Chapter 14
Amir
I could still feel the stinging in my back from Jas digging the pain out of her body through my back.
She talked a good game, but I can see that she’d never had dick in the places I put it before.
I laughed to myself, though I felt bad for taking my frustrations and stress out on her.
She seemed to like it, but I didn’t like that I did the complete opposite of what I wanted to do with her.
All because I couldn’t handle the news I heard about Delilah.
Lupus was a scary thing. My father’s sister had lupus and actually died from that shit about five years back.
I remember her being in so much pain that she would scream out, in the room that was placed just down the hallway from me.
I never wanted to know of anyone else being in that kind of pain, especially someone I’ve built a bond with all these years.
Delilah didn’t deserve that shit, and I wish there were something I could do to help.
Beeping from the microwave is what got me out of the daze I was in, and I wasn’t sure how long it was dinging until I heard the bedroom door creaking open. I stood up to get my microwave dinner, and Jas came into the kitchen with one of my black throw blankets wrapped around her body.
“There you are. I wasn’t sure if you left me here alone or not.”
“Nah, I wouldn’t do that,” I said, opening the microwave and grabbing the food out.
“You want some? It’s spaghetti and meatballs.”
“I’m okay. Wait, I thought you could only eat once a day or something.”
“I can’t eat during certain times of the day. It’s called fasting. It starts from Dawn to sunset. So I try to eat a meal every morning at this time during Ramadan so that I don’t walk around here like a zombie with no energy during the day.”
“Interesting.” She said, taking a seat at my bar.
“I love that you take your religion seriously.”
“Yeah, it’s important to me, more than anything.”
I sat down next to her at the bar and started peeling the film off my dinner. I started to eat my food and quickly got up after taking a bite to get some water from the fridge.
“You need something to drink?”
“Yeah, I do. I’m kind of parched. I feel like I just got done working out.
” She seemed shy talking about it. I laughed at her and grabbed two glasses from the cabinet, only setting them right down once I heard knocking at my door.
I raised my eyebrow, standing still for a second, wondering who the hell it was at this time of morning.
“Uh oh, another girl coming over here to check you?”
“Never that. Let me check and see who it is, though.” I reached into the kitchen drawer and grabbed a gun on the sly, trying not to scare Jas too much.
When I looked through the peephole in the door, I saw that it was my neighbor, Miss Brenda, knocking with one hand as she clutched her robe to her with the other. Jas came around the corner from the kitchen.
“Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, I know who this is.”
I twisted all the locks on my door.
“Thank god you answered.”
“Miss Brenda, what’s going on?”
“I’m so sorry to be knocking this late, but I knew you were up because of Ramadan, and you said you eat around this time. Oscar is having another one of his meltdowns, and I’ve done everything I can to calm him down, but he just won’t stop throwing things and attacking me.”
“Okay, let me get dressed, and I’ll come down. Give me a minute.” I stopped her from feeling the need to explain. I already knew what was happening, and I closed the door and walked to my room, passing up Jas.
“Are you sure everything is okay?”
“Yeah, I just have to go downstairs, because my neighbor's son has autism and she has a hard time with his ass sometimes.”
“Really? And she feels comfortable knocking on the door at this hour for you to handle him? What are you supposed to do?”
“I do what I can, when I can. I don’t like seeing women suffer, and ever since I moved in here, I’ve tried to be there for them.
Plus, for some reason, he listens to me.
” I grabbed a shirt from the closet and put it on.
Jas just stood back with the cover wrapped around her, with a smile on her face.
“What are you smiling for?”
“A caring nigga with good dick. You don’t see that often.”
I laughed at her.
“You say anything just like your brother, don’t you?”
“I’m not as bad as him by far. Just telling the truth. I like that about you. My son has autism. He doesn’t have huge meltdowns like that, but it’s good to know that if he ever does, I know someone good to calm him down.”
“Of course, I’m your guy.”
She reached up and pinched my cheek.
“I’ll be back. Lock up until I knock on the door and tell you it’s me.”
“Okay, be careful.”
She walked me to the front door and grabbed my wrist before I could open the door. Jasmine pulled me down by my neck and kissed me like she missed me already. This wasn’t a sexual kiss; this was one from a woman who cared about me. I’d felt this same kiss from Delilah before.
Once I pulled away from her, she grabbed my cheek and laid one more kiss on my lips.
“See you in a bit.”
I walked out the door, and I’m sure I wouldn’t be back for another hour, depending on what Oscar is on tonight. I’d been down these steps several times, and there were times it took hours to get him back in his bed and to sleep.
Thinking about how I’m helping him also put Delilah on my mind heavy. If I can be there for people I barely know, then I have to try to be there for her. With or without a relationship, she matters to me, and I’m not letting anything cloud my being a good person.
I’ll reach out to her tomorrow to see what I can do, and if she doesn’t answer, then I’ll try again the next day. Now that I wasn’t distracted by Jas, that shit was going to bother me until I got it resolved.
I’m in a fucked up position right now because I like Jasmine, but Delilah also deserves some loyalty from me. She was my comfort spot all these years, and I owe her that in return. No amount of sex could cloud that, though sex with Jasmine was the best I ever had.