My phone was on sixty-five percent. I was okay for now.
The wind howled, rattling the windows. I tucked my legs tighter under me. A loud boom hit outside, causing me to flinch.
“Shit,” I whispered under my breath.
It didn’t even move Shad. He shoved another log into the fireplace and brushed his hands together.
‘Storm ain’t even at its full potential. You gon’ hear way worse than that,” he said, with his back facing me.
I swallowed, my nerves doing backflips. “Uh, thanks for the comfort.”
Shad pivoted with a smirk on his lips. “Just bein’ real.”
The fire started catching, the shadows dancing all over his tattoos. I looked away quickly. The wind slammed another gust against his building.
“Is your place safe?” I asked.
“You rather be outside?” he shot back.
“It’s pointless trying to have a conversation with you,” I said, rolling my eyes.
Shad shrugged and put his focus back on the fire. I wondered if this was the reason why he didn’t have a girlfriend. Well, I’m assuming he didn’t have one. Not once did he pick up the phone to call and check on her if he did. The only person I heardShad talking to was a brother, and that was through his gaming headset.
I was deep in watching the Christmas movie I had playing on my phone; I had tuned Shad out. I’d forgotten where I was until a heavy blanket fell on me. When I peered up, Shad was walking away, back toward his room. It was one of those weighted blankets because it surely held me down, and my eyes grew heavier. I had been fighting my sleep. I was told these types of blankets had melatonin in them, and I be damned if my eyes didn’t close.
My eyes shot open at the sound of an alarm blaring. It was coming from my phone and…
It was dark in the apartment, but the masculine scent was still wafting in the air. Shad came rushing into the living room, and I sat up quickly. The blaring alarms finally stopped. I couldn’t see him, but I heard him. The light popped on, and I almost choked on my spit. He was shirtless, and tattoos completely covered his skin.
Shad looked out of his window.
“Fuck,” he mumbled.
“Wha.. What?” I asked him.
“The snow is getting high. I’m not sure how long we gon’ be snowed in, but it’s dangerous right now for anyone to be out in this shit,” he replied.
“Christmas is in three days,” I groaned out. I still had some last-minute shopping to do, and I could taste my Mama’s greens and yams on the tip of my tongue. Just thinking about them had my mouth watering.
I removed the blanket from my body and sighed. I had no toothbrush, which mortified me. No extra clothes. No nothing. I was fucked, and I wanted to shower. I was afraid to ask this fool for anything, but I had to.
“Can I…shower? Do you have like an extra-long t-shirt I can borrow…and maybe a toothbrush too?”
“Yeah,” he said, which surprised me. There was no pushback or smart comeback.
I trailed Shad to his room, stopping at the door as he went inside. Like the rest of his place, his room was clean. There wasn’t any trash on the floor. The carpet was clean, freshly vacuumed from the prints it left. There was a king-sized bed in the middle of the room with a plush black rectangular headboard.
He came back with a shirt and boxer-briefs that I could tell came right out of a brand-new pack. On top of the clothes was a toothbrush still in its package.
“Thank you,” I said, our eyes meeting. They held for a moment until Shad stuffed his hands in front of his joggers and walked away. I backed away from his room, slowly turned on the balls of my socked feet, and traveled back toward the bathroom, and locked myself inside of it.
Chapter Three
After handing over clothes to Daee, I trekked back over to the floor-to-ceiling windows in the living room. The snow was getting higher and higher. By the morning, if the sun ain’t come out and melt all of this shit, we’d be snowed in to the point the door wouldn’t be able to open. Luckily, I did a lot of eating out and eating at my parents’ crib, where I still had food here that would last me and Daee.
Daee’s thick ass. Her ass had a smart mouth, but when she goes back and forth wit’ me, I smile a lil’ bit.
I reached up and ran a hand over the thick, ropey twists in my head, and stood there for a minute longer, just watching the snow pile up, trapping me inside with Daee. That was the last thing I needed, but I couldn’t let her leave in this type of weather, even if she’d thrown my food like a slingshot.
