“You didn’t announce yourself!”
“I live here!” she shouted back in shock.
He stared at her, chest rising and falling. Then he slowly tucked the gun back in his waistband like that was normal morning behavior. “It ain’t for you…relax.”
“Relax?” Meadow threw her hands up. “You just tried to kill me at six-thirty in the morning!”
His mouth twitched like he wanted to laugh, but was too irritated. “Girl, nobody was finna shoot you.”
“You didn’t know it was me!”
“You walk heavy as hell. I thought you was a man.”
“Wow…real cute.”
They stood there, breathing in the same cool air, tension sharp enough to taste. Zaire rubbed the back of his neck, jaw tightening.
“I always keep a gun on me,” he told her. “I’m from Crescent Park. I grew up with ops, haters, whatever you wanna call ’em. I ain’t movin’ nowhere without it.”
Meadow frowned, arms folded across her big breasts. “This is Juniper Falls, not whatever danger-zone you’re used to. You don’t need that here.”
“Shit,” he mumbled, looking into the darkness like he could still see his past in it. “You don’t know what I need.”
Her tone softened a fraction. “You don’t gotta live like you still on alert.”
Zaire knew Meadow would never fully understand why he was who he was, or why he did the things he did. He just looked at her, his eyes tired, wishing she could magically change how he showed up in the world…how he felt the need to always be on alert. Still, he kept his hope of better days tucked deep because he didn’t trust it.
“You sound real sure of yourself,” he muttered.
“Somebody needs to be.”
Zaire scoffed, lips tugging into a smirk that was equal parts annoyed and impressed. “Meadow, you…phew. You a lot in the morning, cuh.”
“And you’re…armed,” she snapped.
He shook his head and looked away like he didn’t have the energy to fight with her this early.
“Look,” he sighed. “Maybe we got off on the wrong start or some shit. But I don’t argue, baby, not how you wanna argue.”
“I wasn’t trying to argue. I was trying to not get shot before breakfast.”
“Ain’t nobody shootin’ you.” Zaire was annoyed because what wasn’t clicking with her? “Can we just…start over or some shit?”
She blinked at him. “Start over?”
“Yeah.”
“After you just pulled a gun on me?”
“You snuck up on me.”
“I walked.”
“You walked loud.”
Meadow put her hands on her hips. “You’re impossible.”
“And you’re dramatic as fuck.”
