“Fine. I’ll tell Horace and Petal.” She mentioned their grandparents and Heavy paused.
“Why are you always so dead set on being petty?”
“Because you’re always dead set on being stubborn. You keep looking for what you already have in other people,” Henna concluded. “And don’t even ask me what I’m talking about because you already know.” She aimed her almond shaped nail at him when he faced her. “You, Pri, and Pierre might as well already be a family. I know you love her. So what if it’s not thiscookie cutter shit that neither of you thinks it should be. It’s better than nothing. I don’t know two people on this earth who are better suited for each other than you two.”
“Henna, let it go.”
“I can’t just let it go when I see you throwing something real away for something you aren’t sure about.”
“What are you talking about?” Heavy’s thick brows drew together.
“Oh, please. I’ve been watching you. You don’t even know this girl, and she’s already coming into your life and disrupting shit.”
“Hen, fall back, aight,” Heavy warned.
The truth of the matter was that he’d never had a woman enamor him the way Giselle had. She was fierce but soft. Assertive but humorous. There was more to her than met the eye, and he thought maybe he had gone a little too hard on her today. Something about her had him wanting to peel back the layers and see what else she was capable of. Prischa was instinctively protective of him in the same way that he was with her. He also knew that her feelings went beyond platonic, and she might have come across dominant against Giselle in the heat of the moment.
“Fine. Just remember you can’t walk across bridges you burn!” She yelled at his back.
“Okay, back to neutral grounds.” Lou snickered and parked her Toyota Camry on the curb of Remi’s house.
The whole drive, Giselle kept seeing Heavy’s face and hearing the tone in which he spoke to her in defense of hisfriend.Yeah, it was clear she was nothing more than an interloper in thesituation. There was no way she was competing with history, and she wasn’t even sure she wanted to. She was suffocating, and, in a way, looking for something… anything to latch on to. He was the closest thing and made her feel safe, like she might be alright if she kept paddling. She didn’t know where that effect came from, but it left her with a smidge of appreciation for Heavy and his brief time in her life.
Glancing up at Remi’s house, she couldn’t shake the huge weight she felt resting on her shoulders. Talk about pressure. With her father gone, the weight of prolonging her family’s legacy now rested on her.How was she supposed to do that? How did she put one foot in front of the other when she felt like she was sinking with every single step?
“Thanks for the ride, Lou.” Her voice cracked while she held onto the tears.
When Alonzo’s name appeared on her phone screen, she didn’t get annoyed. Instead, she swiped to answer and pressed the phone against her ear.
“What’s up, Alonzo?”
“Well, I had some time off this weekend, so I decided to take a drive. Check your rearview mirror.”
Giselle turned and caught him standing outside a black Lincoln sedan. She thought the next time she saw him, she’d see her parents, and it would be unbearable. Instead, something else filled her up inside. Relief. An odd sense of commiseration. Charming, polished, and draped in designer, he reminded her of home and an escape rolled into one. She immediately jumped out of Lou’s car to greet him. Throwing her arms around him, she allowed him to hug her.
“Damn, G. Good to see you, too.” He chuckled, kneeling so he could briefly scoop her off her feet.
“I need to get the hell out of here,” she whispered in his ear.
“I told you. I got you. Whatever you need,” he assured her.
“I’m going to get my stuff,” she said when she pulled back.
“Aight. I’ll be right here.” He cupped her chin and leaned forward to lightly peck her lips.
Nodding, Giselle backed away while Lou got out of the car. She side eyed Alonzo all the way up to the porch and into the house behind her cousin. She didn’t know the nigga, but all she got was slime vibes from him when he ogled her.
In her current bedroom, Giselle flung her clothes into her suitcases, making sure she didn’t leave anything behind in the drawers. Lou lingered in the doorway, arms tucked across her chest, watching her move frantically.
“You’re just going to leave?”
“That’s the fucking plan.” Giselle emptied her personal hygiene products into a smaller carry-on bag.
“What about Mama? You’re not even going to say goodbye to her or Maisie? What about Gem?”
“It’s not like me leaving is going to impact anyone around here, Lou. All I’ve been doing with Remi since I got here is bumping heads with her. Maisie will be fine, and so will Gem. We don’t even know each other. When the estate is settled, I’ll make sure to set up a trust for her, so she can be provided for.”
“I just don’t think it’s right.” She shrugged.
