Page 73 of Steel

“I’ve missed that,” I said, cupping her chin.

She swallowed hard. “What?”

“Your smile, . . . your laugh. You still toss your head back and cackle like a damn duck?”

She swatted my hand away. “Don’t play with me. I don’t sound like a duck.”

“Just quacking and shit.”

I imitated her laugh, causing her to playfully shove me. “Stop!”

“You know it’s true.”

She mushed my head. “You still inhale your food like you haven’t eaten in months?’

“I’m a big man, and I love to eat. If the shit is good, I’m not gonna fuck around with it. Aye, you still make that lemon blueberry loaf?”

“You remember that? God, I haven’t made that in years.”

“I’m gonna need one of those. KJ needs to experience that.”

“Sure, blame it on the baby.” Her smile softened. “I would have told you if you were speaking to me, but he’s beautiful, Kerrion. He’s practically your twin.”

I smiled. “That’s my lil’ hitta. They say you don’t know unconditional love until you have a kid, and damn, that shit is true.”

She nodded. “That’s the truth.”

“You did a great job with Nayelli. She’s a good kid. Sweet as can be.”

Neha scoffed. “She’s a sour patch. When I stopped her from coming to the academy, she basically gave me the silent treatment. Now that wasn’t the reason I let her come back. I did it because I knew how important making friends is for her.” She turned up her lip at me. “So much so that somebody had to send their little brother to make nice with his niece.”

I chuckled. “It worked out, didn’t it? I know he’s upstairs talking her ear off about that damn anime. He was wearing a cape, wasn’t he?”

She laughed. “Hewaswearing a cape.”

“Lil’ nigga thinks he can fly and shit. He slept at my house one night and was jumping off every surface he could climb on. I just let him have it ’cause if he broke a bone, he knew better than to cry ’cause he wasn’t supposed to have his ass up there.”

“Don’t do that baby like that.”

“You say that because you don’t know him.”

“I mean, I don’t know any of your family. Jaiden wasn’t even born when we were dating, and Emmy looks like she was a surprise with her cute self.”

“She was, and I don’t let my mama or Hershel live it down.”

“I see many towel whuppings in your past, present, and future.”

“Shit, me too. I live to get on her nerves.”

The sound of my phone going off alerted me to the group chat with my siblings. It most likely meant we had a mission. Pulling it out, I confirmed just that.

I sighed. “I uh . . . I gotta go. Family business.”

“Oh. Okay. Well, I’m glad we had this talk. I feel much better. Again, I’m sorry.”

“We cool for now.”

I stood from the swing and reached for her hand to help her up. When her palm met mine, I felt a little spark ignite. She must have felt it too, because she looked up at me with questioning eyes. I gently rubbed the back of her hand with the pad of my thumb.