“Morning,” he said, his voice still rough with sleep.
“You’re on time.” I didn’t move from the doorway.
“I’m always on time.” His eyes traveled over me, and I was suddenly very aware of my simple jeans and hoodie, my hair pulled back in a puff, my face probably still showing signs of my breakdown. “You ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.” I stepped back. “Yusef! Come on!”
Yusef appeared from his room, dressed in khakis and a button-up shirt I’d pressed last night. He looked nervous, his hands fidgeting with the hem of his shirt.
“Yusef, this is Prime. He’s a… friend of Meech’s. He’s driving us today.”
“Hi.” Yusef’s voice was quiet, polite. Always so polite, my baby.
Prime’s expression softened in a way I hadn’t seen before. “Hey, man. Nice to meet you.”
Then his eyes landed on Yusef’s face. On the bruise that had darkened even more overnight. I watched his jaw tighten, watched something dangerous flash in his eyes.
“What happened to your face?” His voice was controlled, but there was steel underneath.
Yusef shrugged, looking at the floor. “Got into a fight at school.”
“A fight?” Prime’s eyes cut to me, then back to Yusef. “Or did somebody jump you?”
Yusef’s silence was answer enough.
I could see the visible distress on Prime’s face, his jaw clenched then unclenched. Like he was trying to control something violent.
“You know how to throw a punch?”
“Not really.”
“I can teach you. I know how to box. I’ll show you some moves. You can’t let these niggas think it’s okay to hit you, lil man.”
Yusef’s head snapped up, his eyes widening with something that looked like hope. “Really? You’d teach me?”
“Hold on,” I cut in, stepping between them. “Nobody’s teaching anybody anything.”
“Come on—” he started to beg.
“Yusef, go wait in the hallway. I need to talk to Prime for a second.”
“But—”
“Now.”
Yusef grabbed his jacket and left, but I could see the disappointment written all over his face.
I turned to Prime. “You can’t just offer to teach him how to fight without asking me first.”
“Why not? The kid’s getting beat up at school, and you’re doing what about it? Telling him to just take it?”
“You don’t know what I’m doing. And you don’t get to make decisions about my child. Furthermore, I don’t know you like that, nor do I like you, and I don’t want him around you!”
“He needs to know how to defend himself.”
I wanted to argue. Wanted to tell him to stay out of our lives. But Yusef’s face flashed in my mind. That bruise. That defeated look when I’d found him at Brandi’s. Maybe Prime could help Yusef learn to defend himself.
“Fine,” I said finally. “But you ask me first before you make any promises to him. Understand?”
