I laid across the carpet watching Marquise trying his hardest to get up on all fours, he was just barely six months and he was already trying to crawl. I had a little bet with Enzo that Marquise would be walking before Ace and by the way things were looking right now I was definitely going to win. Marcus sat at the table helping Cori with his homework and Noah was out with Devin, Sa'vion and Dominique; all in all life had been pretty quiet since everything with Julius ended, Nico and Iman where gone, Linda was still lingering around but that had little to do with me so I was good. The only problem I can say was the District Attorney Michael Cross seemed to pop up wherever I was, he never spoke but I had the distinct feeling he was watching everything I was doing and I'm not the only person who he seemed to be stalking Devin, Enzo and Zyshaun had all seen him lurking around like he didn't have anything better to do. I sat there watching Marquise until he gave up and fell asleep on the carpet just as Noah and my brothers walked in.
"Could y'all keep it down, he literally just fell asleep." I said picking Marquise up and carrying up to his room. After putting Marquise in his crib, I walked back downstairs to find Devin, Sa'vion and Dominique all drinking. I smacked Devin in the back of the head and sat in my chair. "What did I tell you about coming over here without my nephews."
"They had a doctors appointment with Torian and I'm not allowed to go back since I almost knocked the doctor out when he stuck a big ass needle in my sons arm...... and I know it's necessary but still I hate seeing my kids in pain." Devin said. "Have you talked to Cam?"
"Not since New Year's but I'm sure he's fine if he wasn't we'd know about it, he'll call when he can." I said trying not to show that I was worried.
"When do I get to talk to Cam?" Dominique asked and the rest of us all looked at each other.
"Umm telling Cam something like this requires tact and delicate wording........ Cam isn't exactly the most level-headed one of us in fact he's probably got the shortest fuse. I'd much rather tell him face to face." I said. Sa'vion got up and walked out the door without saying anything and I looked at Devin confused because he seemed kinda pissed.
"Ayy..... that's between y'all." Devin said putting his hands up. I got up and walked outside just as Sa'vion was about to pull off.
"You good?" I asked, Sa'vion looked up at me and I could see shadows of the old him in his eyes, which cause me to get on guard.
"Look I get it..... you don't like me and I'm done trying to show you that I'm not that dude anymore. So I'll still come around to chill with my siblings and the rest of my family but me and you don't gotta say shyt to each other." Sa'vion said pissed.
"What the fuck are you talking about?" I asked confused.
"Khalil you've spent more time with Domo in the last month than you have with me since we've met and I get it you're still pissed about what Kadeem had me do to Devin and I don't blame you but I'm not going to stick around where I'm clearly not wanted." Sa'vion said his hands wrapped tightly around the steering wheel.
"Well maybe if you would've stayed a few more minutes you would've known that I was about to ask all of y'all to come to the All Star Game with me." I said.
"But that's exactly my point...... the only time you wanna be around me is when there are other people around and before you try to say you invited me over for dinner ONCE I know that was Marcus's idea. You'll go to the studio just to chill with Devin for hours, you and Dominique will spend hours just talking but when it comes to me........ I don't even get the effort." Sa'vion said.
"You're right....... everyone else may have forgiven you for what you did and I do too but I'm having a hard time forgetting." I said looked into his eyes. "I'm human and it takes a lot for me to forgive someone who's hurt one of my siblings especially Devin....... I wanna try to build something with you but it's hard for me."
"Meet me at this address Sunday morning, I feel like this is the best place to start building our relationship. I got go pick up Kylan from Staci's. " Sa'vion said.
"Umm if you want...... Friday we're having all the kids over here, you can drop Kylan off so he can get to know his cousins." I said.
"Aight and when I pick up Sunday you can just ride with us....... wear something nice. And I definitely want to go to the All Star Game with y'all." Sa'vion said pulling off. I was about to pull off when Zyshaun pulled up and honked the horn.
"Man you gonna quit treating me like I'm some random ass nigga, I expect you to get out knock on the door like a true gentleman." I said laughing but stopped instantly when I saw how serious he was. "You good Zy?"
"Lil' we need to talk about your little brother." He said opening the door for me. "Look I'm going to be honest with you the main reason I started looking more into him was because I knew my sister was crushing on him hard. But I found out some things that I felt as your boy you should know." Zyshaun said handing me a folder, I started flipping through it but after the third picture I had to stop or I'd be buying Zyshaun a new car.
"What's that have to do with Dominique?" I asked.
"I did some digging, really, really deep digging and I must say he has some loyal ass friends back in Jackson but this is what I've been able to gather. There was this dude and his name was no lie Slick Rick and let's just say he had a thing for young girls and avoiding jail. One of the girls he was pimpin out just so happened to be the little cousin of one of Dominique close friends and I'm not saying he did it but........ him and his boy Justice left Jackson a few hours after the dude was found dead." Zyshaun said.
"So you're saying Dominique did this?" I asked holding up the folder.
"I'm just letting you know what I was able to put together Lil...... and I'm telling you this because if there's one person who can stop Dominique from continuing down the road he's on it's you an I know this because you did it for me." Zyshaun said looking into my eyes. "Now get the fuck out my car Yuri's back in town and he wants me to meet him at the penthouse." Zyshaun said smiling though it didn't quite make it to his eyes.
I got out the car and watched as he pulled off before walking back into the house, Dominique was wrestling around with Cori and Noah. I stood there watching wondering if this kid was capable of doing the things I saw in the pictures.
"Baby let me talk to you real quick." I said leading Marcus into the kitchen, after telling him everything Zyshaun told me Marcus stood there and I was having a hard time reading his thoughts.
"Khalil...... me and you have both done things we're not proud of to protect our family and I'm not saying it's right but that dude was a pedophile, and for him to do what he was doing to those young girls.......... look I'm saying you should at least talk to him before you react, I've had a few conversations with Dominique and he seems like a really good kid just over-protective like someone else I know." Marcus said quietly.
"Marcus we had no choice, those people that died; Vic, Julius, Kadeem...... they wouldn't stop no matter what we tried." I said.
"And how do you know this dude Slick Rick wouldn't stop? I'm just saying Khalil, sometimes people have to do horrible things in order to protect the people they love." Marcus said and I nodded before walking back into the living room where Dominique was now helping Noah with his homework and wondered to myself was this dude that shared the same blood as me really capable of killing someone in cold blood and if so then how could save him because Marcus was right he did seem like a good kid and I didn't want anything bad to happen to him..........................................
