Page 28 of Koda's Love

I used my napkin to cover my mouth and looked up at the intruder.

“Tamika, why are you here?” Koda asked through gritted teeth.

He looked annoyed by her presence, but she didn’t seem to notice or care.

“Oh, I just want to tell your date not to take you seriously because you don’t do relationships. I mean, it wasn’t that long ago that I was fucking you.”

I tried my best to not let her words get to me, especially because Koda said he didn’t do relationships, but it still bothered me.

Koda closed his eyes and put his fork down. He slightly turned toward her and lowered his voice.

“Tamika, I’m going to ask you nicely to walk away from this table. Don’t act like what we had was more than what it was.” He leaned even closer toward her. “Don’t get hurt over some shit that don’t belong to you.”

Her eyes darted between us, but she didn’t say anything else. She swiftly turned on her heels and walked away.

She was a pretty girl, and even though I didn’t want it to, I let her words sink in.

“Don’t pay her any mind,” Koda said when we were alone.

“Can we leave?” I lost my appetite and needed to get away from Koda.

I wanted to kick myself for not driving my own car. I would have to ride all the way to my house with him, but I had nothing to say.

“You good?” Koda asked with his head tilted.

“Yup. Just ready to go.”

He stared at me for a minute, and I could tell he wanted to say something else, but he refrained. He waved the waitress down and had her bag up the rest of our food, then paid for the bill.

I held Koda’s hand as we walked out of the restaurant, because I didn’t want to cause an argument in public. I let him help me into his truck like he always did, but I didn’t open my mouth.

“Ava, don’t let her get to you. I’m in this with you, for real, and it’s only about you. She’s just mad because I didn’t want to take it further with her.”

“I hear you.” I crossed my arms over my chest.

“Don’t just hear me, understand me. I wouldn’t waste your time like that.”

I heard him, and I wanted to believe him, but self-doubt crept in. Thinking about it, I wondered what kind of man didn’t have relationships and was he even capable of one.

“Okay, Koda.”

We didn’t say anything else as we drove to my house. The radio wasn’t even playing; it was just complete silence.

When we got to my house, Koda helped me bring everything inside.

“Avalon, you have to believe that I’m not playing about you or the feelings I have for you. I’m sorry the rest of our day was ruined.” He kissed my forehead, then walked out my front door.

I spent the rest of the day agonizing over whether I overreacted or not. He didn’t do anything to make me think any other than what he told me. What made me so special, though, that he wanted to settle down with me? I needed to figure out what to do about it. Maybe I’d talk to Diamond about it and get her advice.

Instead of calling her, I decided to put the stuff away, then finish my food before shutting myself off from the world for the rest of the day.

A few dayspassed since Tamika ruined a perfect date that Avalon and I were on, and I hadn’t spoken to Avalon since I’d dropped her off at home. The only correspondence we had was about the event, and that was through email. The event was only a few days away, and I knew I would see her then, but I wanted to talk to her beforehand. I didn’t want us to go into the day with bad energy between us. Unfortunately, she hadn’t answered my calls or text messages. I knew my feelings for her were real because I had been in mine since. Any other woman, I would have dropped her off and probably not have even talked to her again. Nobody’s feelings ever mattered to me except Avalon’s.

My day had been off since I’d opened my eyes this morning. I walked for longer than usual, trying to clear my head and figureout what to do about Avalon, but I hadn’t come to a conclusion. I went to work with an attitude, so I ended up staying in my office. I only went in to work because I thought that would take my mind off Avalon for a little while, but that wasn’t the case. I didn’t even sleep that well the night before. The one time I tried to take someone seriously, an outsider messed it up for me. I wanted to blame Tamika, but it was also partially my fault for thinking that I could do this relationship shit. I immediately shook that thought off as soon as it entered my mind, because I knew I could do it. Tamika was just bitter, and that was on her.

“Why you in here looking like someone stepped on your favorite sneakers?”

I looked up when I heard Jacoby enter my office. He didn’t tell me he was coming by, so I was surprised to see him.