Chapter 24
washington
. . .
Iwanted to kick my brother in the ass when I first saw him seated at the kitchen table in Lynetta’s home. Now, I wanted to strangle him half to death.
Halfway, though. I’d release him when those arrogant eyes rolled back to the whites.
Laughing, Texas repeated himself. “Hello! Which one of y’all gone let me spend the night. Wash, Ten? Don’t all answer at once.”
“Why are you laughing, Texas?” Tennessee stepped forward, finally collecting himself enough to speak. “Nothing about this is a laughing matter. I’m not letting you stay with me. You ain’t told me where you’ve been. You left my apartment unlocked. I kicked your ass out; my decision stands.”
C’mon, now! I said, “Y’all are twins. Y’all been in this together since the womb. Ten, take your slow-ass shadow home.”
“Nope. One, he left my home unsecured. Two.” Tennessee lowered his voice as if reluctant to share his reason. “Phoenix needs a place to stay.”
“I see.” Texas nodded, pointing his fork at his twin. “You getting it.” He turned the fork toward me. “And by how close you are to Maddy, you tryna get it, Wash? Big brotha, I’m very disappointed in you. So that’s why you’d leave me on the street?”
“Yep, I’ll even supply you with a cardboard box,” I retorted between snarled teeth. “However, I don’t mind dropping you off at Momma’s.”
“Wash will let you spend the night.” Madison sat on the chair next to him, elbow propped on the table. Head in hands, she looked at Texas. “I take it you don’t want to see Momma Virginia like this. You’ve always been respectful when it counted.”
Tennessee patted my shoulder. “Thanks, bruh.”
Why was he thanking me? I hadn’t even said yes. I threw a glare at Madison, salty enough to season catfish. We had plans. Her, me, our shower, the bed. Why had she offered me up on a platter? I cleared my throat. “I wake up very early.”
Pensive, Texas munched on his omelet. “You always have. Saturday morning golf?”
I rolled my eyes. “Nah, not this time. Even earlier than usual.” Now, go home to Momma.
“Good, I sleep real late.”
After informing Tennessee I wouldn’t create a contract to force Texas to stay in the area, I slammed the door to my ride in front of Lynetta’s row house.
Texas glanced out the window. “Mannn, I love this area, Parkview. I’d be a good dude here. Maybe even get me two pit bulls. Apollo and Rambo. Or Rocco and Nico. You think you and Montana’s friend would feel a type of way if I name my dog Nico?”
I shrugged. “Dude might turn it into a joke on Netflix.”
“Sounds good. He could even use my dogs for a segment, slide me some cash. Anyway, I have this thing for o’s. Classy, huh?”
My knuckles tightened around the steering wheel as I drove away. “So, you aren’t ready to show your ugly mug to Momma?” I nearly plowed into the rear of a car worth over five Range Rovers while glancing at another turquoise row house that reminded me of the one I had left behind. Madison.
“Me? Ugly? No, sir.” Texas shook his head. “We may be half brothas, but we both inherited enough of the same genes. Let that sink in.”
“Can’t.” I turned onto South Claiborne Avenue. “Too busy thinking about sinking my size eleven into yo ass.”
Texas rolled his eyes.
I asked, “Where you been?”
“Around.”
“You’ve done this too long, Tex. When Tennessee wants to argue, you go head-to-head with him. Get cocky. Stupid. But sometimes? You’ve got nothing to say. Shut us all down. You are pushing thirty. Too old for half-assed responses. Be honest and confident in your stupidity and tell—”
“I know!”
I waited for him to elaborate on his two-liner, but nope.
I growled, “Or grow up, brotha! You showed Maddy some of that, what she calls it? Charm. Now, you’re about to leap from cardboard boxes to the Four Seasons like you won a radio contest.” Yeah, I got it like that.
My home had classy vibes. “And you sweeping half-sentences in my direction. Talk!”
“About what?” he rasped, hands out. Then his hands fell onto sweats that looked like he’d worn them for a month to the gym after he’d warmed up by rolling around in the parking lot.
Texas shifted in his seat. “My bad. I screwed things up with you and Maddy. She had her luggage ready.”
“For a bum, you’re perceptive.”
“Yep. Didn’t mean to come between you and all that. Glad y’all working things out.”
I was trying to work out every inch of my wife’s body ‘til you came along.
“Is she moving back home, Wash?”
“Hope so. We’re going to a winery tomorrow. We’ll be gone for a night. If you disappear before Sunday night and leave my place unlocked, I will sue you.”
“Bruh, say less.” He pinched the bridge of his nose, the back of his grimy head falling against the headrest. “I told Ten, I ain’t meant to leave his place wide open.”
I stopped hard in the middle of the road. “Wide open.”
“Unlocked. I didn’t lock the door,” Texas said. “That’s all. Things on my mind. Ten wasn’t tryna hear that.”
“Please. Who do you know who wants to hear all that when they’ve worked hard for their money?
” I stared at my brother point-blank, waiting for him to fold or come clean about his situation.
A beat later, I shifted my gaze toward the road.
“Like I said, Tex, when will you start working hard for your money?” I pulled into the driveway.
Minutes later, I keyed in the home-security code. Texas glanced around Black Utopia. I muttered my wife’s name, wishing she’d walked through the door with me instead.
“Maddy’s on your mind heavy, huh?”
“Yeah. She was always the sweetest. To everyone else.” I glared at my brother. Case in point, you. “But when I was running after her?”
“Chase of your life?”
“Yep.”
“I bet. Any woman worth it will have us running around, chasing our tails. Panting like a dog.” He grinned, picking up a black marble vase.
“How do you manage to be both smart and dumb?”
Any other dude? I’d stretch my knuckles. Square up for a fight. Texas had levels. Two. Laughing and talking crap about the next shady thing he’d get into. Or silence.
After a second, he put the vase down and sniffed the air. “Bruh! You cooked something fancy, huh?”
“Like my momma raised me, which is irrelevant. You just ate.”
He was already walking away. “Man, that was breakfast.”
Dude made himself comfortable at the dining room table, where I’d set food in Madison’s favorite serving dishes. When he reached for the bottle of wine, I swatted his hand.
Seconds later, I grabbed a wine opener, and we got down on the spread I’d made for my wife.
Okay, bought. I’d hid the evidence already.
As we ate, I wished for more for my brother.
Boy Three had examples from me, Montana, and his twin.
I knew college wasn’t for everyone, but I wished he’d get things right this time.
After dinner, I showed him to one of the guest rooms. He picked another.
Said he wanted to wake up with a Mississippi River view.
I threw terry cloth towels at him and left the room, slamming the door behind me.
In the hall, I texted my bébé. Since she didn’t answer, I got things ready in our room for her homecoming.
“How was last night? Did you give your brother some of your last-season suits and a few sweats and jeans?” Madison asked, taking my hand as I helped her into the Bentley.
“Yep.” I jogged around the convertible and got in. Sitting there, staring out the window into the bright morning sun, I muttered, “I can’t believe he had nothing. Slid him a few dollars, even though he told me he didn’t need to hold nothing. That man needs to hold a résumé.”
She chuckled, soft and low. “Be kind to him.”
“A Black man can’t get anywhere being babied.”
“You … told me the same about Elijah.”
We didn’t bring him up much, and I had the feeling Shonda’s contract included him as a silent caveat in her unusual torture.
Lack of sex? It was silent and deadly.
But there shouldn’t be any hiding the salami when we couldn’t discuss our boy. Shonda was right about that.
“If I had known …” I replied, starting the car.
“You couldn’t have known,” she whispered, then shook her head with a soft laugh. “He was a little crybaby, though, huh? Instead of terrible twos?”
“He was a tough three after you rationed your kisses.”
“True.” She took my hand as I drove.