Page 68 of A Little Kissing Between Friends

“You calling me dumb?”

“I’m saying, if somebody was out here playing with my best friend the way you been playing with Jucee, I’d be pulling up ready to plex.”

Cocking my neck back, I narrowed my eyes. “Playing?”

He curled his lip. “Everybody and Nana been watching you toy with this girl like a kitten with a feather. Jucee wears her emotions on her sleeve, big and bold for everyone to see, but instead of you reciprocating her feelings, you’ve been punishing her for them. You wanna play house, fuck her, play step-studdy to Amani, and make everyone believe y’all are finally getting together, only to back out and pop up with another woman whenever you feel like it. And you think that shit is cool?” Shaking his head, he glared at me. “Be for real. If it was another woman doing this to Jucee, what would you tell her to do?”

I stared at him, his words settling in my gut like a fifty-pound weight. There was nothing for me to say; he hadn’t uttered a single lie. Even if I’d never intended to play Jucee like that, that’s exactly what had happened. Daddy had always talked to us about our intentions not superseding their impact whenever we made missteps that hurt someone, but here I was, a grown-ass woman, doing something I’d been getting warned about since I was in elementary.

“You’re right.”

I waited for the inevitable ribbing, but, to my surprise, he didn’t gloat. Instead, he stared at me expectantly. Somehow, he knew that I wasn’t finished.

“I fucked up.” Grabbing my head, I groaned. “I feel like a broken record saying that shit again, but I don’t know how else to describe it. I wasn’t trying to hurt her, I was...shit, I was just scared.”

“You tell her that?”

“You know I haven’t.”

“So, why are you here?”

I sucked my teeth as I gestured to the board on my left. “Man, I’m working.”

He quirked one of his eyebrows. “What that mean?”

“It’s the middle of the night.”

Unperturbed, he blinked. “Again, what that mean?” When I didn’t respond, he snorted. “You know what that sounds like? Excuses. And not even good ones.” He shook his head. “Pathetic.”

All I could do was laugh, because he had a point. My excuses were pathetic as hell. That didn’t stop me from lifting both middle fingers into the air and aiming them in his direction, but I did so knowing that he was right and I was wrong. It didn’t happen often, but this was a special moment that I didn’t take for granted.

“Why don’t you tell me what I’m supposed to do then, since you know everything.” If he wanted to act like he had all of the answers, then he could start spilling them.

Cody’s eyes bugged.

“Bro, I had no idea you were this incompetent. How the fuck do you manage to bag bad bitches when you don’t even know how to grovel?! You ain’t never begged a woman to take you back?!”

Now I was the one scoffing. “Boy, please! I don’t beg women to do anything but open their legs wider and stop running from what I’m making them feel.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Lifting a hand in the air, he waved me off. “That sounds good coming out of your mouth, but if you’ve never gotten further than a few orgasms and sleepovers with a woman, then I have to question what you plan to do with Jucee. Because that woman is a lot of things but one thing she isn’t is the friends with benefits type. She’s the type you marry and start a family with. You can’t string her along. She deserves better than that.”

The passion in his voice took me aback. We sat there, staring each other down as I tried to figure out how I felt about how he’d said what he said. Because if I didn’t know better...

“You sure you don’t want Jucee?” I asked bluntly. There was no need to dance around it.

I watched my baby brother purse his lips and suck in a slow breath, the inhalation almost noiseless in the quiet room. When he released the air through his nose, he leveled me with a point-blank look and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

“Are you saying I have to want a woman to see her worth? You think that’s the kinda man my daddy raised?”

Shit.

Even if his words hadn’t chastened me, the thread of hurt woven into the anger of his words shot a pang of regret through my chest. It hadn’t been my intention to question his integrity, but, once again, intention didn’t equal impact.

I licked my lips. “Not at all, I was just—”

“If I wanted her, I wouldn’t be here.”

That effectively shut me up. I nodded and sat back in my seat. A few beats passed before he echoed my nod.