Page 9 of Half Sight Whole Heart

“Ermias!” I screeched. “Oh my gosh! Why would you ask that?” I turned to a skinning and grinning Zyro, who had both hands stuffed in the pockets of his jeans. “Do not answer that!”

Zyro chuckled. “C’mon, man. Let’s go get the tickets so we can see who big dawg and who’s the scaredy cat.”

“I’m big dawg!” Ermias said loudly, poking his chest out.

Zyro looked over at me. “I heard that.”

It wouldn’t be long before Ermias ran into a friend from daycare, and he begged me to let him go on the Ferris wheel with him and the boy’s mother. Then Zyro told him we’d be on the one behind them and forced me on it.

When we sat down, he reached over me to buckle us up. My breathing hitched. Zyro’s arm brushed across my chest as he tugged the belt tight, his cologne wrapping around me. My pulse jumped. I shifted, pretending to flick imaginary lint off my shirt.

“You nervous?” Zyro queried in a teasing tone.

“A little,” I admitted.

The ride started, and we were going slowly in a circle.

“Where’s his dad?”

I swallowed, my throat drying up.

“Um, he’s around. He doesn’t really come around a lot.”

“So, he’s a fuck nigga?” Zyro shot out.

“Yeah…that. Found out about him having another kid when the woman showed up at my doorstep, big pregnant, acting like I stole him from her,” I scoffed. “He tried so hard to get me to stay with him, but a baby is where I draw the line.”

“Shit, cheating should be where you draw the line. Don’t ever let a nigga do you any kind of way, Eriss. He knew what he had, and he fucked up.”

I tilted my head to look at Zyro. His waves were swimming for sure. They were going around his head perfectly. When he bit down on his lip, where his top front teeth met the little patch of hair under his bottom lip, a deep crater appeared on his cheek. It was cute. Real cute.

“Yeah, you’re right. Thank you for saying that, being a nigga and all.”

“I’m a man,” he said softly. “A man wit’ a Black queen for a mother. A Black queen for a grandmother. “

“So why don’t you settle down with the woman you’re messing with?” I asked, cocking my head to the side.

Zyro ran a thumb over his bottom lip. “‘Cause she’s not my wife. I know she’s not my wife.

I’m a nigga, and I have needs. She serves that purpose for me.

I’m not stopping her from going to find her husband.

I don’t take her on dates. I don’t take her out to eat.

We don’t do couple shit but fuck. I’m just keepin’ it a buck witcha. ”

“And she’s okay with just getting a wet ass from you?”

Zyro snickered. “She’s more than a wet ass, sweetheart.”

My eyes stretched, and I was done with this conversation because it was going in a whole other direction. The last thing I needed was for Zyro to think I was one of those women who fell quickly just because a man showed me a little attention.

The wheel jolted slightly as it continued its slow spin. My fingers tightened around the safety bar. I wasn’t scared. It was the forced proximity that had my nerves going haywire.

When the ride finally ended, I could breathe again. Ermias was already bouncing on his toes, tugging me toward the games where you had to pay cash because they didn’t accept tickets.

“Mama! Let’s play a game so Zyro can win you a teddy bear, then you won’t be so lonely!”

I cut my eyes down at Ermias. The shade he was throwing was insane! Zyro laughed.

“I got you, lil’ man. I don’t want your mama to be lonely either, so let me win her some,” he said, followed by a wink and another swipe of his tongue over his lips.

I covered my face and groaned. These two were tag-teaming against me. Usually, Ermias would be on my side. He was switching up on me for Zyro right before my eyes…or eye.

He and Zyro walked over to the game where you had to throw rings around bottles. Zyro peeled off whatever amount was needed to play and handed it over to the game runner wearing a bright blue shirt.

The game runner handed Zyro a set of rings, ran the rules down to him, and stepped back. Zyro rolled his shoulders, cracked his neck, and turned around slightly, smirking.

“I ain’t gon lie,” he whispered loudly to Ermias, “these games are rigged, but they don’t know who I am.”

“Big dawg!” Ermias howled. “He’s big dawg, right, Mama?”

My jaw dropped.

“Right, Mama?” Zyro teased. “Answer the man, Eriss.”

I looked around, shaking my head lightly. “Yeah, Ermias. Zyro is big dawg.”

Ermias extended his hands out with his thumbs up. I couldn’t deal.

One by one, Zyro flicked the rings with a casual flick of his wrist, his expensive-looking watch shining brightly. The first two clinked against the glass bottles and bounced off, but the third slid neatly onto a neck. Then the fourth. Then the fifth. Ermias went craaaazy.

“Big daaaaawg!” Ermias yelled. It was a sight to see, seeing him hugging Zyro’s legs.

The game runner was even shocked. He said, “Go ahead and choose a big price, my man.”

Zyro turned to me, his lips tugged a smug grin. “Which one you want, baby?”

I could have melted into the hot pavement when he said that. There was no way my legs felt like noodles, and I was throbbing in the most sensitive part of my body.

Pointing to a brown bear, I replied, “That one.”

The game runner wrestled the huge teddy bear down and handed it over to Zyro. Ermias was squealing. He was too excited. I couldn’t help it. I began smiling too when Zyro handed it to me.

Zyro leaned over closely to me and muttered, “I just need to spray it down wit’ my cologne and we’ll be all set. You won’t be lonely anymore.”