Page 102 of Search My Soul (Taylor Family Saga #3)

“What’s the fun in that?” I noticed the tension in her body language and could sense she was uncomfortable.

“Can you sit down? You know I don’t like people standing up when I’m sitting down,” I requested.

She replied with a huff before taking a seat on the sectional.

As soon as she sat down, she grabbed the blanket on the couch.

Her eyes danced around the room in judgment, and I couldn’t blame her.

Since I’ve been here, I haven’t cleaned up at all. There were empty food containers and liquor bottles everywhere. Before I could even say anything, Juicy jumped up, heading into the kitchen. I heard her shuffling around in there and figured she must have decided to put the groceries away.

After an hour, I grew tired again. I hadn’t been sleeping well lately, so whenever my body shut down, I allowed it.

The sound of a vacuum blaring caused me to jump out of my sleep. My heart felt like it was about to hop out of my chest because I hadn’t expected it.

“What the hell are you doing?” I huffed, irritated that she messed up my sleep.

“What does it look like? I can’t believe you were lying around in this filth.

This place is too nice for you to be living like a pig.

” Juicy scoffed, continuing to vacuum the carpet around me.

Since my sleep was over, I decided to get up.

The smell of some good ass food permeated throughout the house, and my stomach began to growl.

Although I didn’t want anyone in my space, her being a great cook made her presence more tolerable.

“What did you cook?”

“Food,” she sassed, damn near running my feet over with the vacuum.

“No shit. How did I not know that?”

“If you’re gonna make a plate, you need to head to the bathroom and take care of your hygiene.

Based on the way you’ve been living, I’m going to assume you haven’t washed your ass either.

” Her nose scrunched up, and I wanted to cuss her out.

She wasn’t lying though. It had been a couple of days since I took a shower.

Every day seemed to run in a loop as I binged on food, alcohol, and drugs.

“You can kiss my ass.”

“Absolutely not. I know those draws are stiff as hell right now. Over there smelling like bounce that ass. I never thought I would see the day that Soul Taylor became a dusty, musty ass nigga. Damn.” Clearly, she was getting a kick out of fucking with me.

“Yeah. I’m letting you have your moment. ’Cause if I talked about your short-sleeved ponytail, I would be wrong,” I grumbled, searching the table for my blunt.

As my eyes swept across the table, I realized that she had cleared everything from it.

It reminded me of when my mom was still alive.

She would come and clean up everything. It wouldn’t have been so bad if she hadn’t thrown it all away.

In her mind, if our things were important to us then we would have put them away.

“You wish. You must have been confused with your new bitch and her empty bonnet. These inches are real, much like the drool around your mouth.” My hand shot up to my mouth, and Juicy fell out laughing.

“You’re so childish.”

“I’ll be that. Now go get your ass in the shower. I sprayed the air freshener, but nothing is strong enough to eliminate the stank. Please don’t make me ask again.” She stood there with her hands on her hips. I couldn’t believe she brought her ass here to bully me.

“Chop, chop, shitty booty. I know those boxers have skid marks from the front to the back.”

“You want to see? You seem pressed about what I have going on in my draws. If you miss it, all you had to do was say so.”

“In your dreams, Pepe Le Pew. Here, take one of these with you.” I looked between her and the trash bag, trying to figure out what it was for.

“What are you giving me this for?”

“You might as well throw the whole outfit away. There isn’t a strong enough laundry detergent that can tackle that kind of filth. Those clothes are probably gonna get up and walk away as soon as you take them off. Gone now.”

“You do know my mama is dead, right?”

“I may not be your mama, but I’m big mama. Please don’t make me have to repeat myself.” She extended her arm, pointing to the bedroom.

“Has anyone ever told you that you’re annoying?”

“Plenty of times. Has anyone ever told you that you smell like the homeless man on Harker Street who crump dances on the corner? Go wash your ass, Soul!”

“I’m going, damn! Mean ass,” I grumbled under my breath. The moment I got the chance, I was cussing my sorry ass brother and best friend out. The last thing I wanted was someone hovering over me like a fucking child.

After I finished my shower, I felt a lot better.

My high was starting to wear off, though, so I planned to pop another pill before I went back out of the room.

Wrapping the towel around my waist, I stepped into my room.

The cool air halted me, but it was Juicy sitting on the side of my bed that caught me off guard.

“What are you doing in here?” She glanced up from her phone and observed me from head to toe. I made my dick jump since she couldn’t keep her eyes off it.

“You can save the tricks. I don’t fuck with men who have body odor issues. I can’t be telling my girls that I’m fucking with musty Melvin.” I rolled my eyes as she pinched her nose.

“Why are you in my room? Don’t you have something more useful you could be doing?”

“I’m in here so I can conduct a smell test. I need to make sure you hit all the danger spots. Otherwise, I’m gonna make you get back in there and try again.”

“Yo, you are wildin’ right now.” I laughed because there was no way she was being serious. When she stood to her feet and made her way over to me, I realized this nut job wasn’t joking.

“Juicy, I swear if you don’t get away from me, I’m gonna bite you. You’re treating me like a kid with silver caps, so I’m gonna act like one.”

“Lift your arms.”

“You can clearly see that I just got out of the shower. I haven’t gotten a chance to put on deodorant,” I reasoned.

“I need to verify you’re not musty before you even put on the deodorant. It defeats the purpose if you’re still smelly.”

“Hurry up, man.” I stood there as she sniffed under my arms. I could hear her snickering when she sniffed behind my ears. She was being ridiculous, and she knew it.

“What now?”

“Well, I’m glad to know you still know how to clean yourself. So that means you sitting around here in your own funk was a choice. Please do better.”

“You better be glad I love you, otherwise, I would push you down like Que did ol’ girl in that basketball movie we watched.”

“I can’t believe you remember that. Que did my girl Monica so wrong from the very beginning.

I can’t believe I thought that was a romance movie.

Watching it as an adult made me realize it was fucking horror movie.

” Her laughter was infectious, and I couldn’t help but admire her beauty.

You would never know she had been through some tough shit because she wore a smile that could light up a room.

“Yeah, whatever. Now, can you please give me some privacy? Your sons are down the hall. Go bother them.”

“I don’t mind chilling here. You seem to be in a hurry to get rid of me. Why is that?” I didn’t miss the hint of suspicion in her tone. It made me wonder what else she knew.

“You’ve made it abundantly clear there is no getting rid of you, so I won’t bother. However, I came here to be alone. The least you can do is let me air-dry my balls in peace.”

“No, I think I’ll sit right here. It’ll give us time to catch up.” Juicy plopped back down on my bed, opened a pack of cashews, and began tossing them in her mouth. I cursed under my breath knowing this was going to be a long night.

Instead of arguing, I went ahead and got dressed. Eventually, she would have to go to bed, and then I would be able to get my fix. At least, that’s what I thought.