I miss you.
I love you.
Let me come and get you.
I watched as message after message was delivered. Staring at the screen, I saw the message status change.
Read.
She’d opened the messages. She’d read them. Yet, there were no gray bubbles. No vibration in my hand. Nothing. Silence. Agonizing silence.
Please.
Read.
Baby.
Read.
Her point had been made. She was still fuming. To clear my head, I made my way onto my porch. No blunt. Just emotions and a shitload of them motherfuckers.
“Look who has come up for air,” Nevaeh yelled over the fence before my ass could hit the concrete.
I hated the idea that we’d caused Hyphen pain. I’d never forgive myself for slipping. For being so careless. For being so foolish. That shit wasn’t worth it. Nothing was.
“Make this the last time you say anything to me. Don’t come near my fence and don’t bring me shit over here to eat. You feel me?”
“Understood,” she claimed, hands in the air as she backed away from my fence.
I opened my phone and tried Hyphen once more, hoping I had luck. I didn’t.
Sighing, I cut my losses and ended the call before the voicemail came on.
I stareddown at my vibrating cell. It was him again. For the three days he’d been calling multiple times a day, disrupting my nervous system. I silenced the call as I stepped into class where my professor and two other students were waiting.
Class didn’t start for another ten minutes, but I was anxious to review the notes I’d taken the previous week in order to replenish my knowledge bank. The constant calls were a distraction. I could hardly remember what I’d studied the day before, so anything that happened the week before was a blur.
My phone vibrated.I tapped the screen to find a new message. It wasn’t the first. I doubted it would be the last.
Pick up,Hyph.
Can I see you?
Can we talk?
It’s all gone.
An image accompaniedhis last message. It was all gone. Every piece of furniture in his living room had been replaced.
Just tellme what to do, Hyph, and it’s done.
I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I need you. You need me.
My nostrils swelledat the thought of that night and the fact that I knew Flocco would do anything I asked of him. No hesitation. But, I didn’t need him and he didn’t need me. It was better if we stayed far away from each other.
Another call came through.Unable to stomach the idea of sitting through class with my head and heart in another place, I stood and headed out of the door I’d come into. Tears stained my cheeks as I walked to my car.
I powered my cell down. Flocco was overwhelming. He was consuming. And, he was trying. That’s what I hated most. I could survive as long as he was quiet. As long as he was silent. Like the last few weeks. But, the voicemails, calls, and text were too much. I wasn’t emotionally equipped to handle them. To handle him.
