“I should have known this wasn’t going to be easy.”
“You know how my sister is.”
Maurice looked up at him. “Yeah, I know. I guess she’s not over what happened with us.”
I looked in the direction Autumn had gone. She was standing there talking to Ashleigh with her arms crossed, eyes glaring at Maurice.
“You should have known that. But my lady is ready to go. Good luck, man!” He grabbed my hand and we headed toward the door.
I was even more curious to know the history between those two, but it was obvious that it was a sore subject.
“So, I guess your sister wasn’t always a hopeless romantic.”
“Nah, she was. Her and Maurice just been through a lot. He loves my sister though. He was just young and dumb when they were together.” I thought about Autumn when she first mentioned Maurice to me. I could hear it in her voice; she was still hurt by whatever he did, indicating feelings were still there.
We drove until we got to Ahmad’s house.
I wanted nothing more than to shower and get in his bed. “I got your camera bag and stuff,” he told me, handing me his keys.
I happily took them and walked to his door.
I ended up showering and laying down in Ahmad’s bed while he did sketches in his sketchpad.
“I’m glad you’re still up,” Ahmad walked into his room and spoke.
“Barely. What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I just wanted to show you something really quick.” He walked up to the bed, and I looked at his tattoo filled chest, biting on my bottom lip.
He handed me the paper and I stared at it.
“What’s this?”
“I talked to the realtor that helped me with the shop. He made a list of places that are open for rent or purchase so you can have your own studio.”
My eyes widened then traveled back to the paper. “Really?”
He showed me all thirty-two. “Really!”
I tossed the paper to the side and threw my arms around Ahmad’s neck, hugging him tightly.
“Thank you!”
It may not have seemed like a big thing to some, but the fact that Ahmad did this showed how much he believed in me. I’ve been saying I needed to look at places but haven’t done so yet.
“I believe in you and want you to accomplish your dreams, baby. Anything I can do to help, I got you.”
Tears welled in my eyes. I pulled up and kissed Ahmad.
“You really want me to fall in love with you, huh?”
“Would feel good if both of our feelings matched.” My mouth parted before it turned into a smile.
Ahmad was truly heaven sent, and I will forever be grateful he was brought into my life. He helped me get through a lot of issues I had bottled up and never ran away because of them. Both of us were damaged, but we were able to heal each other.
I ran from love for a long time, but now I was officially done running.
The end!
