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Charmagne sucked her teeth. “Nigga,what—”
“And neither have you!” Jas shouted, causing me to leap in my chair.
Suddenly, I felt nauseous.
Lamont’s head bounced back and he blinked incredulously. “Excuse me? I have maintained a steady job. I don’t have an arrest record. I pay taxes. I never condoned my son’s illicitbehavior—”
“Where did you meet her?” Jas didn’t exactly yell this time, but spoke with a keen tone at a level above his father’s.
Lamont grimaced. “I don’t understand therelevance—”
“Where did you meet her, pops?”
“This—that’s an old story. I don’tunderstand—”
“You met her at an employment resource center because like her, you needed a job. Like her, you were down on your luck. You thought she was fly and kept talking to her, sniffin’ up her ass. Like her, you liked to ski on that powder.” His inflection changed. “Unlike her, your use was recreational. She told you how she made money over the years. Told you she tricked a little in her past. You ain’t condemn her then. What you do, though?”
“Jas!” Lamont tried.
“You fucked. Yeah, you did. And guess what? You liked it. But what’s even better than that, you ran up in that raw. And then what?” Jas’ hands shot into the air. “Surprise, surprise, world. Sin was born. Nah, she ain’t make the calls you wanted her to make when raising me. Yes, she accepted shit with me she had no control over. But guess, what? She did her best. And guess what again? I did my best with what God had given me in terms of parents. But, Pops, did you do your best when it came to fuckin’ dope heads raw in the bathrooms of the employment resource center?”
Lamont’s eyes bounced around the quiet room. Then he addressed his son with a cocky grin, tossing his hands in the air. “I guessnot—”
“I’m glad I was able to make sense of your fuckin’ misery for the past thirty-three years. You have my high-rate ass therapist to thank for that gem. Nick,” He moved along seamlessly, “You’ll be eighteen in a few months. Holla at me.”
“He’ll be eighteen, but still in my house, in the bedroomIprovide, buddy. Good luck with that. Let’s go, Nicky!” Lamont barked.
“I got seven of them shits,” Jas spit back. “Choose between four of ‘em. It’s what nonjudgmental family do. Get at me, Nick!” His tone was pure Harlem.
I’d never seen the man so out of sorts…verbally.
Less than an hour later, upstairs in my apartment, Jas strolled into my bedroom. I was on my way into the bathroom. With a tight jaw, he twirled his keys around his index finger.
“I’m going home tonight.”
“Oh.” I didn’t know how to respond to that at first. “You need to be alone?”
He shook his head, determined eyes pinned to me. “Nah. You coming, too. Pack a bag.”
Confused, I asked, “Why can’t we stay here? We can catch up on the last two episodes of ‘Taking Tips from Tynisha’ in the living room.”
“Because I ain’t tryna hear Ines complain again about not being able to sleep because of your loud ass moans.”
As I rolled my eyes hard, I couldn’t help my smile. “Jas, Ines doesn’t sleep anyway.She—”
“Pack ya bag,” he demanded, turning on one heel for the door, effectively ending the conversation.
Rolling my eyes again, I continued toward the bathroom and closed the door. I went straight to the top drawer beneath the sink and looked at the six plastic-wrapped boxes and exhaled, “Welp. New time. New location.”
Chapter 23
Part II cont’d
July | Present Day
“…shira,” a faint yet familiar voice called out. Then a gentle nudge at the back of my bare thigh stirred me further from my sleep. “Ashira.”
I pulled my head up from the pillow saturated with the scent of the man gazing upon me. “What time is it?” I rubbed my nose.
