Marcus: I’m here
“Alright, girl. Let me go. He’s here.”
“Have fun! I need a full debrief after,” she said, pointing a finger into the camera.
Marcus’s truck was idling in front of the building with its hazards on.
“Hey,” I said, climbing in.
“‘Sup, mama?” he said, leaning over to kiss me on the cheek. Instead of heading to the exit, he turned into the resident lot and rolled to a stop in front of my assigned space—where a matte black Mercedes coupe now sat, parked in the spot where my Altima used to be.
I looked at him, confused. He reached into the center console and held out a key fob.
“What is this?”
”Your new car,” he grinned at me stupidly.
I looked from him to the Benz and back again. “What about my Altima? I just got a quote for the repairs this morning.”
“It was old. Plus, whoever did that shit to it knows where you work and what you drive. Who’s to say they wouldn’t do it again?” He said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “How were you supposed to get to work? The bus? Uber? You needed a ride, so I just upgraded you.”
A sour taste filled my mouth. The car wasn’t even my style. First of all, I’d never drive a coupe. Second of all, something about the oxblood red interior. I just knew my coworkers would immediately assume that I was doing some shady shit.
“It just needed new tires and the window replaced. It was a perfectly good car,” I said, trying not to raise my voice.
“Remember I told you I’d buy you anything you wanted once I got my shit together?” he asked, suddenly growing serious. “This is me doing that. I’m trying to make up for lost time with you.”
“By buying me a tricked-out Mercedes? I can’t drive this to work, Marcus.”
His jaw ticked as he stared ahead.
“I’m not tryna make you upset, Jas. I just wanted to do something nice.”
I glanced at the car again, forcing myself to swallow the irritation building in my chest. I wanted him to return it and give me backmycar. It wasn’t fancy or new, but it was reliable and low-maintenance. I couldn’t afford Mercedes repairs or premium gas on a nurse’s salary. He really hadn’t thought this through.
But this wasn’t the time to push it. Not because I was scared of him, but because I didn’t feel like dragging this night out more than I had to.
I closed my eyes and took a breath, forcing a smile. “Fine. Thank you.”
He lit up immediately. It was like my approval flipped some kind of switch.
“It suits you. You’ll get used to it,” he said, dropping the fob in my hand.
“Mmhm.” I pulled out my phone but didn’t know who to text. Monica was my girl, but I was sure she’d tell Jelani, and Jelani would tell Cash—and all I needed was that nigga to show up somewhere swinging his gun around again. Amber would probably tell me to sell it for something I actually liked, which made sense, but wasn’t really the point.
I bit back another sigh and scrolled through my social media feed instead, halfway listening to whatever he was prattling on about.
Dinner was at a cozy Italian spot Marcus picked. Despite the stunt with the new car, he’d insisted this was a friendly date, so I kept my outfit lowkey and went with jeans and an oversized cardigan since it had finally cooled down. I did a no-makeup-makeup look, and straightened the bundles I’d gotten installed recently.
The hostess led us to our table, where a bottle of champagne sat chilling in an ice bucket.
“You look good,” he said as we sat. “Is Italian still your favorite?”
I smiled despite myself, a little surprised. “You remembered that after all these years?”
“You begged me to take you to Del Marco’s like every other day,” he smirked.
“They had the best veal parm!” I laughed, relaxing a little.
