“Yeah,” she looked over at him.
“Why do you feel like you have to be so hard?” he casually asked.
Diamond shrugged, “Some of us just don’t have a choice. When you’re soft, people tend to walk all over you.”
“You have a choice with me. I’m hard so you don’t have to be when you’re with me.”
She forced a smile like she wanted to believe him, her guard slipped, just a little.
“I appreciate that, but can I be real?” She asked with low eyes.
“Always.”
“I don’t know how to be soft, not even with you.”
“Let me teach you,” he leaned over and kissed her.
Her body tensed up, but she didn’t stop him and there it was, the hook. Was the hook on her or him? Was it the Hennessy? Duke felt somethingtwistin his chest, it wasn’t guilt, it was something else. Ace’s words echoed in his head,break her.
“It’s ten, you want me to drop you off?”
When she looked in his eyes that time, it was different, it was soft.
“No, I want to stay with you tonight.”
“All night?”
“Yeah, I told my parents I was staying at my friend Mesha’s house, she stays out south so it’s all good.”
Duke chuckled, “I didn’t know you had friends.”
“I don’t. I have one and she’s been my friend since pre-school, but she moved after we graduated 8thgrade.”
“That’s what’s up. All you need is one rider.”
“And that she is, she’s just like me.”
“I find that hard to believe.”
“I swear. So much so, we call one another Twin.”
“She ain’t got them hands like you,” he joked before hitting the locks, making her giggle.
Inside, Duke’s place was dim but not dark. Diamond made herself at home on the same couch they slept on the last time she was there, but he motioned for her to come into the bedroom. She didn’t hesitate, not even a little bit. Duke wasn’t even into younger females, but Diamond was overly mature for her age.
He went back and forth with himself, for some reason, he wanted to protect her, not hurt her. The money waited on his dresser and the plan waited in his head. He wasn’t broke and he didn’t fuck with Ace or Stone, the fact that Ace rolled with his father’s alleged enemy snapped him back to reality.
“Tell me something that you think I should know,” he tried to open a segway to say what he wanted to say.
“What you mean?”
“Anything, and after you tell me, we start from scratch.”
She quickly looked away. “You go first.”
“Ok, mufuckas wanna see you hurt,” he blurted out as she gave him a stale look.
“What?” she quizzed.
