I have to hope she’ll understand that I am not my father.
Or, for that matter, my mother. Despite how much I’ve behaved like them since I met her.
I grip the steering wheel as doubt, too familiar and white-hot, shoots flares inside of me.
What if I’m wrong?
What if she never talks to me again?
How will I move on if it’s not with her?
I drop my head into my hands with a groan.
God, when did I become such a bitch?
Since you met your match.
Bitch.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Sin
Ambush
“This is the last time I’m letting you use my car,” I speak into my phone’s speaker and then send the voice note to Adonis.
“You better have put a full tank of gas in my car,” I add.
My phone rings and his name pops up. I answer with an angry swipe of my finger. “Where are you? I’ve been waiting forever,” I snap at him.
“I’m five minutes late, curb princess.”
Confused, I forget I’m annoyed and raise my eyebrow. “What the hell is a curb princess?”
“Someone who acts like having to stand on the curb for a few minutes is the same as being part of a chain gang. AKA,you.”
I try to keep my scowl on but it’s impossible. “Why is that so accurate, though?” I concede with a laugh. “The eleventh commandment is thou shall not keep Sin Sackey waiting.”
“And we love you for it. Don’t change.”
His words are an affirmation I didn’t know I needed. “You people get on my nerves, but you’re not all bad. How long until you get here?”
“Less than ten minutes. Go shopping.”
I turn and scan the shopping strip and start toward the Nordstrom Rack. “Did you pick up the flowers?” I ask.
“Was I supposed to?”
I stop walking and groan. “Yes. Never mind, we can stop on the way home. Just hurry and get here.” I hang up without saying goodbye. That boy is so irritating.
“Sin.” The voice comes from beside me, and in my periphery, I see the figure of a man and scream before I realize that it’s Kwame.
“You almost gave me a heart attack.” I press my palm against my chest and take a deep breath to try and slow my racing heart down. I lean against the storefront window of the Five Below. “What are you doing here?”
He takes a step toward me but doesn’t step into my personal space like he did last time I saw him. “I drove to your parents’ place and Adonis said you’d be here waiting for him so I drove here instead.”
I’m going tokillmy brother.
