My Star

Chapter 7

July 8, 2022

The first month with Chance went by so fast. My brothers had been hearing about this Terrance dude I was dating, so they and my cousin made it their business to come to the house and wait for him to pick me up. Now, I have 5 big brothers and 5 humongous cousins. They honestly would scare anybody, except me - they just annoyed me. "Mom!" I whined.

"Oh, let your brothers have their conversation; they're not going to hurt him. He's such a nice kid," my mom said.

I just rolled my eyes because she knew what they were trying to do - scare him. But you can't scare the boogie monster. You know what? This is actually going to be fun. So, I crossed my arms over my chest and waited. It'll show them.

Chance, if nothing else, was always punctual. I could hear him pull up. My brothers' cars were in the driveway, so he had to park on the street.

They were all standing on the grass or porch waiting. Chance jumped out like they were nobody and knocked on the door. My brother opened it for him from the outside. Chance walked in.

"Good morning, Mrs. Gibson, how are you today," Chance said.

My mom was actually confused as to why my brother didn't say anything to Chance, so she stuttered when she replied. "I...I am fine, and you, Terrance?" she said, discombobulated.

"Oh, it's a beautiful day, and I get to spend it with a beautiful woman," he said, reaching his hand towards me. I smiled and accepted the hand he offered. "You alright?" he asked, concerned.

"I am perfectly fine now that you're here," I said, smiling up at him.

"You ready?" he asked. I nodded. We said our goodbyes to my mom and headed out the door.

When we walked out, not one member of my family even looked at us. It was almost comical. As I walked past my oldest brother, he grabbed my hand and stopped me.

The look Chance gave him made him drop his hands. Chance thought about it, then said, "I'll wait for you by the car." He kissed my cheek and walked away.

"You had to pick the one guy in this town who is associated with the most dangerous individuals Saginaw has ever seen? Do you know who he is? What he is doing? The things he's done?" Frank was getting madder by the second, and his voice was raising. I looked to Chance, whose eyes never left mine, and I knew without a doubt Chance couldn't beat my brothers - there was no way. With my cousins with them, he had not a chance in the world. I also knew that if Frank didn't calm down, he was going to find out.

"Yes, Frank, I know. He's more than one thing," I said.

"More than one thing, girl, are you out of your rabbit ass mind!" Frank yelled.

"Watch your mouth and your tone!" Chance said calmly, taking a step forward.

Frank took a step back. "Do you know we could whoop his ass right now? He can't beat us. But do you know what will happen if we touch a hair on his head?"

I didn't know for sure, but I had an idea, so I shook my head no. A'Rio, Lucky, D-lo, Jamal, Shilo, Silas, Ne-Ne, Mason - they would come after all of us. Not a person would survive, and I am talking about a hair, Star, a hair on his fucking head," Frank said, frustrated.

"I finally looked at my brother, and it was killing him to hold it together because he wanted to snap. "He won't hurt me," I told him, trying to reassure him.

"And if he did, what can I do? Star, don't put us in this situation," Frank was practically begging.

Chance walked up, and I saw my other brothers come closer. "What y'all gonna do?" He said, laughing. "Look, I understand your concern, but bringing the terror squad out to intimidate me was never going to work. She's your sister, I get it, you want to protect her. Cool. But it's too late to think about intervening because I am to the point where I'm not letting her go. So all this conversation, you can kill it," Chance said.