“It’s normal for me,” he said. “I always know where the important shit in my life at. Money. Family. Businesses. You just in that category now.”
I stared at him, chest tight, heart beatin’ fast…part fear, part… somethin’ else I didn’t wanna name.
“You don’t see the problem with puttin’ me in the same category as ‘assets’?” I asked.
“You not an asset,” he said. “You the whole ledger.”
I hated the way that hit.
“Roman—”
He cut me off. “Look. You can call it whatever you want. Obsession, stalkin’, crazy. Cool. But I’m not about to apologize for carin’. You move like you alone. I move like you not.”
“Iamalone,” I fired back. “That’s the whole point. I don’t want no relationship. I ain’t sign up to be nobody’s obsession.”
He stepped even closer, backin’ me up a little toward the sinks.
“You keep sayin’ you don’t want a relationship,” he said, voice low and steady, “but you keep answerin’ me. You keep showin’ up at my spots. You keep leavin’ little ass notes on my nightstand like you don’t know what that do to me.”
My face heated. “That note was a thank you, nigga. Don’t do too much.”
He smirked. “You left your name with a heart next to it.”
“I always draw hearts,” I lied.
He looked amused. “Mhmm.”
We glared at each other.
The bathroom felt small as hell.
“You can’t do this,” I said, tryin’ to steady my voice. “You can’t decide I’m yours and then move around me like I don’t get a say. I don’t care what you been through. I don’t care what you lost. You not about to turn me into some project you monitor from the shadows.”
He looked at me so long I almost looked away.
Then he said, “I know this shit is unhealthy, Melissa. I’m not dumb. I see how far I’m takin’ it. But the quicker you stop fightin’ me, the quicker this can be normal.”
I blinked. “Normal?”
“Yeah,” he said. “You stop runnin’ every time it get deep, I stop feelin’ like I gotta chase you everywhere to make sure you still here. You let yourself be mine for real, I won’t have to watch you from bathrooms and parkin’ lots.”
My throat went dry.
“You really insane,” I whispered. “You know that?”
“Probably,” he said, like he’d accepted it. “But I’d rather be insane and present than sane and absent. I already know what it feel like to lose everythin’. I’m not doin’ that again if I can help it.”
We stared at each other, breathin’ hard.
Somebody jiggled the handle outside and we both went still.
“Is somebody in there?” a woman’s voice called.
Roman didn’t move.
I stepped around him, opened the door a crack. “Yeah, one sec.”
She huffed and walked off, heels clickin’ down the hall.
