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“Well, I didn’tmean—”
“Nothing. I don’t need you to do anything. If your friends need help, there you go. But as for me and mine, say less. We good.”
With a collapsed jaw, I was stuck, unable to speak.What in the hell just happened?That familiar foe, rejection, had just re-entered the room with Jas and me. He’d effectively shut me down. Dumbfounded, I didn’t know how to rebound just yet.
Then his warm hands cupped my face and he kissed me, soft full lips pressing meaningfully into mine and holding for a few seconds. “I gotta go. Gotta get back to the site. Need to shower and brush my teeth first, though.”
Jas slipped from beneath me and powered into the bathroom as ass naked as he’d come out earlier.
When he closed the door behind himself, one thought came straight to mind.
He left for lunch over two hours ago and hadn’t eaten anything—but me…
“Damn, this is nice.” Nicholas looked around thePassaic County Pieras the sun was setting.
Even though a commercial property, I was able to pay a cat I knew a few dollars to let me dock for a few minutes to pick them up about an hour ago and now drop them off. He even watched my father’sKia Forte.
“Yo, Nick!” Pops barked.
Nicholas’ cringed. “My bad. But Dad, this was pretty cool!”
My father’s head cocked to the side, warning him. That was something I was granted very few times as a kid. With me, it was a barrage of toxic words in the name of discipline. It was all good, though. Nicholas didn’t need toxicity. Every Black kid needed grace and patience.
“This was nice,” pops addressed me.
I’d taken them out on my boat, determined to keep my word with Nicholas of staying in touch. It was the most neutral grounds I could think of when I made the plans with them a few days ago after leaving the hotel with Ashira. I didn’t like how that felt and, in an effort to make improvements on being connected and open with the people I cared about, I thought of this.
“See!” Nicholas shrieked.
Ignoring his excitement, my father scratched his chin and announced, “You’ve got a big day coming up in a few days.”
“Big day?” I was confused.
“Your birthday,” my father elaborated.
Oh. That…
I wasn’t used to the day being acknowledged. All of a sudden, for my thirty-third, everybody seemed to have brought it up. For what? It all seemed weird and unnecessary to me.
“Oh, wow.” Nicholas perked up. “When’s your birthday, Jas?”
When I took too long to respond, my pops answered, “Monday.”
“Oh.” Nicholas’ face brightened up. “We can do something.Uhhh… You should come by the house. Mom can make you a cake! She digs that corny stuff. Right, Dad?”
Jeanie, his mother, worked at the bakery her family once owned in Clifton. When her mother, the primary baker, got sick years ago, her shady ass father paid an overdue gambling debt using the bakery with a mid-level Italian family high-ranking at the time. It was either that or his fucking knees. They worked it out so that they owned it, but the family still worked it. Jeanie still worked there, I guessed, not opting for another gig.
Slowly, my father turned, acting like he was detailing my60 Cantius Cruisersyacht. “Uhhh… Yeah.” He turned back to me. “I guess she would.”
“So!” Nicholas was eager. “You wanna come by on Monday, Jas? I’ll make sure she won’t make it too weird. No party hats orshit—”
“Nicholas!”
“I’m sorry, Dad.” I could have sworn his cheeks reddened. “It’s just…”
After an awkward moment, my father offered, “We can make it happen, I guess.”
I snorted, uncomfortable by his obvious unease. “Ummm… Thanks, but I actually have plans. I rubbed my hairy chin. “I’ll be out of town.”
