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My hackles raise at the fact that she’s made me. Damn, I’d never make it as a sleuth. “What makes you think I’m sitting outside?”
“I’m a lot of things, Aris, but blind isn’t one of them,” she harrumphs. “Look up.” Glancing upward, I see the living room blinds buckled in the middle.
“Berlynn. Are you watching me watch you?” I tease. I’m not surprised that she still has my number. After all, I still have hers even after all of these years we’ve been apart. I could never find it in me to erase it from my phone book.
“Just trying to figure out why you’re avoiding us,” she states. “Do we scare you, Aris?” I hear Berkley in the background laughing hysterically causing a grin to span along my face. “Do we have you shaking in your boots?”
“Don’t be a smartass, Berlynn.”
“I warned you once upon a time that someone would come along that would be bigger and badder than you are. If you aren’t afraid of us, come on up. We have breakfast waiting,” she taunts me. “That is, if you can locate your balls.”
Lowering my hands, I cup my nuts and antagonize her. “Balls found. Do you need to see them for proof that they’re there?”
“Aris.” She sighs. “I see there are some things that haven’t changed. You’re still a damn goofball. What makes you think I’d ever want to see those infested things?”
“Infested,” I ask aghast. “There’s no infestation going on downstairs, thank you very much. I’m offended you’d think otherwise.”
“You forget how well I know you and how you let women lead you around by the dick,” she counters. “You were always so easy, such a damn bimbo.”
“A bimbo! What the fuck, Berlynn?”
“Get up here, Aris. Berkley is bouncing around the walls waiting for you to grow the hell up and come talk to him.” With that, she hangs up on me.
Nervous energy pumps through my veins as I step off the elevator. When I look up from my feet, I’m met with the excited eyes of Berkley.
“Aris!” he hollers before running down the hallway and leaping into my arms. This is the Berkley I remember in third grade. He was always exuberant as a young boy, he’d crash into me and we’d both crumble into the ground, wrestling in the dirt until one of us ended up being declared as the top dog.
“You win!” I submit, wanting him to be the victor this round.
“Yes!” he screams, jumping off of me and pumping his arms up into the air, fisting his hands tightly. “I am the man!”
“You are the man,” I say, agreeing with him. Damn, I’ve missed him and his showboating ways—no matter what shape of his former self or age group that comes in.
I love the asshole, it’s as simple as that. He’s the only brother I’ve ever had or ever wanted.
“Why’d you stay away so long, Aris? Do you not like me anymore? My dad and mom don’t like me either,” he says, his head held down in shame.
“I didn’t have a choice, buddy,” I tell him, reaching up and ruffling his hair. “But I’m here now, and I’m not going away, ever again.”
“Promise?” he probes.
Invoking a vow from me, I assure, “I swear, Berkley.”
“Good,” he says, bobbing his head. “Now come on, Berlynn made cinnamon rolls.”
“Yum.” I place the palm of my palm onto my stomach and dramatically rub it. Berkley and I have always loved any type of iced pastries.
CHAPTER
SEVEN
BERLYNN
Watchingthe two amigos reconnect has tears forming in my sockets. Needing a minute to myself, I turn on my heels and head back into the kitchen to ice the rolls. Every once in a while, I make Berkley something from scratch.
One of our nannies had a sister who owned a bakery in town, and when she’d need to help her sibling out when she was short on staff, the three of us would bundle up and drive to her shop. It’s standing at the counter with her where I learned to make all sorts of crafted things, and throughout the years, she shared ingredients with me that make it to where I can give Berkley something homemade and fresh from the oven.
“It smells delicious,” I hear Aris say as the gentle noise of the door whooshing closed behind them reverberates throughout the apartment. To me, it sounds like thunder just struck, causing an elemental storm to rush down my spine. “Do you two still head over to Rachel’s and help her out?”
