Page 43 of Juke
Her shoulders lifted a little. “Are you?”
I gave her a crooked smirk before pulling her body into mine. “Never been better.”
“I don’t want to cause trouble for you, Rashad.”
That pulled a low laugh out of me, one that had no humor in it. I braced my hands on the desk, caging her in. “You think you causing trouble for me, Lovie?” I shook my head slowly. “Baby… you’re not the problem here. You’re the reason I don’t walk away from one.”
“I just—”
“?You not gone sit here and act like you’re some burden I gotta carry,” I cut in. “Anybody who even thinks about putting their hands on you involuntarily signed their death certificate.”
She searched my face, like she was weighing how serious I was.
I leaned in, and kissed her lips. “You can bet your life on that. I’ll handle anybody who even looks at you wrong. That’s not a promise, baby… it’s a fact.”
Her breath caught, and I could see in her eyes she wanted to argue, but she didn’t have the words. I straightened up enough to run a hand along her jaw, forcing her to meet my eyes. “You with me, aight. So, that means you’re untouchable. You’on have to worry ’bout you ex nigga or the next nigga as long as I’m around. Aight?”
She nodded and laid her head on my chest. I’on know what the fuck we were doing, but I knew that whatever it was, I was keep doing the shit.
10
Boom
Me and the boys were posted up in the living room, talking through how to get back at Juke. Yesterday’s fight was still fresh, and my ego was still bruised.
“We hitting him where it hurts,” I said, leaning forward.
Dre nodded. “So, how we gone do that?”
Before I could answer, the door swung open, and Nessa walked in with face screwed up.
“What’s yo’ problem?” I asked.
She dropped her bag on the chair. “That nigga Juke been acting real brand new since that Sophi bitch been ’round.”
“Perfect. I can help you fix that.” I smirked.
“You’on even fuck with him.” She cut her eyes at me. “Why would you help me?”
“Because you can help me,” I said. “I just need you to get him somewhere by himself. That’s it.”
“Nah, Boom.” She shook her head. “I’m not getting in the middle of yo’ shit with him.”
“You’ll do the shit if I tell you to,” I warned.
She frowned. “No, the fu—”
I grabbed a handful of her hair, not enough to hurt bad but enough to make my point. “You’re my fucking sister, Nessa. You gone do what the fuck I tell you to do. And if you don’t, I promise you’ll wish you had.”
“You serious right now?” She whimpered.
“Deadass.” I let her go, stepping back. “Figure the shit out… then come talk to me.”
She grabbed her bag again and walked out without another word.
I looked back at the boys. “Now… where we at with the rest of this?”
Dre leaned forward. “If we get him alone, we can catch him before he gets backup. Clean hit. No crowd. No eyes.”
