“Why you think it’s something different this time?”
“Because you didn’t get straight to the point. What’s wrong? You got that bitch from the ballpark on your mind?”
My eyes narrowed. “Don’t call her a bitch.”
The words surprised even me, hell. I had called Farrah that plenty of times when she was on her most bougie behavior. But the idea of someone else using that term for her didn’t sit right with me. Samaria looked up at me.
“Is that how it is?”
“Yeah. That’s how it is.”
“What’s going on with y’all, Mekhi?”
“All you need to worry about is what’s up with me and you.”
I could tell she wasn’t happy with my answer, but I didn’t care. She knew some parts of my life were off-limits to her, and Farrah was in that category.
“Whatisup with me and you?” she asked.
Not this bullshit, I thought. Samaria was looking for me to stroke her ego, to give her more of a commitment than I was ready for. Shit wasn’t happening and if she couldn’t deal…
“I’on wanna do this, shorty. Can we just chill?”
“But that’s all we do, Mekhi! I want?—”
I started to stand up, but she put a hand on my shoulder. Before I could move, she straddled my lap and grabbed my face.
“I’m sorry, baby. I don’t mean to stress you out.”
She leaned forward and started to kiss my neck while her hands went to the hem of my shirt and slid under. Stroking my abs, she gyrated in my lap. I grabbed her hips, guiding her motions. She lifted her head for one minute.
“Let’s go to my room,” she whispered.
Shit, I didn’t have to be told twice. She wrapped her arms around my neck as I stood up. Her legs hugged my waist as shecontinued to kiss my neck and chin. She kept trying to slide her lips against mine, but I moved my head. I wasn’t big on mouth kissing.You didn’t tell Farrah that, my conscience prodded. I ignored it.With my hands under Samaria’s ass, I walked toward her room. Halfway there, my phone buzzed in my pocket. She groaned as she felt it.
“You gon’ answer, aren’t you?”
Instead of answering her, I pried her legs from around me and set her on her feet. Pulling out the phone, I noticed a missed call from Steel.Farrah, I thought. Had something happened to her? Was that nigga Trell around? I called Steel back.
“What’s wrong with her?” I asked as soon as he answered, ignoring Samaria’s frown.
“I don’t know. She just left the house and I’m following her.”
“Where she headed?”
“Moving north. Maybe she’s going home.”
That pissed me off. Farrah was so fucking hard-headed that I almost wished somebody would snatch her ass to teach her a lesson. But that thought bothered me more than I wanted to admit. She was my problem, and I was going to handle her.
“I’ma head that way,” I told Steel. “Let me know if she goes somewhere else.”
He agreed and I disconnected the call. Samaria was glaring up at me, but I didn’t give a damn. Somehow, Farrah had become my first concern.
I sped through the night,trying to make it to my parents’ house as soon as possible. Ron had told me he saw someone creeping around our place, but he hadn’t called the police because he wasn’t sure what was going on. I was going to go make sure everything was in order and that no one had vandalized the house. I knew Mekhi would have had a fit but, luckily, he wasn’t home. I couldn’t let everything my parents had worked so hard to build be destroyed because of my…associationwith him.
Ron was waiting on me outside, standing at the end of his driveway. I parked and jumped out of my car before hurrying toward him. Only then did I realize that Steel had been following me. I frowned. I’d assumed that Mekhi sent him home every night once I made it to his place, but maybe I was wrong. Hedidn't get out of the car, just leaned back in his seat and watched me.
“Ron, thank you so much for calling–” I began as I walked across the yard.
