“You always cook like this, or are you trying to impress us?” Rico elbowed me under the table, his eyes locked on Teagan, flashing that smile that got him in trouble on every job site we hit. I could tell my boy was ready to risk it all. I didn’t blame him. Teagan was pretty. She and Noa were most definitely God’s favorite sisters. He’d blessed them both with the type of beauty you didn’t come across often. It was almost unfair.
“I always cook like this. I don’t have to impress anybody.” Teagan giggled, loud and unfiltered.
“And don’t.” Rico leaned back in his chair like he had just won something, his eyes still locked on Teagan.
“Boy, hush,” she said, shaking and waving him off, but she clearly enjoyed the attention.
“I’m just tryna see how I get adopted into the family.” James smirked, his mouth full of eggs.These niggas.I shook my head before returning my attention back to Noa. She was quiet, pushing grits around on her plate, not looking up much. She was still in that thin ass tee from earlier, but she’d thrown a robe over it now like it was going to hide something. I wanted to spark up a conversation with her. I wanted to know everything about her, but this wasn’t the time or the place, and I didn’t want to come off as some creep. Still, I couldn’t keep my eyes off her.
“Teagan, thanks for breakfast.” She glanced up and looked at her sister, but I could see the moment she caught my gaze and quickly looked back down. I made her nervous. It was cute. She made me nervous, too.
“So how long y’all been working together?” Teagan asked, bringing my eyes and thoughts away from Noa. I cleared mythroat and leaned forward, preparing to respond, but Rico cut in before I could get a word out.
“Me and James? We go way back. Been with Northside for a few years now. Got picked up straight outta the halfway house. Ron ain’t waste no time.”
He jerked a thumb toward me. “Quade came on about four months ago.”
“And he’s already leading?” Noa looked up with an amused and worried look on her face.
“It doesn’t take long to lead when you know where you’re going,” I said, eyes locked on Noa. “Your house is in good hands, sweetheart.”
Her mouth twitched like she wanted to smile, but she bit it back and reached for her orange juice instead.
“Mmhmm,” Teagan mumbled, like she was narrating a soap opera. “So, Quade, is this, like… your actual job, job?” she asked. “Or are you just doing like community service? You know, cleaning up your image until your next album drops?”
“Teagan.” Noa groaned. Rico choked on his coffee. James nearly spat his grits out.
“What? I’m just curious how he went from music videos to a construction worker.”
Silence. I leaned back in my chair, taking my time. I wasn’t offended. This wasn’t the first time in the four months since I’d been out that someone had recognized me and asked this question. If I was ashamed of my journey, I may have taken offense, but I wasn’t. It was obvious that Teagan’s mouth just moved faster than her brain.
“Nah,” I said calmly. “This ain’t no PR stunt. This is my life now. Ain’t no image to clean up. I ain’t tryna impress nobody, just living.”
Teagan’s eyes widened. “Oh my God! Quade, I didn’t mean it like that, I swear?—”
I held up a hand, stopping her. “You good. You’re not the first person to ask. I’m aware of who I used to be. Now I’m just JaQuade, moving free.”
“Did you mean for that to rhyme?” Rico blurted, and I waved his dumb ass off. “Damn, nigga. You rhyme when you ain’t even trying,” he continued, making James laugh.
“Keep trying to play my boy, and he’s gonna put y’all in a diss track,” James said in between taking bites of his food. “When he gets back to music, of course.”
I shook my head, amused beyond words at this point.
“Quade, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. My mouth be moving faster than my common sense, I swear.” She clutched her chest. “Please don’t write a diss track about me.”
“Too late,” I joked, giving her a stern face before relaxing and letting a smirk come through. “Nah, I ain’t tripping.” I waved her off, and everybody burst into laughter. Even Noa flashed her pretty white teeth.
“Really, Quade. I’m sorry,” Teagan repeated. “Here. You can have the last slice of bacon as an apology.”
She stood from the table and made her way back over to the stove.
“Hold on. You offended me, too.” Rico threw his hands in the air.
“Boy, please.” Teagan rolled her eyes, and she returned to the table with a saucer in hand.
“So I get ignored, and he gets the last slice of bacon? Bet. I see how it is.” Rico continued his dramatics. His ass was too comfortable.
“Yup,” Teagan replied. I didn’t even look up as she plopped the last slice of bacon on my plate.
