Page 117 of The Last Man on Earth
“Mm hm. Steal him. Keep him. Whatever you want.”
I point a teasing finger at her as I follow behind Benny. I already know where I’m going, and I know what he wants. But he’s family, so here we go.
As soon as we pass the kitchen door…
“The fuck are you doing?” he says.
“What you mean?”
“Bringin’ her here! Paradin’ ya pregnant sidepiece around a family business.”
I burst out laughing. “You can’t be serious.”
“Dead fuckin’ serious, boy.”
My smile falls. “Is that the way you see that shit? You think I cheated?”
He makes a face like that should be obvious.
“Nah,fuckthat.” I step towards him, my body tense. “You don’t know what the fuck I was goin’ through out there. Not knowin’ if I was gon’ live or die every fuckin’ day.”
He don’t even flinch. “You talkin’ to a nigga that was in Vietnam.”
“Okay, but that’s different.”
“Not really,” he says. “Niggas was cheatin’ there, too. They just didn’t think to bring the bitch back home.”
I scrub a hand down my face. “Judge me all you want, Unc, but you woulda did the same fuckin’ thing. You know you would.”
He smiles. “Well, we’ll never know, will we? Benny don’t flynogoddamn where.”
“Cuz yo ass is scary.”
“And I got good reason to be. Look what happened to you.”
I get serious for a minute, lowering my voice. “You talked to my dad?”
His face softens. “Nah. Not since last time he went in.”
“He gotta know I’m alive by now, right?”
“Not if he’s back using.”
I shake my head. “It don’t even matter. It’s whatever.”
Benny looks out the kitchen window into the dining room, chuckling to himself. “Damn. That girl can eat.”
“Probably makin’ up for lost time,” I say. “Plus, she got my seed in there.”
“She’s older than you, right?”
I nod. “Ten years.”
A sly grin spreads across his face. “Think you can handle that?”
“She pregnant, ain’t she?”
He bursts out laughing. “My nigga. Aye, come on, tell me what y’all want in these to-go boxes.”
