Men Of Honor Eric - Jordan Silver Page 0,14
say much to each other on the ride to the hotel, but he seemed deep in thought and more than a little annoyed. The fact that he wasn’t saying anything about what was bothering him was a bit worrying since we’re not in the habit of hiding shit from each other. “You having trouble at school, kid?” He looked away from the window and back at me.
“No, why do you ask that?”
“No reason you just look a little putout is all.” I slid to a stop at the next red light and looked over at him, and that’s when I noticed the way he was rubbing his finger across his upper lip. It’s silly sure the amount of pride I took in that one little gesture, but that’s the same thing I find myself doing when something’s weighing heavy on my mind.
“Has your mother been contacting you?”
“Nope, not since the last time she tried fishing for information on Justine, and I told her to pound sand.”
“You told your mother that? Sorry!” I grimaced playfully at the look he threw me.
Ty and I have an understanding. I don’t try to force any false gaiety between him and his mother, and he stops short of outright cussing her out so that the rest of the world doesn’t think that I raised an animal. Janine hates the fact that I won’t reel him in, and I’m sure she’s told anyone that’s dumb enough to listen how I’d turned her son against her, but all those who matter knows better.
“Why are you asking about Janine? Is she showing her ass again?” Such language!
“She called earlier.” I thought about telling him about what Grey had said but thought better of it. Somewhere along the way, my boy had grown very overprotective of me, and telling him something like that might just lead to more fuckery between him and his mom.
It’s true that the two of them had had hardly any dealings with each other before Justine came into the picture, and he’d long since stopped caring, but I didn’t want any of this to reopen old wounds for him. The fact that he’d grown very protective of Justine and Lora as well was just another pile on to this cluster fuck of dumb-fuckery.
He’d known from day one that I had it bad for Justine. It was the way I’d gushed about her like a teenager that first day after we’d literally ran into each other. I was leaving my office building, and she was rushing to catch the elevator. We crashed into each other, and the folder she held in her hand went flying. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…” She must’ve said sorry ten times as she bent down to pick her stuff up.
I hadn’t seen all of her yet, just a quick glimpse of her face beneath the fall of midnight black straight as a pin hair that fell to well below her shoulders. But when I stood up from helping her gather her stuff, she poleaxed me. Fucking gorgeous.
I think I lost the ability to speak for a good few seconds and just stood there staring at her until her blush clued me in to the fact that she was embarrassed by my attention. “No problem, here.” I passed back the folder with the papers lying on top.
I got a glimpse of her name on her resume and realized that she was the woman my secretary Janelle was waiting to interview as her replacement when she went on maternity leave in another week. She hadn’t liked any of the others so far, and we’d been at this shit for weeks.
Janelle is an African American beauty of twenty-five going on eighty. The way she talks, you’d think she’d been here before and saw all there is to see. It didn’t matter who I liked; she wasn’t about to have just anyone take her place and fuck up her shit; her words. Yes, that’s how my secretary speaks to me, and I mind my own and stay out of her way.
She’s been with me since her high school days when she tagged along with her older brother to the job sites picking up work here and there until I gave her a job as my right-hand man, so to speak, so I know her very well. On the days when her husband gets on her damn nerves, again her words, I know to steer clear and to warn everyone within a ten-mile radius to