Chapter 8 Quade
The smell of bacon and syrup drifted through the air, but it wasn’t breakfast pulling me toward the kitchen table.
Nah, even through the sweet and savory haze, I could still smell her.
Noa was doing something to me. Her soft scent was lingering under my nose like she was still right up under me.
I could barely get the way she looked at me this morning with those wide, flustered eyes and hard nipples out of my mind.
Her body had already told me everything I needed to know.
She felt it—the tension and the pull between us—the same way I did.
I glanced down at my watch. I should’ve already been at my other site.
I should’ve left twenty minutes ago, but I wasn’t about to turn down her sister’s hospitality again.
I was trying to build a good working relationship.
We had to be in close proximity to these people for a while.
Besides, I damn sure wasn’t missing the chance to share more space with Noa.
As much as I tried to shake it, she intrigued me, and a woman hadn’t intrigued me since I was a young nigga just getting my ears wet.
“You always cook like this, or are you trying to impress us?” Rico elbowed me under the table, his eyes locked on Teagan, flashing that smile that got him in trouble on every job site we hit.
I could tell my boy was ready to risk it all.
I didn’t blame him. Teagan was pretty. She and Noa were most definitely God’s favorite sisters.
He’d blessed them both with the type of beauty you didn’t come across often. It was almost unfair.
“I always cook like this. I don’t have to impress anybody.” Teagan giggled, loud and unfiltered.
“And don’t.” Rico leaned back in his chair like he had just won something, his eyes still locked on Teagan.
“Boy, hush,” she said, shaking and waving him off, but she clearly enjoyed the attention.
“I’m just tryna see how I get adopted into the family.
” James smirked, his mouth full of eggs.
These niggas. I shook my head before returning my attention back to Noa.
She was quiet, pushing grits around on her plate, not looking up much.
She was still in that thin ass tee from earlier, but she’d thrown a robe over it now like it was going to hide something.
I wanted to spark up a conversation with her.
I wanted to know everything about her, but this wasn’t the time or the place, and I didn’t want to come off as some creep. Still, I couldn’t keep my eyes off her.
“Teagan, thanks for breakfast.” She glanced up and looked at her sister, but I could see the moment she caught my gaze and quickly looked back down. I made her nervous. It was cute. She made me nervous, too.
“So how long y’all been working together?” Teagan asked, bringing my eyes and thoughts away from Noa. I cleared my throat and leaned forward, preparing to respond, but Rico cut in before I could get a word out.
“Me and James? We go way back. Been with Northside for a few years now. Got picked up straight outta the halfway house. Ron ain’t waste no time.”
He jerked a thumb toward me. “Quade came on about four months ago.”
“And he’s already leading?” Noa looked up with an amused and worried look on her face.
“It doesn’t take long to lead when you know where you’re going,” I said, eyes locked on Noa. “Your house is in good hands, sweetheart.”
Her mouth twitched like she wanted to smile, but she bit it back and reached for her orange juice instead.
“Mmhmm,” Teagan mumbled, like she was narrating a soap opera. “So, Quade, is this, like… your actual job, job?” she asked. “Or are you just doing like community service? You know, cleaning up your image until your next album drops?”
“Teagan.” Noa groaned. Rico choked on his coffee. James nearly spat his grits out.
“What? I’m just curious how he went from music videos to a construction worker.”
Silence. I leaned back in my chair, taking my time.
I wasn’t offended. This wasn’t the first time in the four months since I’d been out that someone had recognized me and asked this question.
If I was ashamed of my journey, I may have taken offense, but I wasn’t.
It was obvious that Teagan’s mouth just moved faster than her brain.
“Nah,” I said calmly. “This ain’t no PR stunt. This is my life now. Ain’t no image to clean up. I ain’t tryna impress nobody, just living.”
Teagan’s eyes widened. “Oh my God! Quade, I didn’t mean it like that, I swear—”
I held up a hand, stopping her. “You good. You’re not the first person to ask. I’m aware of who I used to be. Now I’m just JaQuade, moving free.”
“Did you mean for that to rhyme?” Rico blurted, and I waved his dumb ass off. “Damn, nigga. You rhyme when you ain’t even trying,” he continued, making James laugh.
“Keep trying to play my boy, and he’s gonna put y’all in a diss track,” James said in between taking bites of his food. “When he gets back to music, of course.”
I shook my head, amused beyond words at this point.
“Quade, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. My mouth be moving faster than my common sense, I swear.” She clutched her chest. “Please don’t write a diss track about me.”
“Too late,” I joked, giving her a stern face before relaxing and letting a smirk come through. “Nah, I ain’t tripping.” I waved her off, and everybody burst into laughter. Even Noa flashed her pretty white teeth.
“Really, Quade. I’m sorry,” Teagan repeated. “Here. You can have the last slice of bacon as an apology.”
She stood from the table and made her way back over to the stove.
“Hold on. You offended me, too.” Rico threw his hands in the air.
“Boy, please.” Teagan rolled her eyes, and she returned to the table with a saucer in hand.
“So I get ignored, and he gets the last slice of bacon? Bet. I see how it is.” Rico continued his dramatics. His ass was too comfortable.
“Yup,” Teagan replied. I didn’t even look up as she plopped the last slice of bacon on my plate.
“I thought we had something,” Rico said.
“Bruh!” James damn near choked. “I want to get invited back here.”
“Don’t worry, James. You’re welcome for breakfast anytime.” Teagan laughed. I reached for my coffee again, halfway paying attention to Rico coming on strong to Teagan.
“Can you pass the syrup?” Noa’s sweet voice sailed through the air just above a whisper. I looked up to find Noa looking dead at me, like we were the only two people in the room.
“Of course.” I slid the bottle her way, real slow. Our fingers didn’t touch, but it felt like they did.
“You like it light or drowning?” I asked before I could stop myself.
“Somewhere in the middle.”
I didn’t know if her voice was low or if I was imagining it, but she didn’t flinch. She stared at me, sporting that same little smirk from earlier on her lips. She is flirting with me.
I watched her hands as she unscrewed the cap slowly and tipped the bottle forward.
The thick, amber stream trickled down, slow and sticky, spilling over the ridges of her waffle.
I couldn’t take my eyes off the syrup as it dripped from the bottle.
It was golden, smooth, and sweet-looking, just like her.
Shit. I shouldn’t have been thinking the things I was thinking, but I couldn’t help it. I wanted to know how she’d taste on my lips. Was she sweet like the syrup that was now drowning her waffle? Was her skin just as warm? Would her lips fit perfectly against mine? She looked up at me mid-pour.
“Thanks,” she whispered, and her voice had my dick growing beneath my tool belt.
My jaw clenched, and I nodded, quickly attempting to snap myself out of the trance she had me in.
I looked away, sure everyone was staring at us, but they were all too busy in their own conversations to see the way Noa had me coming undone.
“I’ll have the temp ramp set up before we leave today,” I said, clearing my throat, feeling the need to say something. “It’s not pretty, but it’ll hold if you need to get out.”
“It’s really no rush. Noa don’t go anywhere unless she’s headed to the hospital or something, and she doesn’t have an appointment for another three weeks.”
My gaze shifted to Noa. She didn’t correct her, just stared down at her plate like she was counting the squares in the waffle.
“You don’t like being outside?” I asked. I was curious. She looked up at me. There was a sadness in her eyes, and I instantly wanted to fix it. Her lips parted, but Teagan cut in before she could speak.
“It’s her lupus,” she said, like she was announcing the weather or something. “She doesn’t like to be seen in her chair.”
Noa groaned and dropped her fork. “No,… that’s not it.” She shot her sister a glare. “The sun makes me flare. I get fatigued, and some days, the pain is so bad I don’t want to lift my head. That’s why I don’t go outside. It has nothing to do with the chair.”
“Could have fooled me,” Teagan mumbled, biting into a piece of toast.
“You do too much, Tea.”
“One of us has to know your worth.” Teagan pointed her fork at her sister.
“You letting that chair keep you hid when you should be seen. You deserve to live, Noa. Like actually live. Lupus doesn’t make you less.
Your value didn’t drop because of some damn diagnosis.
” She glanced around the table and added under her breath, “You’re out here surviving lupus when you should run it.
Hell, you should have it scared to show up. ”
“You don’t get it, Teagan.” Noa visibly tensed, her shoulders rose just a bit. “This has nothing to do with me not knowing my worth.”
“The Noa that knew her worth wouldn’t still be entertaining the same man who ghosted her when she needed him most.” She whispered that part, but everyone heard it.
“Teagan!” Noa’s eyes bounced around the table, embarrassment and anger flashing in them. “Can we not do this in front of company?”
I didn’t say anything for a second. I didn’t like how freely Teagan was giving away her sister’s business to strangers, even if I low-key appreciated the info.
Knowing Noa was entertaining some lame ass nigga who abandoned her when she was diagnosed had me ready to camp outside her house until he returned and put his head under the dirt.
She deserved better. She deserved someone who saw her beyond her illness.
“Don’t trip. We all forget our worth sometimes. It ain’t no shame in being knocked off yo’ square… as long as you get back up,” I said slowly so she could hear every word. She blinked, taken aback a little, but that smirk reappeared on her pretty face.
“Oop!” Teagan cleared her throat. “Yeah, I’m gonna like you coming around here.”
“And me too?” Rico asked with a grin on his face. Teagan said something in response, but I wasn’t paying them any attention. My eyes were locked on Noa, and hers on me.
She looked at me, her expression soft. It was filled with everything: a little surprise and a little gratitude.
Her lips parted again like she had something to say, but she said nothing.
I should’ve left it there. I was already overstepping, but I couldn’t help myself.
I stood up slowly, dragging my chair back with a soft scrape.
“Appreciate y’all,” I said, nodding at Teagan, but my eyes stayed on her. “Breakfast was good.” I turned to Noa. “Company was better.”
Noa’s cheeks reddened. I turned. I needed to get out of here before I said or did some wild shit that was going to have my job in jeopardy.
“I’m gonna check on that ramp. Fellas.” I left the kitchen, but I could still feel the heat of her gaze on me.