Page 89 of Buy Back My Love

That got a laugh out of me before I could stop it. It ain’t last long, but for a few seconds, I wasn’t thinking about JB, Hannah, babies, prison, or none of that shit.

After we finished eating, I went back to the room and got dressed while Anika helped Maisie clean up. When I came back out, Maisie was already on the porch fucking with them plants she loved more than people.

“You ready?” Anika asked.

“Yeah.”

Maisie looked up from one of her flowerpots. “Where y’all going?”

“I’m taking her home,” Anika told her.

Maisie pointed at me. “And do what I told you.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Locks first, Lee.”

“I heard you.”

“And cameras.”

“I heard you.”

“And-”

“Mama, damn.”

She waved me off. “Go on then.”

Anika and me headed to her car, and the closer we got to my place, the more my stomach started acting funny again. I had only been gone one night, but everything about going back felt different. Yesterday morning, I had gotten dressed in that house thinking JB was my man and somewhere out of town handling business. Now I knew what the fuck he had really been doing when he wasn’t with me.

When we turned onto my street, I automatically looked toward the driveway. JB’s truck wasn’t there.

Anika pulled in and killed the engine. I reached for the door handle, but before I could open it, she popped the glove compartment.

“Hold up. Hand me my gun.”

I stared at her. “Bitch.”

“What?”

“We just had this whole conversation about guns.”

“Exactly. Hand me my shit.”

I carefully reached into the glove compartment and grabbed it. “Why the fuck you got this just riding around in here?”

“Lee, please. We can discuss gun safety after I make sure your crazy-ass boyfriend ain’t hiding in a closet.”

I handed it to her. “Boyfriend my ass.”

Anika looked at me for a second.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“Then quit looking at me.”