Page 51 of Faded Rhythm

King is on the bed. He gestures toward the food. “There you go, your highness.”

I ignore the sarcasm. I’m too hungry to respond. I toss him a, “Thanks,” as I grab a handful of fries. I don’t even notice he’s gone until he re-emerges wearing different clothes and smelling like cologne.

“You didn’t save me any?”

I frown at him. “You didn’t order anything for yourself?”

“Nah.”

I swallow the last bite of cheeseburger. “Do you need money?”

He chuckles. “I have plenty, sweetheart. Partly thanks to your husband.”

“Oh. Right. He paid you.”

He nods.

“You basically stole his money.”

“I reallocated it.”

I burst out laughing. “You know he’s coming for you, too, now.”

King makes a face. “Let that motherfucker try.”

I wipe my hands on the cloth napkin. “So how are we doing it? Poison? Car bomb?”

“There you go with that ‘we’ shit again.”

“He’s my husband. I’m part of this whether you like it or not.”

He walks over to the bed, pulling the covers back with a kind of fanfare that can only be described as silly, which is a complete departure from what I’ve seen thus far.

“Time for the kids to go to bed,” he teases. “Night night.”

Instead, I grab my phone and call the girls.

They tell me all about their day. Apparently, Henry left a disgusting present in Rae’s shoe. While I’m laughing at that, Kelice comes on to throw cold water on my face.

“I wanna go back to school,” she says softly.

“I know, baby. Just another day or two.”

“Why can’t I go tomorrow?”

“It’s a long story.” I take a deep breath. “Just know I love you and I have your assignments. I already talked to your teachers, K. You won’t fall behind.”

My future astronaut huffs out a sigh, then says something I didn’t expect.

“Can I say goodnight to my cousin?”

I hear Rae’s squeal in the background and smile. That sound is usually reserved for the few and far between sugary snacks I allow her to have.

I look over at King, who’s in front of his laptop, deep in thought.

“Cousin King? The girls wanna say goodnight to you.”

He walks over to me and stands with his torso directly in my line of sight. I hand him the phone, my eyes averted.

---