Page 57 of Anything Goes

“I think Keyon should come live with me,” I blurted.

“I’m sorry, what?” she replied, her eyes blinking way more than necessary.

“I said, I think that Keyon should come and live with me. Just until he leaves for college. He needs to be in a good environment, you know?”

“Have you lost your mind? A good environment? Since when is the environment that I’ve been raising him in for the last seventeen years, not a good environment?” Shaking her head, she sprung from her chair. “You know what, never mind. I already know what this is about. I’m done with all of this shit. Enjoy my damn steak, I’m leaving.”

“Wait a minute,” I said, hurrying to catch up with her.

“No, Law. Clearly, you brought me here tonight on some bullshit.”

“That’s not true.”

“Oh, it’s very true. I get that you don’t like Reggie, but to stoop so low and try to take my only son away from me…”

“I’m not trying to take Keyon, I’m just trying to—”

“Goodnight, Law,” she said, shoving me backward and storming out of the restaurant.

Shit!

I was headed after her when my eyes landed on the last face that I expected to see.

Maxine stood in the waiting area, her smile just as intoxicating and devious as I remembered. The red lipstick definitely didn’t help against her fair skin. It only made her look that more devilish.

“Maxine, hey?”

“Hey, Law. It’s good to see you,” she said, wrapping her arms around me.

I didn’t want to hug her back. Not after the shit she’d said about me.

“Was that Tokyo I just saw storm out of here?”

My brow lifted. “You know my sister?”

“Of course, I do. We work out at the same gym. She’s really sweet. We’ve had a lot of little conversations about you.”

Instantly, a lightbulb went off. Now, I knew exactly where Tokyo had been getting her information.

Infuriated, I snatched Maxine to a nearby corner. “What the hell did you tell my sister?”

“The truth,” she replied. “You know, something that you don’t feel the need to share.”

“First of all, your truth and my truth aren’t the same. Your truth is that nonsense that you’ve conjured up in your head.”

“Whatever, Law. We both know what really happened. If it weren’t for you, things would’ve been different for me right now…for us.”

Shaking my head, I said, “I’m not doing this with you.”

I attempted to walk away, but she grabbed my arm. “You’re one selfish asshole, you know that? I bet your precious new girlfriend doesn’t know what you’re really capable of, does she?”

“How do you know about Alauni?”

“Come on, Law, you know me better than that. You know I have a way of finding out things. Did you think that just because you went into hiding for a few months, I wasn’t still keeping up with you?”

“I think you need to chill. You and I aren’t together. We were never together.”

“But we could’ve been.”