The Boy in the Black Suit by Jason Reynolds Read Free Book Online Page A

right, Nicole, who at the time was probably twenty-two or twenty-three, and was me and Chris’s first fake wife. But those are the only people he really knew, for the most part, in the whole building.
    The shouting went on, and I couldn’t stop myself. I sat up.
    â€œWhat you doin’?” Chris whispered.
    â€œGoin’ to see what’s happening.”
    Chris’s eyes went wide. “Are you crazy? My mother will kill us. You know her rules.”
    I did know the rules. Ms. Hayes ran them down to me every time I came over.
    Rule 1 : All empty food containers, like Chinese food, or even empty McDonald’s bags, have to be put either in the microwave or in the refrigerator until we take the trash out in the morning. Do NOT put it in the trash, because even if it’s just crumbs left, mice will get in there.
    Rule 2 : We can’t both wash up at night. One of us has to wash up at night, and one of us has to wash up in the morning, to make sure she gets to have some hot water too. I didn’t really understand this one, but I guess there was only enough hot water for two people in the apartment, not three. Chris and I would do rock-paper-scissors to see who got to wash up at night. He was easy to beat because he was one of those people who always picked rock. But I should’ve let him win that night, so his feet wouldn’t have smelled so bad.
    And Rule 3 : If you hear any noises outside of the apartment, whether in the hallway or on the street, do NOT try to see what it is. Just pretend like you don’t hear anything.
    â€œCome on, man. She ’sleep,” I now said. “We’ll just take a peek and then we’ll come right back in here. We’ll just crack the door.”
    Chris took a deep breath. I could tell he was mad about me even trying to get him to break his mom’s rules, but I really wanted to see what the fuss was about.
    Finally, he huffed, “Man, you gonna get us in so much trouble.” And he was right. If we got in trouble, we were definitely going to be punished for it. My mother gave Ms. Hayes the green light to pop me if she needed to, and Ms. Hayes was the kind of woman who would do it. “Let’s just make it quick,” he said, sliding out of bed.
    We tiptoed out into the hallway. Chris put his ear to his mother’s door. Snoring. I knew she was ’sleep. We crept into the living room trying our best to avoid every creak in the floor. Ms. Hayes kept their house super clean, so we didn’t have to worry about tripping over nothing. We could hear the voices much clearer in the living room. The man was saying something about how he loved her and how could she have done this to him. All of his words were long, like he was halfway singing, so we knew he was drunk. And the lady was pretty much screaming, “It’s over! It’s over!” and kept telling him to go home. I couldn’t really tell, but it seemed like maybe the man came to wish her Happy Valentine’sDay, but they were already broken up and she had a date with someone else. That was the scenario I made up in my head, at least.
    Chris turned the bolt lock slowly, making sure it didn’t click loud. Then, he turned the knob. My heart started pounding, mainly because I didn’t want us to open the door and have his mom wake up from all the hollering.
    But it was too late. Chris was opening the door, and as soon as a thin strip of light from the hall came shining through the opening, the loudest sound I had ever heard in my entire life came rushing toward us, making both of us shout out and slam the door. Then came the screams of the woman, and the drunk man in the hallway now mumbling something about him being sorry and that he didn’t mean it. Chris’s face seemed like it had turned blue. Mine felt like it looked the same way.
    â€œWhat the hell?” Ms. Hayes came rushing from her bedroom, her hair pinned and wrapped in a blue scarf