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Together Again

After Roxanne showed her ass last night, Michael took the initiative to get the locks and gate code changed. I was sitting in the living room, looking out the widow admiring the scenery, when he walked up and took a seat next to me.

"Fresh set of keys and new code." He said handing the items to me.

"Thanks." I smiled. "I also want to apologize. I didn't mean to talk to you like that."

Pulled me in to where my head rested on his chest and his arm wrapped firmly around me. "It's okay. This our house and if the roles were reversed, I would feel the same way." He responded, kissing the top of my head. "But I don't have to worry about that since men fear you." He added.

"Oh, whatever!!" I laughed, playfully slapping his arm.

"Dad's right, though." Malcolm replied as he made his presence know.

"Malcolm!!" I jumped up and ran over to give him hug. "What are you doing here? You weren't supposed to be back for another two months!"

"That was before you dad got back together." He hugged me back and extended his hand to shake Michaels, who then pulled him into a hug.

"How was it with your uncles?" He asked.

A deep sigh escaped Malcolms lips as he flipped down in the chair adjacent to the couch. "No offense, but I don't ever wanna go back. And with everything that went down with Aunt Janet and I, I would prefer if Ma taught me everything I needed to know if I'm going to be in the business." He answered, giving me a hopeful look.

I looked over at Michael to see that he was slightly dumbfounded by what Malcolm had just said. "Um, come again?" I asked with furrowed brows. I needed to make sure I heard him correctly.

"I know you don't approve of me getting involved in this lifestyle-"

"You damn right!" I exclaimed, cutting him which resulted in a sigh from him.

"...Buuuut if I'm going to learn how to do it right, with caution, I want to learn from you." He said, finishing his statement.

"But why?" I questioned. "Michael is the one who got me involved. You should want to learn from him.."

Malcolm looked over at Michael, who was sitting on the sofa staring at him, waiting for an answer.

He hesitated for a moment before finally saying, "No offense dad but I don't trust you."

Michaels mouth fell agape but then he quickly shut it.

"It's just that, with everything that happened with Aunt J, I feel it's better to work with Ma, under her wing, for now that is.." Malcolm quickly added with a sheepish grin.

"Uh, well," I didn't really know what to say and I kept glancing at Michael but he just sat there, mute. "Before I consider anything, you will finish high school. You can get a after school job, but you will graduate."

"Yes ma'am!" He nodded, a bright smile appearing on his face.

"Give us a moment.." I said. Malcolm got up and walked upstairs, making sure he could no longer hear us, I turned to Michael. "So...."

He chuckled but he was clearly unamused, it was written all over his face. He was upset but could he really be mad? He should have known Malcolms trust in him would falter after everything that's happened to him.

"It's just funny how he turns to the one person who's dead set against him even being apart of what we do." He continued to laugh and shake his head.

"Can you really blame him?" I sighed. "I mean, look what happened."

"What if it wasn't family he was dealing with?" Michael shot back, obviously offended. "If he was dealing with guys worse than me or Janet, he would've got his kneecaps blown off or worse, they would've killed him and mailed his body parts back to us one by one. I think Janet went easy on him. Little does he know, you're no walk in the park either."