“No, I don’t think you do.” Disappointment hit harder than anger. “What makes you different from Cassie, DaVinci? She watched you. Followed you. Decided what you needed without asking. You got a restraining order on her, but expect me to forgive you. Doesn’t seem fair to me.”
He flinched back as if I slapped him. “That’s not—”
“I need space.” I cut him off. I couldn’t hear another half-truth. I damn sure couldn’t look at those eyes and let them cloud me. “Don’t call me. Don’t send anything. Don’t show up. When I’m ready to talk? I’ll let you know.”
He opened his mouth, but whatever he saw in my expression shut him down quickly.
Good.
Because I meant that shit.
DaVinci exhaled slowly, bracing one hand against the wall above me—close, but not touching.
“Alright,” he said quietly. “If space is what you want, I’ll give you space. But a week is about as long as I can take.”
I didn’t trust the softness in his voice or the way it seemed to sink into me.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
His eyes dragged over my face. “You gonna stay mad at me forever?”
“If I have to.”
He nodded as frustration rolled off him in waves until a wide grin flashed on his face. “Okay, Angel. Take your space.”
I stepped around him before I did something stupid like take all that shit back and insist that he take me to dinner. Before I could walk away completely, he spoke again, “I don’t regret a single thing I did to keep you safe. But I do regret making you uncomfortable.”
When I walked away, I felt his eyes burning into my back the whole time. Felt the gravity of him pulling at me, even as I forced myself to keep going.
I wasn’t ready to forgive him. I wasn’t even sure I was ready to want him. But I had a week to get my head right, because when my week was up, I had no doubt that the man would come looking.
DaVinci
Halo – 2
DaVinci – 0
Shit.
Twenty minutes later, I was in the back of Langston’s SUV, heading across town. The leather was cold against my back; I needed it to soothe the fire raging inside me. You’d think seeing Halo and telling her the truth would’ve improved how I felt. But it didn’t; it only made it clear I couldn’t move forward until I confronted the mess I’d left behind.
Truth be told, I was only halfway in that truck. My body was in the backseat, but my mind was still stuck in that damn hallway—her breath, her attitude, her whole spirit talking shit while her body betrayed her. That fuckin' red dress. That red and brown made a nigga wanna drown.
Halo had me out there tusslin’ with myself in public like I had room for another headline. I really didn’t give a damn if folks caught me slipping. She had a nigga tight. My hands itched, wanting to touch the small of her back, her waist. Everything in me wanted to press her right back against that wall and see if she still had all that mouth. I was a gentleman on paper, but Halo had that side of me that ain’t never been soft waking up. And she knew it. Lil’ smug ass. That was the part that pissed me off and turned me on in the same damn breath. She was playing with me.
“You sure about this?” Langston asked from the driver’s seat, his eyes catching mine in the rearview. “Paying off parents to turn in their own daughter, that’s cold-blooded, even for you.”
I’d been known to take shit too far at times. I could be cold. I could be despondent, especially after Devyn’s accident. I’d become somewhat of a shark in all aspects of my life, especially ball and business. It had been hard for light to reach me after that, but now I had a chance to have that back. Cassie had to be put on notice. A man like me doesn’t do repeat warnings. You hear me the first time, or you don’t hear me again at all.
“Cassie threatened Halo by name. Called me, told me she knew where she lived, what she drove, her whole routine.” I stared out the window at thedark streets passing by. “So yeah, I’m sure as muthafucka she gotta go one way or another.”
“These are her parents, man. Not some street niggas. They’re protecting their daughter.”
“And unfortunately, that comes with consequences.” The words came out harder than I meant them, but I meant what I said. “You got a problem with that?”
Langston was quiet for a moment. “Just making sure you thought this through. Once you do this, there’s no taking it back.”
“I ain’t worried about taking shit back. Whatever I say in there, whatever I do, I mean it. This is necessary.”
