“We don’t point at people, Ermias. I see them. You’re too small for diamond teeth,” I said before looking back up at Zyro. “Thanks, so do you.”
I scooped up Ermias’s booster seat from against the wall near the door, and Zyro took it from me, telling my son to follow him while I locked up.
“We get to ride in the monster truck again! When I get big, Zyro, I’m going to get one!”
I stifled a laugh. Next, he’s going to want me to take his little ass to the tattoo shop to get covered like Zyro. I shook my head. If only he could get the same attention he was getting from Zyro, from Delion. It’s been a month since Delion had even called for Ermias. I wasn’t one of those baby mothers who’d call and cry about it either. Ermias wasn’t missing out on anything. He was loved and he cared for. I shouldn’t have to force anyone to be in his life.
Zyro helped me into his truck again. I could have sworn his hand lingered just a second longer than it needed to before he shut the door.
It was a fifteen-minute drive to the Heartville Expo, where the fair was always held. Zyro had music playing low.
“How you feelin’?” he asked about five minutes into the drive.
“About what?” I questioned. “My car? My eye?”
He pointed to his eye. “If I’m overstepping, let me know.”
“I took pain meds before I left the house, just in case. Right now, I’m fine. I appreciate you asking, though.” I offered Zyro a small smile.
“Do people…Do they give you problems in public? Do they just stare?” Zyro asked.
“Most of the time it’s kids, but they don’t know any better. I brought my eye patch to put on, though. Ermias…he’s very overprotective of me. He’ll buck up to a teen if he sees them talking about me,” I mumbled so my baby couldn’t hear me.
“As he should. Boys don’t play ‘bout they mamas.”
I shook my head and pointed behind me with my thumb. “He sure doesn’t.”
“I’ll knock a nigga off this Earth ‘bout mine,” Zyro uttered, then licked his lips. I had to glance out the window.
“Zyro?” Ermias called out from the back.
“Yeah, big man?”
“Are you getting on the rides? The scary ones?”
Zyro glanced over at me, and I raised a brow, awaiting his response to my baby.
“Yeah, I ain’t scared of shit.” Without thinking, I elbowed Zyro for cussing. He frowned at first and then grinned. “My bad.”
The fair wasn’t as packed as the weekend; that is why I preferred to bring Ermias on a weekday. When my feet touched the ground from exiting the truck, I reached into my purse to pull out my eyepatch. As I was about to pull it over my head, it was snatched out of my hand.
“You don’t need this,” Zyro mumbled, sticking it in his pocket while Ermias and I watched with our jaws dropped. “If anybody looks at you a lil’ too long, they gon have to answer to me. I’ll push a kid down,” he leaned over and said, lips inches from my ear.
I gasped and then broke into a laugh. I wasn’t sure if I should be afraid or grateful.
“You don’t have to. I’m used to it, I promise.”
“You’re too pretty for this damn patch.”
My cheeks heated.
“Ouuuu, Mama! Zyro called you pretty. He thinks you’re pretty!” Ermias stopped walking and cocked his head to the side as if he’d just thought of something. Nothing could prepare me for what would come out of his mouth. “Zyro, are you going to be my new daddy?”
“Ermias!” I screeched. “Oh my gosh! Why would you ask that?” I turned to a skinning and grinning Zyro, who had both hands stuffed in the pockets of his jeans. “Do not answer that!”
Zyro chuckled. “C’mon, man. Let’s go get the tickets so we can see who big dawg and who’s the scaredy cat.”
“I’m big dawg!” Ermias said loudly, poking his chest out.
