Page 43 of Another Constant

She laughed. “Well not right now, buddy. I wanna watch a movie, well… after you shower.”

“You finna shower with me?”

“You want me to?”

“Stop asking questions you already know the answer to. Meet me in th—” My sentence halted when I heard my phone ringing. When I picked it up, and saw it was Bry, I answered.

“What’s good, old school?” I called him that to fuck with him.

He laughed. “Y’all youngins get on my fucking nerves with this old school shit. I was calling to invite you to the bar. It’s Aro’s birthday and you know his grumpy ass doesn't really like anybody.”

I chuckled because that was true. Every time I saw him he was frowned up about something. “I’ll slide through. When is it?”

“Shit, in about thirty or forty-five minutes. You're good.”

I laughed at his last minute-ness, then my eyes went to Harlem who was trying to act like she wasn’t watching me. “Tonight for real?” I rubbed her exposed thighs, thinking about them on my shoulders and how if I agreed I wouldn’t be able to do that until we got back.

“Yeah. Bring your young old ass out of the crib.”

“Aight, man,” I agreed. We hung up a little bit later, my attention on what I could get cracking before we walked out of the door.

“What was that about?” she asked, nearly squirming under my touch.

“We’re about to slide somewhere right quick. My boy is having a bir—” I started but the expression on her face made me pause. “The hell are you looking like that for?”

“Because I didn’t know you had friends.”

I laughed. “I don’t. I got people that I came up around in the trenches. Go put something on, baby, we going to a bar and coming right on back here.”

“For how long?”

“Long enough to show my face,” I assured her, knowing damn well her homebody ass wasn’t feeling this sudden change in plans. I liked the fact that she liked to stay in because I did too. I wasn’t one of those people comfortable in crowds and loud spaces. That gave me anxiety and irritated me while my brothers thrived in it, everybody except Nine. He was just like me, not messing with the crowds and extra human interaction.Shit was aggy.

It took us both a minute to get dressed, especially since Harlem refused to shower with me now. That was comical seeing as how before I got that call she was all up for being bent over in the shower. Anyway, I hadn’t been dressed two minutes when I walked into Harlem’s closet and saw what she was wearing. I wanted to tear that shit off of her because I promised she had me messed up.Most of all, she had me possessive.

The way those jeans fit her frame was like they had been painted on. Then she wore a silk type tube top, held up by nothing but the breasts I knew like the back of my hand and God. Hopefully He held it up tonight because I was sure to send a body to the morgue for seeing something that didn’t belong to them. When it came to Harlem, I was jealous off rip. I didn’t want fools talking to her, looking at her, or even thinking about it. A lot of motherfuckers better be glad I didn’t have telepathy because I promise they would’ve been sent to see their maker off thoughts alone.

By the time we pulled up to Bry’s, I was lowkey ready to go home. Thing was, I was already here and climbing out of the truck. When I rounded the truck to get Harlem, I checked my waist to make sure I had my shit on me. I didn’t go anywhere naked, it was unheard of, especially in this day and age.

With my hand draped around her shoulder, I walked her into Bry’s, not bothering to stop near the fat nigga on the stool in the corner. Couldn’t be a bouncer because he damn sure nodded at me like he knew me instead of trying to stop me.

“Kinga, my dude.” Some random walked up on me, but I shook my head. Fools acted like they knew me, but they didn’t know me. If they knew me, they’d know walking up on me in the middle of a function wasn’t a good idea.

We entered the space, my eyes scanning the crowd before one of the waitresses tapped my shoulder and pointed toward the back area. With the dimness of the lights and the crowded space of people, it took me a minute to spot Bry on what looked like a balcony holding his hands up. Big bro had come a long way, from opening a restaurant to opening a second location of his first bar. This location, however, had a second floor, giving the space a real secluded feel upstairs. There were a few TVs and things, removing the feel of a club and keeping the true bar atmosphere.

With Harlem’s hand nestled in mine, I led the way to the stairs. When we reached them, I put her in front of me and we ascended the metal stairs to where the party was happening.

We reached the top seconds later, where Brysheer met us with a big grin on his face. “You made it.” We shook hands and he looked from me to Harlem. “This you?”

I nodded, eyes scanning the much less crowded space than downstairs. Up here was more intimate and I got the feeling everybody knew one another.

He nodded then reached to take her hand…the free one. “Bry.”

Harlem was unlike me. She was polite and quiet around people she didn’t know. She shook his hand, then nuzzled closer into my space.My lil homebody.

A few seconds later his girl Krisis walked over and greeted me, then introduced herself to Harlem as well before asking her if she wanted to get a drink, to which she agreed, leaving me and Bry standing there.

“The fuck is the birthday boy anyways?”

---