Caine flipped the tortilla onto the pan, pressing it down with his hand.
He had the eggs scrambled and waiting in the bowl, peppers and onion already done, cheese pulled from the wrapper and sitting on the cutting board. He held his fingers just above the tortilla and waited, eyes on the stove. The smell of the peppers and onion still hung in the kitchen from when he'd done them first, warm and sharp under the grease smell of the pan.
His phone sat propped against the backsplash. He reached over and swiped the screen awake with his knuckle on the other hand. Notifications stacked the display. A string of texts in the group thread with the guys. Two reminders from the course portal about assignments. He scrolled past both.
His thumb slowed.
The thread sat below the others. No name attached to it, just the ten digits he’d memorized. He'd sent the message two days ago, right after his mother, Mireya and Camila left. No reply had come back. He stared at the text for a moment, then scrolled back up.
He stopped on the thread with Ramon, Tyree, and E.J. His thumb hovered over it. He tapped it open and let it sit on the screen while he flipped the tortilla with his hand.
He thought about asking. How connected Trell actually was. Whether any of them had already known about him and Mireya. The conversation from Saturday was still sitting on his mind.
He set the phone down face-first on the counter.
His eyes moved to the corner of the living room. Camila had made a pile before she left, sorting through the team shop bags. A jersey sat folded on top, too big for her by half, kept anyway. A pennant leaned against the baseboard. She'd set a stuffed helmet on the arm of the couch deliberately, positioned it just so, and then walked out to the car.
He turned back to the stove just as bedroom door opened.
Alanna came out barefoot, one of his shirts hanging loose off one shoulder, the hem stopping low on her thighs. She had one hand raised to her face, knuckle working at the corner of her eye. She stopped in the doorway and stretched, both arms going up above her head, the shirt riding up with them, and yawned wide and slow, eyes watering with it.
She crossed the living room and came into the kitchen behind him. Her arms slid around his waist and her cheek pressed flat against the middle of his back. She held there without moving, her weight settling against him
"You cooking enough for me?"
Caine snorted. He kept his eyes on the pan, working the eggs toward the edges. "Depends how much you eat." He flipped the tortilla again and checked the color. "I ain't expect for you to fall asleep. Thought you were gonna leave by now."
She slipped around to his side, leaning back against the counter next to the stove so she could see his face. Her arms crossed loosely at her stomach, hair still pressed flat from the pillow on one side.
"You shouldn't have fucked me so good if you wanted me to leave." She tilted her head at him. "I almost fell in love last night."
Caine barked a laugh. He reached past her for the second tortilla, pulled it from the pack, and dropped it onto the burner, turning it on. "I hope you ain't picky," he said, "because I ain't about to cook something different than what I'm eating."
Alanna watched him work for a second. "I think I can make do." She let a beat pass. "If you feeding me lunch, too."
Caine glanced at the clock on the microwave, then back at the pan. "Shit, I don't know. I got some assignments to do and—"
"Mmhm."
She put both palms flat against his chest and pushed him back just enough to step into the space between him and the counter. Her eyes stayed on his the whole way down as she dropped to her knees in front of him, fingers hooking into the waistband of his shorts and pulling them down in one clean motion.
Caine looked down at her.
He reached back and turned the burner off under the eggs. Then he nodded once. "Nevermind then. Lunch it is."
~~~
Trell pulled into a spot at the top of the parking garage, nothing overhead but sky. He cut the engine and walked toward where Cass stood.He could see Cass from across the level. She stood against the driver's side of her car with her arms crossed, facing the low wall, looking out at the street below. She kept looking down even as he approached.
Trell stopped a few steps away.
"You ain't got your bodyguard with you today?"
Cass finished whatever she was watching on the street before she turned her head. "You ain't got yours with you so I figure I ain't need mine."
Trell looked out over the wall for a moment. He looked back at Cass. "What more you know about this nigga Meechie talking about he got a problem with the way we doing business?"
Cass shifted her weight off the car. Her arms stayed crossed. One shoulder came up and dropped. "I don't know no more than what I already told you a couple weeks ago." She held his gaze. "You should've done smoothed that over by now, huh?"
Trell let the question sit there for a second before he answered. "Cass." He said it flat. "You know if I turn off the tap for him, I'm gonna do the same thing to you. 'Cause you the bitch who brought him and his cousin around. Gonna be real hard to make money around here then."
Cass let her arms drop to her sides. She stood straight and looked at him. "I ain't worried about that." Her chin came up a fraction. "I been a hustler since I came out my mama pussy. Just like Ceedy was when she was young."
Trell shook his head. "You supposed to be backing me up on these things. I been knowing you for a long time. Since we was eighteen, nineteen years old."
Cass nodded once. "You ain't lying. Since P put you and Ant on. Now look at you. The boss. Fucking Don Corleone and shit."
"That sound like some sour shit."
Cass raised both hands, palms out, fingers loose. "No." She let her hands drop back. "I respect the hustle. Someone had to take the spot when Peanut got killed. Couldn't been none of them other niggas that was around when that happened. And Ant went sit down on that bid right after that, didn't he?"
Trell shrugged "That sound about right."
She took a step toward him. "Look. I ain't heard nothing more about Meechie and what he got on his mind." She tilted her head slightly. "But I heard you getting war ready. So, what you got to worry about?"
"War bad for business." He kept his eyes on her face. "You know that better than anybody."
"You should've thought about that before you went to Memphis."
Trell sucked his teeth.
Cass turned from him and walked back to her car. She gripped the door handle, pulled it open, and stood in the frame of it with one hand resting flat on the roof.
"And why them crackers in Florida ain't been answering my calls?"
Cass looked back at him over the top of the door. "Send the Mexican back down there and have her find out." She ducked inside and pulled the door shut.
Trell stood there and watched the tinted glass of her window for a moment. Then he shook his head and walked back to his own car.
~~~
Saul pushed through the front door with the trash bag twisted around his fingers and let the screen door slap shut behind him. He stopped abruptly when he felt someone close to him.Ramon was sitting on the hood of his car.
He had his arms resting on his elbows, feet on the bumper. He just watched as Saul walked out of the door.
Saul stood on the front step. He looked left down the street, then right, taking in the neighboring yards and the houses facing them. Then he looked back at Ramon. "How you knew where I was?"
"IG, bro." Ramon lifted one hand and dropped it again. "I was about to ask Caine, but I know he be busy with that football thing so I figured I'd just pop up on you."
Saul came down the steps and crossed the front yard to the garbage can at the edge of the driveway. He lifted the lid, dropped the bag in, and let the lid fall back with a hollow knock of plastic on plastic. He walked
"My girl's parents are going to call the cops if they see you out here."
Ramon snorted a laugh. "Why? Cause I'm a nigga?"
"I mean, no, but." Saul stopped there. He looked at the ground for a second, then brought his eyes back up.
Ramon let it sit. "It's all good, lil' brudda. I ain't gonna stay long. I just need to know when you getting in touch with them boys about that work. I know they looking for you. And if I can find you from IG, then they can find you from IG, too."
Saul ran his hand through his hair and let it rest at the back of his neck. He looked off past Ramon at the street. "I been busy, man."
Ramon shook his head. "Ain't no busy in this, nigga. Every day you let someone hold money over your head is another day they got reason to kill your ass." He looked past Saul toward the front of the house, then back. "You got a kid in there, don't you?"
Saul turned and looked back over his shoulder at the front door. stood there for a half second, then turned back to Ramon and nodded.
Ramon waved his hand one way then the other as he spoke. "I ain't got no kids. So I ain't gonna front like, oh, if I had one I'd do this. But you got in a dangerous game, lil' brudda. And me and Tyree, we the only way you getting out of it."
Saul blew a breath out through his nose. "What y'all even gonna do?"
Ramon shrugged one shoulder. "Why it matter?"
"Because he's my ex's boyfriend."
Ramon laughed. "Sounds like more reason you'd want something to happen to him to me."
"But if she with him—"
Ramon raised his hand, palm out, and held it there. "Nah, I got you." His voice came down a register. "Less you know the better. I just need you to make that call. You ain't even gotta be in the city. Matter of fact, it's better if you not."
Saul stood there another moment, his hands loose at his sides.
He nodded. "I'm gonna let you know."
"Alright, cool." Ramon pushed himself off the hood, the car shifting under the weight coming off it. He straightened, rolled his neck once, and looked back toward the front door. He gestured at it with two loose fingers. "They got jambalaya in there? I heard Gonzales the jambalaya capital of the world and that sound like cap."
"This is St. Amant."
Ramon snapped his fingers and shook his head. He turned and pulled his car door open.
Saul stayed at the edge of the driveway and watched him get in. The engine turned over and the car moved off. Saul stood there and watched it until it reached the corner and turned to go back inside
~~~
Laney pushed open the door to her parents’ house, three Amazon packages stacked in her arm. She swung her foot back to shut the door with her heel."Daddy?" Her voice went up toward the stairs and the back of the house. She stood in the entryway and waited, one hand braced under the stack of packages, listening to the house settle around her. "Mama?"
Nothing. She shifted the packages higher and started up the stairs, her free hand trailing the banister.
She passed the first door on the left, Rylee's old room from when they were kids. She kept going to the room at the end of the hall, the one that had been hers before the wedding.
She raised her hand to knock. Then she dropped it and shoved the door open with her palm.
The curtains were drawn against the light coming through the window. Rylee lay face-down in the bed, hair spread loose across the pillow, wearing just a tank top. The room smelled of stale perfume and underneath that, sweat, sleep and bad decisions. Rylee pushed up onto her elbows at the sound of the door hitting the wall, turned her head to look over her shoulder, and when she saw Laney standing there, she let out a groan and dropped her face back into the pillow.
Laney crossed to the bed and dropped the packages on top of her. "Stop gettin' stuff sent to my fuckin' house."
Rylee shoved the packages sideways with one arm so she could roll without sending them to the floor. She pulled herself up to sitting slow, blinking against the dim, one hand working through her tangled hair. Her voice came out scraped raw. "You gotta stop fuckin' yellin'. I ain't sleep good last night."
"You ain't sleep good 'cause you were out all night fuckin' and drinkin' again."
Rylee rolled her eyes. She reached over to the nightstand and grabbed her keys, then turned to the stack of packages sitting on the bed beside her. She worked the pointed end of a key into the tape on the top one and dragged it down the seam, the sound of it sharp in the dim room.
"I ain't tryin' to hear your lectures right now." She pulled the box open and spread the flaps. "You brought me my packages. Now get the fuck out."
Laney crossed her arms at her chest. "It's been months, Rylee Jo." She held her ground at the side of the bed and looked down at her. "You need to grow the fuck up and move the fuck on. The world ain't all puppy dogs and rainbows. Shit happens you don't want to happen. Get over it."
Rylee reached into the box and pulled out a smaller box nested inside it. She turned it over once in her hands, looking at the back of the packaging, then set it flat on the comforter in front of her. A vibrator.
Laney's jaw went tight. She sucked her teeth, shaking her head. "That's what you had sent to my house?" She looked at the box sitting on the comforter and then back up at Rylee. "What if my sons had opened that package?"
Rylee lifted one shoulder and let it drop. "Teach those lil' bastards not to open other people's packages."
Laney moved around the foot of the bed in three steps. Her hand went into Rylee's hair and closed into a fist, and she pulled back hard, tipping Rylee's chin toward the ceiling.
Rylee yelped, both hands coming up fast, fingers locking around Laney's wrist and squeezing. "Get the fuck off me!"
"Shit rolls downhill, Rylee Jo." Laney kept her grip and held her eyes. "You might think you can be flippant with me 'cause of daddy. But I'll beat your ass just the same."
She shoved her back by the fistful of hair and let go. Rylee caught herself on both palms against the mattress, the packages sliding off to one side. Laney turned and walked for the door, her steps even on the floor.
"Fuck you, Laney."
Laney stopped in the doorway and looked back over her shoulder, one hand resting on the frame. "Get your shit together." She held the look just long enough. "And next time, keep your sex toys off my fuckin' doorstep."
~~~
Jaslene’s arm found Mireya's waist before they'd cleared the second step, and her mouth dropped to the side of Mireya's neck, lips pressing warm against her skin, once and then again.Mireya laughed and put a hand flat on Jaslene's shoulder and shoved. "You gotta chill."
Jaslene pulled back just enough to look at her, walking half sideways up the remaining steps. "You been looking good all night, mi amor."
"We did three fucking VIPs." Mireya kept moving, keys already in her hand.
"Joder, tienes razón." Jaslene fell back into step behind her and got her hand to the small of Mireya's back before they reached the landing.
Mireya got the key into the lock and pushed the door open. She stepped through and Jaslene came in right behind her, hands going under the hem of Mireya’s hoodie before Mireya had both feet across the threshold, fingers curling into the fabric and pushing it up toward her shoulders.
Mireya turned. "Chill."
Sena was at the coffee table with her laptop open in front of her, a half-eaten bag of chips pushed to one side, shoes off and tucked under the table. She looked up at the sound of the door, eyes going to Mireya first and then to Jaslene just behind her.
Mireya pulled her hoodie down. Jaslene smiled and moved past her toward the kitchen, fingers trailing along Mireya's forearm as she went.
"Camila's asleep?" Mireya asked.
Sena nodded. "We went to the park and that tired her out." She reached over and folded the top of the chip bag down.
"Thanks, again." Mireya set her keys on the table by the door and let her bag drop off her shoulder to the floor. "I know this is crazy."
Sena waved it off and pulled her laptop closed. She slid it into her bag and stood, strap going up onto her shoulder, scanning the table.
Mireya reached into the front pocket of her hoodie and pulled out a folded stack of bills. She peeled several off and held them out.
Sena took them and tucked them into her back pocket. "Thanks."
"You staying?" Mireya asked.
Sena's eyes moved to the kitchen. Jaslene had pulled herself up onto the counter, legs hanging, tipping a vodka bottle over a glass. Sena looked back at Mireya. "I have to finish that paper for Lirette and I need to be at a desk."
"Shit." Mireya pressed her lips together. "I forgot about that."
"It's due tomorrow night."
Mireya dragged her hand back through her hair, fingers catching on a knot, and held it there at the back of her head. "I'll have to fit that in somewhere."
Sena shifted her bag higher on her shoulder. "Life of a college student." She glanced down the hall and back. "I'm gonna use the bathroom first."
"Yeah, go ahead."
Sena headed down the hall. Mireya turned and went into the kitchen. Jaslene had set her phone face-down on the counter beside her and was working on the glass, swirling it once before taking a sip.
She set it down when Mireya came in. "Qué mejora con respecto a tu prima."
Mireya leaned back against the counter across from her and crossed her arms. "¿Qué quieres decir?"
Jaslene set the glass to one side and reached out, fingers closing around Mireya's wrist. She tugged her forward, easy, until Mireya was standing between her knees with their faces close. Her other hand came up and pushed Mireya's hair back from her face, fingers dragging through it slowly. "Es linda."
She leaned down and kissed her. Mireya's hand came up to Jaslene's jaw and she leaned into it. Jaslene's palm moved to the back of her neck and the kiss deepened, Mireya's fingers pressing against Jaslene's face. Jaslene's free hand found Mireya's hip and pulled her closer.
"Hey, Mireya."
Mireya stepped back and turned. Sena stood at the end of the hall.
Jaslene reached up and caught a loose strand of Mireya's hair between two fingers and turned it.
"You're out of toilet paper in that bathroom," Sena said. "I didn't see any extra in the cabinet."
"Oh, yeah." Mireya stepped clear of Jaslene. "It's in my bathroom. I'll put some in there."
Sena nodded. "Alright. See you on campus tomorrow."
"See you tomorrow."
Sena crossed to the door, picked her jacket and bag off the arm of the couch as she passed, and pulled the front door open. It swung shut behind her, closing soft in the frame.
Jaslene slid down off the counter, feet finding the floor. She came up close behind Mireya and dropped her lips to her ear. "Ya no hay más excusas, mi amor."
Mireya rolled her eyes. She reached back and closed her hand around Jaslene's, pulling her toward the bedroom.
