“I’m not going anywhere until I talk to her,” he shot back.
“Get off my property.”
He looked around, as if searching for something. “Last I checked, I’m on the street. This road is considered a public area.”
He was annoying me now. I did not like to be annoyed, especially by grown men who knewexactlywhat they were doing. Closing the gap, I grabbed handfuls of his shirt in both of my hands and rushed forward until his back slammed against the side of his car.
The man smirked as a deep growl rumbled in my throat. “I said, if you do not leave, I will fucking make you.”
“Go ahead, man.” He chuckled. “So I can sue the fuck out of you.”
“You will not be able to sue me if I break your fucking neck.”
“Threats from an NBA player. Bet I could get millions for this.”
“Do you think threatening me with that legal shit will stop me? I don’t give a damn about any of that.” I tightened my grip. “You came onto my property trying to hurt someone who works for me.”
“I wouldn’t hurt her,” he grumbled.
“But you have before.” I jacked him forward by the shirt, then slammed his back against the car again. This time, that smug smile of his disappeared. “Tell me why I shouldn’t break your fucking nose right now.”
As I stared him down, I heard a siren wail. A police cruiser drove past Octavia’s car and mine, and parked on the opposite side of the street. I glared at the shitty ex in front of me one more time before releasing his shirt.
I was relieved they had shown up. The last thing I needed was an assault charge for blackening this man’s eye. And, trust me, I was very close to doing that. Attacking him any more would have been all over the press, and I didnotwant that kind of negative attention.
“We received a call about a disturbance,” one of the officers said, looking between us warily. He was male, White with a clean-shaven face. The other was a Latina officer. She walked around the passenger side, looking between me and Octavia’s ex with an inclined brow.
“This man showed up at my property unannounced, and I do not know how long he has been parked here,” I told them. “All I know is that he is a threat to me, my child, andespeciallyto the woman in the car back there. She said that he has hurt her before.”
“He’s tripping. I was just about to leave.” Octavia’s ex started walking toward his car, but the male officer raised a hand.
“Sir, we need you to stay here until we get a grasp of the situation.”
He sighed.
“Do you know who this man is?” the female officer asked me. Her pocket had the name Amara.
“He’s her ex. The woman in the car.”
That seemed to annoy Officer Amara. She frowned at Octavia’s ex before saying “I will speak with her and see what’s going on and confirm if what you’ve told me is true.”
“Sure,” I said.
Officer Amara walked to Octavia’s car. Octavia saw her coming and rolled her window down before she drew near. After the officer said something, Octavia nodded and climbed out of the car.
“Do I have to go over there?” I heard her ask as she cut her eyes our way.
“No, sweetie. We can talk right here.”
Octavia nodded, rubbing her hands up and down both of her arms. I could not hear much of what she was saying to Officer Amara, but she looked frazzled. Almost broken. Never had I seen her like this.
I looked at her ex, who had his arms folded again. His eyes were harder as he zeroed in on Octavia, looking her up and down. I wanted to gouge his fucking eyes out. I stepped to the left, blocking his view.
After Amara said a few words to Octavia and gestured back to the car, she marched toward us. Octavia slunk her way into the driver’s seat again.
“Luther, right?” Amara asked, eyes pointed at Octavia’s ex.
Luther nodded. “Yeah.”
