“If Kenny finds out you’re doing all that, he’ll make you regret it at your next workout,” I blurt, forcing myself to glance down at my dangling legs. “Smoking isn’t part of his diet plan.”
“Kenny find out you snuck over here to see me and he’ll make us regret it.”
Another thump rocks my middle and makes me shuffle closer toward the side of his truck.
“My, how cocky we are?” I roll my eyes. “I didn’t sneak to see you. I can go wherever I want. And you said I left your house a mess, so I came to fix it. Which, by the way, was a lie. You justwanted to get your point across to me. I got it. I won’t dig in your stuff.”
“Good. So we on the same page now.”
“Yea—”
“I ain’t asking you. I’m telling you we are.”
He grows quiet again, and I glance at him. He has his lips back around the cup’s rim and a little smirk dances across his face while he slurps and stares at me.
“So you woke up this morning and told Kenny and Faye you was coming back over to Joliet and Pine to re-clean my house? Straight like that, Lovie?”
My face heats.
I’ll never get used to him saying my name.
How did he make it sound so sexy instead of silly?
Ugh.
I’ve gotta stop thinking that way.
“Yep.” I pop my lips. “I…I sure did.”
He raises his eyebrow. “You know, one time I heard a preacher say lying is a sin.”
“Yeah, and I’m pretty sure illicit drug use is too.” I roll my eyes.
“‘Illicit drug use,’” he says in his best dorky impression, laughing. “Yeah, Faye said you was a motherfuckin nerd.”
“Excuse me?” I yelp. “She said what?”
“She said you went to Rhodes.”
“And that doesn’t equate to being a nerd.”
“Ain’t nothing wrong with being a nerd.” He shrugs. “I always been a Myra Monkhouse type of nigga.”
“Awho?”
He chuckles. “Oh Lord. You ain’t shit but a baby, huh?”
“I’m not, and let’s make one thing clear: not everybody who goes to private school is a nerd. Sometimes it’s just decided for them.”
“That’s what happened with you?”
“My mama wanted me to go there.” I shrug, looking off into his backyard. “When her and Faye were little, they used to pass it all the time on their way to the washateria off Lafitte. She’d see all the different kids getting dropped off by their parents in Lexuses and BMWs. She said whenever she had a baby, that’s where she’d send it. So that’s where I went when I got old enough, and then when I graduated I went to Lockwood despite my school counselor telling me it was a bad idea…”
My voice drifts off into a low murmur because “Mama” had finally left my lips after two years.
He scoffs. “A bad idea? Lockwood is the mecca around here.”
“You know white people view HBCUs as lesser than. She said with my grades I could’ve easily gone to UT or Baylor.”
