Page 28 of Read the Room

When I told her that it was still in Davidson, her expression became cheery.

“That’s good. I really like it around here. I like the calm of it.”

“Well, if you like this calm, and we’re in a subdivision, then you’ll really like where we’re going,” I told her. “We can leave the day after tomorrow, cool?”

She nodded. “That’s cool. Can I ask a question, though?” She gave me a devious smile after I told her that she could. “Where we’re going, do you have a man cave like you do here? I thought I would get a chance to audition for you.”

Oh, shit!

“Um, yeah. I do. You’ll get that chance.” I took a chance and smacked her on the ass before I told her that I was going to take Jedi to the bathroom so we could wash our hands to eat.

The universe must have heard Sully and my conversation earlier about her making the first move. I was ready to tear her ass up. Another thing that Geo taught me as a young nigga was how to interact with the woman in your life or the one you wanted to be in your life.

Geo was married, but his wife died of cancer two years before he did. Geo was this ruthless ass man in the streets who heldno punches with anyone. I’d seen this man take a machete to a man to decapitate him. The same night, I saw him go home and become this soft man for his wife. It was nothing to come to his house and see his wife asleep on him. When she died, that was the first time that I ever saw him cry. He was a completely different man after his peace died.

I wanted that peace for myself, and after witnessing how Geo treated his wife, it taught me how to read the room and treat mine. I wanted that initially with Alexi. It was very early on that I realized she didn’t deserve all of that. I never mistreated her, but I remained guarded on a lot of things about me. Every birthday and on Christmas, she would purchase something for herself that was intended for me like a pair of expensive shoes that she could wear while I fucked her. Shit was crazy.

I didn’t want that peace with Alexi because it was clear that she couldn’t or wouldn’t give it to me. I believed that Reya was the person that could and would. What was more important was that I felt that she wanted to give it to me. Only time would tell if it came to fruition.

After I washed my hands and made sure that Jedi did the same, I got on my phone to call a moving company. I needed them to move my mobile mini house in the backyard to the new house. Damn right, I had a man cave there. At least, I would by the time we got there.

Who would have known that Reya would like the new house more than my other house. She loved that it was down a dirt road with no neighbors on a plot of land. Jedi didn’t give a damneither way since he still had his room and playground. I didn’t give a damn because I had my man cave.

We’d been here a little over a week, and tonight, I planned to take Reya out. Simone suggested that we all go out to celebrate Reya’s enrollment into school. She decided to take a full load of sixteen hours. She impressed me when she told me that she would attend Johnson and Wales online degree program.

During one of our conversations, she told me that she always wanted to own a speakeasy that was behind a sandwich shop. The shop would operate as a normal sandwich shop during the day, but on certain nights it would become a speakeasy. The cool thing about her idea was that the entrance to that portion of the business would be behind a hidden door that was in a camouflaged storage food pantry. The idea was dope as fuck.

With that idea, it led her to work toward her bachelor’s in food and beverage entrepreneurship. Her excitement about it made me excited. There was a college girl in my house.

“She is going to be so excited to go out,” Mama Bee said from the passenger seat.

I asked her to watch Jedi and SJ at my house tonight. SJ was a few years older than Jedi, but that didn’t matter. SJ liked having a little follower.

“You done had that girl cooped up in the house all this damn time like a hostage.”

Here she goes!

“Her ass is not cooped up like a hostage. She moves around Davidson. Simone came over the other day and took her around to do some shopping. Joey and Ethan went with them.”

Ma’s body bucked back toward the passenger door where she sat.

“You said that like she took the girl to Mall of America. Davidson is catered to them white folks, so where did she take her ass? To Target, Rack Room, or some shit?”

I wasn’t about to go back and forth with this woman who had jokes. She did make a point. The African American population in Davidson was 4.9 percent, while the white population was 82.3 percent. The average household income was $152,000 a year and the crime rate was less than 1 percent. It was the perfect small town to be tucked away. It was also a college town, so that made for heightened security.

When we pulled onto the dirt road, I saw vehicles that let me know Sully and Simone were already here. I helped Mama Bee out of the car with her overnight bag. The second Jedi and SJ saw her, they bombarded her with hugs. I gave my greetings to Simone and Sully, then walked down the hall to Reya’s room. She told me to come in after I knocked on the door.

“Oh, shit. My bad.”

“Be an adult. I’m sure you’ve seen a woman in a towel fresh out of the shower,” she said seductively. “What’s up?”

Her ass had been a lot more flirtatious since we moved into this house. I liked that shit.

“Alright, watch what the fuck you say to me. Get that pussy knocked down with a house full of people.”

She could keep playing if she wanted to. The surprised expression that came to the surface couldn’t be hidden. That was the first time that I blatantly said that I would fuck her.

“You ready to have fun tonight?”

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