“I was about to-” Erys was trying to get out of this space before emotion overruled him.
“About to take Remedy to get something to eat, nigga. I’ll be up in a few hours,” Ernie grumbled. “When I get up, I’m going the fuck home.”
Remedy pulled his favorite blanket from his bag and draped it over him. “I’ll be back, you get some rest.”
Ernie tiredly waved her off. Erys watched Remedy pull in a deep breath before strolling out of the room behind the admin. Alone with his father, he spoke.
“I’m not doing this to hurt you, Pops. I’m doing this-”
“Because you’re embarrassed of me. You always have been. It’s easier for you to hide the parts of you that you wrestle with. But I know something that’s going to expose everything you hide and run away from; everything you’re pretending to be. You’re my son. No one knows what you need like me,” Ernie tiredly shared.
“I needed a father,” Erys shared without filter. “I never got that.”
“Nigga, you never wanted a father. You wanted someone to be fuckin’ mad at and I was it. Putting me away don’t change that. It don’t change your heart. It only gives you reason to remain the same. Look at me, an old nigga and the only person who cares about me is a woman with the world at her fingertips but won’t move forward because she’s scared.”
He took the comments made about Remedy and tucked them away. “I wanted a father. I wanted a mother too. The streets became my home. My innocence was gone before I hit middle school.”
Ernie didn’t respond, making Erys look at him full on. He was passed out, mouth open and exhausted from all the fighting he’d done earlier. Erys huffed, steadied himself, unsure of if he were ever going to have a version of his father that would hear and see him. He hadn’t been heard or seen and he didn’t know he needed it. Not until he saw how the two unlikely friends saw each other.
Erys led his feet out of the suite and into the hallway. His eyes scanned the area, finding Remedy at the end of the hall, arms wrapped around herself, peering out the window. Every so often, she’d wipe her face and try to pull herself together. True to his name and against his intentions, Erys had come in and torn her world up. He felt some kind of way about that but still couldn’t put a name to it.
Before his brain could fill his system with logic, his feet were headed over to her.
“He’s sleeping,” he announced close enough, so no one else could hear, far enough away that she couldn’t smack the shit out of him for fucking up her day-to-day.
She didn’t offer him her voice, just nodded.
“You hungry?” he asked, more like a peace offering than anything else. It was evident that as long as Ernie had a voice, they were going to be in each other’s space. “And before you say no, I know you are.”
“And you know that how?” she grumbled, still not turning around.
“You made him dinner last night. Four pork chops in a value pack. I know because my mom used to buy those too. A packet of mashed potatoes, and a can of green beans. Maybe twenty, twenty-five dollars. You pulled out your last ten earlier to get him something to eat. And you left the club with a fraction of your money the other night. At the least, I can make sure you eat,” he shared.
Remedy turned to look at him with eyes puffier than they were before. “I don’t need you.”
“I didn’t say you did. Ernie said you need to eat which means that he’s been watching you skip meals to keep both of you afloat.” Erys dug in his pocket and pulled out a roll of cash. “This is all I got on me.”
Remedy looked down at it and scoffed. “Excuse me.”
She left him holding the roll of cash.
“We’re going to have to be around each other,” Erys called over his shoulder.
“Yeah, about that, let’s make a schedule. I’ll be here during the day, there’s night staff. You’ll be around or you won’t. Neither matters to me. Just don’t be here when I’m here and we’re good,” Remedy said.
“You’re going back to the club?” he asked, almost upset about the idea.
“What I do or don’t do isn’t any of your business. Now if you’ll excuse me, I got a few dollars to shove into a vending machine.”
Erys watched as she walked away. The sway of her hips, the tightness on her shoulders, the weight of each step. Like him, she was weighed down by the things she didn’t speak about. However, he had that pesky feeling that whatever she was carrying was a lot heavier than the things he carried. He watched her move further and further away until she was gone and he was just staring at an empty hallway. Left alone with his thoughts was dangerous. He already didn’t sleep, this was bound to make him busy himself until he passed out.
Back on his phone, he waited for a message from his accountant. The money from his contract fulfillment and bonus for every body he dropped had all turned into more zeros in his account. Money he hadn’t touched and money he didn’t have anyone to spend it on. He paid the total sum for his dad’sstay without batting an eye. For now, he hoped this would do until something else opened up closer to Cashmere Lakes. He toyed with the possibility of his father living with him fulltime, with assistance of course, but he didn’t know how to live with the man. Let alone what to talk to him about. There was no relationship and he had walked in on the tail end of Ernie’s life with deep-rooted anger morphing into regret.
Shawn: We can settle both liens and renovate both houses but why? It’ll be cheaper to knock them down and build something else.
Erys: Possibilities.
Shawn: I hear you…let me know. The county plans on auctioning the neighbor’s house in a week
