Free Man Enough For Me by Rhonda Bowen

different story.
    “So why were you guys looking at each other like that? I thought I might have to jump between the two of you at any minute.”
    “I don’t know, Jules, why don’t you ask him? You two look pretty close.”
    Jules didn’t miss the suggestion in his tone, or the vein that was jumping at his temple. She felt her eyebrows shoot up in surprise. She half turned in her seat to glare at him. “Is there something specific you want to ask me, Germaine?” She didn’t like what he was implying.
    Germaine sighed heavily. “Baby, it’s been a long day. I really don’t want to fight with you.”
    The tiredness in his voice hit a chord in Jules, and just as quickly as it came, her anger melted away.
    She looked at him for a moment before sighing herself and falling back in her seat. She couldn’t shake the niggling feeling that something was off with him. She couldn’t recall him ever clamming up like this about anything before. He was always less of a talker than she was, and that was okay most of the time. But at that moment it felt like he was intentionally shutting her out, and he wouldn’t even tell her why.
    Lord, don’t I have enough people in my life who have problems communicating? Mom, Dad, and now Germaine? I don’t know if I can deal with this. Tell me if I’m wasting my time.
    Just as she was about to drift deeper into her own thoughts, she felt Germaine take her hand and thread his fingers through hers. He pressed the back of her hand against his lips the same way he had the night at Leroy’s.
    “Look,” he began quietly. “I know you want me to be more …”
    “Open?” Jules asked, supplying the word he was obviously searching for.
    “Yes,” Germaine answered. “But that’s hard for me. I’m used to doing things by myself. I don’t usually have to answer to anyone, you know?”
    “Babe, I don’t want you to feel like you have to answer to me. I just want you to let me in sometimes. You can trust me,” she said gently.
    “I know,” he said. “It’s just … there’s a lot of things…. It’s going to take some time for me.”
    He pulled up to the front of her building and shut off the engine. Still holding her hand, he turned to look at her.
    “Just bear with me, okay?”
    Jules met his eyes and felt her resolve breaking. She didn’t know if it was the dimness of the evening, or the quiet urgency in his voice, but something was playing tricks with her emotions.
    “Okay,” she conceded with a sigh. She would cut him a break now, but it wasn’t over. There was something going on with Germaine, and she needed to find out what it was.

Chapter 7
    “W hat you doing with that dude?”
    Jules looked up from her laptop at Easy. She had come into the office to do some work on the campaign because she felt she would be able to focus more. She didn’t particularly enjoy working on Sundays, but after last Tuesday’s meeting she realized that she had a lot of work to do. With Truuth’s album launch coming up in the not-too-distant future, in less than three months, she needed to keep on top of things.
    She hadn’t even known that Easy had been working in the soundproof studio downstairs until he appeared in front of her, in the mini-conference room.
    “What dude?”
    “You know who I’m talking about, baby girl.”
    “Germaine? What’s wrong with him?”
    “What’s right with him?” Easy asked. “I don’t want you messing with no corny brothas.”
    Jules knew Easy was a little rough around the edges, which was why she let him get away with a lot of things—like the way he was talking to her. Growing up in a tough community where everyone knew your mother had abandoned you was no picnic. Even though his grandmother had done her best to take care of him, Easy had spent most of his teen years defending himselffrom the chides of others. And when he couldn’t manage that on his own, he had gotten mixed up with local gangs, from which he had barely escaped alive.