“Their liking you is not the point, and you know it.”
“Then what is the point, Ken?” His voice was gentle now, not the predatory tone from earlier.
She opened her mouth to argue, then closed it. Kennedi stepped back out of his embrace, his hands on her made it hard to think.
“The point is, we aren’t together, and this is my parents’ house. I told you we could talk.”
“And I told you at Luther’s what would happen. You ignored me for two days, Ken. After I looked you in your face and told you not to play with me.”
“I needed time to think.”
“Time to run, you mean.”
“I need to go,” she said, backing toward the house before she did something reckless, like let him kiss her in her parents’ driveway. “I got some explaining to do to Heidi and Kenneth Walters, thanks to you.”
“Good luck with that, baby.”
She could’ve knocked that smug smile off his face. He was enjoying all of it—her fluster, and the fact that her parents were peeking through the blinds, treating the whole thing like Showtime at the Apollo.
She turned and walked a few steps toward the porch. His eyes dropped, unbothered, tracking the sway of her hips. The bodysuit clung to her, lifted her ass high, too high for him not to notice. The flannel hadn’t concealed her curves at all. He bit down on his bottom lip, muttering low under his breath, words that would’ve earned him a slap if she’d heard them. She was thicker than before, and he liked that shit.
But before he could sink deeper into the view, she spun back. Shoulders squared, chin tilted, arms locked across her middle.
“Why didn’t you tell me about your grandmother? And your brother?”
His gaze narrowed, hazel eyes cooling. “Come again?”
“I had to find that out from my friends. Which was fucked up, by the way. I should’ve heard this from you. Mr. Pracher.”
For a second, pain flickered across his face before he shoved it down, hard. “What would it have mattered, Kennedi? You don’t even know if you wanna fuck with a nigga. I’m not inviting strangers into my misery, and I damn sure ain’t dragging people I care about into it either. I’m handling it.”
Her arms stayed crossed. “You should have told me.”
“Why?” His frustration broke through, and she dipped without so much as a goodbye. And he was cool on it. “So you could feel sorry for me? Send a sympathy text before ghosting me again?”
“That’s not fair.”
“Ain’t it though?” He stepped closer. “I’m not a fan of this disappearing shit. You knew when you set foot in this city beside me is where I’d put in work to have you. Quit playing and let’sjust do this shit. I was sure by now I’d be rearranging my closet to make room for you.”
She tried to hide her smile, but he caught it.
“Stop, and plus you’re gonna see me every day, whether you want to or not.”
“I want to.”
The certainty in his voice always scared her.
“That’s the problem, huh? I want all of it. And you don’t.”
She looked away. “No, it’s complicated.”
“It ain’t gotta be.” He reached for her hand, his thumb brushing her knuckles.
“Okay, well, be safe getting home.”
He nodded once, eyes holding hers like he was sealing a pact. Then, softer, “You like this shit, don’t you?”
“What shit, Rolani?”
