Page 61

“Of course, baby. Come Saturday. I know Montréal would be glad to see you,” Ms. Rachel said, winking at me.
Abbra made a small, displeased sound.
Good, I thought.Bitch. I was even less interested in shopping now. I paid for all the stuff we’d picked out and left the store. After putting everything away, I showered and climbed in my bed. I wrapped my feelings around me as tightly as I did my covers and turned on the TV. I ignored my phone. I ignored my doorbell. But I couldn’t ignore the feet jogging up the stairs. Only one person, aside from me, knew the codes for this house. I lay still as my bedroom door barged open.
“The fuck you got going in this bitch?” he asked.
I was suddenly very interested in my TV. I pretended not to see him bending to take off his shoes.
“Ev—”
“I’m sorry. I thought you had plans tonight,” I said calmly before flipping the channel.
“The only thing I plan on doing tonight is you.”
I wrinkled my nose at his vulgarity. He moved closer and tried to pull my bed spread away. I held onto it tightly. Eyes narrowed, he stared down at me.
“Evanie. I been calling you and texting you. If you didn’t wanna see me, mamas, that’s cool, but say something. Why you acting like this?”
“I’m sick,” I lied.
Real smirked. “I heard jealousy makes your stomach feel that way. You slipping, gorgeous. Jealousy is against rule number twelve or something. Check the playbook.”
I kissed my teeth. “What I’m jealous of?”
He had the nerve to laugh as he wrestled the spread and sheet away from me, then lay on my tense body. He kissed my nose then buried his face against my neck and blew raspberries. A giggle escaped me before I could help it. I pressed his shoulders.
“Stop,” I whined. “And I’m not jealous.”
“Girl, you were jealous at that farmer’s market, and I know you were jealous today. I’ma let you figure it out. I will say, for all the shit Mona said Abbra said, you see where I am. Where I always am in my free time,” he argued, voice gruff.
“You don’t spend nights here. Not that it’s my business if you spend them anywhere else,” I countered.
“You won’t let me spend nights here. And I’m flattered by what you think of my stamina, but if you think I’m in any shape to see someone else when I leave here, you’re sadly mistaken.”
I sighed as he landed butterfly kisses all over my face and neck.
“It’s not my business?—”
“But you worried about it. You cute, shorty,” Real murmured. “It’s okay. though. You have no reason to be jealous.”
“I’m not?—”
He kissed me then, a full, mouth-on-mouth sensual assault. I held on to my aggravation, even as I opened for him. We kissed for what felt like forever, a slow passionate glide of lips and tongues, eyes locked on each other. Long minutes later, I stroked the smooth skin of his arms absentmindedly, dazed from our kiss.
“Your girlfriend wouldn’t like that, I bet,” I whispered.
“My girlfriend don’t know she’s my girlfriend,” he grumbled.
My breath caught somewhere in my chest.
“Real—”
“It’s okay,” he said, kissing along my jawline. “She’s smart. She’ll get it one day.”
“Wh-what if she doesn’t?” I asked.
“She will… I’ll make sure of it.”