Chapter 3 Eris #2
“Thank you.” Erin blushed. “This is crazy right now. I’m standing next to Rayzor.” Erin gleamed.
“Sup, lil’ man. I’m Courtland.” He leaned down and shook Levi’s hand. At first, he shied away.
“It’s okay, Levi.”
“Hey.” Levi shook Rayzor’s large hand.
After that, he loosened up but still stayed stuck to me and Erin’s side.
Rayzor chuckled.
The hostess came over and walked us to the table. On our walk back, all eyes were on us like we were a celebrity family. It made me feel out of place. On the other hand, Rayzor paid it no mind as his shoulders were back, head straight, walking like he owned the place.
They sat us in the back of the restaurant in a large booth. Out the way. Immediately, you felt a shift. It was quiet. Everybody was looking around the table at one another.
“My goodness, the infamous Rayzor.” The waitress laid napkins down, slowly leaning over him. “I’m your waitress Kelsi. And can I say it’s a pleasure to be serving you here today,” the fucking waitress introduced herself.
“’Preciate it.”
His eyes were on me.
The waitress just stared.
“Are you waiting on something else?” I asked her.
“For him to tell me what he wants.”
“Get somebody else over here,” Rayzor told her.
“Huh? Why?” she asked, confused.
“Because you talking to me like there ain’t other people at the table.”
“I–”
“You got on your scrubs, pretty teeth. You work today?” He ignored her.
“Pretty teeth,” both Erin and Maleek said before blurting out laughing.
“Y’all don’t like the name?” Rayzor asked them. “Give us a minute,” he finally said to the waitress.
“Bro, I know you got rizz so if you like it, I love it. I won’t be calling no women pretty teeth, though,” Maleek commented.
“Well, as you know, I’m a dental hygienist and today was a day from hell. Miami beat me down. I’m trying to get my life together.” I exhaled.
“Happy Birthday,” Erin and I said together.
“Thank y’all. Erin, you like boxing?” Maleek asked.
“I didn’t at first. Then my friends got me to watch it, and I like it now. They gather around at lunch and play his highlights. Even my teachers be watching. Mr. Rayzor can fight.”
“Yeah. Bro is quick with his hands,” Maleek responded, proud of Rayzor.
“Call me Rayzor, Erin. It’s cool,” he told her, and she nodded with a smile.
“That means he can always protect you,” I commented, locking eyes with Rayzor.
“They know what’s up.” Maleek laughed.
“They don’t bother you because you know what to do too,” Rayzor responded.
“What made you get into boxing?” I asked.
“Our pops was a boxer,” Rayzor explained.
“Was?” I questioned, trying not to sound insensitive.
“Yeah.” He paused. “He died some years back.”
“Oh, I’m sorry for asking.”
“Nah. It’s cool.”
“Levi, what you want to eat, lil’ man?” Rayzor asked.
I smiled as he gave my son attention.
Rayzor’s demeanor was calming, much different than in the ring and club, or even with me.
Levi’s eyes lit up as he touched every item he saw.
“Mac and Cheese and this… and this… oh, and this…” Levi pointed.
“You gon’ get all that?” Rayzor chuckled.
“Yes,” Levi laughed.
“Boy, what is all that?” I asked, feeling ashamed.
A new waiter came over.
“How are we today?”
“Ladies first,” Rayzor stated. “We’re ready to order.”
The kids ordered damn near everything on the menu. I tried stopping both of mine, but Rayzor told them to get whatever they wanted, and they weren’t sparing him. I felt embarrassed like I wasn’t feeding them at home.
Rayzor caught my worry across the table and gave me a nod to relax. I let out a small exhale, sulking deeper into the seat, allowing myself to feel comfortable.
And for the first time in a long time, I almost did.
“And my bad about Miami. Shit, I thought that’s what you wanted,” he apologized.
“It’s fine.”
“If it was, you wouldn’t have brought it up. Next time though, I’ll sleep in it.”
“Boy, please. It won’t be a next time.”
He subtly chuckled.
“It’s always a next time, pretty teeth.” He winked.
My stomach flipped because, somewhere in the back of my mind, I believed it although I didn’t want to.
Erin was with her friend for the weekend, so it was Levi and I. At the crack of dawn, he was jumping on my bed asking for breakfast. Once I got myself together, I fixed my baby his superman pancakes with sausage links and fruit.
After I snuck in a small nap, I took us to a matinee.
We snacked on everything, but Levi wore more of the popcorn than ate it.
By the time the ending credits rolled, Levi had fallen asleep. I was stuck carrying the premium bucket of popcorn with the cup and candy inside my purse, all while holding his heavy ass through the center plex.
“Levi, you’re gonna have to wake up,” I told him, but all he did was stir in his sleep.
My arms trembled to hold the purse over my shoulder.
“Ma,” he murmured.
“I got you,” I whispered.
The lot was thinning out as I saw the car from the escalator. The sun casted a shadow across the pavement. I didn’t realize I was being followed until I heard footsteps behind me.
“You got it?”
That voice.
I slightly turned to see Rayzor. Hoodie on. Hands in his pockets. Watching me like he’d been looking for a minute.
“I got it,” I replied, shifting Levi without waking him.
He stepped out, reaching for Levi.
“I hear you.”
Rayzor didn’t wait for me as he gently grabbed him, naturally like he’d done it before. Levi didn’t resist. Just laid his head on his shoulder and continued sleeping.
Something about it made my chest tight and heart flutter.
I started back up on my walk. My shoulder thanked me as I dropped my purse and held it in my hands. I placed the cup inside the bucket and that also took a weight off me.
“You always carry the world on your shoulder?”
“I have to.” I paused. The cars zoomed past in the distance. “It’s just been me.”
Our footsteps moved in sync. Rayzor walked slow and deliberate.
We stopped by my car.
“This you right here, right?”
“You know better than me,” I giggled.
“Something… like that,” he responded, scanning the lot.
His eyes flickered across to a silver sedan sitting in the middle of the lot.
“You know them?” he asked.
I shook my head. “No. Why?”
He walked to Levi’s side of the car. “Nothing.”
His body language changed. Shoulders and jaw tight. Eyes and movements sharper.
He placed him inside his car seat.
“It’s Courtland,” Levi called out.
“Sup, lil’ man?” Rayzor smiled.
“You came to see the movie too?” Levi asked.
“I saw my own movie, lil’ man.”
Levi sulked.
He had already taken a liking to him. Has asked about him since dinner, both him and Erin. They rarely ask about anyone other than family and my friends. I don’t feed into it because I didn’t want to give them the wrong impression.
“I got you next time, aiight?” He winked at Levi.
The smile plastered on my son’s face made my heart melt, but my heart also skipped; felt like it broke. The last man that promised anything to him was his daddy, and we hadn’t seen him in two years.
He gave him pound before closing his door. He opened mine smoothly, helping me inside.
“You good?” I asked him, squinting my eyes from the sun.
The glow casting behind him made him seem larger than life.
“I’m cool.” He looked down on me. “You?”
“Yeah.”
He studied me. I felt small under his gaze. He squatted down and kissed the side of my mouth.
The silence was louder than my heart.
“What’s that for?”
“Nothing. I just wanted to show you I see you.”
My stomach tossed.
“Thank you.”
“No need.” He scanned the lot again, turning colder, but still present. “I’ll follow y’all home.”
“You don’t have to do all that.”
“I ain’t ask.”
He made me pull off and walked beside us until he got into his truck not too far away.
I wasn’t sure what to make of what Rayzor was doing, but it made me feel lighter. The way he took initiative, was protective and how he was about me and my son in that moment made me realize how much I’d been missing out on doing this alone.