Page 15 of You Make Me Feel

Blaze grabbed Ramsey as she kicked her leg out and caught Robert right in the shin. I knew she was aiming for his nuts. Thanks to Blaze, Robert lucked up on that. Another bouncer grabbed me, and they escorted us out as Robert helped that pathetic-looking ho from the floor. When we got outside, Ramsey fell against Blaze and cried. He wrapped his arms around her. “Come on, ma. Don’t worry about that muthafucka. He ain’t worth it.”

She lifted her head and said, “I’m sorry. Come on, Nisha. Let’s go.”

As she tried to walk off, Blaze grabbed her hand and kissed it. “I get off in a couple of hours. I’ma call you. Okay?”

She nodded, and we headed to her car. I put my arm around her as we walked and kissed her forehead. I knew she didn’t need me to speak at the moment, nor did I want to. Frankly, I didn’t know what to say. I was angry, and no encouraging words were coming to mind. However, whatdidcome to mind was that the couple of stores I went to didn’t have that morning-after pill. What in the fuck was going on? I knew the longer I waited, the lesser my chances of preventing a pregnancy.

Once we got to the car, I walked Ramsey to her passenger seat. “I’ll drive, boo.”

She gave me a slight smile as she unlocked the doors. I walked around to the driver’s side and got in, immediately pushing the button to start the car. Finally finding the words, I said, “Everything will be okay. I promise.”

She squeezed my hand as I secretly prayed that same prayer for myself.

Chapter 6

Oliver

“I don’t know how you keep deprogramming this computer.”

“Me? Why it gotta be me and not the computer?”

I slowly shook my head as I worked on Kinisha’s computer. I wanted to laugh because I was the one fucking with her computer to have a reason to be in her space. I’d been on board for three weeks already, and we hadn’t gone beyond casual conversation. I’d sent flowers several times, but it seemed like she was trying to friendzone me. We’d even gone to lunch once.

I thought she was feeling me as much as I was feeling her, and maybe she was, but she was clearly occupied with someone else. We had the most conversation when I was fixing the shit I’d messed up on her computer. “Kinisha, you are the only person sitting at this computer. Who else could be messing it up? Maybe you’re doing something that you don’t realize is deprogramming it.”

She shrugged. “Maybe I need a new computer,” she mumbled.

I chuckled slightly as I reprogrammed her computer. “You wanna go to lunch today?” I asked.

She narrowed her eyes for a second, then said, “Yeah. I wonder if my computer is getting help from someone.”

I frowned as I stared at her like I didn’t know what she was talking about. We’d gotten somewhat cool in the past three weeks, so it was never strained or forced when we did talk. “Someone like who?”

“Humph,” she said and looked away.

“Girl, if you insinuating me, you can pipe that shit down. Why would I put more work on myself? I ain’t getting paid extra. No matter how little or how much work there is, I’m on contract.”

She shifted her weight as I turned my head to continue reprogramming her spreadsheet. I wanted to laugh so badly. She was smart and had figured me out. This was the third time I’d done this shit. I’d have to slow down, though. She huffed for a moment, then said, “I’m sorry. I’m a little stressed out, and this isn’t helping.”

I glanced up at her. “Work related?”

“No.”

“You wanna talk about it?”

We’d never really talked about anything personal. It was always about her job or mine. The most personal we’d gotten was that she had a nephew on the way and had a sister, along with other things I already knew. She knew that I was a loner and that my parents were deceased. There were other minor things we learned about each other, like our tastes in music. Other than that, we were practically strangers still.

“No. I’m cool.”

“Okay. Well, for future reference, I’m a good listener.”

“Thanks.”

“You’re all fixed up. You wanna ride with me, or do you want to meet up?”

“We can meet up. Same spot as last time?”

“That’s fine with me.”

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