted, throwing the stick on top of the table. “They got access to all kinds of men. They don't need to be coming to collect you.”
Meco chuckled condescendingly. “I don't know why you wasting your time with this man. You know it ain't shit for him to leave us behind.”
That was a gut punch that almost made Lo double over. His brothers’ inability to not see life through his lens wasfrustrating. Not to mention, they swept his trauma under the rug as if it hadn’t shaped him into the man he was to this day.
“Did I say I was leaving you behind?” Lo roared, veins poking out of his neck. “I’m letting y’all know what’s going on but y’all too fucking selfish to hear a nigga out.”
“Man, we know how this shit about to go. You're going to take the position.” Meco was certain.
“And if I did? You act like I’m moving to another fucking country or some shit.”
“Pops taught us to always stick together,” Devyn preached.
