“I don’t care what you or anybody else thinks. And I don’t have to explain a damn thing to the mothafuckas that just wrote me off.”
“Wrote you off?” Lock’s brows dipped angrily. “You know how much time and how many private investigators I had on this, not to mention all the homies in the street keeping their ears out. I spent plenty of nights not even able to sleep because the shit felt like my fault.”
“And I’m sure that Alba here was more than willing to help put you to sleep.” I uttered, eyes rolling.
This entire situation was starting to irk me and I was hungry.
“Considering how you just left?—”
“I didn’t just leave! Okay! Something happened… and let’s just say… everything ain’t what it seems.” My eyes misted and something shifted behind his stare.
Alba was left with part of her mouth hanging open, speechless.
“Harbor, if you need some help?—”
“I don’t.” I insisted. “What I need to know is do you want this house or not?” I asked, sighing.
“Yes, we do.” Alba spoke up before Lock could. “Right?” She checked with him.
“Yeah.” He agreed, but he never took his eyes from me.
Alba caught on and kept going back and forth between us like she could read between our gaze.
“Great. So get us the papers so that we can take care of this and hopefully never see one another again.” She forced a big smile on her lips, but there was resentment built behind her scrutinizing orbs.
“Let’s hope.” I muttered, peering down at the ground. “I’ll get you everything you need by the end of the week. I will need the down payment or however you’re footing this by that time as well. Is there anything else that I can assist you with?”
“That should take care of it.” Alba nodded.
“Great.” I put on my resting bitch face and strolled past them back into the house.
I had more than enough of this entire situation. My head was spinning and my bed was practically calling me. Fatigue submerged me the minute Dr. Lane told me I was pregnant. We all met up out front and Deviance was perched outside the car waiting. He had both of his arms, which were like the size of my damn legs, draped across his puffed-out chest.
“If you want, you can just send me the check by mail or messenger. And I can have the papers for the house delivered the same way, marked for you to sign and send back. We definitely don’t need to do this again.”
“You know what’s funny? You acting like we wronged you. Lock didn’t know where you were or what you were into. And now he finds out after all this time that you weren’t in any danger at all, but in the arms of another man. How do you think that makes him feel?” Alba questioned.
“I don’t know. Why don’t you let him do the talking?” I quipped, and that got her to shut her mouth.
She cut her eyes at Lock, and when he didn’t respond or jump to her defense, she became agitated.
“Alba, can you wait in the car for me?” Lock requested.
“Are you serious right now?” She scoffed.
“Yeah, I am. I need to talk to Harbor.” He articulated.
“Fine.” She pierced me with daggers before stomping off like a little ass kid that didn’t get her way.
“I don’t have time for this, Lock?—”
“Then make time.” He cut me off, stepping closer so that he towered over me.
My breathing hitched under his grimace of disappointment.
“Stop giving me this rehearsed bullshit and tell me what happened to you. This is me. The nigga that caught you breaking into the dance studio when you had barely hit puberty. We used to sit up on the phone together until the wee fucking hours. I would be on the block and you would be in bed watching some educational shit that you made sound interesting as fuck. Where is that girl? What happened to us?” He asked, damned near pleaded.
With my hormones in overdrive, I could barely take the desperation in his voice. He had reminded me of so much that we had shared in such little time. True we had dated for only two years, but we had built a friendship off that long before. Sniffling and blinking so that he wouldn’t see the tears threatening to fall, my head lowered. I put on my game face, which was basically an empty mask when I gaped back at him.
