Page 23 of Read the Room

He looked down with a smirk. “My bad. If you’re uncomfortable, let me know.”

“Oh, no. I’m alright. I’m in your domain. Um, can I go with Joey and Ethan to get what I need, please? I really need to get out of the house. I’ll wear a hat or headwrap to be less recognizable.”

He didn’t respond until he pulled on a pair of dark denim jeans. “I guess you can. We’re all the way out here, so I’m not worried about anyone seeing you. What you trying to cook?”

“Nothing too much. Just some lemon pepper wings, baked macaroni, and green beans with neckbones. Do you eat pork?” I asked. If he didn’t, I could use turkey neckbones.

His dimples came out of hiding. “Nothing much, huh? Yeah, I eat pork. What time you gonna have that ready, so I’m here on time?”

“Probably around seven-thirty or eight tonight. That’s the time that you usually come in unless you have something to do.”

Yes, I noticed what time he came in. I noticed because of Lucas. It was like he couldn’t go to sleep until Lo got home and the three of us sat down to watch a movie. Most nights, by the time we were twenty minutes into the movie, Lucas was asleep on my lap or Lo’s.

“That’s cool.” He slipped his polo shirt over his head. “I’m going to talk to Louie today about your job.”

I sighed. “He’s probably already fired me. You don’t have to worry about it at this point. Once this is all over, I’ll figure something out. If I still have my job at Glitter Girls, I’ll just workmore hours until I get a day job. Shit, I might hop on the damn pole.” I mumbled the last part.

“Yeah, nah. That getting on the pole ain’t happening,” he said before he laughed lowly. “Also, even if Louie fired you, it doesn’t matter. I’m co-owner of the spot.”

That was information that I could use. “Oh, okay! I guess that’s a good thing.” My hand went to my hip that I stuck out. “What do you mean me getting on the pole ain’t happening? I’ll have you know that I can dance and do pole work. I was taught by the best… GeGi.”

Twice a week, I would come in, and GeGi would take me into a private room to teach me how to use the pole and stuff. I already knew how to dance, make my ass twerk, clap, and all that sexiness. Many nights of wine and music after Lucas went to sleep was to thank for that. I told her that there might come a time that I had to strip, and I knew that pole work was paramount. She let me know that the number one element to pole work was upper and core body strength. She gave me a regimen of exercises to do daily that included upper, core, and lower body strength as well as cardio. She really was a sweetheart that had no business being in the company of Alexi.

Lo’s head dropped at an angle and the opposite brow tip toed up his forehead. “Oh, is that so? You know if you want to dance, you have to audition in front of me?”

“Uh uh. You have to audition in front of Simone. I know that for a fact.” I’d seen plenty of girls audition, and they always auditioned in front of her. “Matter of fact, Simone has already seen me dance. She said if I ever wanted to, I had her blessing.”

When my nose turned up at him, he laughed. “Oh, okay, It’s like that! Well, this is a special circumstance. You’re going to have to audition in front of me. I have a stripper pole in my man cave in the backyard.”

Oh, yeah, he got a whole like mini house in the backyard. I didn’t know what was in it, but now I knew.

I rolled my eyes. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. I’m going to get ready to go to the store. Can you let Joey and Ethan know so they don’t think that I’m trying to make a run for it?”

I giggled because they would tell me that I was lying if I told them that Lo said I could go to the store.

“Yeah, I’ll tell them. Oh, and just to let you know, that bridge will never get crossed unless you’re going to be doing a private show for me.” He winked with an alluring smirk that had me stuck.

Is he flirting with me?Since I’d been here, he said little things that could come across as flirtatious. This, though, was blatant flirting.Should I say something back?Nope. I would err on the side of caution. I heard his laughter when I about-faced and rushed out of his room.

“Lucas, you want to go to the store?” I asked him when I walked into the den where he sat with Ethan and Joey.

You couldn’t tell my baby that he wasn’t one of the boys. They would have a beer. He would have a juice box. It was hilarious to see. Lucas’s back lifted from the seat.

“Yes! Yes! I wanna go to the store.” He tapped Joey on the leg. “Joey, we going to the store. You going too?”

“Yeah, I’m going. Go with your mama to get ready. Make sure you go to potty before we leave, lil man,” Joey encouraged him.

Mama Bee was potty training him before we got into all of this, and I continued once we were in this. Eventually, Joey, Ethan, and Lo joined in on the effort. I loved that because the influence of them around Lucas was major. I knew that these men were what most would call thugs or street niggas. At first, I thought the same thing. They were my protectors now and menthat my son looked up to. When Lucas cut his ass up, they each were quick to tell him to read the room.

One night, when Lo and I were in the den watching a movie after Lucas fell asleep, I asked him what that meant. When one of the guys told Lucas to read the room, it was like a factory reset for him. I was impressed when he told me about the context behind it.

“In life, you have to read the room to one, understand if it’s a room you need to be in, and two, how to conduct yourself within the room. There are some rooms that you don’t belong in and shouldn’t be in. It could be because you’ve outgrown it or you’re not quite ready for it. There are rooms that you are not ready to be in, but that is not to say that you will never be ready for them. Sometimes, you just have to chill in the waiting room until it’s your turn. For the rooms that you’ve outgrown, you need to exit the room, waiting room, and find the room or waiting room where you need to be.

“When it comes to rooms that you’re supposed to be in, which is the context that I use for Jedi right now, you have to read the room to understand how you need to act at any given time. Like I told him, if all the kids are playing, then it’s alright for him to play. If all the kids are taking a nap, then that’s not the time that he needs to be playing. I told him that reading the room is about listening and feeling before you speak or act. When I talk to him about it, I put it on a two-year-old level,” he explained.

His explanation made sense. I was just thankful that his words had impact on my baby to encourage him to behave. My smile was wide every time my baby told me that he read the room.

It didn’t take me long to get myself and Lucas ready to go to the store since I’d already taken care of our hygiene. Lo was gone by the time we left for the store. Since it was me, Lucas, Ethan,and Joey, we took Ethan’s Tahoe. While I had the chance to go to the store, I decided to get everything that I wanted. There was little to no food in Lo’s house. He told me that he broke up with his girl, and based on the few things that I’d seen around his house, they lived together.

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