“Maybe, but we were kids, Brick.”
“Yet when I kissed you the other night, it was like no time had passed at all. Every time you and I are in the same vicinity, there’s an inexplicable chemistry we have that started a very long time ago.”
“If you embarrassing me in front of John Dixon and half your friends is the inexplicable chemistry we have, I pass on that.”
“Since you insist on dwelling on things that happened a lifetime ago, do you know where the hell John Dixon is now?”
“Nope.”
“He’s an unemployed insurance agent because of sexual assault charges made and proven against him at the agency he worked for. He was a predator then, and he’s a predator now. I might have done it in an ass backward way back then, but I was protecting you. I’ll always protect you, Kaya.”
He gently clasps my hand and lays it on top of the center console. I probably should, but I don’t pull it away, at least not yet. There’s a sincerity in his words that’s throwing me off kilter and making me wish for things that I know can never possibly be for a myriad of reasons.
Just as gently, I slide my hand out of his. “I’ll pay you back for the tuxedo by the end of the week.”
I can’t allow whatever this newfound sincerity of his to sway me.
He’s still Brick.
A selfish prick who makes millions of dollars and dumps celebrity girlfriends over coffee. At least that’s what I keep telling myself. I just have to get through these next few weeks and then life goes back to normal when he disappears from our lives again.
Brick
“So the oldgang is back together again,” Kyle says enthusiastically as we gear up for a game of touch football with some of our old teammates from school. It’s one of the pre-wedding activities Kaya and I decided I’d be in charge of.
“I hope you still have some moves left,” I tease. “I’m not going to take it easy on anyone today. It’s not in my DNA.”
“Yo, man, so I didn’t tell any of the guys you were coming today. You need to forgive them if they act a little weird when they see you.”
“It’s fine. I get it. Not too many pro ball players come from our neighborhood.”
“Don’t be modest. No ballers have come out of here. Just you.”
I think about what Kaya said to me a few days ago. In my focus to leave this place and make something out of my life, to be better than my father ever was, I’d forgotten that I left friends behind.
“You would have been right along with me if you hadn’t blown out your knee,” I tell him.
“Yeah, but I guess everything happened the way it was supposed to. Someone had to be here to raise up Kaya. My mom never really recovered after my dad’s death.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah, her head’s not right. She sleeps a lot. Cries a lot. The only time she seems to find any joy is if something good happens to me or Kaya, and I’m hoping one day with Mr. Solomon.”
“Kaya works for him, right?”
“Yeah, it’s a sweet gig, if you ask me. She just does crap online for him at home in her pajamas while I’m out here in the trenches. You’d be surprised how many people have creepy basements in this town.”
“Does she like the job?”
Kyle stops lacing his cleats.
“What do you mean?”
“She seems to be struggling financially, and I was just wondering if she likes the job or maybe she should find a new one.”
“Bro’, I don’t know if she likes it. Who the hell likes their job?”
“I do.”
