Page 28

My father bought my first name plate down here and appeased me when I wanted to get a grill in ninth grade.

It was a culture and seeing how things had changed always made me sad.

It made me yearn for what used to be. Before the crusty white dogs, the hipsters, and those wanting to be in Brooklyn because it was the happening spot, it used to be for us.

It was when Mr. Fulton used to be on the corner of Dekalb.

As we breezed by the new Brooklyn, I noticed he was heading toward the BQE instead of the Brooklyn Bridge.

Holding onto him tighter, he increased speed and took us through traffic with ease.

A little girl was in the back of a car waving, and he waved at her, and she got so giddy in the backseat as we flew past her mother’s car.

When I opened my eyes again, we were heading toward the Verrazano Bridge into Staten Island.

We pulled into a neighborhood with single-family homes. He pulled into a driveway and turned the bike off. He held my hand and helped me off the bike before he got off. I took the helmet off and listened to the crickets in the distance.

“Where are we?”

“My home.”

I was on a high from being on the back of the bike, and also reminiscing about the old Brooklyn, but I knew damn well we didn’t go into Manhattan, and this wasn’t that big ass fancy building that he lived in.

“You got me confused, Landon.”

He took my hand and dug into his pocket and let us into the house.

It was weird because the house smelled like home.

You know that smell that only you smelled when you entered your home?

The smell that you had survived another day and now your home was welcoming you back into your safe space with your own personalized home smell.

The inside of the home was pretty basic when it came to the furniture.

Nothing that a billionaire would ever use or live in.

I was trying to put the pieces together on how this was home and why we were here.

I was quiet because he stood there, and it was like he was trying to remember or feel something that he couldn’t feel.

“You know why I brought you here, Pooh?”

I was assuming my nickname had gone from Bleu to Pooh, because this was the second time he called me it, and I wasn’t mad about it. Hearing this hardened man call me Pooh did something for me.

“I would like to know.”

He went to flip the lights all the way on. “This is the house I grew up in. The house we had to move into after my parents died.”

“Oh.”

He looked at the pictures that sat on the mantel and smiled. “Back before all the money, penthouses, mansions and all that other shit, it was just the six of us under this one roof.”

“Six?”

“Yeah. We had a live-in nanny situation and her daughter. Menace’s assistant, Jeffie.”

I nodded. “Oh, so she’s like family.”

“Jeffie is family,” he corrected me.

I’ve met Jeffie a few times when she had driven Greene home before she got her new car. She was super sweet.

“Okay,” I whispered.

Landon turned around and stood in front of me.

He held my chin up and kissed my lips before pulling away and looking into my eyes.

“Opening up to people is hard for me. I don’t do that shit and avoid anything real because that means I have to be real.

Transparent and true with the person I’m letting in.

With you, I want to be all of that because your presence makes me want to.

Navy, you introduced me to your family, so I felt it was only right to show you a piece of mine. ”

“Landon, what if I can’t give you what you require?”

He looked away. “Shit, that’s the same question I’m asking myself.”

I hugged him and then pulled away. “Did you keep this house?”

He pulled my hand and pulled me up the steps.

With each step we took, the wooden steps creaked.

The air on the second level was warmer, and beads of sweat gathered on my brow.

Walking down the slender hall, he continued to pull my hand until we made it to a small bedroom tucked away.

If you walked fast, you probably would have missed it.

Landon opened the door and there was a full-size bed, a nightstand, and a dresser. There was a TV mounted on the wall, and a big ass air conditioner hanging out the window. He grabbed a remote and turned the air on, closing the room door behind us.

“My brow is about to sweat off,” I joked.

Landon pulled his shirt off and looked at me. “Wanna take yours off?”

“Bet you would want to see that, huh?”

He paused. “Pooh, I’m seeing that body tonight… and you know that shit, too.”

“Where did this Pooh come from, Landon?” I stood with my hand on my hip and then looked at the bed.

“Saw some nigga making a video on how he think you dope and wanting to shoot his shot… called you Bleu.”

“A lot of people call me Bleu on the internet.”

“Exactly. I’m not fucking everybody, and when it comes to me… you not everybody. Not everybody calls me Landon.”

“Kennedy did.”

“And I corrected her ass.”

I looked at the bed. “Who bed is this?”

“Menace let the house sit for a while before he had Jeffie put it up for sale. When it went up for sale, I bought the house.”

“Why?”

“Only place that feels like home to me. This was my room because it was the smallest and I was the youngest. Menace had the basement while we all had rooms up here. Basement wasn’t even done, and he slept down there.”

My heart ached hearing him explain that this was what felt like home to him. He had a full-on penthouse with the most lavish of furnishing, and this small single-family home in a decent neighborhood was what felt like home for him.

His safe space.

“I can get it. Whenever everything is overwhelming for me, I always end up in my mom’s bed. That’s my safe space, and she makes everything feel like it’s gonna be alright.”

“Laying in this bed does that for me. I got a new bed and other shit, but I haven’t upgraded nothing. House doesn’t have central air or nothing like that.”

I sat on the edge of the bed. “Are we gonna stay here tonight?”

“Yeah, if you don’t mind.”

I smiled. “I don’t mind, Landon.”

He smirked and went into the closet and came out with two bath towels. “Shower and then I’ll order food.”

“K.”

“Then you can tell me how you feeling about homie.”

I stood on my toes and pushed my lips to his cheek. “Can we just enjoy our time? Spent enough time on him.”

“I hear you.”

After our showers and trying to find something we both agreed on, we ate downstairs while watching a movie. When my eyes became too heavy and Don noticed, he carried me upstairs to the room.

He let me sleep near the window, and the feeling of the air conditioner in this small room, especially after a shower, felt like heaven.

I watched as he secured the house, turned the lights off and then the TV, and climbed into bed. There was space between us both, and he looked over at me. “Why you way over there?”

I smiled. “Creating some space. Not even supposed to be in bed with you, anyway.”

He lifted his arm. “I know you cold over there.”

“You love to sleep in the cold… why?”

I watched as he continued to look at me until I scooted over into his arms, and his arm came around me, pulling me even closer into him. “I have to go out the country soon… some big event my brother has. I want you to come with me.”

“An important event? I’m not the black tie and cocktail dress girl, Landon.”

“Never need to be.”

“What does that mean?”

“Don’t worry about it right now. Your pops called me.”

I pulled my head up. “Yeah?”

“He was calling to let me know he took the Bentley to get washed. Think he’s taking your mother away for the weekend, too.”

“Awe, that’s nice. It’s not too often they get the weekends off together anymore. One is usually working while the other is off.”

Landon’s lips pressed against my head. “Told him to take the car and enjoy.”

“That’s nice. I know he really appreciates that. They used to do a lot of things together, and then they stopped.”

It became quiet, and the only sounds in the room was the air conditioner and the news playing in the background. “In time, I would like to travel with them.”

I popped my head up. “Who said I was even gonna travel with you?”

“You going.”

“You so damn bossy.”

He grabbed a handful of my ass and looked down at me. “And you like the shit, so what’s the problem?”

I put my head back down onto his chest because he didn’t tell one lie. Closing my eyes, he pulled me closer into him as I fought my sleep until I eventually gave in.