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Lord knows I was okay with Raven wanting to take a break or even end things, but something just wasn’t right about how he was moving. I knew I wouldn’t get answers until it was time for them to be revealed, so I was trying to let it go. That was easier said than done, though. Until now, me and Raven had always been open and honest with each other. More than anything, it hurt that he was keeping something from me. Was he doing that to spare my feelings?
Had he already cheated?
Or did he really just need time and space to get his shit together?
I didn’t know, and I honestly wasn’t sure I ever would.
Putting my iPhone on its rose gold stand, I busied myself with opening my wine. Haley would call soon, and I wanted to be prepared. Depending on the kind of day she had, we would probably end up being on the phone all night.
“Where are you?” I asked, realizing Saint had gotten caught up in whatever was going on in his background. He could be in one city in the morning and another at night.
“I’m back in Memphis until tomorrow.”
“Oh. Lucky you.”
“Yeah, we out’chea ’bout to pull up on ya boy.”
“Who?” I asked skeptically, grabbing a bag of popcorn out of my snack cabinet.
“Hosea.”
A smile instantly spread my lips. Hosea was Haley’s brother. When I met Saint, he introduced me to all of his friends. I ended up going to a party Hosea threw and that was how I met Haley. We’d been best friends ever since. Naturally, Hosea and I spent a lot of time together over the years, but I was too shy to really be myself around him. Until Saint, I hadn’t had a lot of experience being around guys who were genuinely just friends. With time, I came out of my shell, and Hosea became more than a companion, but I didn’t quite know how to label him.
“What’s going on with him?”
“On some brokenhearted shit like you.”
I chuckled, tossing the popcorn into the microwave. “He’s still hurt over Mariah, huh?”
“He won’t say it, but Tyreek said this weekend makes one year since she went ghost, so we wanted to make sure he wasn’t overthinking that shit and letting it get the best of him.”
“Awww, aren’t y’all the sweetest roughnecks I know? Y’all are really great friends, Saint. That’s super noble.”
“Yeah, aight.” My eyes rolled as I suppressed my laugh. He hated compliments and sweet talk. “For real, though. Let me know if you want me to pull up on Raven. And don’t be too sad for too long. Feel ya feelings and learn ya lesson, but you too trill to stay down behind any nigga, you feel me?”
My exhale came out shaky. I nodded as if he could see me and sniffled as I pushed my tears back.
“I feel you.” My phone beeped, so I walked over to it and smiled at the sight of Haley’s FaceTime request. “That’s Haley, so I’ll let you go. Give Hosea a hug for me.”
Saint sucked his teeth. “Gone on with that shit, Cartier.”
All I could do was laugh and tell him I loved him before switching over to Haley.
“Well, you look like you’re in a good mood,” she noticed, smiling.
“Girl, I am. I was on the phone with Saint’s crazy ass.”
“Aw hell. What is he up to?”
“He’s in Memphis, actually. I guess they’re doing guys’ night with Hosea.”
Her smile wavered. “Well, that’s good. He won’t talk to me about it, but I know he’s in his feelings right now because of Mariah.” Haley’s eyes rolled. “I still can’t believe she did my brother like that. I owe her an ass whupping when I see her.”
At the sound of the microwave beeping, I stood and headed to grab my popcorn.
“Listen, I don’t blame you. She did Hosea dirty. He was way too good to her for that.”
“Speaking of which, have you heard from Raven?”
