Page 19 of Jaeda

I waved him off. “It’s nothing.”

“You’re awfully calm about that shit. You were more upset about that damn monitor than being taken.”

“For one, that monitor was essential to my business. And two . . . I figured this was gonna happen, eventually.”

He chuckled. “You like my sister that much?”

“You were listening at the door, I see.”

“This family is very fucking nosy.”

“I see that too. To answer your question, yes. I like her that much. Jaeda . . . she’s a rare find for men like me.”

“Elaborate on that shit ’cause if you leave it to me to interpretate, I might have to slide you, my nigga. My job deals with predators, and that verbiage ain’t sitting right with me.”

“You know, y’all have a bad habit of not letting people finish speaking. You would get your answers if you shut the fuck up.”

He laughed. “I’ll give you that one. Speak your peace.”

“What I meant was in the past, women have approached me. They see a good-looking guy that seems like he has his shittogether. I get hit with a few of the same things every time. A woman looking for a good time, a sponsor, or a pushover. When we got behind closed doors and they realized I’m a whole Lego building, cosplay loving, goofy ass nerd that’s not about to fuck them, the tune changes.”

“Damn, you’re a virgin too?”

I frowned. “When did I say that? Wait . . . Jaeda is a virgin?”

“She is, and don’t be out here trying to fuck my sister.”

“You realize your sister is grown, right? Like, I can respect you as her brother, wanting to protect her, but my woman would never need protection from me.”

He laughed. “Your woman?”

“Yeah, my woman. If your sister lets me pursue her, it’s with intention. As nosy as y’all are, y’all aren’t about to be in our business like that.”

“Playa, I hate to tell you this, but we will know your business one way or the other. Jaeda and the girls tell each other every damn thing, and they love pillow talk. I’ll know more about you than I care to know.”

It was at that moment I realized he was probably right. My mama gossiped with my aunts like there was no tomorrow. Then there was the fact that he let it slip that she was a virgin. I wasn’t expecting that. Jaeda was beautiful. I wasn’t saying I expected her to be out there like that. I was just shocked that she hadn’t been with anybody . . . ever.

“It wasn’t that bad,” I finally said to Titan. “That big nigga was about to catch these hands, though.”

Titan shook his head. “Yeah, him and Deuce know how to strike a fucking a nerve. My trigger finger itches around those two. Steel is pretty quiet. Maceo? Well, when his wife is around, he doesn’t give a damn about much else. Anyway, where is this shit going from here?”

“We exchanged numbers.”

“I guess it was worth it.”

“I even made it home in time to have dinner with my parents. Ma said to tell you hey, heathen.”

He laughed. “Your mama knows she loves me. I don’t know why she acts like that.”

“You know why.”

“She’s convinced I tried to corrupt her precious baby boy. I mean, I did turn you into quite the savage with those hands.”

I chuckled. Before we became friends, I used to get my ass beat . . . a lot. I was an easy target, as were my normal group of friends. To this day, I still don’t know what made Titan stand up for me back then, but I was grateful. He had his ways about him, but he was a good friend and loyal as hell. No matter his flaws, that was my brother.

My phone chimed, and I saw it was a message from Jaeda. A smile spread across my face as I went to our text thread. We’d spoken a few times but were still getting a feel of each other. When I opened the thread, I saw she’d sent me a picture of the completed Toad Lego set.

“Look at y’all being nerdy,” Titan said, peering into my phone.

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