AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Jas pushed, “Could you at least just read the letter?”
“The entire bill,” I repeated to the waitress.
Jas’ eyes swung from her to me and before a while, he nodded softly. That’s when I took off.
Angry, I kept my head down, struggling to switch out of the nasty mood he’d just put me in. When I arrived back at the table, it was quiet.
“Well, damn,” Corinne scoffed. “I thought I’d have to come snatch you from that passionate conversation. Peach told me to chill.”
My attention went to Peach. Her brows were peaked, head cocked to the side, and she slowly peered down at her phone.
“Yeah. What was that about?” Shizu asked.
I cleared my throat. “I was securing the tab. Eat up, ladies. Order whatever you want. Try as much shit as you want on the menu—hell, get an extra meal for lunch tomorrow. We’ve secured the bag for this culinary excursion.”
Corinne grabbed her glass and turned around. She raised it to Jas just as he was sitting back in his seat. She giggled, with Frenchie and Toya following her. Jas’ piercing gaze was on me when he lifted his glass of water in return.
Motherfucker…
He drove up the driveway with the low dribble, tongue hanging from his mouth. Nicholas went for the layup, face pinched with intent and focus.Then…
“Air ball!” I went for the ball before it hit the house. I didn’t want his moms tripping. Laughing, I joked, “I hope you do better than that when ballin’ with your boys around the way.”
Nicholas scratched his scalp, threading through his wild curls. “They don’t play with me. I’m not the cool guy on the block.”
I wedged the ball between my arm and waist. “At school?”
He shook his head. After some time, he laughed nervously. “Okay. So there’s at least one cool Sinclair in this family. Maybe so much went to you, there wasn’t any left in his nuts for me.” Nicholas cracked a dry ass smile, one side of his braces sparkled against the light above the garage.
I glanced around the small driveway of my pops’ house in Totowa, mind going. I had no idea why I took to the kid the way I did. Yeah, he was my brother, but in so many ways, I still felt like an only child. He came so late in life, there was no room for bonding at my age, especially having different mothers. But I really liked Nicholas. When he texted me yesterday, asking to hang out, I squeezed him in tonight just before my curfew, knowing damn well I’d be as exhausted as I was feeling in the moment.
“Who’re your friends?”
He shrugged, face turning red under the light. “It’s just hard. You know?”
When his heavy eyes looked my way, I caught a glimpse of that teenage misery. I’d had it, even if for different reasons. Growing up came with pain, and the type that wasn’t easy to articulate. Then I nodded. “Anything I can do?”
Nicholas shrugged again, then a sudden croak arrowed from his throat into the air. “I told my class about you.”
“Oh, yeah?”
He nodded. “My social studies class was talking about recidivism for felons. I didn’t tell them everything, but said you were doing your thing. Working honest and hard.”
I couldn’t help my smile. “I am.” Then I shook my head. “I’m not going back.”
“You get your own place yet?”
“I’ve had my own place for a while.”
He turned to me, eyes bulged wild. “Can I come over? I swear, I’m neat. I won’t fuck up any—” He shook his head. “I’m talking to you like you’re my mom.”
I chuckled, “Or Lamont.”
He smirked. “Yeah. Dad.”
It was my turn to shake my head. “Look.” His head popped up. “I don’t mind hanging out with you—”
“Then I can come over?”
