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JOÃO
I wasn’t in the mood to fuck, but Imani had slid into my passenger seat after Landon pissed her off. Hell, he fucking pissed me off too. He had been sneaking around this past week and skipping out on shit we had to do, all to see some chick named Mindy or Misty or some shit.
“Where are we going?” Imani asked once I started the car.
“Why don’t you shut your mouth and you’ll see? You’re the one who got into my car,” I said to her, wanting her to get angry. She was hot when she pursed those thick lips together and glared at me.
Maybe I was horny.
Imani glared through the windshield. “Why do you always have to be a dick?”
“Why do you always want to ride one?”
She cut her gaze to me and curled her lip up in disgust. After rolling her eyes, she stared back out the window and shook her head, the frown reappearing on her face. “Do you think Misty is actually Landon’s cousin?”
Gripping the steering wheel a bit harder, I drove toward my house. Ana would be home soon, if she wasn’t already. For some fucking reason, her day care always fucking got out early, and the bus dropped her off before I even got home some days.
“Landon has a lot of cousins,” I said, strumming my fingers against the wheel. “But I’ve never met a Misty before, never even heard of her either. It could be on his mom’s side. He never really talks about them.”
Imani stared out the window. “Do you think he’d cheat?”
“Are you two a couple now?” I asked, kind of feeling pissed off at the thought.
Staying quiet, Imani shrugged. “I don’t know. Landon isn’t really good with relationships.”
“If you want someone who’s good with relationships, you’ve met the wrong gang.”
Once I pulled up to the house, I slammed my door closed, leaving Imani in the car, and walked toward the front door. Ana had a key, but if she was home, the door would be unlocked. As many times as I told her to lock the door, she never did. When I went to turn the knob, it wouldn’t budge.
“You are literally the most annoying turd that I have ever come across.” Imani stepped out of the car and crossed her arms at me.
Behind her, a bus pulled up to the curb, and Ana hopped out, her pigtails bouncing in the wind like they always did.
“João!” she shouted, hurrying over to me.
After wrapping her arms around my leg, she glanced up at Imani. “And João’s girlfriend!”
Once Ana finished hugging Imani, I grimaced at Imani and shoved my key into the door. I didn’t like the way she and Mom thought that Imani was my girlfriend or how much Ana liked Imani. I didn’t plan on keeping Imani around that long, anyway.
I hoped Landon’s thing with her would pass quickly because no girl got in the middle of Poison, especially a rich one like Imani. She wouldn’t last a couple months, watching the shit that we did. I was surprised that she had stayed after we kicked the shit out of Harvey.
Ana wrapped her hand around Imani’s and led her into the house, switching on the light and grabbing a couple boxes of Toddynho for her and Imani. I turned on the TV and switched it to Ana’s favorite channel, the words all in Portuguese. Imani wouldn’t understand any of it, but she was going to sit down and endure it all like I did almost every afternoon.
Ana sat on the opposite side of the couch as me, wiggling her eyebrows at me as she left the only room in the middle for Imani. Imani sat down on the small couch between Ana and me, our thighs touching.
“What are we watching?” Imani asked, sipping her carton.
“You won’t understand it,” I said.
Ana turned her body toward me, narrowing her little eyes and tossing her pigtail over her shoulder. “It’s in Portuguese, but I’ll teach you it. Don’t worry about João. He’s a meanie and a bad boyfriend.”
Imani stifled a laugh and turned toward her. “He is a bad boyfriend.”
God, they were annoying.
And so, for the next hour, I listened to Ana teach Imani every damn word of her favorite show. I’d bet Imani retained none of it. The words were probably too throaty and nasally for her to understand anything.
The front door opened, and Mom came home early. Ana ran over to her, smiling from ear to ear and asking her what we would have for dinner. My smile faltered as Mom looked even more tired today than she had yesterday. Every fucking day, she looked more and more drained, less and less happy anymore.
