Page 102 of Rah
During the ride to my parents’ house, Essence was quiet, and so was I. My mind was going a hundred miles an hour. I could have only imagined what she was thinking.
Once at my parents’ house, I fed her and Elijah. Once theywere full and deep into their tablets and phones, I snuck out of the house to get some air.
“Shit.” My phone was ringing again. I groaned as I pulled it out of my pocket and saw that it was Priest again.
I went ahead and answered because clearly, he wasn’t going to stop calling until I did. “Hello?”
“Soooo…You tried to kill your ex-boyfriend?”
Fuck.I cringed as my face fell into my hand.
“How did you find out?” I asked.
“I saw it online. Someone posted about it from the hood that I know.”
I shook my head, realizing again thateverybodywas talking about what I had done. “Shit.”
“Is that the real reason you’ve been avoiding me?”
“Yes,” I whined.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Though he couldn’t see me, I frowned at his question. “Because I was embarrassed!”
“So. You could have told me.”
I frowned, not believing he thought I owed him all my business. “Why would I tell you something like that? It’s embarrassing. We aren’t best friends, and we weren’t in a relationship. We just hung out a few times–”
“What?” he spat.
The offense was so evident in his voice that I quieted.
“Where are you?”
“At my parents’ house.”
“Text me the address.”
“Why?”
“Man, text me the fucking address,” he ordered through gritted teeth.
My eyes bucked at his sudden aggression. Priest had alwaysbeen an easy-going guy when he came into the bank. He was a jokester. Even the times that we had gone out, he was playful. But now, he was displaying aggression that was so sexy.
“O-okay,” I stuttered.
“And hurry up.”
“All right.”
Then there was dead air on the other end. He had hung up. I couldn’t believe his sudden aggression. It was subtle and sexy, so I didn’t fear it.
I reluctantly sent him the address and then stuffed the phone back into my coat pocket. I contemplated going back into the house to make myself look like something. My dark brown face was bare. I probably looked as young as Essence with my ponytail that was now hanging down my back. I was wearing a pair of joggers, a leather bomber, and Nikes. I hadn’t put any thought into how I looked that day because of what I’d had to do. Hell, I hadn’t cared how I looked since the day I got arrested. I just didn’t care anymore. Looks didn’t matter. How I looked had been the furthest thing from my mind. But knowing that Priest was pulling up at any moment, I suddenly wanted to look like something.
However, once I decided to go into the house and spruce myself up, he was already pulling up in a shiny, silver Audi. Watching him get out of the car, I suddenly felt like I looked like some naive, stupid girl that had tried to kill her boyfriend, in comparison to his Pele, True Religion Jeans, Timberlands, and jewelry that shined amongst the darkness that was starting to fall around us.
“So, we just hung out a few times?” Priest asked as he marched towards me. “That’s all we were doing?”
