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“I’m sorry—what?”
My ears had to have been broken.
“You heard me, boy. I ain’t repeating it again.”
“Pop, do you even know anything about landscaping?”
“My mama taught me the same way she taught y’all,” he grumbled. “Well, the way she tried to teach y’all. Jude couldn’t keep something alive if you paid him.”
“Hey, we’re doing a little bit too much talking about me and not enough about Jamie,” Judah frowned. “There’s no excuses now, bro. It’s time to step into who you are. So what are you going to do?”
Inhaling deeply, I sat up and glared at the computer screen. My brother was right. I was down to the wire and out of excuses. It was now or never.
Releasing the breath I was holding, I moved the cursor to the button and finally hit submit.
“Hey, you,” Nyx called, entering the store with an annoyed Raelynn behind her.
“What’s up, Love?” I smiled, kissing her when she was close enough. “What brings y’all here?”
“Oh, nothing. It’s been a while since I added to my collection, and figured it was a good time to come through and find something new.”
“You’re so full of shit, it’s sickening,” I laughed. Nyx was a lot of things, but obscure wasn’t one of them. I’d bet every dollar I possessed that she’d made it her business to check to see if I submitted my application or not. “Hey, Rae.”
“Hi,” she waved. “Your brother isn’t here, is he?”
“Unfortunately, he is. And fair warning, he did not take you blocking him well.”
“I damn sure didn’t,” Jude confirmed, stalking out of the office. “If you weren’t feeling a nigga, you could have just said that.”
“In my defense, I did,” Rae pointed out. “You’re the one who acted like you didn’t know what that meant.”
“Because what do you mean you aren’t feeling me? That’s crazy.”
“As hard as it might be for you to believe—”
“Alright, alright,” Nyx interrupted, tittering. “Time out, children. We didn’t come here for this. Jude, I’m sorry that Rae bruised your ego, but that’s her thing. She’s a flirt with ‘em and leave ‘em type of girl.”
“And I don’t know why he’s acting like he can’t understand that because he’s the exact same way.”
“Ain’t no fun when the rabbit got the gun,” Rae snickered. “But because we’ll eventually have to be around one another due to Thing 1 and Thing 2 being inseparable now, I’m willing to call a truce if you are.”
“Does that truce come with you buying me lunch?” Judah teased.
“Negro, please. Let’s not get crazy. Ice cream is the best I can do.”
“Bet, there’s a shop down the street,” he nodded, turning to me. “Y’all want something?”
“I’m good.” Jamie declined.
“Rae knows what I like,” Nyx replied. “I’ll Cashapp her.”
“And I’ll slap you, Nyx. Don’t play with me,” Rae threatened, following Jude as they left.
“I’ll never know how I became friends with someone so violent,” Nyx whistled before focusing her attention on me. She had her damn nerve. “Sooooo?”
Taking her hand, I pulled her towards the office and closed the door. There were cameras set up in the showroom and I could clearly hear the jingle of the door's bell if anyone entered in case a customer came in.
“Did you do it?” She hopped onto my desk.
