“This hitting shit what I got to look forward to, huh?” he asked with a smirk.
I rolled my eyes. “Ha, ha. Very funny. You got jokes.”
“A few,” he mumbled, giving me another kiss. “I see you got a phone now.”
He picked it up from the couch, tapping buttons on the screen.
“I’mma call you later.” He handed it to me, leaning in to kiss my forehead. “Make sure you answer.”
“Okay,” I responded, my eyes fluttered closed.
He walked towards the door, and I stood there cheesing hard as hell. It wasn’t until I heard my auntie that I snapped out of my thoughts to play it cool.
“Oh, girl,” she shook her head. “You got it bad.”
I scoffed. “No, I don’t.”
“Yeah, you do. But that’s okay. I’m just happy to see you smiling again.” She walked closer to stand in front of me. “Just tread carefully, and make sure you giving your heart to the right man this time.”
Nodding, I understood where she was coming from. Now that he was gone, I had time to really think about the situation he had going on with Lauren.
She could fuck my life up if this got out and, although I trusted his word to handle it, I had to wonder if he’s worth all this. Looking down at the phone in my hand, I let out a chuckle when I saw what he saved his number under.
Future Husband.
“I’ll be careful. I promise.” I kept a smile on my face throughout the afternoon. Love brought this side out of me, and it felt good to finally look forward to something. Like I was making up for what had gone wrong years ago.
24
LOVE
Mama hadthe worst damn timing and, when she called while I was with Baby, I started not to answer her ass. I was still pissed off about her throwing me up under the bus. I didn’t even wanna pick her up from Delia’s crib.
Since I’d been driving, I tried to call Valentine again. I figured he would’ve reached out to me by now. I was cruising down 45thwhen I spotted a familiar face standing on the sidewalk. Swerving through incoming traffic, I found somewhere to park and hopped out my whip.
“Aye, man. Lemme holla at you!” I shouted at T.K., who had his back to me. He was talking to another dude I grew up with. When he spoke, I hit him with a head nod but didn’t take my eyes off the man in question.
“Fuck you want college boy? I ain’t think you knew a nigga no more,” he spat, his hands stuffed in his pockets. I waved him off, turning to the dude on the side of him.
“Lemme rap with him real quick.” He nodded, walking over to a group of people nearby. I stared him down, and crossed my arms against my chest.
“Where my brother at? I know you know something, so just tell me,” I claimed, and he chucked, flicking his nose with his thumb.
“I ain’t fucking that nigga, man. How I know where he at?” he retorted with annoyance.
I pointed my finger at him. “He with that nigga Tank, stop playing games with me, T.K.”
“I haven’t heard anything from him in days, either.” The way he grinned slyly, I knew he was about to make me mad. “You worried about V but, when he asked you for money, you ain’t have shit for him.”
I should’ve known Valentine was gone run his mouth to this nigga. They ass like two peas in a pod, so I found it hard to believe he didn’t know where he was.
“Man, that’s family business and I handle my brother how I wanna handle him,” I boomed, seeing him glare at me. “But while we speaking on shit that ain’t got nothing to do with us, what you got going on with Baby’s sister, muthafucka?”
“So, she told you, huh?” He scoffed, kicking a rock at his feet. “It was about time.”
I reared my head back. “What that supposed to mean?”
He sucked his teeth. “Nigga, let’s not play dumb. I knew you liked her. Hell, we all did. Giving googly eyes to each other from across the room like I won’t notice, but I peeped everything.”
