This made Teonny blink out of her rage for a moment. She looked up at him. “Everything okay?”
The anger she just spoke with to her mom had disappeared when she addressed him. She could never speak to him with anything but love. She noted that Prosper looked a little stressed. He was also a bit standoffish with her, but still gentle. Her head cocked to the side as she gazed at him.
He nodded curtly, which told Teonny that the gesture was a lie. Apparently, everything wasnotokay. “Come on. Get in the car.”
“I ain’t goin’ nowhere with you. I’m goin’ the fuck home,” Tameka spat as she hopped off the stool and tried to bypass Prosper.
He held his arm out to prevent her from leaving the kitchen. “This’ll only take a minute. You can leave after that.”
Tameka looked up at him in disgust, but she knew better than to argue. “Fine.”
Teonny’s jaw clenched as she watched her mom stomp toward the front door. Prosper eyed her. “Everything good?”
Teonny simply shook her head and wiped her remaining tears. “It’s just a good thing you got here when you did.”
She walked ahead of him, but he grabbed her by her waist and pulled her into him. “This shit ’bout to be all over, Peanut. You trust me?”
She peered up at him. To her, that was a silly question, but she could tell he was struggling with something internally. “Without a doubt.”
He looked down at her like there was more he wanted to say, but he kissed her instead. “Aight, let’s roll.”
They held hands as they exited the house that held all the tension in the world.
“Where the fuck are we?” Tameka asked as they pulled up the long dirt driveway that led to the warehouse. She had complained the entire thirty-minute ride, and Prosper was over it. If on some off chance he was wrong about Tameka, and she had nothing to do with what was goin’ on, then he would let her live but vowed to never deal with her so closely again. She was annoying as hell.
The only thing saving her and allowing her to still be treated like a human being was the fact that his safe house hadn’t been compromised. That was the only thing giving him pause.
He parked his car next to Lamar’s.
Thank God that nigga beat me back. We can get this shit on and poppin’. I’m tired as hell.Prosper glanced over at Teonny, who looked around in confusion. He hoped like hell when all this was said and done, he could lay up next to her. His heart told him to be still about that, so he promised he would. There was acertain amount of peace knowing that everything would happen exactly how it was supposed to.
“Come on,” Prosper said as he opened his door.
“Come on? Come on where? I ain’t goin’ in there,” Tameka argued.
Prosper closed his door on her rant. He was happy to see that despite the tension, Teonny remembered to wait for him to open her door. When he did, he was surprised to hear her cursing at her mama.
“Will you just shut the fuck up?”
“Since when do you speak to me like that?” Tameka’s words sounded shrill, like she was on the verge of screaming.
Teonny ignored her mother and got out of the car. Prosper closed the door and peered down at her. He wondered what had happened back at the house. When he walked in, he swore he could cut the tension with a damn knife. He knew he didn’t have time to pry, so he simply asked, once again, “You okay?”
She nodded with a deep frown on her face before her eyes drifted behind him. “Where are we? And why?”
“You trust me?” he asked her again. He wanted to be sure because what he was about to walk her into would be heavy. He didn’t want her to think he was setting her up or nothing like that.
Her worried gaze landed on him, and her features softened slightly. “Yeah,” she murmured.
He nodded, and then his face frowned up when he noticed Tameka hadn’t gotten out of the car. She sat in there with her arms crossed like a damn child.
“Aye, man. Get ya mama,” Prosper said. If he had to handle her, it wouldn’t be gentle.
Teonny blew out a harsh breath as if she was sick of her mama’s shit, too, and tugged the door open.
“Get out of the car, Ma,” Teonny snapped.
Prosper listened for a moment while the women bickered. Just when he had enough and was about to step in, Tameka got out of the car.
