Page 17 of Buy Back My Love

I laughed. “Girl, bye.”

“What?” Anika put on an innocent face. “You used to let me borrow your purses.”

“Them purses came from the mall.”

“And?”

“And you ain’t borrowing my Chanel.”

She sucked her teeth and pushed away from the wall. “Damn. You been home six hours and already acting brand-new.”

“I ain’t even had the bag six hours.”

“Exactly. You ain’t attached to it yet. Let me get it before you are.”

I followed her toward the door, laughing. “Hell no.”

Anika shook her head like I had personally disappointed her. “See? A little luxury and you done changed already.”

“Oh my God.” I shoved her away from my shoulder. “Get away from me.”

“I’m just saying. The Lee I remember knew how to share.”

By the time we went back inside, Nina had cut the cake, Wren had started another round of margaritas, and Trevon was trying to convince JB that the Saints were going to the Super Bowl that year. JB caught my eye from across the room, and I smiled before I could stop myself.

As the evening started winding down, Nina gathered empty plates while Wren helped Anika pack leftovers into the refrigerator. I thought JB had finally run out of surprises until he appeared beside me with a key fob dangling from one finger and nudged my arm with his elbow.

“Come on.”

I looked at the key, then back at him. “Where?”

“The garage.”

Nina stopped scraping cake into a container and looked up. “Oh, shit.”

I glanced between all of them. “What?”

Wren bit back a smile and nodded toward the laundry room. “Go see.”

JB didn’t explain anything else. He just started walking, and I followed him through the laundry room to the door leading into the attached garage.

He unlocked it, then stepped aside. “Open it.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Why you can’t?”

“Because it’s yours.”

That made my heart start beating a little faster as I wrapped my hand around the doorknob and pushed it open. The garage light flickered on, revealing a black Mercedes-Benz AMG with a giant red bow centered on the hood. I stopped just inside the doorway, staring at the shiny black paint and dark-tinted windows while everybody behind me finally shut the hell up.

I walked toward it slowly, still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that there was a Mercedes in my garage with a ridiculous bow on the hood like I was in one of them car commercials.

“JB...”

JB came to stand beside me and held out the key fob. I finally tore my eyes away from the car long enough to look at him.

“You bought me a Mercedes?”

“You always said you wanted one.”