Page 56 of I Don't Want You Back

Chapter 17

“Go wash all that sweat and funk off you and call me when you’re ready,” Landon said as he talked on the phone with Faryn.

“Where are we going?” she questioned, slightly out of breath.

She was in the gym at her apartment complex running on the treadmill. Faryn had picked up a lot of weight over the past two months and she had slacked up with her workouts.

“I don’t know. Wherever you want to go is cool with me,” he replied.

“Okay,” Faryn replied as she turned off the machine and grabbed her bottle of water.

“I don’t know why you always go home just to work out.”

“Because I’m getting fat as fuck and you act like you don’t see it,” Faryn argued.

“Girl, you ain’t getting fat. You gained weight in all the right places, but that’s not what I meant. You could have worked out by me,” Landon said.

“I know Landon, but you don’t have a treadmill or an elliptical. That’s mostly what I use to exercise,” Faryn noted.

“Don’t trip, I’ll have them both in the basement no later than tomorrow,” he replied, making her smile.

Landon’s basement looked like a small one-bedroom apartment. Besides his weights and other masculine workout equipment, all he had in there were household supplies. He had more paper towels, tissue, and other household items than one person needed. Makena was a couponer and she kept his basement fully stocked. She was trying to teach Faryn how to do it, but it was more difficult than she thought it would be.

“Anything to keep me at your house, huh?” Faryn chuckled.

“You already know,” Landon replied.

He and Faryn had been going strong for four months and he couldn’t be happier. Not only was he happy, but his boys were happy as well. They had fun cooking and baking with Faryn and they looked forward to their weekend treats that she made with them. Faryn always said that they were seven months into their relationship, so Landon let her have that. She counted the first time that he came to her apartment as their first date and he was tired of disagreeing with her. If that made her happy, then he was all for it. They hadn’t slept without each other since they first made it official and that was all that mattered to him.

“Okay baby. I’m going hop in the shower and get ready. Use your key to come in if you get here before I’m done,” Faryn said.

“Okay, I’ll see you in a few,” Landon replied before they hung up.

As soon as she disconnected with him, Faryn’s phone rang again, displaying Harley’s number.

“Hey friend,” Faryn answered as she downed the rest of her water.

“Where are you, Faryn? We just knocked on your door looking for you,” Harley said.

“Who is we?” Faryn asked.

“Me and Patrice. She’s here with the baby,” Harley said, referring to her cousin.

“Aww, I can’t wait to see her. I’m on my way back up from the gym, but I need a shower first.”

“She’ll be here for a while, so come over whenever you’re done. And I want you to look at a few of these paint samples that I chose for the house,” Harley said.

“Okay,” Faryn said before she hung up.

Harley and Kyron had just closed on their new house and they were in the process of making a few changes before they moved in. Faryn was happy for her girl, but she was going to miss her being right across the hall. Once she left the gym, she took the elevator up to her apartment. As soon as Faryn got to her door and was about to open it, Harley’s door swung open and Jo-Jo came walking out. He had an unlit cigarette dangling from his mouth that he removed so that he could smile at her.

“What’s up beautiful?” he asked as he walked closer to her.

Faryn quickly abandoned the idea of going into her apartment because she didn’t trust him. She didn’t remember Jo-Jo looking so sneaky before or maybe she was just too young to pay much attention.

“Hey Jo-Jo. Is Harley in there?” Faryn questioned as she tried to go around him and enter her friend’s apartment.

“What’s up with you, Faryn? Why you acting like you don’t know a nigga no more? I know you got a man and everything, but I won’t tell if you don’t.” He grinned slyly.

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