“Let me give you a ride so me, you, and your new nigga can get acquainted,” he said, mugging me.
“I was just fucking with you!” I rolled my eyes. “You really came all the way here ‘cause of that text?”
“What I tell you the last time I saw you?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
I waved him off. “AndItoldyou—you don’t run shit. I’m meeting Monica for brunch. I'm only telling you so you don’t cut up outside my building.”
He gave me a hard look before tapping something on the car’s display—a call rang out on speaker.
“Yo,” Jelani answered groggily.
“Monica with you?” Cash asked him, his eyes never leaving mine.
“Nah,” Jelani yawned. “She’s said she’s getting brunch with her cousin and your nurse.”
Cash hung up, looking smug.
“See? I told you, you psycho.” I threw my hands up.
“I’m taking you out tonight.”
“Huh?”
“You can’t hear now? We’re going on a date, Jasmine. Have your pretty ass ready by eight.”
“You can’t just tell me we’re going on a date,” I protested.
“Clearly, I can. You seem to respond better to orders than when I’m tryna be nice. See you at eight, sweetheart.” He winked and rolled the window up.
* * *
“I got a bone to pick with you,” I said, jabbing a finger at Monica.
She frowned, her hands twisting her faux locs into a messy bun. “What’d I do now?”
“Did you tell Jelani I was at the hookah lounge with Amir?”
“Um, why would I do that?” she replied, scrunching her face up.
“‘Cause I hit you up to come through, and magically Jelani just happened to be going to your place that same night.”
She burst out laughing so loudly that a few people turned to look at us. “Girl, that nigga was blowing my back out all night. Trust me, nobody was trying to get intel for Cash.”
“Cash who?” Rochelle cut in.
Rochelle and Monica were cousins who moved like twins with how in sync they were. They shared the same sienna-brown skin, wide doe eyes, and heart-shaped face, but Rochelle carried an extra thirty pounds. We instantly clicked over our love of good food, reality TV, and shit talking.
“Big Money Banks,” Monica grinned at her knowingly.
Rochelle’s eyebrows shot up. “Oh, he’sfine,fine.”
“He’s a fucking pain in my ass,” I huffed. “Tell me why he showed up at the hookah lounge and pistol-whipped Amir?”
Monica’s eyes went wide. “Wait—was he mad you were out with another guy?”
“Not even,” I sighed. “Amir came out the restroom and saw Cash sitting with me. I told him Cash was nobody, but then Amir started talking to me all kinds of crazy. I didn’t even know he had it in him to be honest.”
Monica and Rochelle exchanged a look, then busted out laughing.
