“Whatever the fuck you need me to be too. What you want me to be, B?” he yelled. Bleu’s temper had her heaving. Her eyes misted. This had gone too far. She shook her head.

“Nah, don’t shake your head. Answer the question. Keep it a stack with me. What you want from me? I ain’t never not delivered when you asked me for something. What you want me to be to you, B?”

Bleu hesitated. She froze because she didn’t know the answer to that question. She just knew she couldn’t stay. She couldn’t stay in Michigan and keep doing what she had been doing. With him. For years. The casual nature of friendship, the unspoken bond they shared, the dependency they had created … nah, she couldn’t do that at all … not anymore.

“Nobody. I want you to go back to being nobody to me,” she said. “Lock my door on your way out.” She bumped past him, rushing up the stairs and out of sight.

9

Morgan sat at the rectangular table. Squared shoulders, legs crossed at the ankles, not the knee, and perfect posture. Her hair was swept back in a long French braid, and she wore Yves Saint Laurent. She was perfection. Christiana had laid out her graduation look and had left nothing undone. Morgan Atkins looked like an accomplished woman, a royal woman. She looked like the valedictorian of Michigan State’s graduating class of 2020.

“Thank you for making the trip to see me walk, David,” Morgan said, giving kind eyes to Bash’s father. She didn’t see him often. He didn’t split his time between the States and England the way Christiana did.

“I wouldn’t miss it, Morgan. We all watched you work extremely hard for this over the past two years. You earned it,” David answered.

Morgan smiled graciously. He seemed to be the only Fredrick who thought she deserved this degree. Christiana and Bash acted like she hadn’t done anything at all.

“Well, that’s a bit generous, but either way, there is cause for celebration today. Matriculation is always a reason to bring out the good china. Which I would have done if you had chosen to have your dinner here. We have to drive all the way to Detroit for a decent meal when the staff could have prepared it, but I digress,” Christiana said.

Morgan opted for silence. She didn’t feel like starting her graduation day on a bad note, so instead of arguing, she pushed back from the table.

“I’m going to head out. I’ve got to be there early, and I need to drop the twins off at Ethic’s beforehand,” Morgan said.

Bash caught her hand before she walked by his chair. “I can drive you, and the twins can ride to the ceremony with me,” Bash insisted.

“Ethic wants them. Do you want to tell him no?” she asked.