Page 27 of Body Language
I stared at that screen longer than I should’ve. Then said fuck it and hit the number.
It rang once.
Twice.
Three times.
By the seventh ring, I was already annoyed.
Was she sleep? Ignoring me? Did I just get curved with a QR code?
“Hello?”
Her voice was low. Sleepy. But still soft as satin and just as dangerous.
I didn’t give her time to say another word.
“Pretty,” I said, voice rougher than I meant. “This Kendrix. From the club.”
I paused, smirking to myself.
“I know this is your business phone but ain’t nothing about this call business. So Ima hang up… and let you call me back from your personal line.”
Then I hung up. I didn’t wait for no reply. I knew I was taking a risk. But oh fucking well. She’d already taken too much control anyway. Hanging up in her face, demanding she call me from her personal line like I was paying her bills and laying pipe was crazy. Maybe I overplayed that one. But hell… I couldn’t be no regular nigga in her eyes, so I had to move different.
I needed a distraction, so I grabbed the remote and threw on The Chi to keep from overthinking. Fifteen minutes in, my eyes started drooping. I was halfway into a dream about ass and oxtails when my phone started ringing. Unknown number. I damn near dislocated my wrist trying to grab it fast.
“Hello?” I said, voice halfway sleep.
“UNBLOCK ME RIGHT NOW, KENDRIX!”
I sat up like I saw a ghost.
“Man, what the—?!”
“Yes, nigga! You got me out here looking crazy like I ain’t still a part of your life. We still go together real bad!”
I closed my eyes, gripping my temples. I was too tired for this Tyler Perry-ass monologue.
“Arlette, get the fuck off my line. I thought you was someone important.”
“Oh, so I’m not important now?! Wow. That’s crazy. You acting like I ain’t been down. Like I ain’t help you when your little brother went to jail. Like I wasn’t the one helping you stack all that money on the side so he could come home to more than he left with.”
“What the fuck did you just say?”
“I said what I said, Kendrix. I was THERE. Not these other bitches.”
“Shut the fuck up, Arlette.”
“I’m just saying.”
“NO. The fuck you not. You’re not just saying nothing. You’re weaponizing some shit that broke my family just to make yourself feel important.”
She went quiet.
“You know my brother didn’t even do what they locked him up for. You KNOW how hard that time hit my mama. My pops. Me. And you got the fucking audacity to bring up his situation like you were part of the healing? You just watched the hurt and made sure you was close enough to get credit if we all survived it.”
“… I didn’t mean it like that, Kendrix.”
