Page 14 of Dali: The Demolisher

I chuckled and loosened my grip on the steering wheel.

There wasn’t too much Ken wouldn’t do for Sam, but he hated taking her and her friends to the park because they would always want to stay for hours.

“You talked to your sister lately?”

“Every day, but you know that. Wassup?”

“Did she… tell you about what happened the other day?”

He chuckled and took his sweet time responding.

“About you threatening some dentist that kissed her? Yeah. She told me about that.”

I groaned and palmed my mouth. “I fucked up. I know she got a thang about fighting. I don’t know what came over me. It felt like the responsible thing to do.”

The boisterous laughter that seeped from his lips made me feel better about the situation, even though it was clear he wasn’t taking me seriously.

“Warning her about what you’d do to a man she kissed or dated felt like the responsible thing to do?”

“Yeah, basically. That was fair, right? I mean… I could have told her not to date at all. Instead, I told her not to let me see it. Compromise.”

The line was silent for a while before he laughed even harder. After sucking his teeth, he said, “Mannn, say. Your life would be a hell of a lot easier if you just told the girl you loved her.”

“I’ma get to that eventually. I just… need to make sure it’ll be worth it. Based on her reaction that day—”

“Her calling you delusional?”

“Yeah, that.” I cleared my throat and chuckled. “She might not even take a relationship with me seriously. I need to take my time with this. And what was delusional about what I said anyway?”

“Dali, you told her she wasn’t single even though she is. That’s not sane.”

“Regardless, even without a title, I said what I said, and I meant that shit. So if she cares about these niggas, she better do whatever she gon’ do in private. Matter fact, she can’t even date. The time for that was pre-2024. That’s done now. Only man she gon’ be dating going forward is me. You tell your sister that since she ain’t answering my phone calls.”

“I ain’t telling her assshit,” he said through his chuckle. “Yougo tell her. She at the house now. I was supposed to go cut her grass, but Sam got me out later than expected so I told her I’d come do it tomorrow.”

“Which means she more than likely over there trying to do it herself.”

“Exactly.”

“Aight, bet. Good lookin’ out.”

After disconnecting the call, I changed directions and headed to Kassadee’s home. Cutting her yard wasn’t going to make her less mad, but it would at least give me an excuse to be in her presence.

8

Kassadee

I really neededto work on my patience. I hated asking people to do stuff for me, and if they couldn’t do it immediately, I hated waiting for it to be done. It was different when they offered. That whole control thing I suppose. Either way, my dad was in Memphis for the weekend, and I was tired of waiting for Ken to come and cut my grass.

There was always Dali, but I didn’t want to call him. I was still a little peeved about his behavior at the bar. It turned me on. It felt like he was trying to stake his claim on me in a roundabout way. For once, I wished he would have made his intentions clear, but like always, his words and actions left me more confused than I was to begin with.

Hearing him say I wasn’t single even though we weren’t together pissed me off. The audacity of him to think my dating life would revolve around him. I couldn’t even say the man said it because he liked me. For all I knew, he just didn’t want anyone else to have me. People were possessive in that way. In my mind, that was the perfect opportunity for Dali to say he didn’t wantme to date anyone else becausehewanted to date me. Until he actually said that, I didn’t give a damn about any other words that came from his mouth.

Sitting on my porch with a pout, my elbows rested on my thighs as I palmed my cheeks. I looked over my yard in pure disgust. I thought cutting my grass was going to be easier than it actually was. I’m not sure what settings I had the mower on to make it look so butchered and unlike it did when my dad or brother did it, but this whole independent woman thing was beyond me.

At the sound of a car coming down the street, I lifted my head. Both anger and relief flowed through me briefly when I noticed Dali’s truck. Realistically, I didn’t have a reason to be upset with him. If he didn’t want to commit to me, it was his loss. I wasn’t going to let my feelings and unrequited love for him send me out bad when it came to this yard. I’d let him cut it, but I for damn sure wasn’t going to make it easy.

After parking on the opposite side of the street, Dali hopped out of his truck. It looked like it was taking everything inside of him not to laugh as he took pictures of my yard.

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