“Do you have somewhere we can talk?”
He nods, standing up, and motions for me to follow.
We move through the doors and to the right, down a hall, and he abruptly stops.
“What’s this?” I ask him, looking at the box he has opened with his key.
“Just put your shit inside.” He demands.
“Why?”
“Because I don’t fucking trust you.” He snaps at me. It’s funny because out of all the times I’ve been in here, this is the first time I’ve ever had to lock my shit up.
“Fair enough.” Shaking my head before I hesitate and set my phone down in the box.
He sits down in a chair, nodding for me to follow him.
“What’s going on with her?”
“Um,” I hesitate. “Can we just agree that the whole ‘don’t kill the messenger thing’ is upheld in this situation?”
“Elias, start talking.”
I know the use of my legal name is because I got to him using his.
“I’m worried about her. And I dunno who to talk to. And after last time we talked…”
“Yeah, you mean when I told you she was my girl?” I can see sadness spread across his face.
“Yeah… that. I’m still not exactly sure what you mean by that, but I also didn’t know who else to come to.”
“Spit it out. What is it?”
“She started seeing Darren.”
“Sherman?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?” he scoffs, reflecting my feeling about the situation.
“Fuck if I know. You know her, right? She doesn’t really date. I’ve known her since she moved here. I mean, she had that one boyfriend that she lived with, but since him, I dunno it was like she would see a guy for a month and then on to the next one.But Darren…” I trail, not wanting to finish. “She started seeing Darren a couple of months ago. But she’s been with him for longer than anyone else.”
“Okay…”
“Do you know Darren?”
“Of him.” He laughs. “I mean, he was a part of the few that were tailing us for a while.”
It shouldn’t surprise me he knew exactly who was following him. I mean, hell; I’m the one who tipped him off to it, even if he isn’t aware it was me.
“I’ve seen him date quite a few women over the years.”
“Okay?” he pauses, and I see the territorial look take over him. “Why are you so protective of her all of a sudden?”
“Calm down. It’s not like that.” He crosses his arms as if he doesn’t believe me. “Fine. Look, you and I, we were friends back in the day, right?” he rolls his eyes, shaking his head as if he doesn’t want to admit it. “Seriously? Shit, I mean, I know we ended up very different.”
“Fine, yeah, we were.”
