Page 26 of Own It

After grabbing one of the few books lying around that I hadn’t even bothered to read, I ventured back down the stairs and into the bedroom holding Daylin. Like always, she adjusted her posture and kept her eyes trained on a nigga with every step I took toward her.

I didn’t know how to feel seeing a woman so fearful of me, but at the same time, she needed to be afraid in order to be sure she complied with whatever the fuck I’d told her to do. Already I could tell that Daylin was a rule breaker, and if she witnessed any bitch or softness in me, she would do her best to get the fuck on and ruin all my damn plans.

Though Daylin was the worst type of person to kidnap—rebellious and with a mind of her own—romantically, I found that shit attractive. Something about a woman who had her own fucking opinions and couldn’t be easily swayed did something for me. Could be because I was used to being with a woman who wasn’t as strong-minded.

“Thank you.” She frowned deeply, taking the tattered paperback to read the title. “I was hoping more for a romance book—black or urban romance, specifically.”

“Is it truly segregated like that?”

“Isn’t it always? Not just with books but music too,” she informed me, and I nodded.

“So if I go to the bookstore, one side is black romance and the other is white?”

“No. Black romance books are usually under fiction with no indication of any type of romance. But that’s if you even see them on the shelves.”

I nodded again, this time frowning a bit. This was a foreign subject to me, as I only really read non-fiction, and the last time I read that shit was probably over a year ago.

“Aight, well that’s all I have.”

My comment plucked Daylin from reading the back of the book, making her smile in a cunning way at me for whatever reason.

“I’m surprised you’d be reading this.” She held up the book which was Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin.

“Why?”

“It’s about a man dealing with his sexuality, dating men, and his relationship with another man named Giovanni.” She couldn’t hide her grin, and though I was low-key mortified by the fact that I even had a book such as that laying around, I found it difficult to hide my fucking smirk because of how humorous she found the shit.

True enough, I was comfortable enough with my sexuality to read the book, but I could tell Daylin was getting the wrong fucking impression from me having it, especially since it looked as if I’d read the shabby ass paperback hundreds of times.

“I actually have never read that shit. It was something my mama left behind,” I had to admit. “I would read it though. Long as it ain’t too graphic.”

“I’ll let you know.” She winked before scooting closer to the headboard she was cuffed to in order to use both hands to start reading.

I turned around to leave her to it, knowing that wink wouldn’t leave my damn mind for the next few fucking days.

As I re-entered the den where Josias was, already engulfed in a cloud of smoke, I sat beside him, watching him cough his damn lungs up.

“Damn, muthafucka! I couldn’t get a pat on the back or some shit?” Josias bellowed once he’d gathered some composure.

“Look like you had it.” I chuckled a little bit, seeing how baffled the nigga was by his hacking fit. “Why you here, Jojo?”

“I need to stay the night. Shouldn’t matter since you got all this fucking room and a guest already.” He nudged me, causing me to shoot him a look.

“Stay the night for what? You got yo’ own spot, nigga.”

“Right, but Tarin’s stupid ass caught me up with another bitch. I don’t even know how she found the ho house, but she did. Crazy bitch yanked her all outside and started fucking her up. I ran to my whip and sped the fuck off. I know she went straight to my crib, so I came here instead.”

“Nigga, you left them there fighting?” I tried not to laugh.

“Hell yeah! Nigga, Tarin was tearing that bitch a new asshole. I ain’t wanna be next. I don’t hit females, but I would’ve fucked her ass up tonight.” Josias took in another inhale. “Would’ve had to.”

“I just can’t believe you got her ass pregnant twice, dummy.” I shook my head, pulling out my metal case holding my own pre-rolled blunts that I’d put together earlier.

Josias had three kids, two of them by Tarin and one by a woman named Kasia. After having one child with Tarin, his stupid ass got Kasia pregnant, and to get back at her, according to Josias, Tarin had his baby again.

I couldn’t understand what the fuck he saw in Tarin’s crazy, toxic ass, especially enough to knock her ass up multiple times.

“You’ll see once you get a baby mama, nigga. It be hard to stay from between their legs. She gotta be the one to stop you. That’s why I ain’t been able to fuck on Kasia as much as I want to.”