Page 8 of Made to Love Ya

“He is, but I’m not on that shit.”

“Are you sure? Because I didn’t bring you all the way from Atlanta for you to turn around and run back to that bitch ass nigga,” Tahj stated.

“I’m not going back, T. It’s been five months. I’m good.”

“Then how did he find out where you live?” I sighed and rolled my eyes before I crossed my arms over my chest defensively. “Chè?” Tahj’s voice was stern as he mugged me.

I rolled my eyes again. “I gave it to him, okay?”

“Why the fuck would you do that?” Tahj asked as he raised his voice.

“I’m gonna need you to take all that bass out of your voice and tone that shit down, boy. My daddy in there in the den, and though you might look like him, you ain’t him.”

Tahj pinched the bridge of his nose as he tried to regain his composure and not snap at me further. He blew out several breaths just as his best friend and the object of my childhood affection, Izael, stepped into the living room.

We were at my parents’ house for a celebratory dinner for Izael. He had sold his house, but there was a quick turnaround that required him to be moved out this week.

“Aye, y’all good in here? T, we can hear you all the way from the kitchen. Your mama sent me to check on y’all.”

“We’re good, Zae. Thanks for checking,” I mumbled.

“Nah. Ain’t shit good. She got this nigga popping up down here after I got her away from his dumb ass. The fuck kinda shit is that, Chè?”

Izael eyed my brother and me back and forth. I finally sighed because I knew he wouldn’t take sides. He had never done that when arguments between Tahj and me became serious. He would always joke that Tahj had better leave his future wifey alone, but he wouldn’t intervene.

“Listen, I left some important items up there that I needed. I asked Ricky to mail them to me after I calmed down.”

“And so that’s how he got your address?” Tahj demanded.

“Yes.”

“This nigga gonna make me beat his ass,” Tahj stated and walked away, shaking his head. “Fuck!”

He punched the air as he walked down the hall to the front door.

“He’s gonna be okay. Give him a minute to chill out,” Izael stated, rubbing my shoulder.

My eyes closed underneath his soothing touch. Izael had always had the right words to say, and his touch always stoked a fire in me that shouldn’t exist. Well, maybe not always. After all, I met him when I was only five-years-old when he moved next door with his mother and brother.

My admiration for my older brother’s best friend turned into affection when I was twelve and he was eighteen. And through the years, no matter how hard I tried to ignore it, the feeling hadn’t gone anywhere. Those feelings had only grown stronger over time.

Although I had dated different men and had gone away to school, those feelings were just pushed down. His soothing words, gentle touch, intoxicating scent, and having him look at me with those beautiful eyes the way that he was looking at me now only caused those feelings to resurface with an overwhelming rush.

I inhaled deeply and stepped away from his touch before I did something stupid that might embarrass me and cause Izael discomfort.

“I know, Zae. I just wish that he wouldn’t blame me or think that I was about to do something stupid. I’m not going back to Ricky, no matter what.”

“You’re a smart girl. I know better than that, but Tahj worries more than he should. He just wants to protect you the same as I do, except I’d be in Ricky’s ass about this shit, not yours.”

I smiled at him just as I heard my mother’s voice.

“Zae, I thought I sent you to get those two. Chè, where’s your brother? I know I just heard y’all arguing a couple of minutes ago,” my mama, Linda Campbell, remarked, walking into the living room with Izael and me.

“He’s upset, Ma. He went outside to breathe for a minute,” Izael explained.

My parents had been like second parents to Izael from the time he moved into our neighborhood and befriended my brother. They took good care of him whenever his mother had to work late and his father couldn’t get him. His father was an over-the-road truck driver, and his mother was a nurse.

My parents’ jobs didn’t require any changing shifts or extended hours because they were educators. My father had become the Cherokee Springs County superintendent when my brother started high school, and my mother was a high school teacher. Luckily, none of us had her as a teacher.

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