Free King's Passion by Adrianne Byrd Page A

good-looking men, if you don’t mind me saying so.”
    Eamon shrugged.
    â€œWe’re both committed to this wonderful lifestyle called bachelorhood. Free from the strings that have tripped and entangled so many of our fallen brethren. Like I was saying earlier about the unlimited selection of women that surrounds us on a day-to-day basis. I’m now a firm believer that the old traditional notion of marriage—one man-one woman—is just downright antiquated. Women don’t really need us anymore. That whole women’s lib movement took care of that. They can bring home the bacon and fry it up in a pan, remember? Now we do need them, but not for cooking and cleaning.” He laughed.
    â€œI’m wondering if it’s possible to evolve backward,” Eamon said, hoping to cut off this stream of nonsense.
    â€œHa. Ha. All I’m saying is life is meant to be enjoyed and celebrated at every possible moment. You know what I mean?” Q started making his third whiskey sour.
    Eamon laughed.
    â€œHold that thought,” Q said. “I’m going to hit the john. This stuff is going straight through me.” He rushed around the counter and then disappeared into the back.
    Eamon shook his head and then continued to nurse his drink. It wasn’t like he didn’t know where his cousin wascoming from. Unbeknownst to Q, Eamon had been in love once—a long time ago.
    Slowly, his gaze lowered to his glass but his mind tumbled back through the years to land on a face that haunted its fair share of dreams. Her name was Karen Hayes, a light brown sister with green eyes and twin dimples. They met their freshman year of high school. Her family had moved from Compton, California, to Atlanta. Back then they used to call girls like her fly. To this day, he remembered that ridiculous but cute lopsided bob with the word fresh shaved into the back of her head.
    Her style was short, midriff T-shirts with colorful baggy overall jeans like that hip-hop group BBD sported hard that year. Black Timberlands, bamboo earrings and gold roped chains, her whole ensemble was a trip, but was considered dope back in the day. It didn’t take long for her to find a small clique to hang with and before anyone knew it, she called herself rapping in a small group that was determined to become the next Salt ’n’ Pepa.
    Every time Eamon turned around, the girl was spitting out a freestyle rhyme or busting out the latest dance steps that she’d learned off Yo! MTV Raps. Nobody could tell that cute girl nothing. She was convinced that she was the baddest girl on the block. And as far as a young Eamon was concerned, she was. In no time at all he was in love. He made sure that he was at every teen club or house party that she and her girls performed at.
    He didn’t think that she even noticed him. Mainly because he was incredibly shy. Smart as a whip but he was known to hang with the theater and music majors rather than any sports team. That came later on. Eamon was completely stunned and tongue-tied when she finally stepped to him. Someone had put it in her ear that he had asmall studio in his grandparents’ basement, complete with egg crates on the walls to help soundproof the place.
    â€œCan’t you speak?” she asked when all he’d managed to do was stare.
    â€œYeah. Yeah.” He shrugged his pencil shoulders. “I can hook you up.”
    â€œA’ight, then. Me and my girls will be by your grandma’s Saturday morning.” With that she just turned and disappeared back into the crowd.
    He didn’t even ask her how she knew where his grandparents lived. He was just flying high that she had even talked to him. True to her word, they showed up bright that Saturday and Xavier and Jeremy witnessed him turning into a blithering idiot in front of her. They snickered and teased him, but at least they were cool enough to save the real embarrassing stuff until after Karen