“Money straight?” I asked. “Everything good with the Philly spot?”
“Yeah, money straight,” he said. “Everything runnin’ smooth. That ain’t what I asked, though.”
I dragged a hand over my face. “I’m good, Truce.”
He watched me for a second, then his mouth kicked up. “This about Melissa, ain’t it?”
I cut my eyes at him. “What?”
“Don’t what me, nigga,” Truce said, sittin’ back in the chair like he was gettin’ comfortable. “I know that girl. You think I ain’t peeped the way you been movin’ since y’all came back?”
I frowned. “Since when you ‘know’ Melissa?”
He gave me a look. “You forget my twin used to be on her heavy? Trend and Melissa use to be a couple?”
I paused, tryna remember.
“Oh,” I spoke under my breath. I did remember them bein’ around each other back in the day, but I never paid that shit too much attention. “That was light.”
“For him,” Truce said. “Not for her. She liked him more than she ever admitted. Problem is, Melissa used to bein’ the man and the woman in her shit.”
I raised a brow. “What that mean?”
“It mean she used to runnin’ it,” he said. “Trend tried to let her be soft, she ain’t know what to do with it. She wanna make all the decisions, control every move, then get mad when a nigga don’t magically read her mind. That’s why them two ain’t work. She ain’t know how to fall back and just be a woman with a man that would actually hold her down.”
I sat there, lettin’ that marinate.
“And then she went from that to Jordan,” Truce went on, shakin’ his head. “And you know that nigga straight fucked her up. Played in her face, embarrassed her, had her out here lookin’ crazy. She been carryin’ all that around. So now? Any time she feel herself likin’ somebody too much, she start actin’ funny makin’ her pullback game strong.”
My jaw tightened.
He wasn’t sayin’ nothin’ I ain’t already feel but hearin’ it from somebody who watched it from the outside hit different.
“So yeah,” he said. “If she actin’ weird, that’s probably all it is. She used to gettin’ her way, bein’ the one callin’ the shots. You the first nigga that don’t move when she say move. That’s gon’ throw her off.”
“Shorty must be actin’ funny?” Truce pushed. “You look like you ready to choke somebody, but I’m tellin’ you…this just howshe built. She don’t trust easy, and when she finally do, she lowkey be waitin’ on you to fuck her up.”
I leaned back, thumb draggin’ over my bottom lip. “I’m not that nigga.”
“I know you not,” he said. “She don’t. Not yet. In her head, Trend didn’t feel safe enough to lean on, and Jordan proved every fear she had right. So now she on defense with you before you even do shit.”
“So what you sayin’?” I asked. “I’m supposed to just sit back and let her move however?”
Truce shook his head. “Nah. You ain’t built for that. I’ve known you too long. I’m sayin’ if you really want her, you gon’ have to out-stubborn her. She gon’ push, you gon’ have to pull. She gon’ try to be the man, you still gotta be the man anyway. ‘Cause if you fold, she really not gon’ respect you.”
I huffed out a breath, the tension was sittin’ on my shoulders. “Sounds like a fuckin’ headache.”
He smirked. “You already in it, so what we talkin’ about? I ain’t never seen you this stuck on nobody. Not even Mo before she was your wife. You usually cut shit off the second it don’t move how you like. With her? You lettin’ it slide and gettin’ mad about it later.”
He wasn’t lyin’.
I had always been the type to walk away from shit that didn’t move how I needed. Business or personal.
But this?
I couldn’t shake.
Truce stood up, adjustin’ his chain. “Look, whatever it is, get your head around it. We got that meet with the security team tomorrow. I need you locked in, not sittin’ in here rereadin’ text messages like a bitch.”
