Page 23 of In Too Deep

“I don’t give a fuck ‘bout her,” I muttered as I pulled back, resting my head on the couch. I removed my hands from her pretty ass titties and gripped her ass again. “If only you knew the shit I been goin’ through dealing with her.”

“And I’m the rebound?” Her tone was offensive, and her brows hiked.

“Naw. Hell naw. You just a peace of mind. I can’t find this shit nowhere else. You done claimed wifey status fa sho’.”

“If there’s so much trouble in paradise, why not fix it? Why continue to keep running from the problem?”

“Because.” I shrugged. “I don’t care enough anymore to fix that shit and I ain’t runnin’ from nothing. I ain’t no fuckin’ tape recorder either. I want to fuck with you, take care of you, hold you at night, and shit, Synthia.”

“From the outside looking in, people would think that y’all were the perfect couple.”

“That’s what she wants people to think. I been unhappy for a long time now.”

Our eyes played ping pong for a minute. I could tell she was pondering for a second, dwelling on her thoughts as they swirled around her head.

“Then why continue to settle?”

Thinking hard on her question, I tilted my chin up and scratched my beard. “I believe in loyalty. Trecee ain’t have shit when we met. She used to tell me her dreams all the time and how every girl in the ghetto meets their prince charming and shit. I wasn’t the frog that she kissed. I tricked off, investing in her, not viewing her as a bill because I fucked with her until she became invested in the wrong shit. The money I gave her for a hair studio, she blew off on a Birkin. The rooms I placed her in, so she could learn what it feels to have a boss mentality, she never mentioned after that. That’s a slap in the face to me.” I vented.

“Why’d you choose her first?”

“Becauseyoudidn’t chooseme, Synthia. It was always supposed to be you…always, baby.” My tone was laced with honesty and held a vibrato in her quiet home. “Fuck I look like treating you like a rebound when you’ve always been the first place prize?”

Her bottom lip poked out. “None of that makes sense Romelo. According to Trecee, I’m not even your type.”

“Shewasn’t my type.” I stated straightforward.

Attempting to get off me, she pushed my chest and tried to move one of her feet, but I held onto her tightly to keep her in place.

“Naw, baby, just let me explain.”

“That’s what I’m trying to get you to do, but this bullshit. It’s all bullshit, Rome,” she fussed.

“You know the saying,‘if she look, she took’?”

She sucked her teeth and waved me off. “Please be so for real.”

“I wish I wasn’t,” I shrugged. “That’s how shit was. I remember that day like it was yesterday. I was young, Juicy. I’m a grown ass man now and I’d never do no shit like that. Y’all were walking up and you pretty ass hell, walking like you knew you were the baddest bitch on the planet. Trecee was flocking over me, so I chose her. You bruised my ego, mane, treated me like I didn’t exist and shit. I wantedyofine, pretty ass. I’ve always wantedyou. Trecee was just a placeholder.”

“So why have you remained loyal to her?”

“Some shit ended up happening to me a few years ago. I had beef with this nigga on Tate St. It was over some dumb shit, beyond my control. I fucked his bitch,” I shrugged. “His wife—” I clarified. “Trecee was in the hood on some thot shit, this was after we kicked it, when y’all went to Yum’s. We was rocking, but we weren’t consistent. The nigga I had beef with, she was close to at the time. He was trying to set me up. She gave me the whole rundown. Nigga wasn’t bold enough to face me like a man. He planted a bomb under my car. I ain’t supposed to be here right now, if it wasn’t for her. She could’ve went through with that shit wit’ ‘ole boy and had me murked, but she saved me. In a way, I felt as though she proved her loyalty to me. I guess part of that is the reason why I haven’t cut her ass off yet,” I explained.

She removed her hands from around my neck and began to fidget with her fingers.

“I don’t know how to feel about this, Romelo.”

“Just tell me you want me too and let me figure out the rest,” I pleaded. “You ain’t got to worry about her, Synthia?”

“No,” shot off. “Nigga if I wanted you then, I could’ve had you.”

“Damn,” I placed my hands to my chest and pretended to be fake hurt. “That’s cold blooded.”

“You can’t possibly think that my cousin and I are birds of a feather.”

“That ain’t what I think, but nine times out of ten, I always get my way with women, even if I got to do a little tricking off just to get you. You’re mine, Synthia, and I don’t want no other nigga to have you.”

“Romelo,” she scoffed and hit me in the chest. “You aren’t listening to me.”

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