We worked in silence together, filling several large garbage bags and tossing them in the recycling bins at the end of the driveway. When we were finished, the backyard looked the same as it had before the party, and I breathed easier.
I was unlocking the back door of the house when I realized Dizzy wasn’t behind me.
“I’m heading out for a bit,” he said when I turned to look at him, not quite meeting my eyes.
“Met someone at the party?” I asked.
“Nothing serious.”
It was never serious with my brother and girls. I had a feeling he and War were a lot alike in that regard, and I wondered about Bryan.
“Be careful,” I said, meaning it. “Use protection.”
“Always.” Dizzy’s expression darkened. “I won’t be gone long.”
I nodded, watching him walk away. Then I turned and went inside the house, ending the evening as I’d started it.
Alone.
War
As soon as we turned the corner from Lace’s house, I got right into it with Bryan.
Giving him a hard look, I asked, “You got a problem with me and Lace?”
“Not a problem, exactly.” He rubbed the back of his neck, then dug in his jeans pocket for his cigarettes. “I just wondered why her?”
I narrowed my gaze. “Why me and not you with her is what you really mean. Right?”
Lighting one up, he glanced away. He inhaled a drag and puffed out smoke. I knew I was right without him answering. Lace had knocked him on his ass, same as she had me.
“Anything happen between you and her when you were kids that I should know about?” I asked.
“Hell no, War.” He turned to look at me, his eyes flashing gray-green fire. “She was just a kid back then. We used to be inseparable, the three of us. Only . . .”
“Only what?” I ground my teeth together. “Spit it out, Bry.”
He hesitated too long to answer. “Only she’s not a kid anymore. So, things are different now.”
“She’s smoking hot. Smart, confident, and talented.”
He nodded slowly, not looking happy that I noticed those things and pointed them out.
“She sings almost as good as me,” I said.
Bryan snorted. “She doesn’t have a rock-band voice.”
“She’ll do okay as backup. We harmonize well.”
“A voice like hers . . .” His eyes went unfocused, and he shook his head. “If the right A&R person heard her, she might become another Amy Winehouse.”
Artist and repertoire reps are the point of contact between musicians and record labels. Scouts, basically. And Bryan was right . . . Lace could go far if she were noticed by the right people.
“Powerful set of pipes, soulful delivery. I agree.” I nodded. “She looks like Shakira. She sings like Winehouse, and she kisses like a motivated stripper wanting to earn extra cash during a lap dance. Sucked my tongue so hard, it made my cock weep, man. No joke.”
His brows snapped together. “Don’t want to know that shit.”
“’Cause you want in there too?” I kept pressing him, wanting him to admit it so I could address the issue and close it down.
“No.” He raked a hand through his hair. “I mean, sure, if that shot was open to me, I might take it. But it’s not. You called it, and I agreed. I always have your back. You know that.”
“Just making sure you get me.”
“I get you,” Bryan said as we stopped at the corner of Rosedale and the Ave.
Sirens blared. Gunfire popped in the distance, a distance I was headed into, not away from like he was. His apartment complex was on Grammercy. My place was a couple of blocks farther south.
“Lace is different,” I said, giving him a firm look. “No sharing. No touching. No looking.”
“If you say so, War.” He flicked his cigarette aside and crushed it under his heel. “I gotta go.”
“Me too. I’m heading to Kyle’s. You wanna come hang later?”
“Nah. I have to help Miriam with her homework.”
“After, then.” I wanted to pump him for more information about Lace.
Bryan shook his head. “My mom won’t like it if I go out and leave my sisters alone on a school night when she’s working.”
“I get it,” I said, but I didn’t. My old lady didn’t care what I did as long as it didn’t inconvenience her.
“Later.” I leaned in and slapped him once on the back, and he clapped me hard too. Then we went our separate ways. It wasn’t wise to linger in the open anywhere in Southside.