“Mmmm,” she moaned into my mouth before slowly pulling away. “KJ’s here.”
“Oh, my bad.” I pecked her lips once more before stepping back. “EJ still up?”
She blushed and shook her head no. “He’s been knocked out for about an hour. He called himself trying to hang with KJ on the game, but he couldn’t fight his sleep long enough. Fell asleep with the controller in his hand.”
I pictured EJ fighting to stay up, convincing himself that he could do anything a teenager could do. “So, no bedtime routine at your crib but there’s one at mine? You out here tryna be his favorite or something?” I joked.
“I’ll never try to be who I already am, boo.” She winked. “Come on.”
I followed her down the hallway, and we stopped at KJ’s room. She pushed the cracked door open, and I could see KJ knocked out on the couch he had set up in the room, while EJ lay asleep, sprawled out in his bed. He looked small on the queen-sized bed with a pillow on each side of him.
“KJ set the pillows up, so he wouldn’t roll out the bed in his sleep,” she whispered.
I nodded my appreciation, noticing that his bed was high up off the ground.
“He wanna be a big dude so bad,” I said, shaking my head.
“He does. Let me get him.” I watched as she walked quietly into the room and picked him up from the bed. Tiptoeing back to me, she placed him in my arms.
“Hit the light, Ma.” I heard KJ say as we turned to leave the room. “Wassup, Enzo?”
“What’s good, boy?” I spoke back.
I’d seen a lot of KJ lately since he was always with Cortez. Lil’ nigga was cool. Had a presence about him just like his mama.
“His shoes and stuff are in the living room,” Thyri said.
We walked back out front, and I laid EJ down on the couch to put his sneakers and coat on.
“I appreciate you waiting up for me. Thank you. And I’m gonna work on not being so late going forward.”
She sat on the arm of the couch. “You don’t have to thank me. This being something I have to do has turned into something that I look forward to doing. I don’t mind waiting up for you, Enzo,” she said softly.
“Good to know.” I put EJ’s hat on and scooped him up gently. He stirred a little, but his eyes stayed closed.
She handed me his bag before walking me back toward the front door, keeping her voice low. “Text me when y’all make it in.”
Stopping at the door, I turned to her. “You sound like me.”
“I know, huh? I’ve become just as protective of y’all as you are of me.”
“That’s a good thing.” Opening the door, I stepped out into the night and paused before moving forward. Shifting EJ slightly, I turned back to her again.
“You forgot something?”
“Nah. I’ve been thinking about something.”
Her brow lifted. “Is that a good thing or a bad thing?”
I snickered. “Anything that has to do with me is good. That I can guarantee.”
There was that smile again – the smile that did something to a nigga soul.
“Okay. Tell me what you’ve been thinkin’ ‘bout then. And make it quick. It’s cold, and you got my baby out here a little too long.”
“I know you said you wanted to take things slow, and I said I was cool with that, but I just want to put out there what taking things slow mean to me.”
“Okay. What’s that?”
