Page 13 of Trust Issues
“You sure it had nothing to do with you and dad telling him that if he moved close to me, I’d be able to help him whenever he needed it? Why didn’t yall throw Nate under the bus like that?” The space between my brows creased from frustration.
“Why don’t you call Nate and ask him to set Owen straight?” Her voice held more than a suggestion and I rolled my eyes at it. Fuck Nate.
“Ma, I have to go,” I said abruptly.
“Something come up?” She quizzed.
“No. Just don’t want to talk to or about Nate and I know that’s where you’re heading. Tell Dad I love him. Goodbye.” I ended the call and sighed heavily. Ma was always playing referee between Nathaniel and me. After the shit he did two years ago though, there was no more refereeing. There was no more game. I was done.
I changed out of my designer clothes into a pair of basketball shorts and a t-shirt and went into the kitchen where Owen was stuffing his face with a sandwich and chips. I rubbed my forehead and stood watching him while he continued to use my computer.
“You need to go home, Owen.”
“I’m almost done,” he said without looking at me. “How was your date with Sadie? This is the third time yall went out, right?”
“It is. She’s sexy as hell and I’m hoping I can have fun with her for a while before I’m done.” My attention span wasn’t long when it came to women but I liked the back and forth between Sadie and me. She was almost to the point of begging for the dick without a commitment.
“So you like her?” Owen smirked. I shrugged and ran a hand over my close-cut hair.
“I like every girl I date,” I reasoned. Owen closed the computer and looked at me. Even though he was a pain in my fucking ass, he knew me well and he always told me the truth.
“Either you like this one more or you’re tired of playing around with these women, Max.”
“I don’t like Sadie more or less than anybody else. And I’m not tired of playing the field. What’s wrong with three dates?” I wondered aloud. Owen shrugged his shoulders and relaxed in his chair.
“The third date is usually when you go in for the kill.”
“True, but she’s not giving me exactly what I want. I need her open as fuck before I slide in,” I chuckled. Owen shook his head and laughed a little with me.
“You and your games.”
“Hey, I don’t play games but women are bat-shit sometimes. I’m always up front when I say I’m not looking for a relationship. I learned that I can’t throw dick at them the way I want to without them feeling like they can claim me afterward. Nah. I don’t get claimed. If I ever find the right one I’ll know. Then I’ll claim her.”
“I can’t argue with that. You know your outlook on love came from Elle though. She broke your heart and ever since you’ve been fucking everything that walks.”
“No. I haven’t. Also, don’t mention Elle. She was a huge mistake.” I got up because whenever Elle was mentioned, my insides did this annoying buzzing shit that I hated with a passion. I wished there was a way to block people in real fucking life. She was the woman responsible for showing me exactly why men shouldn’t wear their hearts on their sleeves.
Shit, maybe Owen was right.
I grabbed myself a beer and cracked it open. Even though I wanted to put my little brother out, I didn’t. We ended up talking and shooting the shit for hours. That was how he ended up getting away with murder. While he was insanely irresponsible, he was my ace. I couldn’t talk to anyone else in the world the way I could talk to him.
…
KYLA
Once I showed Cadence the dating ropes on a few apps, she had three dates set up and she had a list of standards her own to hold men to. She never said it but I knew she wanted to eat all those jokes she made about my book of standards.
I was personally invested in those three dates she scored so I told her to give me play-by-plays once she was done with each guy. I also told her to keep her legs closed until she could tell if they made it past the first part of her list. Not fucking on the first couple of dates was imperative. She wouldn’t be able to find out anything about them if she hopped on the dick as soon as a guy made her laugh and spent a little money on a nice date. Fuck that.
“I don’t know why you haven’t had Cadence over before. She’s so nice.” Naima scooped Barkley into her arms and cuddled him against her chest. He went right to sleep. He was spoiled rotten.
“I don’t know. You know how I am when it comes to people.”
“You hate them.”
“I do. Cadence has always been cool though. I can start having her over more if you like.” I eyed her and she smiled then shrugged in response. I opened my mouth to ask her something but her phone beeped with a text message, then another and another and before I knew it, Naima was off in blogging world chasing down a story.
I took that as my cue to head across the hall to Max’s apartment. I didn’t bother changing into anything other than what I had on because let’s get real…this was Max. It wasn’t like I was trying to impress him. Also, I looked better dressed down than any of his little girlfriends with all their fillers and plastic parts when they were all dolled up.
