Chapter 1 #4
Home. There was nothing else like it and I missed it so much that I was contemplating not leaving. Spending the day clearing the fuzziness surrounding my release sounded so much better than anything else I could think of wanting to do in Channing – almost.
So instead of trying to convince myself otherwise, I slid the pair of briefs I’d tossed on the bed before cutting my hair and showering up my ass. Five seconds later, my bedroom light was out and I was underneath the covers. Sleep came easy much like everything else when comfort wasn’t an issue.
Darkness devoured every inch of my home.
With the back of my hand, I rubbed my right eye and then my left to clear them of the debris that hindered my vision.
My view of The Hills would never get old.
I stared out of the floor-to-ceiling windows that every home deep within the community had been built with so that everyone could indulge in the beauty of the scenery.
“Haaaaaaaaaaaaa,” I yawned, eyes and mouth watering simultaneously.
My stomach sounded immediately after. I hadn’t eaten shit all day and knew that it was time to. But first, I needed to take a piss and brush the exhaustion from my breath. Before I could do either, I checked the time on the cell that Kale had given me earlier. It was after nine.
“Shit, I was tired.”
There were two missed calls on the line, one from Luca and one from Laike.
I remembered both of their numbers by heart.
I’d bet my bottom dollar that when I didn’t answer for one, the other called and betted they’d get me to pick up.
That could only mean that the niggas were together.
It hadn’t been a full hour since they’d hit my line.
Before I called either of them, I needed to make a more urgent call first.
“What’s up?” Kale answered, projecting his voice over the music in the car.
“Shit. You good?”
“Yeah, bro. You don’t have to worry about me. I promise. I’m staying out of trouble.”
He already knew exactly what I was calling about.
“Where you at?”
“Edgewood.”
He was in familiar territory. That’s where we were raised with our aunt and uncle.
That’s where I met the Eisenbergs. We lived across the street from one another our whole lives.
They were family. With a shake of my head, I recalled not being surprised to see Liam Eisenberg waiting for me outside the jailhouse after I’d been bonded out the morning after everything went down.
It was him who’d shared their family lawyer with me and made sure that I didn’t pay a dime out of pocket.
Luca and Laike were no more of his sons than I was. We just didn’t share the same blood.
“Bet. When are you heading back this way?”
“You miss me?”
“Nah. Not really. Enjoying my own company, actually. Just trying to keep up with you.”
“Around midnight.”
“Aight.”
“Okay.”
I ended the call and dialed Luca’s line. He was the first to call, so I figured he deserved the return. I wouldn’t hear the end of the shit when I saw Laike, but I’d deal with his shit later.
“My nigga,” Luca answered on the second ring.
“What’s good?”
“Shit. You’re sounding very fucking free right now. I prefer that,” he shared.
His lack of enthusiasm as he was clearly excited was classic Luca behavior.
He was by far the least bothered nigga I’d ever met in life – aside from his father.
According to the streets, I was next in line.
Laike was right after. There was a fine line between unbothered and not giving a fuck when it came to us both.
I doubt that either of us gave a fuck about much if it didn’t involve the ones that we shared blood with or loved unconditionally.
“Tell that nigga I see how he’s moving,” Laike’s voice erupted in the background.
Chuckling, I requested, “Tell him I miss him, too.”
“That’s probably what his soft ass wants to hear. I think he wants a kiss or some shit,” Luca teased.
“Fuck you,” Laike boasted.
“Ever does it and does it well, my nigga. She needs no help. But he said he misses you, too.”
Tonight I asked Ever if she thought it was possible to be utterly in love with someone that you haven’t had the pleasure of loving on.
She told me she loved Luca from the moment she saw his face.
Her words resurfaced. Closing my eyes, I shoved the message from my thoughts as I tried regaining control of them.
“Y’all definitely on the level I’m trying to be on. Where you niggas at and where are y’all headed?”
“We’re at Laike’s crib about to head to Oat + Olive in the next thirty minutes.”
“Sounds like a bet. I’ll see you niggas in about an hour.”
“Say less.”
No more words were exchanged. We both ended the call just as I stood from my bed and stretched my limbs to the limit.
Oat + Olive was a vibe. I’d only been about three times but every time, I’d enjoyed the few minutes I stayed.
Tonight would be different, though. I had nowhere to be and not a single piece of pussy lined up that would chop away at my time in the spot.
I was free in every sense of the word. Tonight, it was whatever.