Misha
“…We’re not having anymore of these skirmishes. None. We keep in our territory, they keep in theirs. The big drugs, the guns, all of it, it’s over.”
“We’ve seen too much shit and lost too many people to justify doing this shit anymore. A lot of us are tired. A lot of us didn’t get into this shit to be some crazy ass gangs that steal people and shoot shit.So, we’re in a treaty. A real treaty. None of this wishy washy shit we’ve had the last few years.”
“Any questions?”
It was the largest gathering of Pride and Jackal I had ever seen—that is to say, there had never been a gathering like this before.
Trip and Allan, the new Jackal President, stood before us all. Pride on one side in the lot outside of Big Mama’s, and Jackals on the other. It smelled like barbeque in the air, and there were burgers and dogs on the grills that were fired up. They’d met, talked, and drawn up a damn fine order of peace between the two clubs. Apparently, after Rigger had been taken out, Callum and the others loyal to him who had taken over the Jackals had been run out by Allan and the others—tired of all the shit that Rigger had been having them do.
“Yeah, I got a question!” Travis spoke up.
Trip eyed him. “What, Trav?”
“When the fuck do we eat? I’m starving!”
Everyone laughed, and Trip rolled his eyes.
“Go on and get it, assholes. No one’s stopping you.”
The crowd spread out, and the separated lines began to mingle. I watched from the porch of Big Mama’s, and Rose ran up to Trip. I smiled. Things were so much more open now that he had told her he was her father. She took to him more openly—I think, even unknown to her—that maybe that’s what she had beenwaiting for to finally let all the walls down and just be happy with him.
I was happy with him. He’d grown so much. Years ago he would never have done this. Years ago, this never would have been possible. Yet here we were.
“You look so nasty and in love, it’s sick.”
I looked over to see Big Mama. Despite her admonishment, she was smiling widely at me and grinning ear to ear. I returned the smile and looked back out to Trip. He was filling up plates for himself and for Rose. A Jackal stopped to talk. She chattered to him animatedly at whatever he had said to her. My heart swelled.
“I am,” I said. “I really am.”
“You know, not every woman would stick around after all this. A lot would bail. Think it was too much.”
I laughed. “I think after the first time, I’m done bailing,” I said. “I’m … happy. With everything that he’s set forth. He’s grown so much, hasn’t he? This has grown. To think—Pride and Jackal. They’re not friends, but they’re not enemies anymore, either. They’re eating together. They’re talking together. This has never happened before.”
“And it’s likely it wouldn’t ever have if Trip didn’t love you so much. You take good care of that boy, sugar.”
“I will, Big Mama.”
I had a lot of ideas about where I wanted to go from here. All of them involved Trip, the boys, and our girl. I knew there were a few things that I wanted to do first, however.
A couple of weeks after everything between the Pride and the Jackals was settled, I pulled up to Holland’s old place in a new car that I had bought with some of the money that Holland had left me. It had been a surprise, but it was more than enough to kickstart a few little pet projects of mine that I wanted. Hellen was coming outas I was pulling up, and she looked incredibly surprised to see me.
“What are you doing here?” she asked as I popped out of my car, smiling warmly at her.
“You not happy to see me, Hellen?”
“More so wondering why the hell you would drag yourself back here after you finally got away—again. Girl, what are you doing here?”
“I got you a little something.”
I went to the car, into the back seat, and pulled out a small but elegant plaque. I had had it custom made for her, in memory of Holland. I knew that whatever funeral or burial t he had had, had likely been tainted by the stain of Rigger. When she saw it, her eyes welled up with tears.
“Misha …”
“Please, please just accept it,” I said. “Things weren’t ideal … I know that it had to be hard, the way things were with me and Holland. But you never treated me poorly for a situation that I couldn’t control, and you never resented me. Trip told me that it was you that brought the envelope and the letter Holland left.”
“I was just trying to look out for you.”
“And this is me looking out for you.”
I fished out a decent stack of cash from my pocket. Immediately, Hellen shook her head.
“You can’t expect me to take that when I got plenty from Holland—”
“This isn’t about Holland,” I told her. “This is about me and you, for all those years. Please, take it. It’s the least I can do.”
Her shaking fingers curled around the bills, and she looked at them incredulously. I didn’t know how much Holland had left her, but I knew that this would be a nice amount to add on top of it.
“You know, you’re welcome over anytime,” I told her, as she brought me into an embrace.
“Yeah, yeah, your boy told me that, too. You go on and git. You stay out of trouble, you hear, girl?”
“I hear you, Hellen.”
After stopping by Hellen’s, I made a trip to the compound. There was even more surprise there. Allan came out, eyeing me warily.
“Misha …?”
I smiled. “Hey, Allan.”
“What are you doing here?”
“You know, the number of times that thathas been said to me today ….”
He smiled a little. “Sorry. Wasn’t expecting you. Didn’t know if something came up?”
“No, nothing came up. I actually wanted to talk to you about a little project I want to get done. I hear you do construction on the side …”