Page 28 of Deuce

I swallowed hard. I wasn’t a scary bitch by any means, but I knew when to pick my battles. The way she said that sent chills up my spine. This bitch was probably as unhinged as her brother. I looked over at Sharina and she didn’t look phased at all.

“Does this make you uncomfortable, Salima,” Jaeda asked.

“Your brother put a gun to my head, then showed up at my house the next morning handing me ten grand in cash. Pardon me if I’m a little cautious of your family. I’m still trying to figure out how he knew where I lived.”

Jaeda’s pretty face glowed with a red hue. “I might have given him the information.”

“Might have?”

Her eyes rolled to the ceiling. “Let’s just say I have a special skill set.”

“You’re a hacker,” Shar said.

“I won’t confirm or deny that.”

“Oh baby, I can read between the lines.”

I shook my head. “So, when he said he could find out anything he wanted to know about me, he was referee to you?”

“Yes.”

“And you knew who I was when you sat down?”

“Guilty, again.”

I scoffed. “Unbelievable. Did he put you up to this? Am I part of some sick, twisted scheme of his and you two are being nice to me on his behalf?”

Mia frowned. “Girl, please. I love my brother, but I wouldn’t scheme to help him get some pussy. It’s not that serious.”

“What it is, is weird. And I want no parts of it. How could you sit in my face knowing you’ve dug all through my business? You’re just as weird as your brother.”

Mia stood from her seat, glaring at me defensively. Jaeda snapped her fingers.

“Mia.”

Her sister looked over at her, and Jaeda shook her head. Slowly, she sat back down. Jaeda cleared her throat.

“I’m sorry you feel that way. I meant no harm.”

“Thank you for the invite, but I think it’s best if I leave.”

I pushed my chair back from the table and stood. Shar followed suit. Without another word, we left the private booth and headed out of the restaurant.

“Bitch… she was gonna beat your ass,” Shar said as we approached our cars.

“She might have, but she was gonna have a fight on her hands.” I ran my fingers through my hair. “This is why I can’t be a friendly bitch. I stick with you and leave the weird ass bird behavior to those other hos.”

Shar went to respond, but her stomach growled.

“You’re still hungry. I’m sorry, pooh.”

“Girl, it’s okay. I probably wouldn’t have eaten that overpriced as food anyway. We can just go grab my catfish sandwich and I’ll be straight. Stick to what we know, right?”

“Right.”

We climbed in our cars and headed back to our own neck of the woods. Just like that, I was over trying to make new friends.

“Yo,what the fuck are you doing? Don’t put that shit there. You gon’ have people tripping over bottles and shit. Put it in the storage room with the rest of the liquor. And if you break my bottles, I’m gon’ break yo’ ass.”