Page 14

CHAPTER 14

EARTH

“Guess how many,” I said to McCoy, walking into her office. McCoy looked up from her computer, confused as hell. The swelling in her face was almost gone but her bruises were still visible. It would probably take a few more weeks for them to be completely gone. “Guess.”

“Why?” she asked, giggling. I put the jar full of marbles I was carrying on her desk and stepped back. “What’s this?”

“Figure out how many marbles are in the jar.” I sat down in the chair across from her desk and stretched my long legs out in front of me.

“What do I get if I guess how many?” she asked, then smirked.

“What you want?” I replied and she shrugged. “Alright, so how about this? If you guess right, we can do whatever you want. I won’t complain one time.”

“And if I don’t?” she countered, then lifted her brow.

“You gotta let me go,” I said, and she shook her head. Truth was, no matter what she guessed, I was going to let her think she won. McCoy needed control right now, especially since I knew I wouldn’t be in this bitch too much longer. I knew how my family moved; they weren’t going to let Jamel walk around alive too much longer. Enough time had passed. Don’t get me wrong, I was ready to go home, but I wanted McCoy by myself. But to do that, I had to make sure she completely trusted me.

“I ca?—”

“This is about trust, McCoy. Right now, in this instance, we gonna trust each other or not.” I stood and took a small sticky note off her desk, along with a pen. “How about this, I’ll write down how many marbles are in the jar and set it upside down right here.” I wrote the amount on the note and set it down. “That way you know I’m not lying when you say your number.”

“Okay.” McCoy got up from her seat, walked around her desk, and picked up the jar. “All I have to do is guess the correct answer?” she asked, glancing over at me. I nodded and she sighed. “Did you use all the marbles in the living room?”

“Yeah, plus the bedroom,” I answered, and she nodded.

“It’s two hundred and ninety-six marbles,” she said, and I laughed.

“How did you know?” I dropped back in my seat, ran my hand over my face, then shook my head.

“Because I have three hundred marbles in the house, but only two hundred and ninety-six are in this jar.” She set the jar down, rounded her desk, and opened the top drawer. “The other four are right here.” She pulled out the remaining marbles and set them on her desk.

“Why you have four marbles down here?” I was intrigued as fuck by her reply.

“It’s the number of cases I’ve lost,” she answered with a shrug. I sat forward, rested my elbows on the tops of my knees, and tented my hands in front of my mouth. “The first case I ever had, I won, then the second, third, and so on and so forth. As a joke, my co-worker when I was a public defender got me a marble every time I won a case and would drop it in that jar.” She nodded at the jar and smiled. “We agreed we couldn’t quit and start our own practice until we filled our jars.”

“You have your own practice, so that means you won, right?”

“Yep.” She laughed.

“Is she still a public defender?”

“Nope.”

“What she doing now?”

“Doesn’t matter,” McCoy said as she stood. “It was a different time and a different life.”

“Where are you going?” I asked, watching her step around her desk. I put my hand out, touching her stomach to stop her from walking. McCoy looked at my hand, then at me.

“To get the popcorn and juice,” she answered. I stood and looked down at her. “We are going to have a movie night. I get to pick the movies, though.”

“Ah, man. Please don’t pick nothing girly,” I said, shaking my head.

“You said you wouldn’t complain.” She laughed.

“You right.” I threw my arm over her shoulder, and we left her office. “Just don’t pick nothing sappy.”

“How do you feel about scary movies?” She looked at me with so much hope in her eyes, even if I wanted to, I wouldn’t have been able to tell her no.

“How scary?” I asked with a sigh. No lie, I wasn’t even a movie buff, so her asking me to watch something scary or sappy wouldn’t have mattered because it was a good chance I’d never seen nor heard of it.

“Nothing too bad,” she answered, and I knew her ass was lying. “We can watch The Exorcist or one of the Saw movies.”

“How about we binge something instead?” I offered and she rolled her eyes. “I’on watch much TV so I know it’s gotta be some shit neither of us has ever seen.”

“Fine. I’ve been meaning to watch The Last of Us . It’s a zombie show.”

“Cool.” I laughed. I pulled her close, dropped a kiss on her forehead, then let her go when we got to the kitchen. “I’ll get the popcorn and juice; you go turn on the TV and get everything ready.”

“The fuck is you squinting for?” I asked, watching her. We’d finished The Last of Us and were about to start watching The Walking Dead . She said to appreciate the first one, I had to watch the show that changed how people viewed the zombie apocalypse.

I relaxed in my spot and ran my hands over my face. I really needed to shave but I only let Corinthian touch my face and hair. I would look like a wild man until I was out of here. “You can’t see?”

“I see well enough.” She looked over her shoulder and answered me. McCoy was stretched out on the side of me. Her head was close to my feet, but she was so damn short, her feet barely hit the middle of my stomach. She had on matte green silk pajama pants and a black wife beater. I could tell from the way her ass and titties moved that she didn’t have on any panties or bra. I had to adjust my dick in my pants every so often so she couldn’t see my shit bricking up.

“Well enough?” I laughed. “Coy, yo’ ass can’t see?” She rolled her eyes, and I laughed harder. “I thought I was trippin’ the other day when you was squinting. I didn’t know whether it was because your eyes were still swollen or you couldn’t see.” She turned back to the TV, but not before I saw her eyes filling with tears. I grabbed her by her ankle and pulled her to me. I wasn’t rough or trying to hurt her, but I didn’t like that she was trying to hide her feelings from me. “Come here.” I started tickling her.

“Stop, Earth!” She laughed and tried to pull away from me. Somehow, I managed to grab her around her waist and drag her into my lap. I wrapped my arms around her and held her close. “Why you ain’t been wearing yo’ glasses?”

“I don’t like wearing them,” she answered, still laughing. “They make me look like a nerd.”

“You wear contacts?” I started tickling her again.

“No!”

“Coy, you walkin’ around here blind as a fuckin’ bat. I bet yo’ ass run into shit all the time on the low ’cause you can’t see.”

“I’m clumsy!” She screamed and tried to get away from me, but I was stronger and wasn’t letting up. “I fall at least two or three times a week.”

“The fuck your grown ass be fallin’ for?” I asked as I stopped tickling her. I didn’t let her up out of my lap, though. I liked how she felt close to me.

“I don’t know.” She laughed. “It’s not as bad when I wear my glasses, but when I don’t, it’s dangerous.”

“Yo’ ass can’t see!” I laughed harder.

“It’s not funny.” She mushed my head, and I fell over, still laughing.

“Where are your glasses now?” I questioned as I tried to get myself together.

“Over there on the end table. I probably haven’t worn them in two months.”

“Why not?” I wiped my hand over my face and shook my head. “If you can’t see, then wear them muthafuckas. I bet you got that whole sexy nerd vibe goin’ on when you put them on.” I got up, sat her on the bed, then grabbed the cat-eyed, cheetah-print glasses and brought them over to her. “Put these things on, Coy. You probably can’t even see me for real right now.”

“I can,” she weakly argued but took the glasses from me and put them on. “There, you happy?”

“Fuck yeah, blind ass woman,” I replied, then sat next to her. I was right. She was already fine as fuck without the glasses, but now seeing her in them, I was for real stuck. I adjusted my dick in my pants. “Now let’s watch this damn show you swear is the best thing in the world.” I dropped back onto the bed and pulled her close. “If this shit is boring, I’m picking the next show we binge.” I looked over at her. “I hope you like car shows.”

“I don’t,” she said, shaking her head. “We can watch 1000-Lb. Sisters if you don’t like this.”

“What the fuck is that shit?” I reared back and stared at her like she was crazy.

“Oh, we’ll watch that first. You’ll love it, I swear.” McCoy picked up the remote and turned the channel. She looked over at me with a serious expression. “After this, we can watch Naked and Afraid .”

“Alright, so check it,” I said as I continued to fix breakfast. McCoy looked up from the bag she was packing and waited. “You know that nigga gonna try you, right? Like, legit try your ass and I need you to be prepared.”

“Prepared?” she questioned and I nodded. “For what?”

“You got my gun?” I asked. I wasn’t about to answer her question because there was no reason to. She knew what the fuck I was talking about and was intentionally playing dumb. “Nah, put your head up. Don’t put that shit down for nobody else under no fuckin’ circumstances from here on out.” She lifted her head and stared at me. I waited a beat before nodding and going back to cooking. “Better. Now, where is the gun?”

“Upstairs,” she answered, and I grunted.

“While you are eating, I’ll grab it and put it in your bag,” I nodded, then went back to cooking. I knew the gun was on the nightstand where I left it, but I wanted to see if she would admit it. Even with us practicing damn near every day, I still saw the hesitation whenever I brought up her carrying it. I needed her to be comfortable around guns especially once Jamel was out of the picture and she was riding with me.

“Now, like I was saying; he’s gonna try you. It’s been a few weeks, and from what you’ve told me about his weak ass, he’s gonna show face if he hasn’t already.”

“He has,” she mumbled, and it took everything in me not to spaz. I slammed the spatula down on the countertop and stared at McCoy. I hated she was hiding shit from me, but I wouldn’t show my ass because I didn’t want her to think I would ever take my anger out on her.

“Laila, my secretary, told me he’s been there a few times over the last three days, looking for me. She told him I was out of town for work and should be back today.”

“Yeah, he gonna show face, then,” I said once I got myself together. I started fixing her plate and thinking of how I was going to handle this shit. Once she was gone, I was going to have to check in with Fire again. He’d been looking for Jamel but his stupid ass had been MIA. “If it ain’t to do nothing else, it’s gonna be to intimidate you.”

“And that’s when you want me to make it go ra-ta-ta?” she asked, trying to make me laugh.

“If he steps to you wrong, then yeah,” I answered, then set her plate in front of her. I’d been up for a few hours, worked out, and sat around until my nerves started to get the best of me. I hated to admit it, but I was nervous about her going back to work. I couldn’t get to her if she needed me.

Her house was locked down. The windows, doors, and even her garage didn’t open until she disarmed it. If push came to shove, I’d break a window if I needed to get out, but I’d need somebody waiting for me because cops responded quick in this neighborhood. “But if not, play that shit off. Be cool with him and let him play that shit like it ain’t no beef.”

“I know,” I sighed. I could tell she hated to admit that she knew the drill when it came to dealing with showing her face after getting her ass kicked. “I’ve been down this road before.”

“And it’ll be your last fuckin’ time,” I said, then sat next to her at the table. “Now eat your food. Shit ain’t gonna be hot forever.”

“I’ll clean up before I leave.” She picked up her fork and dug into her food. I’d probably gone overboard with the eggs, bacon, hot links, pancakes and cheese grits, but none of the food would go to waste.

“I got it,” I said in between bites. “You just eat, get your mind right for work, and let me handle the shit here at home.”

“I can do it, it’s not a big deal.” She laughed but I wasn’t trying to hear shit she was saying. I wanted our meal to be enjoyable and her trying to keep herself busy instead of eating and going to the office wouldn’t do shit but make my irritation worse and I’d end up changing my mind about her going to work.

“Let me handle this, Coy,” I said, shaking my head. “Now eat.”