“Hello.”
“You good, baby? My bad for earlier, that bitch is crazy.”
She let out a sigh.
“You love her?”
“Yeah, but I fuck with you, too, heavy.”
Her head was telling her not to tell him about the baby, but her heart wanted to and it wanted him to be happy.
“Harlem, I’m pregnant.”
“How much you need for an abortion?”
She screwed up her face and looked at the phone as if he could see her.
“Damn, you used to this shit, huh? I don’t need shit, I got it.”
“You mad? What, you wanna keep it?”
“Nah, I’m cool on that. And I’m cool on you.”
Tears fell from her eyes as she ended the call, Farrah didn’t need him pulling her back in with his slick talk. She had her whole life ahead of her and Harlem wasn’t a part of it.
20
Kayla felt the attention before she saw it or heard it. Heads turned as she walked down the block with her girls. She had her hair slicked up into a ponytail, showing all of her facial features. Her outfit was True Religion, confidence was laced in her walk, she wasn’t loud anymore, she didn’t have to be. Money had become her motivation, and she would do almost anything for a dollar.
“Damn, Kayla,” Ryan yelled out from the crowd as she walked by.
She gave a smile and head nod before briefly locking eyes with Ace, not the obvious way, but the measured way. That look that saidI want you but you’re too young, so let me look away.She clocked how he watched her. She saw how he looked at her like heknewsomething everybody else didn’t, Ace wanted her.
By the time Kayla walked off the block, Ace had already made it to her next location, timing it like coincidence.
“What’s up, pretty girl?” he asked casually, stepping beside her as if he belonged there.
Her heart was beating out her chest, was he really talking to her in front of her friends like he didn’t care?
“Hey, Ace,” she replied, about to walk off because she was nervous.
“You always moving like you got somewhere important to be.”
Kayla giggled, “I do.”
“I believe it,” Ace chuckled. “You hungry?”
Her friends exchanged looks while smiling.
She hesitated just long enough to play it cool.
“I guess.”
Kayla hopped in his passenger seat with no shame as her girls saw her off like she was going on prom. They sat in Ace’s car after grabbing a bite to eat like he promised. He passed her the blunt he had just lit like it was nothing, like she wasn’t sixteen years old. She may have been young, but in that moment, she felt like a grown ass woman. Kayla took a long pull and relaxed in her seat.
“Your sister be stressing you out, huh?” Ace asked casually while looking out the windshield.
Kayla sighed and rolled her eyes, “Diamond stresses everybody out.”
