Page 94 of Levee

“Just a little bite,” Jade told the bird as she held out her spoon with a tiny glob of açai on the end.

But Mackie was smarter than that. He ducked under the spoon and grabbed a whole beak full out of the bowl before running away.

“That’s like me with chocolate,” Jade said, nodding at the bird before sampling the food herself. “Ohmygod,” she groaned.

“Good?” Eddie asked, shoulders going back.

“The best. I’ve had dozens of these,” she said, getting another spoonful. “This is the best by far. You need a restaurant.”

“Don’t tell him that,” I demanded.

“Why not?”

“Because, then, he might not cook for us anymore,” I said, dipping a spoon into the strawberry bowl as I slid in next to her.

“Don’t listen to him,” Jade said, stabbing her spoon into the mango. “You need to share this gift with everyone. Even a foodtruck would be amazing. When the money comes in from Teddy and Zayn, I’ll invest,” she said.

But, hey, a lot of truth was said in jest.

And I could see the wheels spinning in Eddie’s mind.

Jade - 2 weeks

I was getting a little sick of going back and forth from my place to the clubhouse.

Which made me feel guilty because I really did love my apartment. And after William saved me, I felt pretty awful not being around for him in case he needed me.

Especially on days like this when I got in to find him trying to do something that he wasn’t physically able to anymore.

Find something in the lower cabinets in his kitchen.

Of course, I had to get it for him. Then wash it, so he could use it. Which led to me cleaning out the cabinet, scrubbing it out because it didn’t seem like it had met soap or a sponge in decades, while William grumbled about it from his perch in the living room.

“Can’t do no better than my nephew, huh?” he asked, making me have to pause and take a deep breath before I said something unkind that I’d regret later.

“Your nephew is the kindest man I’ve ever met,” I said instead of rising to the bait. “I really wish you would be willing to see that about him,” I added.

“What? ‘Cause he threw some money at a chair?” William asked, waving at the electric wheelchair that was charging beside him.

“Because he saw a need and acted on it,” I corrected. “Caretaking isn’t really about the money. There’s no sum that would make someone do it if they didn’t want to. Levee cares. Even if you make it difficult.”

“Just saying that because you’re fuck—“

“Don’t,” I cut him off, “finish that sentence. And don’t cheapen the relationship I have with Levee. I really don’t think you mean to. Mean is just… knee-jerk to you. From what I hear, it ran in the family. Until it ran into Levee.”

William could do nothing but harrumph to that, since he knew it was the truth.

I genuinely didn’t think William was the asshole he so often came off as.

My mom used to say that what people first think—or say, in the case of people with no filters like William—was what you were conditioned to think or say. And that the second thought was what you truly thought and who you genuinely were.

I’d always liked that insight because no matter how I tried, there were times when the first thought that came to mind was an ungracious one. It made me feel better to realize that the thought that immediately followed it was a correction, was who I really was.

And William had clearly shown moments of decency. If only he could let his pride go, could break the cycle of abuse he’d been around his whole life. And, well, you know, learn not to be ignorant.

Maybe it was too much to ask, but I had a lot of faith in people.

“Do you like it here, William?” I asked, looking over at him in his shabby apartment that hadn’t seen an update in thirty-some-odd years in a neighborhood that Levee said only seemed to be getting more dangerous as more people fell on hard times.

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