“Who a’ accept that?” he asks, tone getting deep.
“You,” I reply, lips curled in a smug smile.
“Zara, who yuh a deal wid?” he asks again, voice even lower.
“Not you,” I tease, laughing as I try to keep it cute.
He falls silent. Then: “Oh.”
“I’m playing, babe,” I say quickly. “I love you.”
“I love you too, Mami,” he replies. A knock at the door interrupts the moment.
Ms. Andy, the janitor, is standing there with her broom. “Hi, Teacher… Mi ready fi lock up now.”
I nod. “One student left her bag. Mi a check if she still in the bathroom.”
“Alright. Mi just a sweep in the meantime.” I check the bathroom? It’s empty. Weird. As I head back, I hear something, low sniffles echoing from around the corner. I follow the sound and freeze when I see her. Jania’s sitting on a desk in the stairwell, sobbing, and standing over her is a guy in a black pullover. He’s not in uniform. He’s not even a student. What the hell?
“Mi just did a… t-talk,” she sniffles, barely getting the words out.
Then I hear him say, “Just watch wah go happen if yuh dweet again.”
That voice. My eyes narrow.What in the Jordane is this?He really has a banker and a school girl? And a temper too? Beyond me.
I step in. “Excuse me? Jordane, a so yuh deal with a female?” He freezes, eyes wide.
“Mi cya believe you,” I say, voice rising. “Whatever she do, yuh nuh have no right fi squeeze har up or raise yuh voice so. Yuh not even supposed to be on this compound.”
He stammers. “Sorry, Miss Williams. A wah recommendation mi come fi pick up. Mi tell har fi link mi.” I glare at himhard. Nickoi has his flaws, cocky, reckless, but he’s never raised his hand to me. Not once. And now that I really look, Jania’s wrist has a dark spot. Her cheek looks red too. So him box her?
“You think Nickoi put him hand pan me?” I ask, keeping eye contact. He says nothing.Nickoi kinda ‘queeze we up too… but go awff.
“Shame on you cause yuh know why too,” I add.
I look at her. “Get your bag and go home, Jania.” She scurries up the stairs, head bowed. I turn back to Jordane. “And mek up yuh mind who you staying with,” I say before I walk away.
NICKOI
The minute Karlisa step in and lean ’pon the counter, mi know she up to suh’m. That fake smile, that casual stance. I see right through it. Used to be a police mi shoulda never look pan, but mi did young, reckless, and weak to a pretty face. That fling? Dead. But clearly, not dead enough inna her mind. Man fawud fi food, not flashbacks, and definitely not no old fire trying to reignite. Especially not when mi have Zara now.
“So yuh nah look my way?” she asks, tilting her head.
“Wah yuh up to? Yuh off duty?” I sip the Henny.
She nibble on a fry. “Mi partner did want stop here. Mi neva plan fi come… but mi change mi mind.”
“Hmm.”
Dani slides the lobster box on the counter. “Fi yuh thing dis, mi killa.”
“Respect.” I inspect it.
“3 grand,” he tells me. I hand him the cash.
“Mi want one more,” I say, thinking of Mama.
“Same way?”
