“What do you mean?” I hold my gloves out in the air. “I love them all.”
“Yeah, they’re just not allowed to love ya back, right?”
“That’s right.” I nudge my chin. “Now, get the fuck out of here.”
“I’m out,” Slate says, waving his hand at me as he heads down the hall.
Thinking about what Slate said, I seriously consider the possibility that Lurlene may have fallen for me. Well, that shit fucked me up. I took that shit with me in the ring and the fight didn’t last long. Twelve minutes, that’s how long it took the bastard to kick my ass. But, fuck, wanting Lurlene even after finding out that she’s a virgin, I deserved a good ass whoopin’.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
“Oh, you shoulda seen me, Aunt Lulu, I was going like really, really fast, and Daddy wasn’t even holdin’ the bike no more,” Becca squeals into the cell. Whenever I talk to her, she always makes me feel so good. I’m glad she called. I needed a dose of her tonight. “Okay,” she sighs. “Daddy says it’s time for bed. I gotta go brush my teeth.”
“All right, love you, Becca,” I say, smiling against the cell.
“Love you too, Aunt Lulu. Here’s Daddy.”
“Hey little sis, how’s it goin’?”
“God, Nix. She’s so precious. I miss you guys so much.”
“Well, ya could’ve come here instead of heading to Texas for the summer. Anyway,” he chuckles letting me off easy after the indirect jab about how long it’s been since I’ve seen them, “heard Token stopped out there to see you.”
“Yes. He was here for all of twenty-four hours. You know him, can’t seem to stay in the same place for very long. I remember you were like that until Becca came along.”
“Yeah. Now, I’m a human swing, a human coloring book, and you should see me in a tiara.” He laughs.
“Oh, I’d love to see that,” I say, the image triggering a few chuckles out of me as well.
“You’ll have to stop by sometime around teatime then,” he says, laughter defraying. “Token mentioned a guy down there?”
“He did?” I sit up, strange hearing my brother try to talk about “boys” with me. It’s not something we’ve ever done.
“Says he seems cool, he liked him.”
“Of course, he did.” I smile. “He’s just like the rest of you boneheads.”
“Now, Lulu, ya gotta stop doing that. Stop comparing every guy to your older brothers. You can’t just clump us all together. Guys, we’re all different. Look at Steele, Stone, hell, Crash. I’m not like any of them, and they sure the hell aren’t like each other. Give us some slack, sis. See a man for what he is and not for what you think we’re all supposed to be,” he says, and I’m speechless. I didn’t anticipate the lecture. Usually, I’m the one giving out unsolicited advice to my reckless brothers. After a second or two of awkward silence, he exhales heavily into the cell. “I’m just sayin’ if you would’ve told me that a three-foot, blue-eyed, adventurous, experimental, stubborn little chatterbox would be dictating my every move, I would’ve told you to go fuck yourself. Becca is my life, and I didn’t see any of this coming. Yeah, men suck sometimes, but then some chick comes along and changes our life. Don’t give up on us, Lulu. We deserve a little credit. We have a heart. Sometimes, it just takes a certain someone to make us feel it.”
I know the woman he’s talking about is the one who gave him Becca. He doesn’t usually talk about Jocelyn. It’s just too hard for him. “Wow, Nix, impressive. Fatherhood is really changing you,” I tease but hear his every word.
“It’s not changing me. It’s just pulling out some of the good stuff.” He chuckles.
“Becca’s lucky to have you,” I say.
“Hell, I’m lucky to have her, and that guy, whoever he is, he’d be lucky to have you too.”
“Right, maybe I can help pull some good stuff out of him too.”
“Maybe,” he says with another small chortle. “Well, don’t be a stranger, sis, and if you’re ever in the area, teatime is around five o’clock here.”
“Okay, Nix. Give Becca a kiss for me.”
“Sure thing, talk to ya later,” he says, and I get a quick “bye” in before the line goes dead.
I click my cell off and drop it in my lap. Nix has a point; I’ve always compared men to my brothers, and they’re not great role models. They’re definitely not the type of men any woman could imagine spending the rest of their life with. Like Zeke, they’re your typical “rebel without a cause.” Strong, assertive, sure-of-themselves, in charge, go-after-what-they-want kind of guys, the ones who will never settle down and will always seek out the most dangerous, craziest shit. There’s no room for any commitment in their lives. Nix did it, though. He settled down but then ... okay, I guess that I see why it might be hard for a man to give his heart to a woman. Nix’s heart was broken; I’m not sure that he’ll ever put it back out there again. Makes me wonder what happened to Zeke, what makes it so difficult for him to give his heart away.