Page 55 of Mister President

“You gon’ stop acting like you don’t miss me, bruh. That’s why you put the iPad across from your seat so you could look at me.”

We all laughed, but I couldn’t deny that I missed him and Mally Mal. “Whatever helps you sleep better at night, Neko,” I said as my laugh died down.

“Where’s my girl?” Malorie asked from next to him.

“Who?” I asked, pointing at Mama. “Mama over there.”

Malorie’s eyes rolled. “Amanda.”

“I assume she’s at home with EJ.” They all looked at me, and I laughed. “What?”

“I’m just trying to figure out what’s going to happen with y’all now that you’re done with the toddler,” Malorie continued.

“Mhm,” Mama cosigned, bobbing her head. “We on the same page, baby.”

Groaning, I massaged my temple.

“We can’t even say grace before y’all start in on me?”

“I’m just here for the details,” Neko said. “It ain’t even dinner time for us. We just had breakfast.”

“Fine.” I agreed. “Fiona and I did break up. To make a long, unnecessary story short, her parents were not going to approve of our relationship. She knew that and hid it from me.”

“I knew it was something,” Mama said.

“Why wouldn’t they?” Pops asked.

“Declan tried you?” Neko asked.

“I knew something was off with that girl,” Malorie added.

I ended up breaking everything down, and by the time I was done, they all remained on mute.

“Now y’all asses ain’t got nothing to say?” I said, making them laugh.

“I’m surprised more than anything,” Pops said. “I’m disappointed in Declan. Like you said, we can all have our preferences, but I thought he was really for our people.”

“That’s what I said. I won’t take away from what he’s done for me and others, but certain morals and principles have to be instilled in a person for me to rock with them. Hearing him say that had me good on him and her. I feel bad for her, though, because it’s clear she wants control, but she also wants to make them happy. I just hope he can find someone she’ll actually want to be with.”

“Mhm, and what about you?” Mama asked. “How do you feel?”

With a shrug, I took a sip of my water. “I’m feeling better now. I was pissed yesterday. My feelings will probably shift the more I process it and adjust. For now, I’m okay. And please, don’t ask me about Mandy. Nothing’s changed between us.”

“For now,” Mal said with a grin.

I didn’t even bother responding to her silly ass. As much as I wanted Mandy, I wasn’t going there right now. Things with Fiona took off because they were easy and reciprocated. Regardless, it was over, and I needed to give myself time to work through the conflicting things I was feeling and thinking.

31

Amanda

Halloween Eve

A coupleof days had passed since I saw Elias at the food truck. Something was off with him. When he interacted with people, he was present, but shortly after, he’d disengage and go to his own world. Since we had a long day of trick or treating with EJ tomorrow, I wanted to make sure he was going to be good. Otherwise, I would offer to do it myself.

As curious as I was about what was going on with him, I hesitated to ask him about it. Normally, Elias had no problem talking to me. This evening, he’d barely said more than ten words to me. Was it because of Ryan? Had he seen us kiss? Sighing, I looked down into my cup and resisted the urge to put some tequila in my lemonade. The last time I was here, I smoked and drank and had to spend the night. I tossed and turned all night, wishing I could have crawled in his bed. Tonight was not going to be a repeat of that.

When I couldn’t take it anymore, I checked in on the kids in EJ’s room then went to find West or David. I spotted West first. He was on the patio smoking as usual.

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