Real Men Knit by Kwana Jackson

Author:Kwana Jackson [Jackson, Kwana]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2020-05-19T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

As they hit the pavement, Kerry fought hard to hold on to her swirling emotions. She looked up Seventh Avenue at the tall NYCHA projects and the clear blue sky that framed the rooftop water towers. It was way too lovely a day for this much turmoil to be going on in her life. Then she turned and looked at Val, no longer able to hold back the words that had been champing to come up. “What the hell was that all about? You were supposed to have my back in there and yet you were practically throwing me to the lions.”

“Hmph,” Val countered. “If you’re lucky, you’ll be eaten by dinnertime.”

She shot Val a look that said she didn’t think she was even close to being funny. “Cut it out with that. I don’t need those kinds of complications in my life. It’s bad enough with this whole Mama Joy thing and the shop and me trying to figure out my job situation, and now I’ve got this apartment situation on top of it. What if it goes on indefinitely? I can’t afford rent anywhere else—hell, I can barely afford paying what I’m paying there now, which is why I’m looking for other positions.”

Val paused in her stride and looked at Kerry. “I thought you were looking for another job because you’d gotten your degree and were ready to move on.”

Kerry waved her off, not liking where this was going. Her friend was getting dangerously close to a place she wasn’t sure she was mentally or emotionally in the mood to visit. “Yeah, that too. But I do like working with the children at the center, and working at the shop makes me happy too.” The shop part she purposely tried to downplay.

“Oh, I’m sure it does.” Kerry didn’t like the smug look in Val’s eyes, but then her friend’s eyes softened and she gave Kerry’s arm a soothing rub. “Come on. Don’t. It won’t go on indefinitely. This is just one of those things that happens, and thank goodness it isn’t worse. If it was, you could have been hurt in that explosion.” She grinned. “And the best part of it all is you have the Harlem Knights, as they are all ready and willing to come to your rescue.” She thumbed her fist down the avenue toward Strong Knits. “Listen, there are plenty of worse situations to be in. The way both Jesse and Lucas were rushing to your side . . .” Val fanned herself with a wave of her hand. “Lucas with all that swagger, plus his smile and those firefighter muscles, and Jesse and his too-fine, sexy ass. Even the hard-ass demon Damian himself was swayed to your side. I almost peed myself right there.”

Kerry pulled a face. “Ugh. Thank goodness for small miracles.”

Val rolled her eyes and shrugged her shoulders. “Well, the fact remains: I don’t know what you’re complaining about.”

“That’s it,” Kerry countered, “you don’t know. I’ve known those guys practically forever, and sexiness or swagger, it all means nothing.

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