GRIND (The Silver Nitrate Series Book 1) (24 page)

Silver, you may have gotten in over your head…

But, I think I’m going to try to do this. Yeah, I’m just going to let it happen. I’m not going to stop it. I’m just going to sit back, and let this happen…let this beat ride on out…

Don’t try to force the song; don’t try to stop the tune.

Just let that shit play…

…Several days later

“It’s two in
the morning. Don’t you have to go to work?”

“I told you I’m unemployed and living in my grandfather’s attic,” Zenith teased. She burst out laughing, warming his heart. Silver had a beautiful laugh—lazy, loose, and lovely. “Yeah.” he wrapped the word around a stiff yawn as he stretched out along the couch and flexed his toes. “I have to work but I’d
much
rather talk to you.”

“My phone beeped… Oh my God, what is my brother doin’ texting me this late at night? I’m sure he wants something.”

“It better not be another man…” He heated up with pangs of embarrassment.

I can’t believe I said that shit…

“Well, it’s my brother soooo… yeah, it’s another man,” she quipped.

“Is it really your brother? It’s cool…”

“You’re jealous!” she exclaimed, enjoying it to the max. “You don’t have any claim to me.” He could almost picture her with her hand on her hip and her lips twisted up.

“Look, after all the bullshit you put me through when I first met you, and the good conversations ’nd shit we had, I’ve made an investment in the bank of silver. I own fifty-one percent stock in this shit. You’re mine now.” He grabbed his bottle of water and gave it a final swallow.

“Uh, that’s not how this works, smooth operator.”

“Wrong song, not doing Sade. Let’s do M.J. You’ve been hit by… you’ve been hit by… a smooth criminal… It
is
how it works, and I just stole your single card.”

“And what did you do with it? That thing is expired.”

“I took it to the pawn shop and traded it in for another kiss from you…”

“Hmmm…”

“I know you’re smiling.” He loved how she became speechless for a while.

“Yeah, I’m smiling.”

“You miss me?”

“A little. Okay, a lot.”

“I miss you too. We haven’t seen each other in a few days… the plans keep getting cancelled. I had a gig come up and you’ve been working a lot of overtime, and with my Paw now here, things are even more complicated.”

“I understand. I think it’s beautiful actually, how you are helping to care for him. That says something about your character, you know that?”

“Do I get a prize for being a good person, a person of integrity? Fine character?”

“I don’t know but if you do, it involves no panty dropping.”

“That’s cool… just don’t wear any underwear on prize day.”

“You make me sick!” She cackled. “You’re so silly.”

“I make you laugh though. That’s good.”

“Yeah, it is. Hey, speaking of your grandfather, your grandmother passed away not recently, right?”

“Yes, she passed away a long time ago though and then it was just me and him.”

“Zen, I’ve asked you a couple of times but you either change the topic or just give a vague answer.”

His stomach churned, knowing exactly where the fuck this was going. In the past, for the few women who were actually genuinely curious, he could give his canned and bottled generic answer, and that would suffice. But not Silver… she wouldn’t let the shit go.

“What? About my parents? Silver,” he sighed, “they’re dead. There really isn’t much more to say.”

“But… I like to know about people’s family and if we’re seeing each other, I should know about yours, too. You know all about my family, I’ve told you… I’ve told you even a few things most people don’t even know about my people. Like, you know I haven’t seen my father since I was little, barely remember him. You know my mother and I are really close, about my brothers and sisters, everything. I haven’t kept any of it a secret. So, I have questions, too…”

“Alright, what did you want to know?”

“What were your parents like?”

“They were parents.”

“Zenith! Come on!”

“Look, Silver, I don’t want to talk about this, okay? Maybe another time.”

“Another time
when
? You keep blowing me off.” He could hear the frustration in the woman’s voice, but tonight… hell, he just wasn’t up for this.

“I’m not blowing you off, baby.”

“Then why won’t you tell me what happened to your parents? You don’t trust me?”

“I’m trying to. That takes time though.”

“That’s true, I get that, I understand, Zenith; but we’re trying to discover one another, and I want to know. We have to talk in order to learn about one another and build trust. You can’t cherry pick what I have access to and what I don’t.”

“Yeah I can, and you can, too. I’ll talk about it when I’m
ready
to talk about it, alright?” He’d had enough. He’d realized Silver had to be stopped early on, or she wouldn’t turn back or let up. One of the many pitfalls of dealing with a smart chick… they were relentless in the quest for information.

“You act like it’s top secret! I want to know because I care about you, okay? My motivations shouldn’t be in question. This is a normal question.”

“Yeah, the question isn’t something that came out of left field but I’m not trying to talk about this right now and I keep repeating myself. Badgering me isn’t going to change anything.”

“I’m not badgering you; I’m irritated, Zenith. Nobody needs this.” The disappointment in her tone eased out like a fog over the ocean. He didn’t like that, and a twinge of remorse set in.

Maybe I’m pushing back too hard…

“I’ll talk to you about it later, I promise, okay?” Silver didn’t seem to give a shit about how much he made, what he drove, none of that shit. What she cared about were the details of his life, and he’d given them to her… minus this. No, this was
his
. He owned it, and no one was allowed to sample the pain. He would scarf it down alone, keep it all to himself in gluttonous misery.

“As cliché as it sounds, Silver, it’s not you, it’s me,” he offered sincerely. “You didn’t do anything, I just… need to hold on to this right now, okay?”

“Whatever happened, it must be really upsetting. Zenith, I’m here for you, okay? You can talk to me about anything. And I mean that.”

“I know I can. That’s one of the things I love about you.”

Silence.

“Well,” he yawned once more. “I’m going to let you go. Is it okay if I call you on your lunch break tomorrow?”

“You know you can. I think we have a catered lunch though but I’ll text you and let you know either way.”

“Cool, that’s fine. Alright, we’ll hook up soon, make another date and have it stick.”

“That would be nice. Yeah, we’ll work out.”

“I want to kiss you right now, girl.” Sleep threatened to claim his weary bones, but he couldn’t deny the desire for her. “You have some nice lips…”

“…So do you. I see what you’re up to,” she snickered. “Goodnight, Zenith.”

“Goodnight, Silver… you’re like my silver lining, too.”

“You can be so sweet sometimes…”

“I can be, but I mean it. We got something nice goin’ on. I can just feel it…”

A small, sad
looking shack on wheels was illegally parked in front of the building. Zenith hadn’t been there in a while. Earlier, while he’d brainstormed a venue for their date, desperately wanting to see the woman again, the thought had popped into his mind. What better way to unwind? Skate-A-While Skating Rink was definitely the answer.

He took her hand, debating on whether to get something warm to drink. A man of Eastern Indian descent smiled as the thirsty and cold patrons lined up, handing their hard earned cash over in exchange for cheap, hot cocoa and steaming coffees in their eager, gloved hands.

“Are you thirsty? Hungry?” he asked as he readjusted her falling scarf for her.

“No, I’m good right now.”

He nodded and they headed inside. The place was packed, more so than he’d ever remembered. A series of rotating, colorful disco lights illuminated the semi-darkened area while concession stands were lined up to the left, serving greasy pepperoni and cheese pizza slices and fizzy, ice-cold sodas. The place smelled of hot sweat, buttery popcorn, and a trace of sweetness, perhaps from the neighboring candy cane flavored cotton candy machine.

“I feel like a teenager in here.” Silver slowed down and looked around. “Everyone in here is so young… just about the age I was when I came for a birthday party. I think it was a birthday party, yeah, pretty sure it was.”

“It’s been a while for me, too. Remember though, age is just a number; how you feel and live your life is what’s important.” She squeezed his hand and gave him a sweet smile. “I’m right,” he added for good measure, in case she was cooking up a catchy comeback. Though he had to admit something to himself—he felt a bit like a kid inside, too… in a good way. Something about holding her hand, the anticipation of being with her, dancing and hearing music where he wasn’t under the scope to perform, was freeing. Zenith couldn’t recall the last time he’d felt this way about a woman.

They headed up to the long reception table, the roller-skate rental area. Two people, a guy in his early twenties with long blond hair in a ponytail and a woman of about the same age, were helping patrons with their skates. The man started to walk toward a display of rather newfangled skates.

Zenith shook his head and waved his hand around in slight annoyance as he called out to him. “Nah, man. I want the old school skates… you can keep that inline mess. Yeaaahh, that’s it!” He grinned widely as the guy pointed toward a limited supply of zombie gray skates, all battered and bruised with wheels that looked to have been blue at one point. Now, they were dusty gray, after about three decades of carting off people into another world so they could forget how miserable life could be.

“I need two skate rentals, and for me, I need a size thirteen.” He placed his money on the counter. “What about you?” Silver stood only a hair behind him. He breathed in hard, picking up her Chinese cherry blossom perfume. Her hair was pulled up in a tight afro bun with a red and black satin ribbon wrapped neatly around the middle. “What’s your preference?”

“Oh, I know how to use inline, but I’m old school, too.” She cracked a smile, now standing right beside him. He instinctively leaned in closer to her, drawn by the delicate pink gloss on her lips. His own mouth twitched as he talked himself out of kissing her, right then and there. They simply looked into each other’s eyes, forming thoughts, perhaps new opinions, and he wondered if they were having similar deliberations.

“You can’t skate better than me,” they said in unison.

“You got some big ass feet, girl… What size do you need?” He looked down at them, smirking.

“A size that fits uncomfortably tight in your ass.
That’s
what size I need.”

“Ouch!” He feigned injury, placing a hand over his heart.

Shouldering him out of the way, she made herself front and center to garner the attention of the blond-haired man who appeared more interested in texting on his phone than assisting them.

“Let me get a size nine and a half please.”

“We don’t have half sizes, ma’am.”

“Get her a ten! She lyin’! Big Foot! Sasquatch Woman!” He swooped down as she swung her small Harley Davidson leather book bag at him, barely missing. When she turned around, clutching her bag to her chest, he wrapped his arms tightly around her waist and whispered in her ear, “…And I’d suck and lick them, too.”

“You’re nasty,” she cooed, yet pretended to be unmoved.

“Am I? Thank you… You got any Indian in you?”

“I don’t know.” She shrugged, seeming confused at his out of the blue question. “I don’t think so, but who really knows?”

“Well, there’s a first for everything. You want any?” His smile practically split his damn face as she swung her bag at him once again, then chased him until he was damn near out of breath. While he navigated the crowd, huffing and swinging his arms as if trying to do the 50-yard dash, he burst out laughing in pure euphoria…

How damn silly…

How damn childlike…