Page 51 of This: Blake & Emon

Jacques’s face twisted in anger. “The lights were off, Ma! We didn’t have any food! What were we supposed to do?”

Pilar leaned against the doorframe, unbothered. “Y’all coulda waited. I was out figuring something out.” That was a lie. Pilar hadn’t tried to make anything shake for her kids in years.

“Waited for what?” Jacques snapped, his voice trembling. “We were starving! You weren’t even here like normal!”

Emon held up a hand to calm him. “Aye, gon back to the car. I got it.” He wasn’t trying to traumatize him. He’d been through enough.

Once Jacques was back in the truck, Emon turned his attention back to Pilar, gripping the bridge of his nose before speaking. “Look, I don’t know you, and I don’t know your situation, but what I do know is that your kids were breaking windows to eat. You got me fucked up. It’s been two weeks.”

Pilar’s eyes flashed with irritation. “And what you want me to do about it now? They look fine to me. Ain’t nobody dead, so it’s not that serious.”

Emon’s jaw tightened, his patience thinning. “Not that serious? Your kids were living in the dark, stealing food, and you don’t think that’s serious?”

She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. “Don’t come to my door trying to judge me. You don’t know what I been through.”

“No,” Emon said evenly, “I don’t, but I know what these kids been through, and I know they deserve better.”

Pilar shrugged, her indifference weird to him. “Life’s hard. I did the best I could, and I’m done. If you so worried about them, you take ‘em. I ain’t got nothing else to give.”

Emon stared at her, his blood boiling. “You really just gon’ say that? Like it’s nothing?”

“It is nothing,” she said coldly. “Seem like they in good hands to me. Look at him clean and got on nice clothes.”

“Alright, then. I’ll take ‘em. But let me tell you something, you better hope and pray I let your bum ass make it through the fucking night. What you here for if not for yo’ kids?”

Pilar didn’t respond, just closed the door in his face. Emon had half a mind to burn the house down right there and now. He’d changed, but Pilar had him seeing red and thinking thoughts that didn’t suit the new him. However, he swallowed hard and headed back to the truck.

The silence in the car wasthickas Emon pulled away from the house, his grip tight on the wheel. Jacques sat in the passenger seat, staring out the window, his shoulders slumped, and his breathing uneven.

“Fuck her. You good?” Emon said roughly. Ja didn’t need to be babied; he needed real fucking talk. And the real talk was that his mother was scum, and until she did right by them, no good would come to her. She was no longer his assignment, his sisters were. “Listen, Ja, you dun leveled up on a muthafucka. Fuck her. Your sisters are your responsibility. Check it, you got me, and so do they.”

Jacques didn’t answer right away. He just shook his head, his jaw clenching like he was trying to hold back everything he wanted to say.

“I told you,” Jacques finally muttered, his voice hollow. “I told you she didn’t care.

Emon exhaled sharply, running a hand over his face, trying to push down the rage bubbling in his chest. His whole body was wired, ready for war, but he knew that wouldn’t do shit for Jacques or his sisters. “I know. That’s her loss, bruh. You got people who want y’all around. You hear me? And I’ll level that fucking house before nightfall if you give me the word. You nor your sisters deserve that. Fuck her. She don’t matter no more.” Emon was hotter than fish grease and unable to hide it. He was more mad at himself. He knew what the hell was up with ajunkie. He went against his right mind, but it wouldn’t happen again.

Jacques inhaled sharply, blinking a few times, but he still didn’t say anything.

Emon’s jaw tightened. He knew that silence. That anger. That weight. He’d carried it before.

“Nah, I need you to say that shit out loud,” Emon pressed. “We got y’all. You feel me?”

Jacques finally nodded. “Yeah… I hear you.”

“Nah, say that shit with your chest.”

“Yall got us!”

“Damn right,” Emon said, finally loosening up. He glanced over, catching Jacques rubbing at his face, trying to play it cool. “Let’s switch the convo ‘fore I double back and light that house up.”

Jacques let out a short laugh, shaking his head. “You really would, too.”

“Say the word.” Emon deadpanned. “House be gone before the sunset. I don’t fuck around, but we ain’t gotta handle it like that no more, right? We just ball on ‘em.”

Jacques snorted, finally sitting back in his seat like he could breathe again.

Emon smirked, feeling the tension break just a little. “Now stop lookin’ out the damn window all sad and shit. You too cool for that.”

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