Page 47 of Jagged Edges

“She can’t. She doesn’t have it in her heart to,” I guaranteed her.

I finished off my drink and placed the glass in the sink. We locked up behind us and headed out of the door. Hand-in-hand, Brisk and I walked down the short distance to the elevator. With only one other loft on the floor, it wasn’t very far.

The pinging that sounded just before we made it let me know that my neighbors had made it home. I pulled Brisk closer, ready to introduce her to the Clemmons, but it was neither of them that rounded the corner. The face that appeared in the distance halted both Brisk and I’s steps. Her grip loosened before she completely let go of me, putting an unnecessary amount of distance between us.

“Melonie,” Brisk started, both hands in front of her as she tried finding the right words to pacify the pain that was written all over Melonie’s face. “I promise I can explain.”

“Explain? Explain what, Brisk?”

My heart ached as I watched the tears fall from my niece’s eyes. Closing my own because I couldn’t bear the look on her pretty face, I listened to the exchange from a distance.

“I’m sorry. I was on my way to tell you.”

“Tell me? Tell me what, Brisk? That you’re suddenly fucking my uncle?My uncle, B? Out of all the people in the entire world. Why him?” She screamed at the top of her lungs. “You fucking bitch!”

“Melonie!” I yelled, finally opening my eyes. I needed the attention diverted from Brisk and onto me. I could take the hit, but Brisk wouldn’t be able to come back from them if Melonie continued.

“No. No. You don’t get to talk to me,” she raised her voice, even though the shakiness of it.

“Melonie. Come inside and let’s talk about this, love.”

“Fuck you and fuck her!” Melonie screamed as she smashed the button to the elevator.

Never in all of my years on earth had she ever disrespected me in any form or fashion. While I wanted to let shit ride being that she was fucked up about this all, I couldn’t help but wonder why she felt it was necessary to handle each of us in such a manner.

“Respect, Melonie,” I reminded her as I straightened my beard with my hand - a sign of uneasiness that had become a habit of mine.

Melonie remained silent aside from the boisterousness of the tears that fell onto her heaving chest. The elevator had never left the floor, pinging again only a second or two after she pressed the button. Before any more words could be exchanged, she’d hopped on and was gone.

“FUCK.” I gnawed the inside of my jaw until I felt the bitterness of blood on my tongue. “FUCK.”

Twenty-One

“Where are you going?”Bello asked, his head hanging as he sat on the couch.

“I’m leaving to clear my head and then once I’ve got it together I’m going to find my friend,” I told him.

I’d changed into something more comfortable. Something that suited my current mood. The black graphic tee and leggings would have to work for now. Anything else and I wouldn’t be able to function or think straight.

“You tried that once. That shit is not happening, again.”

“Bello, I probably just lost my best friend. Right now, I don't care about anything but getting her back.”

“If you walk out of that door, Brisk, you’re going to lose me, too,” he finalized, looking up and in my direction.

“Right now? Are we doing this right now, Bello?”

“Doing what? Being adults about this shit? Yes, we’re doing this right now. It was your idea to keep this a secret. I’ve wanted to scream to the rooftops that I found the girl that I want to love for the rest of my life. It’s been you who has wanted to creep around when there was no need for it. Melonie is no saint, Brisk. My little partners and shit that was up under me, they’ve seen parts of her that I never wanted anyone around me to see because she’s my fucking niece.

“The young nigga that she was crying on your shoulder about the other night, Corey, he used to work for me. Why the fuck do you think she called me after you wouldn’t answer for her? Not because I’m her uncle, but because I know the nigga and she wanted me to put some fire under his ass. Just like she doesn’t know every detail of your life, you don’t know every detail of hers. She’s no one to judge you for your actions. You did that for her. Now, she’s somewhere heartbroken over our bullshit when it didn’t have to be this way.”

“But, it is, Bello. And, now, I have to fix it.”

“Not today, Brisk. It doesn’t work like that. I know Melonie. The best thing you can do right now is give her space. She needs it.”

“She needs me, Bello! She just doesn’t know it, yet.”

“She does and so do I.”

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