I shook my head. “You are one strange guy.”
He laughed, almost proud. “That’s what I hear.”
We discussed a few miscellaneous things over the course of the next hour, including Sicily convincing me to try out his Playstation after learning I’d never owned a gaming system. He had me playing some game with a weird fox thing jumping all over the place, eating some weird fruit, peaches maybe, and spinning to attack his enemies. When there was a knock at the door, I was all too happy to put it down and reclaim my brain.
“I got dinner,” Annika’s voice broke across the threshold before she walked in, balancing three plates across her arms along with three bottles of water in any crevice that could hold them. I jumped up and grabbed a couple of plates to help, and she smiled. “Thank you.”
I handed a plate to Sicily, and then Annika distributed the bottles of water and sat on the floor between the beds, facing us.
Dinner was fried fish over sauteed rice and mixed with different vegetables. My mom was an okay cook. Her food was enjoyable, and a few things she’d mastered were really good, but I couldn’t coin her a chef. The dinner we were having now was beyond the best thing I’d eaten since I got out.
Annika giggled. “It must be good.” I nodded with my cheeks stuffed full of food. “There’s plenty more if you want. Mom always makes big batches so that there’s leftovers.” I held a thumbs up, and she laughed a little more.
As much as I may have wanted to eat more, I was so full that it felt like my stomach was gonna burst, so when Annika offered to get me more, I politely declined. She collected the empty plates and left to bring them down to the kitchen, promising to be back.
“All right, what do you think?” Sicily asked as soon as she was gone from the room. “I’ll lob a, ‘How’s the single life going?’ and you just pick it up and run with it.”
“What?” I asked.
“Wingman-mode. What are we doing?” he asked hurriedly. “Don’t tell me you’re backing out. Cherri kept it moving while you were gone, so time for you to keep it moving.”
He wasn’t wrong. “Yeah,” I said, though the thought of truly moving on from Cherri settled in my stomach like a lead brick.
“So? What? Want me to mention something you all have in common? She likes reading, and you like reading,” Sicily said. “Give me the play.”
“I don’t—”
Before we could get the plan decided, the bedroom door opened again, and Annika walked back in. She returned to her spot on the floor and looked up at us. “What?”
Sicily looked at me, and I just stared back at him, unsure of what to do. Finally, Sicily turned and looked at Annika, opened his dumb mouth, and blurted out, “Deon was just telling me he thinks you’re very beautiful and would like to take you out.”
My jaw dropped. “What the fuck!”
Sicily’s arms flew up. “You didn’t tell me the play!”
“So then just wait. That wasn’t wingmaning. That was just telling her!”
Annika laughed a little, then tilted her head at me. “Do you really want to go out?”
“I was going to do it much better than that,” I replied. “But, yeah. I’d like to.”
“How does tomorrow sound?” she boldly asked, and it sent a rush of excitement through me.
I smiled at her, still wary of moving on from Cherri, but I knew it was the best plan for me. “Tomorrow sounds great.”
18
Deon
Thankfully, Annika was much more laid back and relaxed than her brother. After finishing breakfast with the massive Luciano family, I disappeared to one of only two bathrooms in their household to shower and then made my way downstairs where Annika was sitting in the living room, talking to a man who made the guys I was locked up with look like middle schoolers. His arms looked like tree trunks on either side of his body, and even though he was sitting, I could plainly see he was six and a half feet tall, if not more. His hair was closely shaved, close to being bald, and he was wearing a warehouse polo and a pair of cargo pants. His dark eyes were sunken, and he had wrinkles poking out from just about everywhere, but the second Sicily and I stepped into the room, he stood up, towering over me.
“Hello,” he greeted, and then he held his hand out to me.
I took his hand, and the way he squeezed was not a subtle warning, but it took a lot more than that to frighten me. “Hello, sir. Nice to meet you.”
“Deon, this is my old man, Gray Sr. Pop, I’m guessing Annika told you already, but this is my friend, Deon.”
Grayson still had a tight grip on my hand, and he shook it a couple more times. “Good to finally meet you. I hear you’ve earned the affection of more than one of my kids.” He released my hand and crossed his arms.
“I’m lucky,” I replied. “If it’s okay, I’d like to take Annika out today.”
“He asks permission? I like this guy!” He grinned at me. “You may. Just don’t keep her out too late, and treat her well.”
“You have my word,” I replied.
“All right, well.” Grayson wrapped an arm around his daughter. “I did the dad thing. I love you. Have fun. I’m going to get some rest.”
“Night, Daddy,” Annika replied, and after that, Grayson ambled off toward the stairs and out of sight.
Sicily snapped his fingers.
