Page 46 of Zimyra

“I don’t like him.”

I don’t mean to find amusement in his wariness, but I do. It’s so typical. I say, “Of course you don’t like him. You and my brothers don’t like anybody I talk to. But, let’s not make this about him. How’s Uncle Joshua, Aunt Naomi, Jaysant and Jacob?”

“Good. Everybody cool.”

“I’ve been meaning to put something together for us all to hang out. I’ve just been so busy with work stuff.”

“Yeah. I see…” he says and then turns around to look at Axel.

I grin and say, “I wasn’t talking about him.”

“I can’t tell.”

I shake my head and feel a tightness budding in my stomach at the thought of Jeremiah telling Zander he saw me out kickin’ it with someone. Lord help me…

I say, “Perhaps I can convince Zavier to let me use his backyard to plan a cookout or something.”

“That’ll be cool. Just don’t bringworkwith you.”

I’m blushing and smiling at the same time when I say, “Jeremiah, he’s not that bad.”

“All men are bad, Z, including me, my brothers, and your knucklehead brothers.”

“Bad in what sense, though?”

“In the sense that when we set our eyes on the woman we want, we go after her with everything we got. If you think ol’ boy over there ain’t got that on his mind, you’re wrong. When I walked up, he looked at me like he could kill me, but he don’t want this kind of smoke. I can assure you of that.”

“Okay, settle down,” I say, patting him on the back. “Let me get back over there. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Okay, girl. I’m heading out. If you need me, hit me up.”

“Will do.”

“Be safe.”

“You, too, Jeremiah.”

I hug him again, then head back to my table. Axel’s gaze burns holes through my skin as I approach. Ignoring his blatant gaze, I sit down and resume eating. I know he’s full of questions, but I don’t say anything for a moment. I let him stew before saying, “I’m sorry—what were we talking about?”

“I was talking about how good the food was, but let’s not gloss over the fact that you didn’t want to introduce me to your friend.”

“I have my reasons.”

“Is he who you were meeting? If so, don’t let thenobodystop you from having a good time.”

“Okay, chill, Axel. You’re the one who referred to yourself as anobody.”

“That’s because you didn’t introduce me. If someone approaches me, I would properly introduce you. If I don’t, that means you’re a nobody.”

“Timeout—are you joking right now?”

He glares.

I guess he’s not joking.

I say, “Okay—Jeremiah is my cousin. My mother and his father are brother and sister. I didn’t introduce you because I didn’t want him to think this was a date or something because surely he will tell my brothers, and then I’ll get interrogated about you. That’s probably what’s going to happen anyway, but that’s what I was trying to avoid.”

“By not introducing me.”

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