The next minutes went by fast. Gwen wrote her number and email down. She also made me promise to stay in touch.
Rafael rushed her out of there as if still not trusting our hug.
And I returned to Tiana for much needed sexual healing.
Due to her new briefcase of money, Tiana did everything to my body that was psychically possible. She licked and sucked. She rode my cock, bouncing and rocking. She fucked my mind up. I might have whispered I love you a few times just because I was caught up in the moment.
We never slept.
In the morning, Boris knocked on the door to tell me that the car had arrived and I did not want to leave.
Boris had to damn near drag me out of there.
Em called me. Her voice sounded shaky. I could tell she missed me, but something else was going on. To not stress her out further, I gave her a sweet PG-13 version of my travels, highlighting being in California and grabbing Eden’s father, but nothing more.
I asked her about having any blackouts.
She took too long to respond.
Something is definitely wrong.
When the phone call ended, I knew without a doubt that Max Jr. and her needed me.
Chapter 20
Grateful
T
he next morning, I sat on Jean-Pierre’s plane staring at those two photos of people who were supposed to be related to me. I had never seen most of them before, but there they were in black and white, staring back at me with eyes that looked eerily familiar.
I tried to maintain a poker face, but the emotion behind the kids’ gazes made me want to cry.
What is going on with me?
I couldn’t help but wonder what our lives would have been like if I had known that they existed. Would the government or X had sent me down to New Orleans to live with one of these Grand Aunts and Uncles? Would times had been better or worse?
I couldn’t imagine not growing up with Em, X, Kennedy, or even Darryl. Shit was fucked up, but it was my life, my memories.
Not all of it was bad.
There were so many good times.
When we were young, Em and I used to talk about climbing to the top of the Empire State Building and being in the Guinness Book of World Records. We thought we would do it with a long rope and a whole lot of hope.
We even tried one day, dragging a long rope to the building. People walked by and shook their heads at us as we kept throwing the rope at the wall.
I grinned.
Next, Em shifted her goals to exploring under the city. Walking around in sewers and abandoned tunnels terrified me, but with Em next to me, I could do anything. The air was already thick, hot, and stinking of rot. The tunnels were always small and cramped. It was a lot of wading through muck and darkness, running from giant rats and getting lost.
Yet, Em held my hand and I immediately felt safe and protected.
Even when we became adults, I still followed Em into those damn secret passageways.
I had traditions with the others too.
Every first Saturday of the month, I picked X up and drove him to Anthony’s pizzeria. There, we always ordered a huge slice of pizza with cheese, sausage, peppers, and pepperoni. Never did we stray from that order.
Then, we hit the corner bodega, bought a six pack of cold beer, and drove to Central Park.
In the park we sat on a bench, ate slices of pizza, and drank those cold beers. It didn’t matter how many napkins we brought along, I always licked the grease from my fingers and X would complain, calling me a barbarian.
Then, we watched people of all kinds pass by and said nothing to each other, content to be together in silence, eating pizza and drinking beer.
My great memories didn’t end with Em and X.
Some Friday nights, Kennedy and I would make a cake together and eat the whole thing in one sitting. She always had questions about men, and I did my best to provide her with advice.
The first time Kennedy got pregnant by Daryl, I kept the secret and took her to the abortion clinic. I held her as she cried for days afterwards. For the second abortion, I did the same, but Em was with us, helping me hold Kennedy together and wiping up the tears.
As adults, Daryl and I still watched TV together, but it shifted from cartoons to sports.
And all of us—X, Darryl, Kennedy, Em, and me—would rush to the movies on a Saturday, buy the first morning movie ticket, and enter. We stayed in the theater all day, sneaking into movie after movie and watching them for free. By the time, we left it would be dark and our stomachs would be stuffed with popcorn and candy.