Page 29 of Certified Sin

“She’s crazy! Your sister needs to be in a mental institution!” Danielle shouted, still tryna dodge Rayna’s hits.

“Hoe, I’mma institute on that ass. Get out of my brother’s house!” Rayna retorted and she stopped, putting her hands on her knees to catch her breath.

“Reese. I didn’t take anything,” Danielle muttered, walking up to him. The one on the porch started walking down the steps.

“You lying. I saw her. She took mama’s ring and put it in her pocket.”

“Where it’s at?” he asked her.

She averted her eyes, avoiding his gaze. “Quit playing with me, Danielle. I think I’m being patient as fuck,” Reese warned her.

She huffed out a breath, pulling something from her back pocket. It definitely looked like a ring.

“A’ight. Get your shit and go.” He tilted his head toward the house. To keep them apart, Reese made everybody stay outside while she went in to get whatever she needed.

Danielle came back out a few minutes later with two bags. Shoulders sagged, she walked to the car parked near the sidewalk and got in. The entire time this was going on, I didn’t move from my spot by the car. As the girl drove away, all eyes were on me.

“Hey.” I gave a timid wave.

“My name is...”

“Ronnie Russell!” The girl who was fighting, Rayna, ran up to me. She narrowed her eyes at Reese.

“Why you let me fight in front of her?” Reese snickered, locking his eyes with mine.

“Rayna’s in law school.”

“Oh!” I smiled sweetly. “Nice to meet you, Rayna.”

“Girl, I love you!” Rayna linked our arms together, leading me inside the house. Once we sat on the couch, she talked my head off. She told me all about her classes, wanted advice on the heavy workload, and she even asked how to balance a relationship.

I wouldn’t know about the last one. I didn’t date at all once I got to law school. I only had one boyfriend in undergrad. Speaking of boyfriends, I saw a missed call from Sin when we were in the parking lot at McDonald’s. I didn’t bother calling him back. I’m serious about ending whatever this is, and I can’t believe I was so stupid for him in the first place.

Rayna finally took a break from her interrogation to grab something to drink. Reese had disappeared somewhere an hour ago, so I focused my attention on the other sister, Raine, who was sitting on the loveseat next to me watching TV.

“Hi.” I waved. She looked over at me.

“Hey.” She seemed standoffish. Since I got here, she barely said anything to her sister or me.

“Congratulations on the baby. You must be real excited.” I tried to make simple conversation.

“Yeah.” She looked down to touch her stomach. I could be wrong, but she doesn’t look all that happy about being a mama.

“You know what gender you want?”

“I haven’t thought about it to be honest,” she admitted, just as Rayna came back around the corner with the phone to her ear.

“Yes, Rylee. We’re making sure she eats.” She made a face.

I didn’t think it was possible, but Raine shut down even more after hearing this. She leaned against the couch, pulling her knees up to wrap her arms around ‘em.

“Okay, I’ll tell her.” She hung up.

“Rylee said she loves you. she’ll see you soon.” Raine gave her a small smile but nothing more. Rayna then turned to me.

“Rylee is our other sister. She a sophomore at FAMU.”

I nodded.