When I heard the door open, I knew Carter and Red were back. I didn’t dare leave the confines of the bedroom I was in. I didn’t want to be bothered with Red. When Carter came inside, he said, “Your people just pulled up.”
I smiled slightly until he said, “Red saw Noni. I had to practically steer wrestle his ass to keep him from going over there.”
I slowly shook my head as he sat next to me. “He gon’ fuck around and find out. He ain’t gon’ stop until he does. Noni is gonna explode on his ass. While we may be different, we are the same. I don’t hold shit inside, because I don’twantto explode. I realized when we were teenagers that she will hold shit in sometimes, unless I coax it out of her.”
“Maybe that’s what he needs so he’ll leave her alone. He got a lot of work to do on himself before he even thinks about pursuing her again.”
I nodded as my phone chimed. When I picked it up, I saw it was a text from Noni.Come meet us. You know damn well I ain’t going over there.
I rolled my eyes, then glanced at Carter. He kissed the side of my head, and said, “Go ’head and meet your people. I gotta keep tabs on this nigga anyway.”
He chuckled. I kissed his lips and brought my hand to his cheek. “I love you so much, Carter.”
“I know. I love you, too, baby.”
I grabbed my crossbody and stood to head out. “Where did they park?”
“One aisle over.”
The minute I opened the door, that nigga was looking right at me. He was about to open his mouth. I quickly held my hand up. “Naw, nigga. Don’t try to put me in the middle of y’all shit. I let that go two weeks ago. You on your own.”
“Bali, just tell her I love her.”
“Red, fuck you.”
I opened the door and left him in his pitiful feelings. I didn’t have time for his bullshit. He could drop all that shit on Carter. I knew I would have to hear Carter’s voice of reason when I got back for telling his friend ‘fuck you’, but oh well. He should have left well enough alone. I told him I didn’t want to be in the middle of that shit. They wanted me out of their business, and that was exactly where I was going to stay.
We were in the last row of the parking area, so I knew they had to be in the row in front of us. As I cut through the trailers across from us, I saw them. Before I could get to them, I saw, who had to be Brian, grab Noni’s hand.Aww fuck.What in the fuck was she thinking? Milana was for that type of carrying on, so I surely couldn’t expect her to talk some sense into her.
From what Ashanni told me, Brian was at least thirty-six, nearly ten years older than us. Although Noni was frowning, she hadn’t pulled her hand away from him. She was vulnerable. When I got close, she noticed me and pulled her hand away from his. My frown had to be deep, because hers only got deeper.
“You know that nigga across the way crazy as fuck, right?” I said as soon as I walked up.
She rolled her eyes. She could roll her eyes if she wanted to. If nobody told her when she was fucking up, she knew I would.
“I broke up with him a week ago.”
“What the fuck ever.”
I walked past them as Brian stared at me with his eyebrows lifted. Asad slowly shook his head, so I shot him the finger. When I flopped next to Milana, she said, “When I tried to say something, she told me to shut the fuck up. So guess what I did?”
I side-eyed her.
“I shut the fuck up,” she said, answering her own question.
“This gon’ be a long fucking weekend. I’ma go hang with Treasure when they get here, because Noni gon’ have me fucking somebody up. Red gon’ be ready to fight when he see her flirting with that nigga. Brian don’t even know the danger he’s in.”
“Shiiiid. You don’t know who that nigga connected to. Our attorney, Sidney, is his aunt by marriage. Her husband is his mom’s brother. Plus, remember the men of her family that came and helped Watchful Eyes? The one with the blue eyes is also his mom’s brother. I heard he ain’t the one to play with.”
“Great. So he’s related to the Taylors. She finna start a lot of shit.”
“I don’t think so. Brian is extremely mature and smart. He’ll back off if he knows there’s drama. As soon as they have time to themselves, Asad and Ferris will enlighten him.”
“Well, we need to go find something to do to give them that time, even if we just walk around here. Carter is doing his best to keep Red in pocket. That nigga was tryna come over here when he saw y’all.”
“Yeah, I saw him. I’m surprised Carter was able to get him back to his trailer.”
I slowly shook my head. I almost wish I would have stayed home. The clinic could have served as my distraction from this shit. Sometimes I hated that Noni and Red got involved. Itaffected Carter and me more often than not. It was like it made it hard to support my man when I knew Red was gonna be there. I was never in the greatest mood at the rodeos, because I had to be around him.
