Page 9 of Tangled Hearts

“It’s the truth,” he countered, giving her all he could muster.

No one ever taught him how to hold his emotions or even let them out.

He was a boy so caught up in manhood that he’d skipped all the valuable lessons on relationships and that Black boy joy people talked about.

His soul had been tarnished the moment his first love kept running out on him, so sometimes he did the same.

Now, his heart was tangled between two girls that looked at him like he was something good— something special but he kept showing them he wasn’t anything but a boy trying to be a man.

The silence stretched between them. Her mama’s voice drifted from the back room, on the phone with somebody, loud like always. Shakeisha leaned into him anyway, pressing her head against his shoulder.

Rock didn’t move.

“You make me feel like I’m not enough,” she whispered.

“You make me feel like I’m enough,” he admitted. “But you also make me feel like I gotta watch my back.”

She pulled away, hurt in her eyes. “So I’m the wrong one.”

He shook his head. “You not wrong. You just… you.” He dragged a hand down his face. “And I don’t know if I can handle all of you.”

She sniffed and wiped at her face quickly. “One day you gon’ wish you did.”

Rock stood up. His chest felt heavy, but he didn’t show it. “Maybe. But tonight, I just came to check that you was good.”

She followed him to the door, arms wrapped tight around herself. “I been good,” she lied.

He touched her chin, gently lifting it so she had to meet his eyes. “You don’t gotta lie to me.”

Behind him, Shakeisha’s voice came out delicately, almost to herself, “you already mine, Rock. You just too scared to admit it.”

And he was scared. Because part of him knew she was right.

“You don’t gotta lie to me.”

Rock’s thumb lingered under her chin longer than it should’ve.

She didn’t move, just looked at him with those eyes that always carried too much history.

He let his hand slip, brushing her cheek.

For a second it felt like everything he wanted to say sat right there between them. But he let go and walked out.

Her breath hitched.

“Why you always soft with me after you cut me down?” Shakeisha whispered.

“‘Cause you don’t hear me unless I’m soft,” he smiled, that thin gap playing peek-a-boo.

Her lips trembled, still bruised from the fight. He leaned down and kissed them carefully.

She froze, then melted quickly against him. “Rock…” she breathed.

He kissed her again, longer this time, hand sliding into the back of her scarf, rubbing her hair underneath like he used to when they were kids sneaking around. She clutched his shirt in both fists.

“I hate you sometimes,” she muttered against his mouth.

“I know,” he whispered back. He kissed the corner of her eye where it had faded purple. “But you love me more than you hate me.”

She laughed. It was soft and broken. “You know everything.”

“Nah,” he said, forehead pressed to hers. “If I knew everything, I’d know why I can’t leave you alone.”

“Kesh, don’t just be standing in my door!” Her mama yelled form her room making the two of them laugh but they didn’t move.

Her hands slid to his neck, pulling him closer. “‘Cause I’m the only one that match you. Them other girls? They’re cute, they’re safe. But me… I know you.”

He kissed her again, deeper this time, but pulled back before it could go further. His thumb rubbed slow circles into her thigh. “You dangerous,” he said, eyes steady on hers.

“You love dangerous… tell me you love me,” she shot back, smirking through the hurt.

His hand went to her waist, holding her in place, grounding her. “Don’t push me to say shit I can’t take back.”

“Then don’t kiss me like you own me,” she whispered.

Rock exhaled. “I probably do.”

It was a double entendre. Rock knew he probably loved her and owned her.

The words slipped out. They hung between them, both sharp and soft at the same time. Shakeisha searched his face, like she was trying to catch him lying. He didn’t blink.

“Say it again,” she demanded, knowing what his slip of words meant.

He shook his head. “Not tonight. You ain’t gon’ use my words against me tomorrow.”

She smiled through wet eyes, leaning into his chest. “One day you ain’t gon’ be able to hold it in no more.”

He rubbed her back, resting his chin on her head. “One day might be too late.”

The two of them stood in the doorway caught up in each other. They stood tangled in a way that didn’t have a name yet. His hands kept her steady, his lips marked her softly, but his chest felt torn in two.

Because he knew Knycole was the good girl, the better look, the safe future. But Shakeisha was the piece of him he could never fully cut loose. And he hated how much that truth felt like love.

Shakeisha pouted, leaning her forehead against his, like she could feel his turmoil. “You don’t want me no more?”

“I always want you. That’s the problem.”

Their mouths met again. His tongue deep in her mouth like he was trying to swallow all of her. Her shirt slid halfway off her shoulder. His hand traced the soft skin there. His thumb stroked her skin too.

She gasped, grinding into him, making him curse under his breath. Her hand went for his dick because sex was where their most honest selves laid—where his deepest shit revealed itself.

Then his phone lit up in his pocket, cutting through the dark porch. The vibration rattled against his jeans.

Shakeisha ignored it, pulling his face back to hers.

The phone vibrated again, Rock pulled it out. It was Hov calling him.

Rock broke the kiss just long enough to glance.

Shakeisha tried to pull him back, lips chasing his. “Ignore it,” she whispered.

The phone buzzed again. Then again. Over and over.

Rock pressed his forehead to hers, breathing heavily. “That’s my brother. I can’t ignore him.”

“You can ignore him for me.”

He pulled her face up so she had to meet his eyes. “You know I can’t.”

The phone lit again, Hov wasn’t letting up.

Shakeisha groaned, stepping back with a glare. “He always in the way.”

Rock ran a hand down his face, still hard, still restless. He picked up the phone. “What, bro?”

Shakeisha sat there watching him. Even when she lost, she knew she had him.

Rock knew it too.

Hov’s deep voice was loud enough for her to hear without it being on speaker. “Nigga, where you at?”

“Why?” Rock stepped back like he was being judged for being with Shakeisha.

“Knycole out here crying, nigga. She just got into it with her daddy. That nigga put her out.”

Rock froze mid-step. His chest tightened. “What you mean put her out?”

“I mean she was outside in nothing but a fuckin’ robe... that nigga high as hell. I’m wit’ her now but—” Hov cut off. “Where you at?”

Rock’s eyes slid to Shakeisha. She was staring at him like she already knew what was happening.

“I’m on the south side,” Rock muttered into the phone.

“Pull up,” Hov said. “She asking for you.”

The line went quiet for a second too long. Rock swallowed. “I’m coming.”

Shakeisha’s laugh tasted bitter. “Of course. Soon as she cry, you run.”

“Kesh—”

“Nah,” she cut him off. “Don’t Kesh me. You just had your tongue down my throat but she call and you Superman. You don’t even see how dumb you look.”

Rock shoved his phone in his pocket. His voice stayed calm but heavy. “It ain’t about looking dumb. That girl ain’t got nobody. You know her pops be super high. He put her out, where she gon’ go?”

“She got you,” Shakeisha snapped. “She always got you. That’s the problem.”

Rock stepped closer, his hands on her arms. “You still got me too. But you want me to choose in every moment, and I can’t. You hear me? I can’t.”

Her lips trembled and her eyes got wet. “You already chose.”

He kissed her forehead. His hand rubbed through her hair under the scarf. “I gotta go. We’ll talk later.”

She jerked away. “Don’t bother, nigga.”

Rock didn’t argue. He watched her for a few seconds, wishing he could choose but his heart wouldn’t let him.

And even though he’d just had Shakeisha in his arms, lips swollen from his kisses, he knew his night wasn’t ending with her.

Knycole needed him.