“That we can just let this truce remain in place indefinitely. I won’t try to get Jiselle to dub you. You won’t try to get her to get rid of me. We’ll coexist, and if we happen to mess around every now and again, she’d—and we’d—love that,” he said simply.
“That sounds like a win all the way around to me,” I admitted. “What’s the catch?”
“No catch.”
“There’s always a catch,” I mumbled as I looked beneath Selle’s hood. “You know tools?”
“I know a little.”
“A’ight. You’re my assistant then.”
“Alright.”
We jumped into working again and I was easily back in my flow, having Kiano hand me things or adjust the light above while I worked. It took me a second to realize he was talking to me about an hour into us working together.
“What?” My eyebrows knitted and I glanced at him.
“Siblings,” he repeated. “Do you only have the three?”
“Nah. I have five actually. One older and four younger.”
“Damn.”
I chuckled. “What about you?”
“The one and only.”
I nodded. “I can see it.”
“What does that mean?”
“Nothing.” I shrugged and got back to work.
“Yeah, okay.” Kiano exhaled. “For someone who said they like me, you suck at showing it.”
“You’re going to really dig into that statement, aren’t you?”
“You put it out there.”
“I know.” I nudged my head to the right and he automatically shifted the light. “Maybe I’m just hard to read.”
“Well, that’s bullshit and we both know it,” Kiano accused. “You don’t have an issue telling Jiselle how you feel about her.”
“I’ve also known her for two years.”
“So you have issues letting people in?”
“I liked you a little bit more when your mouth was full,” I deadpanned.
Kiano laughed and the sound made me chuckle.
“Look, man, I like the way shit has been going and if it doesn’t have to change, cool, but I’m not…” I paused while I tried to put my thoughts into words.
How did I say I wasn’t trying to commit to anything, even knowing this was very obviously a commitment. We were going to be together through Selle, whether we wanted to or not. It was evident we both wanted to, but that didn’t mean…
I exhaled.
“Nobody’s asking you to come out of the closet or something, Stone. Fuck. Breathe.”