Page 43 of Love me Like XO

“Yo, I’m sorr?—”

“No. What are you apologizing for? It wasn’t your fault.”

“Nah, I left you in my bed sleep. It was three niggas in here, had one of them niggas went explor?—”

“But they didn’t and I’m fine.”

His eyes glossed my face and his features softened momentarily before there was a shuffling across from us.

“I’m getting out of your hair for good.”

“Bet. Lock the door on yo’ way out and drop my key ‘ona counter before you leave.” His face was hard again and this time he was pulling his phone out of his pocket.

She sighed then stomped toward the front door, dragging a big dumb ass black bag. She paused momentarily as if she was waiting for him to stop her. He didn’t stop her either. By the time she slammed the door behind herself he was on the phone with what I inferred to be a cleanup crew.

“Come, take a ride with me.”

“To where?” Apparently, I had asked too late, because he already had my hand in his and he was leading me out of the front door.

“You hungry?”

I shrugged. “I could eat. I thought you were busy though.”

“I was, but now I got other shit I need to be handling. For instance, my fucking couch. I need a new one, and I gotta feed my baby.”

The smile that escaped my lips after I rolled my eyes was everything. We found out last night, and since then this man had referenced his baby more than twenty times. “You keep saying yo’ baby. I’ma need you to tone that down, considering I haven’t told my family just yet.”

He shrugged. “Tell them soon then because I ain’t hiding shit. This is us.”

I nodded. “After the first appointment I will.”

The rest of our ride was in silence, well minus the music.

We pulled up in front of this breakfast joint and he asked what I wanted before going in. Then he returned about fifteen minutes later with three cartons of food. Enough food for more than me and him. I was about to ask who it was all for before he answered his phone telling who I assumed to be Malik that we were on our way. Yeah, he saidweand I could tell by the way we went in the opposite direction of his and my house that he didn’t plan on taking me home. We meant he and I.

For the remainder of the ride I just sat still, until unknowingly I fell asleep. I didn’t realize I’d fell asleep until I heard him calling my name and my eyes fluttering open. The last thing I remembered doing was blinking to fight the tiredness that I had. Apparently, my eyes never opened back up until now.

“Where are we?” I peered out at the water then back at him as he led the way into the open warehouse.

“Work, shorty. We won’t be here long. You can eat in the office.” He pointed toward a door.

My eyes narrowed as I looked at him. Why in the hell had he brought me here and not taken me home? Why was I eating in a fucking office when I could’ve stayed in the car?

He must’ve read my mind, because within seconds he had backtracked and grabbed my hand interlocking his with it.

“I should only be fifteen minutes, no longer then we can go to yo’ crib while they clean mines.”

That still didn’t explain why I was here, but I nodded my head giving him that. He could get his fifteen minutes and not a minute longer. Hell, this was my last day of vacation before I reported back to my shop for my busy ass day tomorrow.Spending my last moments of freedom in this stuffy ass warehouse was not on the agenda.

REE

The last thing I expected was for Empress to call me and spill the beans on her morning to me. I knew it was something with Zero’s sister and not only because she called herself planting seeds about Malik, but also because she had a hateful spirit. That’s why I didn’t even speak to Malik about anything she said to me, I just let it go. It kind of reminded me of Fiona’s except hers was a bit younger. Speaking of Fiona, she had been staying at my grandmother’s house since we returned from the trip. Something was fishy about that, because number one she had her own place out in Parkway, and number two my grandmother hated kids running through her house. So, better question why in the hell would she even be allowing Fiona to stay with her?

“What you think it is?” Irish asked as he slowed down going over a speed hump on a one-way.

“Shit, I don’t know. Why don’t you ask?” I stared at him.

“Because you know how Grams is. She’ll fuck around and throw that shit off on somebody else. Think about it. Yo’ daddy is on honeymoon, so he can’t deal with it, and Rev is on his incog-negro shit so he ain’t taking no calls.”