He rolled his shoulders back and tilted his head side to side until there was a crack that ricocheted between us.
He groaned with relief. “I’ll be back soon, Anna. We’ll do another patrol after the meeting is done.”
I watched him walk off for a bit before I cupped my hands over my mouth. “You guys are no fun with your secrets, you know!”
His snicker was the only sound he left me with before he rounded the corner out of sight.
“Well fuck me then,” I muttered as I turned back around.
I saw Jasmine staring at me with her eyebrows sliding slowly up her forehead. Her hair, disheveled. The hickeys on her neck, glaring in the harsh hallway lighting.
“What?” I asked as I held my arms out.
She giggled as she quickly dipped back into her room and closed the door.
I shook my head as I turned and stared into Brutus’s room again. My God, that twin size bed was pathetic for him. But then again, I wasn’t sure there was a standard bed around that fit all of Brutus. He’d probably need one crafted for him, like my brother needed.
King always had to have his shit specialty made.
You should leave.
I took a step closer to Brutus’s room.
Now isn’t the time for snooping.
I reached out and eased the bedroom door all the way open.
He didn’t give you permission to be in here.
“He didn’t tell me to leave, though,” I muttered to myself.
I was always a snooper. Yes, I was one of those people that always looked through other people’s cabinets and shit whenever I visited their house. King taught me that, actually. Said that I could learn a lot about someone by the shit they kept behind the mirror in their bathroom and the shit they kept in their closets.
I didn’t snoop much, though. I ended up just sitting on the edge of that ridiculous twin bed, staring at nothing. I could hear some of the women down the hall, talking softly to each other. A few laughs, even. Small ones. The kind that sounded like they surprised themselves. I’d noticed that about them, the way they startled at their own laughter, like they’d forgotten they wereallowed to have it. I didn’t know what to do with that. I never knew what to do with things I couldn’t fix. So I just sat there and listened, and told myself it didn’t mean anything that it bothered me this much.
And I had access to both with Brutus in that fucking church meeting.
I eased my way back into the bedroom and closed the door behind me. I gravitated over to that bedside table. I opened the drawer and was weirdly disappointed when I didn’t find anything. I looked all around, even for just a phone charger, but I found none.
“Huh,” I muttered as I walked over to the closet.
I slid open the folding closet doors and found his clothes hanging up. All of them, actually. I furrowed my brow as I walked over to the dresser the room afforded, and after pulling out the drawers, I found he had no clothes in them. Just in the closet.
Huh. So he needed the access that came with closets. Interesting.
It didn’t shock me that his clothes were all black. It was the only color I ever saw him wear. He had four hangars that held trash bags on them, though. It took a moment of studying to figure out what in the hell they were for. A quick peek inside showed me that it was how he was storing his socks and boxers. One hanging bag for dirty socks, one for clean. Another hanging bag for dirty boxers, one for clean.
I’d never seen someone use a setup like that before.
I chewed on the inside of my cheek as I strolled around the room.
There really wasn’t much. He was unpacked into the closet, but that was about it. I noticed that he chose one of the rooms with an attached bathroom, so I made my way over to the door in the corner.
And when I eased it open, the light kicked on immediately.
Showcasing where the real action was.
“Bingo,” I muttered as I walked into the fully stocked bathroom.
