Page 17 of The Deed to a Gangsta's Heart

“A great different.”

So great I ended up falling asleep.

She woke me up when the food was ready. As we ate, we watched TV, and I enjoyed the simplicity of our time together. It was perfect until Germany came over talking shit about what happened at the bar.

“I know you didnotthreaten to shoot that man over me,” Callie said, covering her face with her palms.

Sucking my teeth, I took a swig of my beer. “That was disrespectful. YouknowI don’t play about you.”

“Lord. I’m never going to have a boyfriend here. All of them will be scared of you.”

“That’s cool with me. You don’t need a boyfriend anyway. You got me.”

Her eyes rolled and she threw a pillow at Germany as he laughed at our exchange.

“Yeah, but I can’t fuck you, marry you, or have babies with you.” She stood. “I’m not saying I would do any of thatwith Ev because he creeps me out, but you can’t threaten every man that flirts or wants to be with me, Remedy.”

All I did was chuckle as she headed out of the living room.

“It’s like you forgot who I am.”

She groaned but didn’t reply, and as soon as Germany believed she was a safe distance away he said, “Aight, bruh. What’s really going on?”

I decided to finally come clean to someone about how I was feeling, so I told him the truth. Thewholetruth. How I’d fallen in love with my best friend and made sure she couldn’t get an apartment so she could stay with me. He had the same response Armor had—I was crazy. Only difference was, I hadn’t told Armor I wanted to be with her.

“What’s so crazy about wanting her close?” I asked, honestly not seeing the wrong in my doing.

“It’s not a problem to want her close. Why won’t you just tell her how you feel?”

“I’m testing her temperature. That’s not something I can just blurt. We’ve been friends since we were five and we’ve never expressed interest in a romantic relationship. I value our friendship and I’m not trying to mess it up.”

Germany sighed with a bob of his head. “I feel you. Just don’t take too long. A lot of men are excited that her and Luci are back. You know Jasper Lane is small and everybody has been with or turned down everybody. They are fresh meat and it’s a lot of sharks in the water.”

“Maybe, but I’m an orca. Ain’t shit none of them niggas can do with me when it comes to her.”

12

Callie

I was nervous.I shouldn’t have been. It wasn’t a date. Me and Remedy hung out all the time. We lived together for God’s sake. Tonight felt different. He asked me if I wanted to go to the country with him because there was going to be a car show and race. Of course I agreed.

We always had a blast when we went to the country. There was always an abundance of food and moonshine, and it was the best atmosphere to really let loose to have a good time. People were freer out in the country. I couldn’t really describe it. It was just something you had to experience on your own.

I couldn’t pinpoint why I felt so nervous. Something was different. The air was thick with something that had me hyper aware, and I didn’t know how things would end once the night was over.

“Damn.”

I jumped slightly at the sound of Remedy’s voice. “Jesus, Rem. For someone who doesn’t like people sneaking up behind him, you sure are quiet.”

He gave me a sexy smile as he slowly walked over to me. Unintentionally, we matched. I had on a white crop top, black shorts, and cowgirl boots. Remedy had on black jeans and a white tee with black and white Dunks. Instead of his usual snapback, he had on a cowboy hat. And that grill…

“I can see the bottom of your ass,” he commented, voice low and strained.

“Is that a problem?”

“You want somebody to die tonight?”

With a roll of my eyes, I turned and was about to grab some longer shorts. A low yelp escaped me when he grabbed my left ass cheek and used it to pull me forcefully into his chest. He’dneverdone that before. At the feel of his hardened dick against me, I had to bite down on my bottom lip to keep from moaning.

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