Page 108 of Cuffed By Your Love
“Because it still feels new, and it fits like custom. I’m proud of you, sis.” He lowered his voice, eyes softening. “You deserve this many people in a room plotting on your happiness. Don’t second-guess it.”
I swallowed. I didn’t cry. Not yet. “I’m trying,” I said. “I am.”
“Try less. Receive more.” He kissed my forehead. “Now, go rescue your man from staring at you like you’re the last plate at the cookout.”
I turned, and he wasn’t staring. He was gone. My stomach dipped.
“Where’d Elias?—”
“Outside,” Jazz said, lips curling like she knew a secret. She folded a napkin, tossed it just to toss it, eyes glinting. “He said he’d be right back.”
“Uh-huh,” I said. “What are y’all doing?”
“Eating,” Jonell said, a little too steady. “And minding our business.”
Lies. All liars. But beautiful ones, nonetheless.
I hadn’t seen Elias this restless in weeks. He was trying to play it cool, but I caught him tapping his foot, smoothing his jacket like he wasn’t wearing a plain white tee, touching hispocket like something inside was alive. I figured it was cop instincts. My man was always scanning exits, counting heads, but tonight? It felt like something else.
Chambers was still cracking jokes, Dre had just gotten back into the country and was shamelessly trying to flirt with Jonell while pretending not to, and Leila kept egging it on. But Elias barely laughed. His eyes kept skipping back to EJ, who was running around in his Spider-Man cape with Jason’s hat on backward. My heart swelled at the sight. They were mine, my little family stitched together by love and survival.
“Why so serious, Detective Fine Shyt?” I teased in my Joker voice, nudging his side.
He smirked, low and secret. “You’ll see.”
Before I could push, Jonell popped up like she was announcing something. “Alright, y’all, let’s take this party to Little Legends. EJ wants to show Auntie Jonell his classroom, and I’m excited to see it.”
“Yaaaay!” EJ jumped up and down, and Amira followed suit.
I raised an eyebrow. That was random. But everyone jumped up, suddenly too eager. Suspicious as hell.
However, if my baby boy wanted to show off his classroom, who was I to stop his black boy joy?
We’d plannedthis like a heist.
Chambers stood at the gate like he was running point on a sting, phone up, narrating under his breath. “Operation Forever Cuff: Phase One in progress,” he whispered, grinning like a fool. He angled the camera at himself for a second. “And yes, I’m the best man and the cameraman. Put some respect on my résumé.”
Jason, meanwhile, was glued to the Bluetooth speaker like it was a bomb he’d been personally tasked with disarming. Every thirty seconds, he crouched down, tapped the buttons, then stood back like he expected an explosion. “Y’all better not clown me if the bass cut out when Beyoncé drop,” he warned. “We ain’t getting another shot at this.”
Leila, inside the gym, was setting up cupcakes on a table so glittery it looked like it had been smuggled in from a Vegas revue. She kept adjusting the rows like she was auditioning forCupcake Wars. “If one of these kids sneezes near my buttercream roses, I’m suing somebody.” She pointed at Jason through the window. “Probably you, big head.”
“Girl, don’t start,” Jason called back without looking up from the speaker. “Focus on ya sparkly diabetes.”
Jonell, heels clicking like a gavel, marched between the rows of kids in their Little Legends tees like she was cross-examining them. “Back straight. Signs up. Don’t flip ’em until I sayflip. And if anybody starts crying, I swear I will sue y’all mamas.”
One little boy blinked up at her, sign wobbling. “Miss Jonell, what’s sue mean?”
“It mean don’t try me,” she said, clapping her hands.
EJ was bouncing around like a sugar rush in sneakers, his poster already bent at one corner. “Mama Nay gon’ cry. I just know it,” he declared proudly. “And then I’ma eat two cupcakes.”
Amira crossed her arms, whispering to him loud enough for everyone to hear, “Boy, you gon’ eatonecupcake, don’t play. My daddy already told me we are sharing.”
Chambers looked up from his phone, eyes wide. “What? Since when?”
Amira smirked, pointing at him. “Since forever, Daddy. You don’t need too much sugar.”
The kids laughed. Jason doubled over laughing too. “Bruh, even ya kid don’t respect ya authority.”
