MM.

I lie in bed thinking of the twins. I miss my little brothers. Thinking back on it now they should be about 13 or 14. I toss and turn each night thinking back on them. I was their guide but I up and left. I'll never forgive myself for what I've done to them.

"It's time for school." I shake La'rey who seems to have trouble every morning getting up.

"Mmm leave me alone." He groans tossing the cover back over his head.

"Rey get up man." I snatch the cover back and he jumps up.

"You need to chill out. I'll get up when I'm ready." He shouts at me.

"You better get your ass up now!" Jalonni says standing in the doorway.

La'rey quickly jumps out of the bed to stand by my side.

"I'm up Lonni." He says, fearfully.

Jalonni walks off into his own space and I rush to close the door and lock it.

"See that's why I told you to get up." I hit La'rey with a pillow.

He walks over to our closet and searches for something to wear. I go over and stand near scanning as well.

"Do you miss him?" He asks, still looking for clothes.

"Who?" I ask.

"Hyden?" He answers.

"Don't bring up that name to me. If he cared about us he would've never left us." I say, my voice laced with venom.

"Stop..." La'rey says to me, angry. "We don't know if he did or not. For all we know Jalonni killed him. He protected us."

"Protected us? He left ! He didn't protect us. He made it even more possible for us to get hurt." I say, hurt. The tears rolling down my face.

I miss Mahyden. I really do miss him. He's my big brother. He watched over us for lord knows how long then he just up and left us. Now what do we do? We are left wondering who's next on Jalonni's radar. Dad shipped off again. Big surprise. Jalonni is now a rookie police officer at the academy. His iron thumb is still iron.

I can't remember much from back then, but I do know Mahyden went through a lot. On some days I do think he is dead because I know he would've contacted us some type of way. I can only dream of my big brother now.

We both get fully dressed and do our daily routine. La'rey and I do everything together. Brush our teeth, shower, and sleep in the same bed. I know it may sound weird but that's my brother. My twin brother. We've always been close and since Hyden left we were all we had. It will never be anything more than that. You dirty minded freaks.

"Have a good day at school." Jalonni says, handing us our bags.

We smile and turn to leave when he stops us.

"Wait..." he calls out.

We turn around.

"Come here."

La'rey and I look at each other briefly before walking over. We reach him and he pulls us in for a group hug. "Y'all know I love y'all right?"

We both nod.

"The only reason I'm hard on y'all is because I want y'all to be tough. Ain't nothing in this world handed to you..." He pauses. "Just like I should've been with Mahyden."

We look up at him, breaking away from the hug.

"Go ahead and get going." He pushes us towards the door as we make our way to school.

Once outside we walk to the bus stop slowly. "He really seems like he's changed." I say, breaking the silence between La'rey and I

"It's an act Faizon." La'rey says, indifferently.

"What you mean?" I ask defensively.

"You really believe he gives a melty snow fuck about us?" He looks at me like he's confused.

"Is it bad that I want to believe he does?" I ask sincerely.

"You bugging..." La'rey says, walking further ahead to get on the bus.

-----------

I finally get out of the bed to get my day started. Daddy Mac is taking me somewhere today. I don't know what it could be but I wouldn't dare ask. He told me to bring at least $300 bucks. I put on a warm outfit because it's a little chilly outside. Soon enough he was knocking at my door. I rush over to open it.

"You ready?" He asks, stepping inside my room.

"Almost." I walk over to my dresser and spray on some of my Polo cologne. "Ready." I turn to face him.

"You smell nice." He compliments me.

"Thanks." I say, walking past him to leave out of the room. He shuts the door behind us. We walk down the stairs of the whorehouse to leave, but we stop once Daddy Mac spots Vontez.

"Vontez come here." He calls to him.

Vontez walks over and looks up at Daddy Mac.

"Yes Sir?" Vontez addressed him.

"It's come to my understanding that you weren't on the corner last night." He says and I see the fear ridden all over Vontez's face. Even I'm hoping it isn't true.

"Yes I was..." He defends himself. "From 6 to 11 like you ordered."

Daddy Mac chuckled to himself and looked back at me. He smirked and then turned back to Vontez. He took his finger nails and scraped it upon Vontez's eye. The blood curdling scream from Vontez was enough to make me burst into tears. But, I held my desperate composure. "Strike 2..." He said to Vontez as he stepped over him.

I stood in place and tried to help Vontez up.

"Leave him..." Daddy Mac ordered me.

"I'm sorry..." I whispered as I let Vontez go and followed behind Daddy Mac.

I looked back at Vontez to see his right eye bloodshot red. A tear fell for him. We reached outside and walked to Daddy Mac's White Escalade. The driver was waiting for him, and once he spotted us he immediately opened the doors.

"Thanks Chives." Daddy Mac said once we reached the car.

The man smiled at him and I. He closed the door behind us once we were in.

"How do you feel about tattoos?" Daddy Mac asked once the car started moving.

"They're nice I want some." I admit.

"How many do you want?" He asks.

"I dunno. I want about 5."

"Hmmm." He mutters and gets quiet again.

I sit back and enjoy the sunlight. The ride was quiet the whole way until we stopped. I looked over at Daddy Mac who was still looking down on his phone. I was anxiously waiting for him to announce where we were. He finally looked up from his phone once the door opened. He and I stepped out and we were in front of a tattoo parlor.

"What's this?" I ask Daddy Mac.

"You're getting tatted today. Your body is your temple right?"

"Yeah." I respond.

"So why not paint the walls..." He says, flexing his muscles showing his sleeve of tattoos.

"You're right."

We walk into the parlor and the artist immediately greets us.

"You must be Darrien." He says, holding his hand out for me to shake it.

"I am." I shake his hand.

"Come on back." He directs me. I look back at Daddy Mac and he nods.

I follow behind the man and we go into his tattoo room. "Have a seat." He motions for me to sit.

I spot the chair in the corner and I take a seat in it.

"What would you like?" He asks.

"I want a trail of paws coming up from my thigh to my side, then I want me a rolling stone tattoo on my neck for now."

"You want all that for your first tattoos?" He asked shocked.

I nod yes.

"I hope you can take pain." He chuckles as he begins to sketch out the drawing on two separate sheets of papers to stencil out on me.

For the rest of the day I was here getting my tattoo done. I was surprised Daddy Mac stayed the whole time. When the artist finally finished I was tired but excited to see. He pulled out a long standing mirror and allowed me to look at the tattoo in the mirrow. It was sexy. The tattoo started on my thigh and trailed up my left side. The rolling stone tattoo on my neck was even more sexy. I loved how he added fangs and a lollipop to it.

"Do you love it?" The artist asks.

"I do..." I say in amazement.

"That's good." He smiles.

"How much I owe you?" I asked, digging in my jeans for my money.

"Oh you good..." He stops me. "Consider it a debt repaid." He says, looking at Daddy Mac.

I look at Daddy Mac and smile but he holds his poker face. I don't think I've ever seen this man smile.

"Thank you Frankie." Daddy Mac says as we begin to leave.

"Yeah thanks." I repeat.

"No problem. Just make sure you keep A&D ointment on it and don't get it wet for 3 days."

"Alright." I say as we begin to leave out.

"Now your real work begins..." Daddy Mac says once we get settled in the car.

"Real work?" I ask.

He smirks. "You'll see soon." He says for the second time.

What the hell does that even mean?