Chapter Twenty-Two
Twenty-Two
The aroma of collard greens, baked chicken, dressing, macaroni and cheese, plus an apple pie for dessert lingered in the air.
Full as a tick, Shyriq leaned back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest. He watched Rush savagely eat the last of his plate like he hadn’t just eaten two full servings of their mama’s cooking.
With the way his hangover had been on his ass all day, this was just what he needed to refuel. A nap was coming shortly.
Sunday dinners at their parents’ house had been a thing for as long as Shyriq could remember, and despite how busy life or their schedules got, neither brother dared to skip out too often.
Joyce Hendrix wasn’t playing that. Usually, the table would be filled with conversation about their week, but today, Shyriq hadn’t chimed in much.
It’d been hectic with the unexpected trip he had to take, but besides work, his mind kept drifting, and he knew exactly why.
Nhuri hadn’t texted or called him since last night.
He’d fallen into a comfortable routine of talking to her once they were settled in for the night, but that hadn’t happened.
She wasn’t the type to be glued to her phone, and he respected that, but this was different. Nhuri was responsive. If not immediately, then at least within a reasonable time. But his call had gone unanswered, and his message had been sitting on delivered since earlier that evening.
Something was up.
Rush wiped his mouth with a napkin before leaning back and rubbing his stomach. “Man, Mama . . . You put your foot in that food today.”
Shyriq grunted in agreement, still lost in his thoughts.
Rush glanced his way. “You good, bro?”
He nodded. “I’m straight.”
Joyce narrowed her eyes, looking between her sons. She’d picked up on the tension the moment they entered the house but hadn’t said anything about it yet. She peered at Shyriq with curiosity.
“What’s going on with you?”
Shyriq shook his head, trying to play it off. “Nothing. Just work. You know how it is.”
Joyce gave him a look that said, “Boy, please.” “You think I raised y’all and don’t know when you’re holding something in? Try again.”
Rush chuckled, studying him for a beat. “So, you just gon’ sit there and act like you ain’t stressin’ over shorty?”
Shyriq exhaled through his nose. “Who said I was stressing? You tripping.”
“Who is shorty?” Joyce asked, making them and their father, Kenny, chuckle.
“His assistant,” Rush answered.
Joyce’s brows dipped. “She’s messing up already? Your father told me you had to get a new one since Michelle went on maternity leave.”
Rush barked out a loud laugh, and Shyriq shook his head.
“No. It’s not that,” Shyriq replied.
“Well, someone better tell me something because it feels like I’m being left out of the joke,” Joyce said, glancing at Kenny.
He stuffed some dressing into his mouth and chewed. “I’m not in it, baby.”
Shyriq’s nostrils flared. It was one thing to be dating Nhuri, but to be caught up in his feelings the way he was had him a bit spooked. To his knowledge, she hadn’t done anything for him to be tripping on her like this, but his feelings were involved, so it didn’t matter.
“Mmm-hmm,” Joyce hummed. “Of course, you aren’t. Rush, tell me what’s going on. I know, you know.”
Rush was about to shrug, and then he remembered what he meant to tell Shyriq yesterday. He’d been at the hotel meeting a few of his homeboys who were in town for a birthday party and forgot all about his run-in with Nhuri and Dru.
“I’m not saying he’s in his feelings about her, but I would be too if I caught her in public arguing with some dude.”
That seemed to get Shyriq’s attention. He sat up slightly, keeping his expression neutral though he felt everything but. “Arguing with who?”
“Some lame,” Rush scoffed, disgusted that he couldn’t hem Dru up on his brother’s behalf. “You know I met up with Monte nem’ over the weekend. I’m in the hotel’s restaurant about to grab a quick bite to eat before we start drinking, and I see Nhuri.”
Rush drank some of his Sprite before continuing.
“I don’t know who dude was that she was arguing with, but it was serious. I ain’t catch what was being discussed, but they were going at it. Her hands were moving, and her neck was twisting like she was ready to slap him. Whatever he said had her in her feelings.”
Shyriq clenched and unclenched his jaws. “Yeah?”
It was all he could say. He hadn’t thought about the man Nhuri used to deal with, and she never really talked about him. Dru was mentioned subtly in conversation, without his name being brought up, but Shyriq didn’t doubt that he was the guy she was arguing with.
Besides the time when he looked her up on Facebook, Shyriq hadn’t gone digging for information anymore.
He figured that with him opening up about his past and how close they had gotten over the months, she would do the same.
But now Shyriq knew why she hadn’t. Knowing she had been at a hotel ignoring his calls but sitting with her ex didn’t sit right with him.
Shyriq exhaled through his nose. He didn’t like the thought of Nhuri being upset, especially not over some old shit that should’ve been left where it was.
“Yep,” Rush nodded. “I forgot to tell you.”
“He say somethin’ foul?” Shyriq wondered.
“Yeah, but you know I checked that shit,” Rush said, and Joyce threw her napkin at him.
He raised his hands in defense as she pointed at him with a warning in her eyes. “You better stop cursing at my table.”
Rush chuckled. “It slipped, Mama. My bad. But, yeah, bro. The dude is a lame. It sounded like he was trying to guilt-trip her. Was on some accusing her of leaving him ’cause she wanted to mess around. I don’t think that was why, though.”
Shyriq’s hand curled into a fist.
Rush chuckled under his breath. “Yeah . . . I figured you wouldn’t like that.”
Shyriq sat back, trying to push down the irritation bubbling in his chest. He had no right to be mad; Nhuri wasn’t his.
Not completely, anyway. They weren’t in a relationship, but damn, if hearing about her sitting across from some bitter-ass ex wasn’t pissing him off.
At first, he’d let her unresponsiveness slide, figuring she’d had a long day, but all bets were off now.
Rush shook his head. “She ain’t even see me at first. I walked over when I heard his tone gettin’ real disrespectful. Told her I’d catch her later, but you should’ve seen how dude looked at me.”
Shyriq’s gaze darkened. “What you mean?”
“Like he was tryna figure out if I was one of her new men or somethin’.
Mad insecure.” Rush laughed. “I ain’t say nothin’, but I could tell it struck a nerve.
She looked fed up with him, though. As soon as she walked out, she pulled her phone out.
I don’t know if she hit you up after that or what, but she left. ”
Shyriq pulled his phone out, but there was still no response from Nhuri. His thumb hovered over her contact briefly before he locked the screen. What he wanted to say had to wait. He was trying to play it cool but was failing miserably.
“I’m just sayin’, big bro . . . You might wanna check in with your woman.”
“She’s not my woman.”
Rush let out a short laugh. “Yeah, a’ight.”
Shyriq stayed quiet, but the conversation had shifted something in him.
Maybe it was time he made sure she knew where he stood before somebody else tried to step in.
Joyce was feeling the same way. She wasn’t hip to the nature of their relationship, but she knew her son.
When he liked someone, he was all in until they gave him a reason not to be—so, hearing him not claim Nhuri as his woman was all the proof she needed.
Joyce folded her arms and studied her oldest son. “She’s not your woman, yet you’re sitting here about to blow a gasket because she was arguing with another man?”
Shyriq pulled at his chin hairs. “She can do whatever she wants.”
Laughing, Joyce shook her head. “Okay. You don’t like that, huh?”
“It’s not about me liking or not liking it.”
“Mmm-hmm,” Joyce said, unconvinced.
Rush snickered. “Yeah, a’ight. You should’ve seen dude’s face. Looked like he was ready to spin the block.”
Shyriq rolled his shoulders and pushed back his plate. He wasn’t about to give his brother the satisfaction of seeing him pressed over a situation he had no claim over. “Like I said, she can do whatever she wants.”
Rush gave him a knowing look. “Yeah? Then why you so tight right now?”
Shyriq exhaled sharply through his nose. “I’m not tight.”
Joyce just shook her head, smiling. When Kenny interrupted, giving him a piece of his mind, she couldn’t have been happier. Hopefully, Shyriq listened to him.
“Son, let me tell you something. If you want that woman, you better make sure she knows it. Otherwise, don’t be surprised when she ends up with somebody else.”
His father’s words hit him harder than he expected for many reasons.
One is because of his divorce. Shyriq knew he was right.
He also knew he wasn’t about to chase behind a woman who still had one foot in the past. But damn if the thought of Nhuri sitting across from her ex, giving him any part of her energy, didn’t make his chest tight.
“And don’t sit there like everyone doesn’t have a past. You just ended a marriage, and I’m sure she had her reservations about you, but that didn’t stop her from going out with you,” Kenny said.
Joyce sucked her teeth. “So, all of y’all have just been keeping me in the dark? I see how it is. This apple pie is just for me.”
Rush looked bewildered. “Mama, stop playing. I have nothing to do with your son’s love affairs.”
“Oh, now he’s my son and not your brother?” Joyce teased.
While they stood from the table bickering over the pie, Shyriq stayed seated.
He was contemplating his next move. He was all for communicating and letting it be known how he felt, but he saw no point doing so if Nhuri wasn’t willing to do the same.
Plus, he has some questions. Of all the places they could’ve met, why was she at a hotel?
Shyriq didn’t know, but he wanted answers, and he hoped she gave them up willingly without him having to ask.