“And you don’t feel guilty about being with your brother’s girl?”
“He left the door open for someone to take her. I didn’t come here with the intention of getting with Nakyra but shit just happened.” I shrugged. “My brother dropped the ball; he can’t blame anyone but himself.”
Dylan chuckled. “That’s cold blooded as hell, man, but I respect it.”
“I’m not one to step on another man’s toes, but our whole lives Rome’s taken shit for granted because my parents spoiled him. It’ll be good for him to have a reality check.”
The guilt I first felt regarding me and Nakyra had been subdued. When the truth came out, I would be prepared to deal with the blow back from it all. I could handle it, my only worry was if Nakyra could.
“I’m gonna take Camilla to Cashmere Lake for the weekend. I got us a cabin up there,” Dylan said. He approached the pool table, finally taking his turn.
“Yeah? I’m sure she’ll love that.”
“I think she thinks I’m about to propose. I told her I wanted us to go away for the weekend and she got overly excited.” His jaw clenched. “Hopefully her ass don’t murder me when she realizes that’s not the purpose of this trip.” Dylan bent over and aimed his pool stick.
He chortled. “You keep playing with that girl and she gon’ for real fuck you up.”
“I just need her ass to be patient. We got time to get married. All that shit is, is a piece of paper anyway.”
“Ay, Dylan. We picked up the packages. They’re waiting for you at the shop,” Jordan, a member of his crew, said, walking over to us.
Dylan cursed as he missed the shot then stood up straight. He dug into his pocket and checked his phone. “Shit, I didn’t realize what time it was. We’ll have to pick this game up another time.” He looked at me.
I finished my beer and nodded. “That’s cool. I need to stop by my warehouse anyway.”
Dylan looked at Jordan. “Let the guys know I’m on my way and to start on the first one. All three there??”
Jordan nodded.
I had a clue what they were talking about, but I never asked the details about what Dylan and his crew did outside of racing and him running the pool hall. He always told me the less I knew the better, so I always took his word for it.
____
When I stepped in the house later that day, I didn’t see or hear Nakyra downstairs. I grabbed a bottle of water then headed upstairs. Hearing noise from her bedroom, I approached the door, knocked, and slowly pushed it open.
Bella tapped her nose against Nakyra’s leg, gaining her attention, causing her to look up from her laptop at me.
“Hey,” she signed, smiling.
“Hey. Are you b-u-s-y?”When I didn’t know how to sign a specific word, I tried to spell it out.
“Busy.”Nakyra signed first, her smile growing. “And just looking at houses.”
That piqued my interest. I walked toward the bed. This was the first time I had been in her and Rome’s bedroom. The day I came back, she was in my bed. I looked around briefly then stopped at the bed.
“Here. Sit.”She patted the edge on the bed in front of her. “I changed the sheets.” She spoke slowly and cautiously. I knew how self-conscious she got when she spoke without having her aids in. She never could determine the loudness of her voice and it made her nervous. I never brought attention to it and always went on like we normally did.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, I waited for her to reach over and grab her aids. “Okay, this is easier,” she said.
“You said you’re looking at houses?”
She nodded and turned the laptop so it was facing me. “This house is in Rome’s name. Once I end things, I’ll need somewhere to live.”
I reached out and scrolled the page of the current house she was looking at. “You thinking of buying?”
“Yeah, it’s time I stand on my own, you know? I was dumb enough to let Rome talk me into not putting my name on the mortgage all those years ago. Before then, I was staying with my parents, then at Summer’s. I never had anything that was just mine.”
I flicked my eyes to hers then lowered them back to the laptop, moving the cursor to the other tab with another house.
