Page 45 of When a Soul Cries

And there went that damn image of Rome again. The smile. The eyes. The way his shirt fit across his shoulders.

I pressed my lips together.

Zari gasped. “You got quiet again!”

I immediately started walking faster, like somehow she could catch me through the damn phone. “Girl, fuck you.”

“Oh, he fine-fine!”

“Goodbye.”

I could hear her laughing as I pulled the phone away from my ear. “Tell Halo I love her.”

“I will. And Sol?”

I put the phone back to my ear. “What?”

“Go eat.”

I shook my head, but a smile had already found its way back onto my face. “I’m coming home.”

“Aight.”

“I am.”

“I said aight.”

Her tone told me she didn’t believe a word coming out of my mouth. I ended the call and dropped my phone into my purse.

“Annoying ass.”

But I was smiling.

I shook it off. Nope. I was going home. That was my final answer.

I found my keys and started toward my car, but the second I looked up, my feet stopped.

Across the parking lot, leaning against his car with his arms folded across his chest like he had all the time in the damn world, was Rome. He spotted me almost immediately and smiled.

Not a big smile. That slow, cocky one that had already gotten on my nerves earlier.

For half a second, I just stood there looking at him. He had one ankle crossed over the other, shoulders relaxed against the car like standing around waiting for me was the most natural thing in the world.

My eyes narrowed as I started walking toward him. The closer I got, the more amused he looked. I stopped a few feet away and shifted my purse higher on my shoulder. “Oh, so we stalking now?”

Rome pushed himself off the side of the car, dragging his bottom lip between his teeth like he was trying not to laugh. “Stalking?”

“Yes, stalking.” I waved my hand between him and the building behind me. “Because unless you picked up a part-time shift while I wasn’t looking, I can’t think of another reason you still at my damn job.”

His eyes stayed on mine for a second before his smile widened. “Damn. Can’t a nigga wait for somebody?”

I cocked my head to the side. “Who told you to wait for me?”

“Nobody.”

“Exactly.”

I tried to walk past him, but hearing him call my name made me keep listening even though I kept moving.