Hold Me in Contempt Read Online Free PDF Page A

into a list of other things I needed to say that I probably should’ve kept to myself.
    â€œI sent you a text when she got up. Told you she was coming into the bathroom,” Kent said after I stumbled out behind him. “You okay?”
    He pulled me around the corner and pushed me up against the side of a building.
    â€œI’m fine. I’m fine.”
    â€œI was trying to get you out of there. I kept texting you.”
    â€œI know. The phone was in my purse.”
    Kent’s fists were balled at his sides like he was ready to fight someone.
    â€œI was about to drop that motherfucker,” he fired. “If I wasn’t with you and shit, I would’ve stomped his ass out. But I know how you get down, so I tried to keep cool.”
    I don’t know how I found the comedy, but I actually started laughing. And loudly.
    â€œWhat? What are you laughing at?” Kent asked, looking like he was about to run back around the corner to fight Ronald.
    â€œI don’t know. I just,” I started, “I guess it’s funny how you said you didn’t fight him before because he wasn’t good enough for me, but now you’re all riled up and ready to throw down.”
    Kent rolled his eyes and sucked his teeth like we were seven and I didn’t want to play H-O-R-S-E with him on the basketball court.
    â€œLook at you,” I went on, still laughing.
    â€œYeah, whatever. You better be glad you’re a lawyer and I knew the last thing you wanted was for some nigga shit to go down in there, because we were both about to be rumbling—sister and brother.”
    â€œReally?”
    â€œI can’t have that fool getting my Kiki Mimi all upset and hiding in a bathroom. Mess up my rep in these streets. Have niggas thinking I’m soft.”
    I put my arms out and pulled Kent into a hug.
    â€œMaybe you’re just soft enough. Soft enough to save me,” I said, and I felt happiness wash over my twin brother.
    â€œOhh,” Kent said. “Well, how about you save me, too?”
    â€œWhat? How?” I asked. I’d already forgotten about what he’d asked me at the table.
    â€œLydia. My fiancée. Your sister-in-law. Pull some strings. Make some calls!” Kent backed up so I could see his begging smile.
    â€œAhhh, to that I still say no. Not even in a million years, Kent. No. And hell no. Nice begging smile though, baby bro.”

Chapter 2
    A fter I left Kent and the drama at the restaurant, I took a cab home to lie down for a few hours before I was supposed to be in Fort Greene for my godson’s fencing match. My lower back was hurting, and I knew it would only take a little while for the consistent throbbing to spread up my spine and make it nearly impossible for me to walk or even sit up without severe discomfort. That car accident I was in with Kim 2 had left a fracture in my lower spine, and while my doctor had given me a clean bill of health, the pain never left me. Some days it was impossible for me to get out of bed. Other days I’d manage for a few hours but then I’d feel the throbbing in my spine and know the pain was back. I’d need to get home, take my pills, and lie down until they took the pain away.
    I slept a little longer than I expected and missed Miles’s match, but I rushed all the way to Brooklyn from downtown and got there in time to see him receive his medal and pose for pictures. I’d made it to a few of his matches, and for some reason it always surprised me that so many kids were actually fencing in Brooklyn—not hooping it up, not gangbanging, but fencing, and loving it. But it really wasn’t so far-fetched. Not in the new Brooklyn with its trimmed and manicured trees and community gardens and sidewalk cafés. The newfangled Brooklyn kids lived in newly renovated brownstones and had two parents at home who went to PTA meetings and volunteered after school. While Miles clearly benefitted from