AN: I know some people were wondering what happened to Jerry, so I included him in this chapter. Yea!
"Hey, Cracker Jack, how you feelin'?" Jerry called, walking straight in the house without knocking.
I tipped back in my chair far enough to see him standing in the living room. "Don't talk to him, Jerry. His boyfriend wore him out last night and he's cranky."
"Virgin ears are listening, Bobby," Jack taunted from his recliner, his eyes never shifting away from the dancing puppets on the television set.
A commercial came on and Amelia looked up long enough to realize Jerry stood there, watching her and grinning.
"Daddy!" she shouted, hopping up and running to meet him.
He scooped her up in his arms and kissed her cheek.
"You have fun hanging out here with your uncles?" he asked.
She smiled and nodded with enthusiasm. Ever since she'd taken her nap she'd seemed a bit more chipper. "We played Sorry and I won! Uncle Jackie came in second and Uncle Bobby lost."
"Only because Uncle Jackie cheated!" I shouted, hearing Jack start to chuckle. "See? The little fairy doesn't even deny it! He thinks it's funny!"
Amelia giggled, leaning over to whisper in Jerry's ear. He groaned, rolling his eyes. "Bobby," he said, a warning in his tone. "Did you tell my daughter that her uncle has 'Fairy Syndrome?'"
I heard Jackie burst out laughing. He leaned off the side of his chair so he could get a good look at me in the kitchen. "There's a point for me. I told you she'd pick up on the crap you say and tell Jerry."
I spread my arms out, palms up. "So what was I supposed to tell her? That you got piss drunk last night and couldn't drag your ass the fu—"
"Bobby!" Jerry and Jack shouted in unison, both scolding me.
"What!" I said, knowing exactly 'what,' but acting like I didn't.
Amelia giggled. At least she had a sense of humor.
Jerry only shook his head, looking up toward the heavens, probably asking for strength.
"Don't bother, Jer. Ma can't help you now," I said, ripping a match out of a book and striking it, watching it burn.
"I was looking to see if you guys have a working fire alarm in this place. At the rate you're going with those matches, I figure it's been a while since you had any pyro therapy, Bobby. You're probably due to burn somethin' down," he said, walking over.
I blew out my match, looking up at him from my seat. He was studying me, my head in particular.
"You like it?" I said, daring him to say 'no.'
He started to chuckle, shaking his head.
"Well? You like it or not, Jerry?"
"You cut it yourself?"
"Yeah, I cut it myself. Real men cut their own hair. Right, Angel?" I called to the bald black man walking through the front door right at that moment.
Angel glowered at me, heading toward the stairs.
"Fuck you, Bobby," he said, betraying his foul mood.
Jack broke down laughing, tilting his head even further to one side to throw his lengthening bangs out of his eyes.
"She got addicted, to what Angel's dick did. But then she got the patch and the gum and now she's quittin' 'em," baby brother taunted from his chair, seriously asking for an ass whupping. Apparently Jack could be a real smartass while hung over. How this escaped me for so long, I have no idea.
Fortunately Ang didn't even pause in stalking up the stairs to his room. That was good news, because I didn't feel up to cleaning fairy guts off the walls before going to work.
I turned to Jerry, using my head to motion toward the upstairs. "Who's mess is that?" I asked, picking up a quarter from a pile of pocket change lying on the table top and chucking it in Jack's general direction.
Jerry shrugged. "He came in to work like that so I figured you boys would know."
I thought about that for a second, sobering further. "Hey, Jackie."
"Yo."
"You piss Angel off when he took you upstairs this morning?"
"News flash, Bobby. Not everything that goes wrong in Angel's life is my fault or your business," he informed me.
I chucked another quarter at him, and then turned back to Jerry. "Jack blacked out, so he probably said something that pissed Angel off."
"Oh, sure, blame me!"
Jerry only shook his head. "That's not it and you know it. Y'all know there's nothing you could've said that would piss him off all day like that. Little brother's got a problem and when he's ready, he'll spill it."
"Yes, he will," I said, hefting myself to my feet, casually tossing the pack of matches down on the table.
I made my way toward the stairs.
"Where you goin', Bobby?" Jerry asked, not sounding at all like a man at ease. "Bobby. When he's ready, Bobby."
"Don't worry about it, Jerry, I'm only going to ask him if he likes my haircut," I said, quickly mounting the stairs on my way up to Angel's room.
By the time I reached the top landing I could hear Jack laughing. "Yeah, Jerry. Bobby just wants to talk to him. Nothing to worry about!"
Fucking smartass fairy.
"Hey, Angel," I called, striding toward his door. "I gotta ask you a question, it's important." I tried to turn the knob on his door, only to find it locked.
"Stay the fuck outta my business, Bobby!" Angel shouted back.
"Ooo, you sound mad, little sister. Are you sure you don't wanna talk about it with your big brother? We could split a canister of ice cream, have a real heart-to-heart," I taunted, taking a step back.
"Go to hell!"
I shrugged, acting calm for my own amusement even though my blood boiled over at the thought of confrontation. I kicked the door in, finding Angel sitting on his bed. He tried to get up but I grabbed him by the head and forced him down, working him into a half Nelson.
"What's your problem, man?" he yelled, half his words smothered when I mashed his face into his pillow.
"I've got issues, Angel. I don't like it when my little brother walks into the house and tells me to fuck myself! Now either you give a damn good fucking reason why you're so worked up or I'm gonna make your little problem look like a Caribbean vacation."
"All right! Get offa me, man, an I'll tell you!"
I tightened my grip, pulling him off the bed and dropping his ass onto the floor. "You tell me now! I ain't letting shit up until I've got some answers outta you! Is it Sofi? Did that girl pull shit with you?"
"That what you wanna hear, Bobby? I broke up with my girl? That what you wanna fuckin' hear?" he shouted, finally shoving me off and sitting up. We sat opposite each other on the floor for a long moment in a silent stare down. On his best day, Angel's could never match me in a battle of wills; with something weighing so heavily on his mind, he didn't stand a chance.
"Let's hear it," I said when he finally looked away.
He shook his head, closing his eyes and draping one arm over his knee, the other coming up so he could rub his nose with the back of his hand.
"She gone, man. Got into some cat fight at a bar and got arrested. Her mother called to tell me they deported her crazy bitch ass this morning. She ain't comin' back."
I nodded, letting that sink in. On the one hand, I hated to see my little brother depressed. On the other, I'd never been thrilled about the idea of La Vida Loca mothering a niece or nephew of mine.
"I got a little jealous," I admitted.
"What?" he said, like he didn't catch my words.
"At the police station, when Sofi and Camille came for you and Jerry. Those girls raised all kinds of hell for you guys," I said, smiling a tiny bit. "I got a little jealous, man."
Angel smiled grimly at the memory, still intently studying his hands. Apparently he'd found a splinter in his finger. I watched him try to dig it out.
I decided to continue, just to cover up the silence, "Then, when they finally released us, those crazy girls babied you boys, let you know how much they cared for you. I didn't hate Sofi all the time. Most days she was the only person worth arguing with in this house. She put you and Jackie-O to shame. Made you two look like a couple old ladies by comparison."
Another reluctant smile, bigger this time. I'd never told him any of that shit before. Some of it I'd made up on the spot, but not all of it.
"Don't see why you'd get jealous, man. You got your girl," he reminded softly.
I shrugged, not voicing the doubts in my head. Never in a million years could I imagine Tonia running down to a police station and giving people hell on my behalf. I kept trying to remind myself she just didn't express herself that way, she played everything cool.
Sometimes it got hard to keep that in mind, especially when Sofi and Camille's exuberance got smashed in my face on a regular basis.
"Tonni, she really loves you. She must, to stick around this long."
"Don't bullshit me, Ang," I said, my mood turning dark. I definitely needed to get out more. The teen queen drama of my little brothers' lives had started to suck me down right along with them. "You're no Jerry and you sure as hell ain't no Jack. You and me live in a totally different world from them, and our world is a fantasy-free zone. I'm nothing to Tonia but a rebound guy, and everyone with half an ounce of sense knows it. She moved on, she got fucking married..."
He grinned, using his thumbnail to slowly push the piece of wood out from under his skin.
"Girl showed up here in the middle of the night, two days before her weddin'. I'd just got in on leave for a visit. Ma took her upstairs, talked with her for two, maybe three hours. Don't know what they coulda talked about fo' so long, but me an' Jackie figured it probably had something to do with you. She probably didn't deserve to get stuck on a dumbshit like Bobby Mercer, but so far as I can tell, she must've got herself stuck on you somehow—even if she don't always let it show."
I picked up a shoe off the floor and tossed it at his leg half-heartedly, letting my back settle against the wall. "Thought this little therapy session was for you, Jarhead. Why the fuck are we talking about my problems?"
"You don' listen to other people's problems, Bobby. You just take notes so you can compare and see if they've got it worse than you. Tha's all you care about. Fact of life in this house. Some people have 'beware of dog' signs to keep people from breaking into their houses. We outta put up a 'Beware of Bobby' sign. You're a ruthless sonovabitch."
I chuckled. "This from my ex-hustler, marine of a little brother. Yeah, you're such a shining fucking example for society. We better call up the people who give out the Nobel Peace Prize every year and get your name entered," I said, getting to my feet. "Have fun sulking in here alone, sweetheart," I called over my shoulder while walking out the door. I would've slammed it behind me, but just like half the doors in the house, it no longer latched.
With Sofi gone I probably had a while before I'd have to fix the damn thing. Angel wouldn't be bringing home a reason to keep his door shut at night...
At least, not for a couple days...