Vaughn cleared his throat, drawing my attention from Ayana. He gripped my younger sister, Emerie’s, hand. “Bruh? I don’t want my baby to go to jail today.”
Last year, Emerie had surprised us all when she’d announced she was moving to Los Angeles to be with Vaughn. While I would never have picked my best friend for my little sister, they were good for each other. They’d both been through a lot, and I was glad they were happy. The day had started out good enough with their arrival in town for a wedding. With my luck lately, I should’ve known it wouldn’t last.
I glanced at Emerie, then at my older sister, Dana. The murderous look in their eyes told me I needed to handle my business before one or both of them pulled their earrings off and took care of it for me.
Letting out a heavy sigh, I grumbled. “Get up, Ayana.”
“Len?” The smile on her face fell as she stood. She set the ring on the table. “Please.”
“What the hell are you doing?” I said, keeping my voice low.
“Baby?” Ayana grabbed my hand. “I want to take our relationship to the next level. We talked about marriage. Let’s do it.”
Marrying her would’ve been the mistake of a lifetime. Instinctively I’d known that for much of our ill-fated relationship. But I’d been too busy to break up with her, too nice to put her out on the street with nowhere to go, too much of a gentleman to treat her the way she treated everyone else. I pulled my hand from hers. “Stop.”
“Lennox, I’m sorry. I messed up.”
“Messed up?” I said, fighting to control my temper.Messing upwould be putting sugar in a big pot of spaghetti. Messing upwas turning down the wrong street on the drive home. Messing upcould even be choosing grilled salmon over fried catfish. Messing up didn’t involve committing crimes, perpetrating fraud, and stealing money. Two things I hated—a thief and a con. Ayana was both.
“Yes,” she pleaded. “I made a mistake.”
I let out a humorless chuckle. “This is some bullshit,” I muttered. “Go home, Yana.”
Dana chimed in, “I’d like to know where the hell she got the money for that ring.” My older sister had introduced me to Ayana years ago, and had apologized every day since for bringing the drama into my life. “She sure as hell was crying broke a week ago when she had the nerve to ask me for fifty dollars.”
“Who’s to say she paid for the ring?” Emerie added with a shrug. “She’s a fuckin’ thief. I told you to turn her ass in to the police, Len.”
“You need to leave,” I told Ayana. “You’ve already embarrassed yourself—and me.”
Ayana let out a loud, dramatic wail, covering her face. “I can’t believe you’re telling me no. After all we’ve been through together.”
Dana stood then. “You played yourself, Ayana,” she snapped. “Get the hell out of here. Lennox won’t hit you, but I have no problem kicking your ass out of this restaurant.”
Someone snorted. I didn’t bother trying to figure out which bystander had done it. I didn’t even care at that point. I just wanted this entire scene to end. Picking up the ring, I placed it in Yana’s hand. “Don’t try this again,” I warned.
With shaky hands, Ayana stuffed the ring in her pocket. “I won’t give up on us.”
“I don’t care what you do,” I said. “Just do it far away from me and my family.”
“Fine, I’m leaving. We’ll talk later.”
Shaking my head, I told her, “No, we won’t.”
After a few more minutes of her acting like the wounded victim by making eye contact with the older women and sniffing into a tattered piece of tissue another stranger had given her, Ayana finally walked out of the restaurant. And, again, all eyes were on me.
I dropped sixty dollars on the table. “Let’s get out of here,” I grumbled through clenched teeth.
Several minutes later, we sat down in a corner booth at another restaurant.
“How did she even know we were there?” Emerie asked, pouring cream into her coffee mug. “Does she have a tracker on your phone?”
Shrugging, I said, “She probably asked my teaching assistant. I don’t know. It’s not like I don’t eat at Afternoon Delight at least once a week.”
Vaughn took a sip from his mug. “Maybe it’s time to change the routine a little, bruh.”
“Or get a restraining order,” Dana suggested. “Like I told you to do in the first place. It’s not too late.”
“I’m not doing that shit,” I murmured. “I already have one against that student I told y’all about.”
