Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 73556 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 368(@200wpm)___ 294(@250wpm)___ 245(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 73556 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 368(@200wpm)___ 294(@250wpm)___ 245(@300wpm)
“I figured your father was sayin’ that because you were precocious. Naw, your father said it wasn’t that at all. He told me, ‘My father is the beast, honey, and he’s marked our boy. We gotta watch Roman closely. He’s gonna come for him when he’s of age.’ Sure ’nough, that’s what happened.”
“Grandpa has a lot of money. He can make things go wrong with a snap of his fingers. I’m preparing for war, Mama.”
She turned abruptly to him, her blue eyes dim slits. “I thought that was the end of it, when you got yourself that good job, but I see now, I was wrong. He wants you all the same. They say whatever Grandpa Wilde wants, Grandpa Wilde gets.”
“Well, Mama, they say the same thing about me.” They stared at one another for a long while. He patted the gun that rested on his hip. “I ain’t met a motherfucker, pardon my French, who can whoop me yet. And by whoop, I ain’t just talking about a beat down. Now, I have to get going.”
He slowly got to his feet, and she followed suit. They wrapped their arms around one another and squeezed tight.
“Mama, before I go, I have one more question.”
“Okay. What is it?”
“Tell me the truth. Do you think I’m like Daddy when it comes to women?”
She looked at him curiously, then her tulip-shaped lips bowed into a pretty smile.
“I’d love to lie to you, Roman, and I’d hate to tell you the truth. But as I said earlier today, lies don’t help nobody. There’s a thin line between love and hate, as they say, too.”
“Yes ma’am, I reckon there is. See, I was told by two people, one of ’em being a close friend of mine from my Marine days, that I don’t trust women.” He paused to gauge her reaction. She remained stone-faced. “I never thought about that before it was said to me.”
“Honey,” she placed her hand along his cheek and looked into his eyes, “you’re a philanderer.” She said it like it was a shameful, pitiful thing, but she loved him anyway. “I’ve met so many women in your life, I can’t recall all their names. They say boys should sow their wild oats. Well, you’ve sewn enough oats to own a hundred percent of Quaker.” He chuckled. She smiled back at him. “You’re a looker… always been pretty. They say not to call boys pretty, but you were, and you are. Used to get mistaken for Cherokee as a lil’ boy. Even as a baby, people would talk about how beautiful you were. Those big ol’ light cinnamon eyes… the dimples… cleft chin… the dark, raven hair.”
He smiled sadly for her words didn’t feel like a compliment… more like a curse that he abused and misused. “And you’ve got a pretty brain, too. Just as smart as you wanna be,” she added.
“But some say I was the black sheep. That ain’t pretty at all, now is it?”
“Depends on who you ask, I imagine. You don’t like rules, but you pretend to follow them until you get what you want. I’ve told you more than once that you were a difficult child—and some of that was my and ya daddy’s fault. That’s why I never held it against you when you told me that you hated me, son, and that I was an awful mother. Yeah, it hurt me when you said it, and I cried for days, but afterwards, I understood that you were coming from a place of hurt, too. Disappointment. You were troubled. All my children are troubled.” She dropped her gaze and shook her head.
“Am I still troubled, Mama? Or, am I just trouble?”
“I’d say you’re both, like two sides of a coin. I just want you to be happy, Roman, troubled black sheep or not. That’s all I want for all my boys, honey. And it’s a shame, ’cause none of y’all truly happy. Jordan and Dakota got their woes and problems, and here you are, lookin’ like you’re sitting on top of the world, but it’s lonely up there at the top all by yourself, huh?”
“Mama, you didn’t directly answer my question, but you did answer it in your own way.” He took her hand and kissed it before he left out the door, just as Grandpa Wilde used to do…
CHAPTER SIX
Receive One’s Just Desserts
Potente Restaurant was a local Italian restaurant known for swanky vibes and fresh ingredients. Genesis had been there with a few of her girlfriends on New Year’s Eve, several years ago. It had been an evening to remember.
She removed her sunglasses from the top of her head and slid them into her purse while the valet pulled away in her white Jeep Wrangler. Roman had offered to pick her up, but she’d insisted on meeting him there instead. She’d learned the hard way, from all her dating experiences, that if things go left, you should always have your own way home on a first date, so that your night ends right. She’d stuck by that rule for many years, as it served her well.