Chapter 3
Jade
Days Later
One day it was just me and Dimitri, now it was four of us, possibly five.
The possibility of five parts bothered me as I realized there would always be an excuse as to why no one told him.
Dimitri said he’d tell him, but he had yet to do so.
He’d been around for countless family events yet the subject never came up.
I halfway understood, but I strongly felt like he needed to know.
However, I understood the apprehension. First, we were waiting until after his last match, then right after that his father died.
Nobody wanted to touch that, especially since the father who died had actually been a father to him.
“The fuck you look like you’re constipated for?
” Reminisce’s voice broke my thoughts. It was then I mentally found myself back in the present, in the restaurant with his rude ass.
Of all my brothers, in my opinion, he was the rudest and most unruly.
Rem had this way of not giving a fuck that made you feel like you were the problem.
Not only that, but he was the true definition of someone who said whatever was on his mind.
He didn’t care for pleasantries or any of that.
Funny enough when it came to us though, he was up for all the mess.
It was like he was the most heartless with the biggest heart.
The man was a walking conundrum, but I loved him like I’d known him my whole life. He was my brother either way.
“I’m not. I’m just thinking.”
“About what? The fact that had I not shown up here you would’ve been sitting here alone looking crazy?”
I laughed. “I wouldn’t have looked crazy because I had my laptop in my bag. My intention was to get some work done, but your presence is better.” I smiled sarcastically.
He waved me off. “Yeah, you come up in here four times a week and buy expensive ass coffee all damn day while staring at that laptop. Yo, you need to get your eyes checked. You be looking at it too long.”
“Probably. But my eyes are already shitty. I wear contacts, Reminisce.” I didn’t even bother asking how he knew where I was four times out of the week.
At this point I think I was used to him being a sibling stalker.
Rem was the only one of us who would literally just walk up to you in the store.
There were plenty of times he had me wondering how the hell he got to my location because he almost always ended up having me drive him back to his bike or car.
At one point I could never locate the nigga, now he was always around.
“Damn you do?” He pulled a piece of bread from the center basket.
“Yes. Remember you talked about my glasses?”
He covered his mouth with his hand, then his eyes grew big. “Wait, those were your seeing glasses? I thought they were supposed to be going with some type of outfit you were wearing.”
“No. They were my real glasses, you childish ass buffoon.”
“Damn sis, you out here rocking Roz’s glasses and you wanna get mad at me for talking about them. Hell nah, they were ugly. Your other brothers ain’t shit cause they didn’t tell you. I’ma keep it a buck with you every single time.”
And this was what I meant. He said whatever came to mind. “Who is Roz, Reminisce?”
“Ol’ girl from Monsters Inc . I think she was a lizard or some shit. Good movie though. I just watched it the other day.” He nodded.
“With who?” I was curious about his business.
“Lil G. He got a standing movie night shit going on at the house. We beefed a lil bit because he thought he was about to have me out here watching Lilo and Stitch for the thousandth fucking time. Nah. If I’ma participate in movie night, then we gotta switch the movies up.”
I laughed. “Damn, I think everyone has been a part of his movie nights except me. I be all out of the loop.”
“That’s ’cause you’re out here working the fuck out of yourself. I’ma need you to take a break or something after this opening.”
I nodded, glancing around the semi-empty restaurant. “I actually am. I’m due for a half-naked tropical vacation. Plus, as of right now, none of my friends are pregnant, so I could do a lil table action in Greece.”
He gave me a look before shaking his head. “Hell nah.”
“It could be a group trip. Those are the vibes. The only pregnant human is Caya. She’ll be fine though.”
Rem nodded. “Let me know. I could go for a lil vacation too.”
I nodded, then picked up my phone. I couldn’t help the smile that slipped onto my lips when I saw I had a message from Oden.
After he called me the other day about dinner, he and I started talking.
It wasn’t a lot of heavy, but enough for two busy adults seemingly interested in one another.
It was also enough for me to be giggling at my phone at random moments throughout the day.
“That must be ol’ boy you were on a date with the other night.” I looked up and my eyes landed on Reminisce who was staring right at me.
“Um, no. I don’t know how you know that anyways.”
“I know everything, Jade. I’m not saying I’m God or no shit like that, but I be in the know, baby girl.”
“I see. Then you already know who I’m talking to, huh?”
He shook his head. “Nah, not yet, but at some point, I will. It’s just the way shit goes, baby girl.”
“Yeah. I hear you.” I was smiling once again at my phone. Oden was responding to my earlier text message where I asked him if he was gonna ask me what I wanted tonight or if he was gonna wing it.
Oden: Nah. I’m winging it. Something tells me yeen gonna turn me down on anything. Plus you told me you ain’t allergic to anything.
Me: Not too much on me now. You making it seem like I’m greedy.
Oden: Not that at all, love. I just know my skillset.
I grinned, then looked away from my phone at my brother. He was peering down at his own phone.
“Yo, you rude as fuck.” He must’ve felt me looking at him.
“How? You’re looking at your phone too.”
Of course he laughed. “Only after you started looking at your shit. Who got you looking at your phone so much, sis?” By now his eyes were scanning the café before they found me again.
I smirked. “I thought you said you’d know.”
“I will, but why send me through all that when you could just tell me?”
I shrugged. “Figured I’d just let you do your stalker duties, sibling.”
He laughed and so did I. Reminisce and I spent a while longer in the café talking back and forth before I needed to be getting home to my dog and he claimed he had something to take care of.
I also needed to find out what I was wearing.
I had been trying too hard to decipher the vibe of the evening, but at every chance Oden shut me down.
He claimed all I needed to know was when and where to show up.
I wasn’t used to that, considering I was always in charge of things. Rarely was I in the dark about plans.
When I walked in my house, I wasn’t surprised to see fresh water out for Chauncy and proof that Ava had either been here or she was here.
Ava handled everything, including the puppy I probably shouldn’t have gotten because I was so darn busy all the time.
It helped tremendously that she lived a few floors down from me as well.
“So, you have clothing laid out. Where are you headed, Ms. Mamas?” She turned the corner from my dining room at the same time my puppy rushed my feet.
He was the cutest little something. The moment Rennix called me and said Harlem was looking to sell him, I had to have him.
I've wanted one since G bought one for Beyah.
I wondered if I only bought him to soothe the baby fever I kept getting cases of.
“To dinner. Which outfit is the best?”
“For what type of dinner?” she countered.
“That’s the thing I don’t know. He won’t tell me.”
“He who? Jade, what are you not telling me? Per our last conversation, the date with Preston was a bust. What am I missing?”
I explained my run in with Oden as well as how I knew of him, which was familial ties. By the time I was finished, all she could offer was a toothy grin.
“So, he’s a chef?” she asked as we walked into my bedroom.
“Yes, and his food is so good.” I closed my eyes, my mouth watering at the thought.
“I bet, and him feeding it to you made it even better. Go with the bandage top. You have phenomenal shoulders, so you should show them.” She winked.
I nodded, grateful for her input. “Cool. Now what are you doing this evening?” I didn’t want to be her life because of course I wanted her to have a life outside of me and school.
“Dinner with my mom. We’re gonna discuss her life choices and my inability to help her out of yet another hole she has put herself in behind a man.
In the same moment I’ll be reaching for the check, because of course I know if she’s asking to borrow money then she can’t possibly afford to pay the check.
” She gave me a tight-lipped smile that bothered me.
“That’s fucked up. Honestly, if you need me, just call me.”
She nodded. “Not happening. I want you to enjoy yourself. It’s not often we have fine chefs feeding us. As a matter of fact, for me not ever. Once in a lifetime thing, which means since it happened to you, it’s not happening to me, pooh. So, please enjoy yourself for the both of us.”
I laughed. “Fine, but I’m still gonna check in on you. Do you think I should keep these pants or find something with more of a flow?”
She looked the pants over, then shook her head. “Um no. Keep ’em tight. I mean, unless you have intentions of coming out of them in a hurry tonight.”
“You are a fool. No. I don’t. The only intentions I have are to enjoy his food and company.”
She laughed, throwing her hands up in surrender. “Fine. You could also enjoy his company by doing that too, but I get it.”