Page 28 of Defect
“Not according to my brain.”
“That’s insane. I can’t wrap my head around that. You seem perfectly capable of handling yourself like anyone else. I know you’re grieving and I know you’re in pain but…”
“Look, that’s what it is. Okay?” He snapped. I opened my mouth then closed it again with a nod.
“O…kay, Ezra. Whatever you say.” I walked over to the counter and started straightening papers because I didn’t know what else to do. I could see plain as day that he needed some time and space.
“Thanks for the job, Solana.” He walked over to the door and stood there for a few extra seconds. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning?”
“Yeah…sure. Thanks for hanging out with me, Ezra.” I smiled a little at him. I hated the way our energy fizzled. Clearly, I hit a raw spot for him and it left both of us feeling sour.
“No problem.” He stood there like he wanted to say something else but he didn’t. He left instead.
…
“When Malachi came to school today, I gave him new clothes to put on. He seemed to be able to clean himself up okay but those clothes needed to be washed so bad,” Amaris sat on the couch in my living room, holding a glass of cold wine. She stared off as she spoke about Malachi and my eyes burned.
“The social worker assigned to his case said she’ll schedule a home visit this weekend.”
“This weekend? Okay. That’s good.”
“It is, I just hope it doesn’t cause too much backlash for Malachi.”
“Yeah…me too,” I frowned. “Maybe after the social worker visits, I should go spend the night with him.”
“Solana, if you do that Vince might find out and I’d hate to know what he’d do.” The space between her brows wrinkled with concern.
“I know but I hate thinking about what Vince could do to Malachi if he got angry and he didn’t have anyone else to beat up on.”
“I keep saying that you’re better for Malachi if you’re healthy and whole. If you go back over there and stir up Vince, you negate your restraining order and get yourself and possibly Malachi hurt. You have to be smart. I know it’s killing you but come to the school in the mornings if you want to check on Malachi.”
“I will. I feel like I’m not doing enough though.” I chewed on my bottom lip and rubbed my forehead. I felt stress eating away at me. It wasn’t just because of Malachi though. I was stressing over Ezra too. I couldn’t stop thinking about how our time together ended earlier.
“You’re doing everything the right way. Well, mostly the right way.” Amaris cleared her throat and looked at me. “We’ll finish talking about Malachi in a minute. Where’s your fine ass neighbor?”
“Girl…” My head dropped and I groaned dramatically.
“Oh god, Solana, you didn’t do anything extra did you?”
“No! Why would you think that? I’m never extra.”
“You’re always extra. Now, what happened? He’s married isn’t he?” She asked, leaning forward.
“No. He’s not married. Far from it. He’s only eighteen.” I let my words hang in the air, heavy and uncertain. Amaris’ brown eyes grew wide as saucers. She set her wine glass down and shook her head.
“Wait, the fine ass neighbor across the street is only eighteen? Solana, how did you not know he was still a baby?”
“Look, trick he’s huge first of all. He’s six-six. He’s a fucking giant. Eighteen-year-olds weren’t that big when I was in school. Second, he’s really quiet and mature and…”
“Stop. Stop it right now. I’m going to start calling you Roberta Kelly in a minute.”
“Fuck you. I told him we were just friends.”
“You still like him though. You better leave that little boy alone. Trust me on this.”
“I can’t exactly leave him alone. I kind of hired him to work at Sun Goddess.” I hid my face with my hands while Amaris squealed and hit me repeatedly.
“You didwhat? I would have referred some people to you if I knew you needed help that badly, Solana.”
