Eden (Urban)

four

Elijah pulled his old key out of his pocket and unlocked his mother's front door. He didn't know if she was home or not, but he didn't come for her.

He came for him.

He hadn't visited his mother in a couple of weeks, and everything still looked the same. He went into all the rooms and it seemed that only she was living there.

Entering the kitchen, he heard some ruffling in the pantry. He opened the door to find his brother in a white tee, eating some chips out of the palm of his hand. "These boys hot, you want some?"

He was careful not to say anything that would set him off. Desmond had a bad temper and Elijah didn't feel like dealing with it today. Their mother had a soft spot for Desmond no matter how bad of a person he was. Elijah just came to tell him to go away and not come back.

"I'm good."

"Suit yourself," Desmond shrugged and headed for the couch. "What you want?"

There were a lot of things Elijah wanted. Sometimes he wished he never had a brother because niggas like Des were always getting into something. When they were younger, Elijah always bailed him out whenever he needed it. But after a while, the violence got tired. No one in their family wanted to deal with his shenanigans anymore. Their mother was the only person who kept taking him in.

"You leave and everything goes smoothly. We don't hear from you for months and shit is straight. You came back now and I just wanna know why. Why you ain't just stay away?"

Desmond shrugged and kept up with the same nonchalant attitude he always had. "It's more fun when I come home. To bother the fuck outta you. How's your little girlfriend?"

Elijah scrunched up his brows. As far as Desmond was concerned, he wasn't seeing anyone. He was the last person he would share any part of his personal life with. "Whatchu talmbout?"

"She didn't tell you?"

Bree didn't know his brother. She knew of him but they had never met, and Elijah wanted to keep it that way. The only family he had was Tia. Of course, it was more aunties and uncles and cousins, but Tia was someone everyone liked. He wasn't ashamed of her like he was of Des.

"Tell me what exactly?" Desmond chuckled and kept eating his hot chips. His attitude made Elijah mad but he genuinely wanted to know what he was talking about and would remain silent until he learned more.

"That's y'all business and I won't interfere. Besides, I thought we put that behind us."

"You must be smacked or some shit." Elijah decided to ignore him and whatever game he was playing. You could never be certain with Desmond.

"Nawl, bro. You know I don't get high off that kind of thing. But what I do enjoy is smacking bitches around. Specifically yours."

He stood up so fast that only God saw it and snatched Des up off the couch. They were about the same height, with Des being slightly taller.

"You lay a hand on Bree and I swear to God I will kill you myself." Elijah didn't play about his and he would make that very clear to his brother. This is exactly why he didn't like Des being around. Once he weaseled his way back into town, he would spread across your life like the poison he was.

Desmond smirked then let out a low laugh, almost as if he was taunting him. Elijah wanted to ask what was funny, but it was taking everything in him not to beat his ass right then and there. He felt like he was too grown to be fighting, but this was pushing him.

Even if Desmond was his older brother, he'd still whoop his ass if necessary. "Bree? Damn you moved on quick. Here I am thinking you still with foreign shorty. Where she was from again? Somewhere in Africa, I forgot."