Page 102 of Certified to Handle You 3

My eyes stayed ahead of me. I ain’t even really know what I was lookin’ for no more. I wanted to see that shirt again, that build, the side of his face or anything that would tell me I wasn’t losin’ my damn mind. I kept hearin’ that voice in my head, and the more I replayed it, the more sure I became that I had heard Renza.

I had talked to that man too many times. I had laid beside him, argued with him, laughed with him and listened to him talk for hours about every damn thing. I knew what Renza sounded like when he was mad, when he was sleepy and when he was talkin’ regular. There was no way a random man had opened his mouth ten or fifteen feet away from me and made somethin’ inside me react that fast for no reason.

At least that was what I kept tellin’ myself.

I made it further down the strip and stopped near the corner to look around. The crowd thinned out some, but I still ain’t see him.

A few people crossed the street ahead of me, and cars moved slow through traffic while cabs pulled in and out near the curb. I walked another few feet and looked toward the beach ‘cause that was the direction the man seemed to have been headed.

I could feel my nerves gettin’ worse by the second. “What the fuck?”

I stood here holdin’ an icee I had completely forgotten about while tryna figure out what to do.

Part of me wanted to keep walkin’, but I could’ve walked right past him if he had turned down one of the side streets. He could’ve gotten into a car. He could’ve gone inside somewhere. Hell, I could’ve been chasin’ some man who wasn’t Renza at all.

That last thought made me press my lips together.

Four days of lookin’ for somebody could make a bitch see whatever she wanted to see.

I had already walked up to one stranger’s truck ‘cause it reminded me of him. Now I was in the middle of Amiri ready to chase a man through a crowd ‘cause I heard half a sentence and saw the side of somebody’s face.

Still, I couldn’t let it go…

Somethin’ in me kept sayin’ I saw him.

I turned toward the street and noticed a cab parked near the curb with the driver’s window down. The man behind the wheel had a cigarette between his fingers and was lookin’ down at his phone while smoke floated out the window.

I went straight toward him. “Excuse me.”

He looked up at me and lowered his phone.

“You workin’?”

He glanced at the meter before noddin’. “Yeah.”

“I need you to take me…”

I stopped ‘cause I had no damn idea what I was about to say. I looked back toward the strip and pointed even though I knew that probably wasn’t helpin’ shit. “That way. Like toward the beach, but down further.”

The man stared at me like he was waitin’ on me to make some sense.

“There’s more than one beach area.”

“I know. I just…” I looked behind me again, and my heart started poundin’ harder when I thought about losin’ whatever chance I had. “Can you just drive down that way for me? I’m lookin’ for somebody.”

“Which way?”

I opened my purse and pulled out cash before I could think too hard about how crazy I probably looked. I handed him more than enough for a ride and pointed down the street again.

“Please. Just go that way and stay close to the beach. I’ll tell you if I need you to turn.”

He looked at the money and then looked at me before puttin’ his cigarette out.

“Alright. Get in.”

“Thank you.”

I opened the back door and climbed inside so fast I almost dropped my purse. The cab pulled away from the curb, and I immediately moved closer to the window so I could see outside.