Chapter 1
Maliah Browne
“What are you looking at, Harry Potter?”
I placed my hand on my hip and then rolled my eyes at my older brother. He rubbed the scar that had been on his forehead since he was a little boy.
“Dad is gonna flip when he finds out that you snuck ya ass out of here.”
“Well, how is he going to find out?” I closed my room window back, took off my jacket, and tossed it on the ottoman at the foot of my bed before taking a seat. The smell of clean linen invaded my nose. It was the signature Air Wick scent for my room. I crossed my arms over my breasts and then stared at my brother before opening my mouth again. “Are you going to rat me out?”
I watched MJ chew his apple just like how our father does. He just stared at me while he casually turned the green object in his hand and used his straight white teeth to bite another side. The act caused this hard crunching noise to fill the space between us. His sharp jawline flexed as he chewed.
“Are you?” I asked again.
“Na… Maylee will though, so you better put on some pajamas or your robe or something before she…”
“Ooooo, I’m telling Daddy.”
“See, I told you,” MJ said with a devilish smirk as he stepped aside to give me room. I ran past him at full speed to chase our little sister.
“Daaa…”
I jumped on Maylee’s back and put my hand over her mouth as we both tumbled to the floor.
“What do you want? Huh?” I asked hastily.
I removed my hand from her mouth just enough for her to answer my question.
“Let me wear your Dior bag to school tomorrow.”
“Let you do what?”
She had to be tripping. Dad and Mom didn’t buy her designer clothes because she mistreated her regular clothes.
“Daaaa…” she started until I covered her mouth again.
“What the hell are y’all doing?”
Both Maylee and I looked up to find our mother standing in the doorway of our parents’ room. Her red silk robe was wrapped tightly around her curvy frame. My mother had brown skin with full cheeks and naturally arched eyebrows. Her almond-shaped brown eyes stared down at us as her arms crossed over her breasts. I knew that she had her long natural hair up in a wrap by the silk scarf she had tied securely on her head.
“You better not put one speck on my bag,” I whispered in Maylee’s ear.
“Nothing, Mama, we were just playing around,” she quickly said.
“Playing around at one in the morning is crazy. Y’all better cut that shit out before y’all wake up y’all father.”
“Too late.”
The room door opened wider. There stood my father, standing directly behind my mother. Malik Renmen Browne’s tall, robust frame hovered over her. I could tell that he had justwoken up because his eyes were barely open, plus he used the back of his tatted hand to wipe his eyes. The light from the hall hit him at an angle that displayed his deep chocolate skin. His spade-shaped nose flared a bit, so I could tell that he was furious.
“Y’all asses in trouble now,” MJ said as he carelessly walked past us and down the hall toward his room. He was still eating that damn apple on his stroll.
“Malik Junior…” MJ turned around at the sound of our father’s deep voice, “Watch your mouth.”
“Sorry, Pops.”
He closed his room door, leaving Maylee and me in the hall to deal with our parents’ wrath.
