Page 34 of The Prodigy

She shrugged. Her face was free of obvious makeup, although I suspected she was wearing foundation, or at least concealer. Her skin was smooth and even, her features perfectly symmetrical. She was beautiful. You could see the years on her face, but they were kind years, and the lines and crinkles only made her more attractive. But her eyes were tired and her posture was poor. She looked beat down.

“I don’t think I got a chance to tell you I’m very sorry for your loss.”

Gab didn’t respond. Jaz walked in just then, her face firmly in her phone.

“We were just talking about you,” Gab said.

I frowned at that.

Jaz looked up. “Huh?”

“I was just telling Malika here that I should make her my daughter and you the daughter-in-law. She actually believes in contributing to the household.”

Gab forced out a laugh as Jaz’s face fell. I felt terrible for her, but I didn’t dare negate anything her mother had said. Something told me not to get on that woman’s bad side.

“Just kidding,” Gab said flatly. “There’s lunch in there if you’re hungry. Chicken salad.”

Jaz put her phone on the counter and walked over to the fridge. She looked fly as always. Gab looked at me and rolled her eyes, making me a co-conspirator in whatever was happening here.

I wanted no parts of it.

“Soallthe candles gotta smell like cookies?”

“They don’t all smell like cookies.”

“Okay, cookies and pumpkins.”

I laughed heartily, something I hadn’t done since this whole ordeal began.

Jakari had done just fine at the grocery store when we bought the snacks I like, and at Target, where I got my toiletries and a few books, but for some reason, Bath and Body Works and these candles were where he drew the line.

“They aren’t as loud when you burn them,” I defended. “Besides, you said you wanted me to be comfortable.”

“Aight, whatever.”

He stared at his phone while I selected my last candle. He’d been looking at it all day. I also noticed that he looked around a lot, almost like he was scanning the area for threats. It was weird, and a little concerning.

After he paid for the candles, he took my bags from me. It was a nice gesture, relatively, I guess. I was still his prisoner, after all.

But it was…I don’t know…kind of turning out to be a gilded cage. Now that I knew he wasn’t gonna shoot me and dump my body somewhere, I was relaxing a little. Letting my guard down. And remembering just how hard I used to crush on him.

When we got to the car, he opened my door as he’d done all day. The chivalry was nice, too.

He settled in on the driver’s side and cranked up the car. When the radio came on, the bass made my ears rattle. He turned it down to ask, “You know where you wanna eat?”

“I don’t know. You can pick.”

He smirked. “Lemme find out you easy.”

“Easy?”

“Yeah. Low-maintenance.” He pulled into the afternoon traffic. “Last girl I asked where she wanted to eat, it turned into a fight.”

“I don’t really like to argue or fight. I guess that’s easy, I don’t know.”

“Don’t keep shit bottled up, though. You gotta know how to defend yourself. Be about your business and don’t let nobody run over you. Even me.”

I didn’t respond to that.

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