Page 45 of Vega

“She hasn’t eaten since I took her.”

“Probably because you kidnapped her, genius.”

Prodigy grinned. “You’re feeling her.”

“No.” But I felt the corner of my mouth try to lift.

Prodigy’s eyes widened. “Nigga, are you blushin’?”

“Shut the fuck up.”

“You are. That’s wild.”

“I’m not blushing.”

“You damn near smiling while talking about a woman who tried to take your eye out.”

I looked down at the water bottle instead of the screen. “She’s cute and different.”

“You meet cute women that are different every day, and you don’t blush over them.”

“I told you I’m not blushing.”

“Your ears look red, nigga.”

I exhaled, already irritated that he wasn’t completely wrong. “I’m attracted to her. Not just in the regular way.”

Prodigy went quiet.

I didn’t know how to explain it without sounding crazier than I already felt. “She’s soft, but not weak. Smart as hell with a reckless mouth. She looked me dead in my eyes and asked when I was going to kill her like death didn’t scare her.” I shook my head. “I don’t know. It’s something about her.”

“But?”

“But she’s an assignment. A woman I took from her home. She fears me, and she should. There’s nothing I can do with what I feel.”

Prodigy’s expression changed into something more serious. “Then be careful.”

I looked at the screen, raising a brow. “Why you say that?”

His voice lost the teasing. “I’m telling you this as the nigga currently yearning over a woman I might never get back. Be careful before you end up like me.”

“You really think Arielle was the one?”

“I don’t know,” he finally admitted. “That’s the problem. I let her go before I could find out.”

For once, I didn’t have anything smart to say.

Prodigy leaned closer to the camera. “That shit feels different when she’s gone and all you got left is what you should’ve done.”

I looked away from the screen and reached for a napkin.

“Sonnet’s not mine to lose.”

“Maybe not,” he said. “But you’re already acting like she is.”

I ended the call before he could expose me any further. “I’ll hit you later.”

He ended the call after saying, “Holla.”