Page 69 of Dawning and Resurgence

He smirked. “He lied to you, even if by omission. You don’t like liars and I don’t like conflict with my wife. I’m going to make sure you don’t hurt him too badly, leaving me to make things right with Cress.”

“You don’t trust me?”

“It’s not about trust. Iknowyou. I’m going.”

I chuckled and glanced at the studio. “She didn’t practice at the theatre today?”

“Yeah.” He frowned. “She’s pushing harder than she needs to. Some shit about not being at her best.”

“Give her space. She’ll work it out.”

“Nigga, I know that. I don’t need you telling me how to handle my wife.” He smirked but I knew he was serious.

“Do me a favor. When she’s done, ask her to check on Jhorie. She’ll be here for a few days until she finds a place.”

“You brought her here?” He scowled at me and I nodded.

“Is that a problem?”

“Depends on why you felt so comfortable bringing her here.”

“I like her.”

“I like a lot of people but they’re not sleeping in our house. What’s going on, Ez?”

“We have an agreement.”

“What kind of agreement?”

“She wants a husband and kids. I want a wife and kids. We’re figuring it out.”

“An agreement or anarrangement? This shit sounds a lot like there’s a planned agenda.”

“There is.”

“You really doing that shit again? Marrying someone out of obligation? I figured you would have learned your lesson the first time.”

“I’m not obligated and it's not the same. This is my decision… and hers.”

Not our father’s or The Collective’s.

He stared at me for a long moment then chuckled, shaking his head. “I should have seen this shit coming.”

“What?”

“You’re built different, Ez. You function better with a plan and no surprises. You like predictable shit you can control. Cress said you were going to do something like this.”

“There’s nothing wrong with organized plans.”

“I’m not saying there is and I’m not going to ask if you think it’s too soon. We both know you’ve been mentally single for years, but I will ask why her?”

“I barely know her but I already fear what my life looks like without her in it. That’s enough for me to want to make sure I don’t have to.”

He smirked. “I would give you shit about this but I think you already have enough of your own to deal with.” He pushed away from the wall. “I’ll ask Cress to check in with her before she goes to bed. She’s gonna love this shit.”

“I know,” I murmured. I heard him laughing when I walked away but the smile that surfaced from the satisfaction of knowing my family accepted Jhorie in my life was enough to deal with the amusement Cress was going to find in all of this.

thirteen

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