“I’m sick of hearing you stand up for him. He doesn’t deserve you. He’s a drug dealer, Ambrose. The guy just got out of jail because he was lucky he had Bailey to defend him, and what does he do? Turns right around and starts with the bullshit again. When are you gonna realize he’s been using you? And to make things worse, he brings a gun into an apartment with a baby? That’s so fucking off the chain, I don’t even know what to say. He needs to take responsibility and be locked up for what he’s done. Maybe he’ll finally learn a lesson.” My eyes bored intohis, and I poked my finger into his chest. “And if you ever call Bailey an idiot again, you can fuck right off and not come back.”
“Are you firing me?” he asked quietly.
“I don’t want to,” I answered honestly, my chest hurting with each breath drawn. In all the years we’d worked together, we’d never been at the edge of this cliff, ready to jump. “But I won’t let you insult Bailey because you have this misguided loyalty to a man you can’t seem to understand doesn’t give a damn about anything or anyone except himself. Bailey went out of his way as a favor to you last night after working all day. There was never a guarantee Lucas would get off. If Bailey says he’s guilty and should take a plea, that’s it as far as I’m concerned.”
Ambrose slumped into one of the chairs in the waiting area and covered his face with his hands. “I got nobody left.”
I sat beside him and put my arm around his shoulders. “What’re you talking about, man? You’re not alone. Carly loves you. You got Jodi and me.” I squeezed him. “I’m not going anywhere, but you gotta see the light. Even Bailey doesn’t mind your sorry ass when you’re not bugging him about Lucas. C’mon. It’s hard to let go, but at some point you gotta open your eyes and see what it’s doing to you.”
His gaze remained fixed to the floor. “Carly said if I don’t stop defending Lucas, especially after this last shit he pulled, she’s gonna leave me. But he’s my blood. How do you walk away from family?”
Thinking about my own situation, I could relate and speak from the heart. “Sometimes they give you no choice. When you were little, it was easy to look up to him, but he took a wrong path, and I won’t let him drag you in the gutter with him.”
“He used to care about me. I thought he loved me. We had nobody except each other when we ran away from our grandmother and came to the city. Until he found his crew.”
I’d heard his story many times, and it never stopped hurting. Lost kids. There were so many like him…like me. And, unfortunately, like Lucas.
“Neither of us is a winner when it comes to stability, but you have good people on your side. People who really care about you. Family doesn’t always have to be blood. Sometimes we get lucky and find people who care about us more. It’s the ones who step up and show up with actions, not words.” I squeezed him closer. “I’ll be your brother.”
I heard sniffling and looked up to see Jodi wiping her face. “That was so beautiful. And I love you too, Ambrose. I’ll be your sister, if you want one. But Keston is right. Just because Lucas is your brother doesn’t mean he’s on your side.”
“Thanks. I-I guess it’ll take a while to learn not to jump every time he calls.”
“Why don’t you and Carly have dinner with me and Bailey tonight? It’ll be good for you to get out, and I want you to get to know each other.” Noting the time, I got to my feet. “I gotta get ready for my client. You okay?”
“Yeah,” he nodded. “And I’ll call Carly about dinner. She’ll like that.”
I smiled. “So will Bailey.”
I worked steadily through the morning on two small tattoos that took about an hour and a half each. I had just enough time to run down the block and meet Bailey and Madison, who were already waiting.
“Sorry.”
“Not a problem,” Madison said with her brisk efficiency. “This is a two-bedroom, two-bath, mostly renovated. It’s a thousand square feet.”
“Nice size for the city,” Bailey threw over his shoulder as we mounted the stairs. Once inside the apartment, Bailey and I split up—he gravitated to the kitchen and me toward the primary bedroom. It was a nice space, with crown molding and shining wooden floors, nothing I would’ve noticed if Carlos hadn’t taught me.
Bailey joined me and prowled around the room, opening closet doors. “That’s the problem with older places. They don’t have a lot of space.”
I smirked. “I don’t have much. You need the room, Calvin Klein?”
“Very funny.” He crossed his arms. “What do you think?”
I scanned the rooms. “I don’t know. It’s not giving me the vibes.”
“Is that how it goes? Vibes?”
By now, I was clued in to Bailey’s teasing. If he’d really liked it, he’d have begun by pointing out everything he loved about the apartment.
“It goes however I feel it. And I don’t think you’re loving it, either.”
“The light is minimal, and the views are terrible. At least my apartment faced trees. Plus, the rooms are pretty tight.”
“Well, the next apartment should solve all those problems,” Madison said brightly. “It’s a prewar but renovated and has amenities like a gym and a doorman. Shall we?”
We followed her to an apartment building on East 9th, which I knew Bailey wasn’t fond of, but I liked the lobby and the prewar aesthetic of wood paneling and older marble walls and floors.When Madison opened the door to the apartment, as strange as it sounded, I felt a sense of home. One wall was exposed brick with the unexpected bonus of a fireplace, and the large picture window let in tons of light across the pale floors. The living room was spacious, easily holding a large sectional couch and other pieces of furniture. There was a small half bath in the hallway.
The kitchen was modern with a big white island we would use as our eating spot. Bailey smoothed his hands over the surface. “Nice vibes,” he murmured, meeting my eyes, and I grinned.
