Page 71 of Cuffed By Your Love
“Well, well, well,” she sang, hips rolling like bad credit. “If it ain’t the city’s favorite rebrand. New man, same tired wardrobe.”
My mouth opened, but Elias was quicker. His hand slid around my waist, warm and heavy, grounding me and threatening the whole fair at once. His voice was smooth but laced with barbed wire.
“Watch how you talk to my queen, fuck nigga.”
I blinked and choked on air. “Baby… that’s a girl.”
He didn’t even flinch, just dragged his eyes over her from wig to wedges, then back to me. “Shit. Doesthis niggaknow that?”
The way the crowderupted,I swore, even the lemonade truck man coughed to hide a laugh. Taleah’s laugh came out brittle, a cracked windshield pretending it wasn’t already spread.
Leila clapped like she was front row at a roast. “Bruh, you onitsass!”
Taleah rolled her neck so hard her lash glue quivered. “You out here acting brand new ’cause you got a detective with a beard and a badge. Meanwhile, you still built like a sad brunch mimosa. Cute but watered down.”
The audacity. I tilted my head, adjusted my bag strap like I was setting up the mic for a TED Talk in Petty Studies 101.
Smile sharp, voice sugar-laced, I said, “See, if you wanna get cute, I can getgorgeous.But unlike you, I don’t need synthetic bundles and a borrowed man to feel relevant. Sweetheart, don’t come for me unless I send for you. I will never be pressed behind a man who wanna be a bad bitch behind closed doors but a street nigga outside. Baby, that boy so confused, he order both pronouns with his meal.”
Theoohsricocheted like gunshots.
Somebody yelled, “Aht, aht! She cooked you, sis!”
Another hollered, “Damn, brunch mimosa? That shit was weak as hell!”
And then Kam’s new girl appeared like she wandered out of her last delusion barefoot.
“You still talking? I thought you moved on. Kam doesn’t even want Taleah like that. She chang?—”
Leila cut her off smoothly, shades sliding down the bridge of her nose like the Holy Ghost tapped her shoulder. “Aht, aht. Jason, baby, get EJ before I get disrespectful in front of the youth. ’Cause why she walking up on Nay like she don’t know her throat already fragile?”
Jason moved fast, like he was well-rehearsed in emergency evacs. EJ was scooped up mid-lemonade sip, tucked like precious cargo. My baby clutched his kangaroo tight, hollering, “Get ’em, Miss Pretty!” like I had theme music queued up.
Elias leaned down just enough for me to hear, his voice dropping into a ragged Mortal Kombat growl. “Finish her.”
The crowdhowled.Phones went up higher. Somebody yelled, “She ’bout to fatality this bitch!”
I turned slowly, gave Kam’s girl the same look I gave clearance racks: skeptical and unimpressed. “Baby, I am not moved by your shade. Not from a chick who gotta squint when she read the side of her Plan B box. You should be a little more focused on who your man got bendinghimover when you’re not around. I know your OB/GYN hates to see you coming. You probably got a frequent flyer card at the free clinic. Bless ya lil’ heart. I’d be mad as fuck too.”
The crowdlost it.Phones were out. Somebody in the back hollered, “Worldstar!”
Elias bent over laughing so hard he slapped his thigh, his chain bouncing against his chest. “Lord, have mercy,” he gasped between laughs. Then he straightened, eyes hot and hungry, leaning into me so close his breath was warm on my ear.
“Talk yo’ shit, gorgeous… witcho sexy ass.”
He kissed my temple, right in front of them, like a period at the end of a sentence. The fair clapped. I swore the Ferris wheel lights flickered in applause.
Leila hollered, “Period!” and Jason just sighed, rubbing his temples like he already knew he was driving the getaway car if this turned into round two.
I smiled, pressed into Elias’s side, my sunshine bear hugged tight to my chest. Then I let the final dagger fly, my voice cutting clean.
“Tell Kam, next time he tries to flex, pick a side: top or bottom. ’Cause being confused is the only consistent thing he’s ever been.”
The crowd howled, voices carrying through the fairground like church after a benediction. Taleah’s face cracked, Kam’s girl grabbed her hand, and together, they dragged their delusion off into the night.
We were posted near the funnel cake stand, smelling like powdered sugar and grease dreams, when I felt a presence come up behind us; elegant, strong, like a Southern hush that wasn’t meant to be disrespected. It was the kind of energy that made you check your posture, fix your tone, and clutch your pearls in the spirit just in case.
“Excuse me, baby girl,” she said, soft but steady, like she ran Sunday dinners and all the prayers that went with them.
