Page 112 of Lyric Squared

“It’s like we didn’t come from the same home,” I told Luca as I made my way over to the new addition.

“I’m about to go get you a t-shirt so you can get out of that piss,” Luca said, patting Keanu’s chest.

Though I’d expected him to simply pull back the sliding door that led to his bedroom, he disappeared altogether. I quickly pumped the sanitizer from the cleaning station next to the changing table. I rubbed my hands together as I tried my hardest to ignore the drumming of my heart, the shattering of my nerves, and the wave of emotions.

Stepping next to Keanu, I could feel the heat radiating from his frame. I missed him something awful, but admittedly the pressure of being around him and my brothers simultaneously had dissolved. I assumed it was because we’d separated weeks prior, and I didn’t feel as if I was living in secrecy any longer.

“We’re getting out of here in a few minutes. I have to go kick shit with my nieces for a bit and then we can roll,” Laike shared.

“Bet,” Keanu responded.

“Where’s Ever?” I asked no one in particular, but I was hoping Laike was the one to answer. I had nothing to say to Keanu. Not today, anyway.

“She was cleaning up and tasked us with keeping an eye on that nigga. He was aight with me until he shitted. Then, Luca made this dude change his diaper. That’s taken almost an hour,” he explained with a shake of his head.

“Heeeeey, little man,” I cooed, staring back at the big, blue-eyed boy on the table.

I listened as Laike’s footsteps got further away and a bit harder to hear. Soon, the only thing I could hear was my racing heart and the voices in my head encouraging me to exit as soon as possible. But, with Lucas in my care, it wasn’t something that could be done right away. He still needed to be cleaned up, changed, and wiped down.

I started with the organic, damp cloths that Ever kept in a pale just like wipes and wiped down every inch of his tiny body.Lucas didn’t like it one bit and squealed the entire time. Once clean, I wrapped him in a small towel and grabbed a onesie while he waited and dried. The tiny diapers made me sigh with obsession before I secured it around his waist. I slid it onto his little limbs as he protested, making the cutest noises.

I appreciated the silence so much, but I could feel Keanu’s eyes penetrating me and having a look inside. Attempting to ignore the regurgitation of my feelings for the handsome man that was only a few feet away, I scooped my nephew into my arms with his mother’s room as our destination. Though I could’ve pulled the sliding door back, I wanted to follow Luca’s lead. With Ever cleaning herself up, it was possible she wasn’t clothed and I didn’t want to expose her.

“Lyric,” his deep, familiar tenor bellowed in the distance.

The raw, unfiltered emotion that was evoked couldn’t be mistaken or missed. Drawn to him like a moth to a flame, my stride halted as I turned on my right heel. The sight of a visibly broken Keanu tore at my heart’s strings. Rubbing a hand down his face, he shook his head. I could see the gnawing of his bottom lip as I waited for him to say something…anything. Like a sick puppy, I hung onto hope as seconds passed us by.

It wasn’t until I released my breath to accept new oxygen in my lungs after a prolonged period that I realized how long I’d been waiting and how much longer I’d be waiting if I stuck around. With prickly eyes and a bruised ego, I turned around and continued toward Ever’s bedroom. It wasn’t until I made it into the hallway that I rested my back against the wall and released another stream of air. I quickly wiped the tears that fell down my cheeks.

SIXTEEN

I saton the hood of my truck, contemplating whether or not to dial the number that had been on my screen for the last five minutes. Each time I aimed for the call button, I restrained myself. Four weeks, and I was still trying to get her out of my system. And up until I’d seen her a few hours ago, cradling Lucas in her arms, I’d been doing a damn good job of staying away.

Now, I couldn’t get her out of my head. There was something different about Lyric that left me in limbo and wondering if I should reach out. I could feel the energy she exuded. It wasn’t exactly what I was accustomed to – not as Keanu or the family friend. Before Laike noticed the puffy eyes, I’d already felt the darkness that surrounded her.

Lyric was a burst of light. She always had been and not just for me. She brought goodness to everyone’s world. When she walked in, she beamed, but tonight, shit was different. Her light had been dimmed. She wasn’t illuminating spaces, not even a little. She was merely a shell of the woman I’d known almost all of my life, and it just didn’t sit well with me.

“In deep thought?” Deidra leaned over onto the hood where I was sitting.

“Something like that.”

“Here. I just came from the corner store and grabbed you a bottle of water. I see you drinking this specific brand all the time and decided to try it out, too.”

She handed me the bottle of Essentia water and kept the other bottle in her possession.Fuck it, I thought, finally shutting off my screen with a sigh.

“Expiration date after all, huh?”

“You don’t miss shit, huh?” I chuckled, stuffing my cell in my pocket and uncapping the water she’d handed me.

“Not when it comes to you. I thought I made that very clear.”

“Is that why you’ve treated me to a bottle of water?” I took a swig.

“No. The water was just an incentive for what I truly want to treat you to,” she told me.

“Oh yeah?” I asked, brows hiked and curiosity piqued.

“Yes.”