Page 30 of Without Me (Men of Inked 5)
“What did you say?” Thomas asked as he sat down in an empty chair.
“If I would’ve done that to Max or James to Izzy, we’d get a knee to the balls.”
“Maybe you should’ve been more selective with your choice,” Thomas replied as he rested his foot on the opposite knee.
“Shut it,” I shot back at him, and stared at the television.
“How is she?” Mike asked.
I zoned out as I watched Jason Statham kicking some bad guy’s ass.
“Yo! Earth to Anthony.”
I glanced over at Mike and realized he was talking to me. “Sorry. I’m out of it.”
“Clearly,” he replied. “How’s Max doing?”
“She seems okay. The waiting is making me crazy. I can’t imagine how she feels.”
“Yeah, Mia said it takes a while. That’s tough, bro.”
“Harder than anything I’ve ever done in my life.” I tried to smile, but I didn’t feel it. I took a deep breath and let out a silent exhale.
I felt a bit worn on the inside. Even though it wasn’t my health at stake, I felt the heaviness of the situation. Max had been put on this earth to be with me, and to think that she could be ripped from my life at an early age just pissed me off. I wish I had met her earlier. We both had wasted so many years with bullshit.
“Dinner!” Izzy yelled from the dining room.
“Thank God. I’m starving,” Suzy said as she tried to get off the couch again. Joe helped her up with a push on the back of her ass. “Thank you,” she said as she tried to steady herself on her feet.
Weeble wobble.
She looked like a Weeble as she tried to stand and then stay upright. Her weight displacement was off, just like those damn toys I played with as a kid.
I walked into the dining room and saw Max holding the bowl of meatballs. She had a smile on her face. One that burned brighter than I’d seen in a long time. It had to be my mother, or maybe just being with the girls. They seemed to be a support system for each other.
I stared at her with a matching smile. Knowing that she was here with me and things were finally calm between us brought me a sense of peace. Maybe, just maybe, things would work out in our favor.
“You look sexy in that apron,” I said as she placed the bowl down on the table next to me.
“Don’t get used to it, buddy. I’m not a chef. I prefer to eat out.”
“Lucky for you,” I said with a sly smile, “so do I.” I winked at her before pulling her to me and giving her a kiss.
For the first Sunday in a long time, I felt completely happy.
14
Into the Fire
“Stop being such a baby,” Max said as we approached her mother’s house.
I’d never had to do this before. Meeting the family signified a relationship, and I hadn’t been in one of those since high school.
“Last time I met your brother he was a total dick.”
“You’d act the same if some asshole was bothering Izzy. Let’s just try and move beyond that night. Denzel is a nice guy, and he knows that I like you.”
She liked me? I had been hoping for a little more than that as a description of how she felt about me.
“You just like me?
“You know how I feel about you, Anthony. Do we really need to get into this right now?” she asked as she knocked on the front door and glanced at me over her shoulder.
“Fine.”
“Hey, sis,” Denzel said as he opened the door. His smile faded when he saw me. “Hey,” he said as he tipped his chin to me.
After Max walked past him, I held out my hand and hoped to make peace with Denzel.
“Hi, Denzel.” My stomach dropped when he looked down at my hand before his eyes returned to mine.
“What’s up?” he replied before taking my hand. “Scare ya for a minute?” He laughed, bending at the waist and slapping his leg.
“Hell yes, you did. Are we okay?” I asked. I wanted to be okay. I wanted everything to be smooth.
“Shit for real with my sister?” He gripped my hand tighter, trying to crush my fingers.
I knew the script. I’d done it more times than I could remember with men who’d wanted to be with my sister.
“I love your sister,” I replied, still standing outside as he blocked the doorway.
“You love her?”
“I do.”
“I’ve been trying to get her to take that damn test forever, man. She always refused, but for you, she did it. That’s saying something.”
I hadn’t thought about how her family felt. Hell, I’d forgotten that Denzel could have it too.
“Did you get tested?”
He nodded and released my hand. “Yeah. About a year ago.”
“And?”
He moved to the side. “Come on in.”
As I walked into the house, he told me what he found out.
“I was negative. The test isn’t one hundred percent accurate, though. There are forms of ataxia that don’t show up through genetic testing. They said even though I was negative, there was a chance I could still develop it later in life. It’s going to depend on what my sister’s results are.”
“What do you mean?” There was a chance that Max’s results could be negative too. Maybe she was just like her brother.
“It’s like this, Anthony. If my sister tests positive, then my father had a type that’s testable. If she’s positive, then I’ll always be negative. If she’s negative, we can both still get it later because it’s one of the types that they don’t have a test for yet. Know what I mean?”
“Yeah, I think,” I lied. I didn’t want to seem like an idiot.
“I’ll explain later after we have a beer.” He smiled at me and slapped me on the back. “Let’s get outside. They’re all waiting to see you.”
When we had been talking, I’d forgotten about everyone else, but as soon as he reminded me, I began to sweat.
“Right,” I mumbled, and tucked my hands in my pockets.
“They aren’t that bad.”
“Who’s this, baby?” a beautiful redhead asked as she slid her arm around Denzel.
“This here is Max’s man, Anthony.”
Her eyes raked over me, moving slowly from my feet to my face. “Hey,” she said as a smile spread across her face. “It’s nice to have a new face around here. You can be the new focus of the Washington family and take some of the heat off me.”
“Heat?” I tilted my head, hoping I’d heard her wrong.
“Yeah.” She giggled. “You’ll see. They’re good people. Don’t ever think otherwise. I’m Brenda, by the way.” She held out her hand and grinned.
“Nice to meet you, I think,” I said as I placed a kiss on the top of her hand.
“That’s enough touching my woman. You have one of your own. Let’s go meet the family,” Denzel said as he pushed down Brenda’s arm as it hung in the air.
“Who’s here?” I asked as I followed them through the house.
The smell was amazing and different than my parents’ house. I could smell the South. Butter, bacon, cheese, and so many other great things that I craved when I went to dinner. Don’t get me wrong. I loved Italian food, but sometimes, I needed something other than Ma’s homemade sauce.
“Everyone is here. Aunts, uncles, cousins all came to meet the man who’s dating Max. Nita and Malia are around here somewhere too.”
“Is it that unusual?” I asked as we rounded the corner to the living room. Through the sliding glass doors, I could see more than a dozen people standing in the backyard.
“She hasn’t dated anyone in a long time. So, yeah, it is.” He didn’t give me any more time to collect myself before he opened the sliding glass doors. “He’s here!” he announced as all the eyes in the backyard focused on me.
I needed to play it cool. “Hey!” I said, pulling a hand from my pocket and waving.
“Anthony,” Ruth said as she walked toward me. “It’s good to see you ful
ly clothed this time.”
My face turned red. I really hated that she’d met me under those circumstances, but at least she could chuckle about it.
“It’s good to see you too, Mrs. Washington.”
“Ruth, please.” She hugged me, running her hands down my back.
I felt a little molested.
Max was giggling behind her as she watched my face. “Mama, let him go,” she said as she pulled her mother off me.
“It’s just nice to feel a man in my arms again, Max.”
Her statement made me sad. She’d lost her husband and had to be lonely.
“You can hug me any time, Ruth,” I said before giving her a wink.
“Now, who do we have here?” an old man asked as he approached. He was hunched over and walking with a cane. Even though it was warm out, warm enough that I wished I’d worn shorts instead of jeans, he had on a flannel and pants that were pulled up way too high above his waist.
