Page 45 of Made to Love Ya

“Damn it! I didn’t tell your ass to come in!” she shouted, throwing a pillow at me.

She had stripped out of her clothing and wore a towel around her body. I could tell that she was heading to the shower.

“You didn’t have to tell me shit. We’re about to talk about this shit.”

“I have nothing to say to you, Zae. You played me like a fool in front of everyone.”

“You mean the same way you played me? Besides, how could I play you for a fool when no one knew that we were even together?”

“Well, you blew that out of the water, didn’t you? Had to come walking over there playing big bad Zae because your ego couldn’t take that shit. Don’t fucking cook in the kitchen if you don’t want to get burned, Zae.”

I stepped up on her and backed her up against the bed. “Don’t fucking play in my face, Chè. I’m not that nigga. I’ll fuck something up behind you. Don’t make me fuck you up too!”

When I yelled at her like that, she fell onto the bed in a seated position.

“I didn’t do that shit until you started first. That hurt seeing you all up under that girl like that knowing I wanted to be the one under you, and I couldn’t.”

Tears poured down her face, and it fucked with me. I had seen Talia cry many times throughout the years of us growing up, but I had never been the cause of her tears. Twice in one day, I had hurt two people who I loved like family. Both had the last name Campbell.

Her shoulders shook, and I bit down on my bottom lip and tried to control my rage. A nigga was mad as hell, but I knew I had no one to be mad at except for myself. I was the one who fucked everything up. I should have kept it real with my boy from the start.

Yeah, I knew Tahj wouldn’t like that shit, and I knew his parents might feel some type of way, but I should have been man enough to be honest upfront. Although Talia wasn’t ready to share that news with them until she was certain that we were a thing, and I understood that, I should have made my line in the sand. Either we told them the truth right away, or we wasn’t gonna fuck around.

“Chè, quit that crying,” I commanded in a calmer voice.

She shook her head, buried her face in her hands, and kept crying. Man, I remember how Tahj and I vowed to fuck up any niggas who brought tears to her eyes. We made that pledge in the eighth grade when she was in the second and came in the house crying when a neighbor kid called her four eyes.

We’d gone out and beat his ass. He was in the seventh grade and had no business picking on little kids. Talia had been so proud of her new glasses that she had just gotten and couldn’t wait to go outside and show everyone. When she returned with tears in her eyes, bawling about being four-eyed, Tahj and I dropped our remote controls to the video game we were playing and ran outside.

Now, I was the one putting tears in her eyes. If Tahj saw it, he would be ready to beat my ass. But I wasn’t going out like that. I wasn’t no bitch nigga, but I could understand his anger.

“Please quit crying, baby. I’m not Ricky, and I’ll never do you the way that he did. I swear.” I kneeled in front of her, gripped her knees, and squeezed them. “You’ve always known me to be a man of my word, Chè. Ain’t nothing changed. I would rather cut out my heart than hurt you, girl.”

“I know that you wouldn’t intentionally hurt me. But, all I see is what I’ve already been through—my man can’t take his eyes off another woman, my man entertaining another woman. That’s the same shit Ricky did. Why were you flirting with her, Zae? Is it because you’d rather have a woman with a big booty like Tootie?”

“Is it Tootie or Judy, baby?”

Talia mugged me. “She’s whoever the hell I feel like calling her at the moment. Do you like her, Zae? Be honest.”

Although she snapped out that first sentence, when she asked the question her voice broke. It was like she expected me to tell her I liked Camilla. The tears poured down her face again, and I could tell she was hurt. Fuck! My heart tugged in my chest. I leaned up and gripped her face, caressing her cheeks with my thumbs.

“Nah. I like your flat ass perfectly fine.”

She shoved me in the chest and giggled.

“I can’t stand your ass.” She couldn’t keep the smile off her face.

I pushed her back onto the bed and spread her legs wide.

“Let me show you the only nigga who gon’ be smiling in ya face, baby.”

“Zae, I need a shower. I’ve been in the sun and around all that smoky barbeque,” she whimpered.

“I can eat. I like sun-roasted, grilled salmon.”

“Zae!” she shouted and smacked my hand. I chuckled, glad to hear the goofy laughter that bubbled up and out of her beautiful lips.

“I’m glad to see you’re smiling again.”

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