“Since when do you call me asking me questions?”
“I’m just saying. She’s mad at me because I told you she’s pregnant, and she won’t talk to me. Now, you aren’t answering the phone for me, and I was thinking maybe the two of you have been together.”
“That’s why you don’t get paid to think. You damn sure don’t get paid to keep up with me and what I’ve been doing. Shorty is trying to have a baby that I don’t want, and you’re overstepping your boundaries. I’m not going to answer the phone for you again until I feel like you might have come back to your senses. I don’t give a damn if I’m with Michelle Obama. It’s none of your business, G.”
I was met with silence, and I knew that Lonna was more than likely fuming. I really didn’t give a damn. Since she didn’t have anything to say, I ended the call and returned the missed calls that were actually about money. I had three guys that wanted tobuy cough syrup. I had been getting it off slowly since Mazi died, but I was getting it off. I didn’t like to make it known that I had it for sale. A lot of people wanted it, but they couldn’t afford the price. I refused to low ball myself, and I wasn’t fronting anybody anything. They were either going to pay what I was charging, or they just wouldn’t be sipping syrup. It was that simple.
Wonder seemed to have a thing for lean, but I wasn’t going to try and sell her any. If she wanted to buy some, she could ask me for it. She didn’t strike me as the type to let Mazi’s big ass hit, so I could only assume that she was paying him full price for the lean. She could afford it. But maybe he was tricking and that was the reason why he couldn’t pay me.
Whatever the reason was that he didn’t pay me didn’t matter because he was dead. I would just have to move the cough syrup myself until I found someone else to take his place.
KoKo sat on my bed as she watched me flat iron my hair. “Pierre is cute, though.”
I tossed her a look over my shoulder, and she threw her hands up with a giggle. “I’m not going to do it. You know I don’t even do men with baby mama drama. Nina sounds like a live wire.”
“She is,” I shook my head with a smile. “Just from the short time I was around them, I could tell that they’re that toxic hood couple that goes through the most but won’t leave each other alone.”
“I don’t know why, but the more toxic a situation is, the better the sex is.”
I frowned as I ran a paddle brush through my weave. “May that kind of love never find me again.”
“You and Wilde are definitely the definition of toxic.”
My frown deepened. “Wilde and I aren’t a couple, so we damn sure don’t apply to this scenario.”
“I don’t care what you say, and I don’t care what he says. I saw him all up on you at the park, and he was doing more than trying to make Drew mad. That man likes you for real.”
“That man is a certified dick, and I’m ready for the little game that he’s playing to be over,” I snatched the cord out of the socket aggressively. I only had enough cough syrup left for two drinks, and I was trying to stretch it out. It had been twenty-four hours since I had lean, and I was irritated because I wanted some bad, but I was fighting it. A part of me wanted to just go ahead and drink it and worry about later, later. But I thought about the fact that I didn’t want KoKo or Wilde to see me sipping lean. They had both inquired about my frequent use, and I wanted to at least appear that I could go without it.
Eventually, I would have to give it up, ask around for it, or ask Wilde where I could get some from. The thought of that made my skin crawl. I would never admit to KoKo that when Wilde touched me my body responded in ways that it shouldn’t have. Just thinking about his lips brushing against my ear as he spoke made a chill run down my spine. The man worked my last nerve, but he was something sexy. Maybe I should pretend to like him, have sex with him, and see if he’d get rid of the gun with my prints on it. I knew Wilde wasn’t green enough to let me run game on him, but what if we became cool enough that he decided to stop blackmailing me? It would take a lot of effort to be nice to him, but I knew I needed to try.
The situation could be worse. He could look like an ogre. At least I had to pretend to be attached to one of the finest men in the city. KoKo stood up. “Well, I need to get some gas and a bottle. I’ll meet you at the track. Just let me know where you decide to post up at.”
“Okay.”
I sighed and bit my bottom lip. The situation with Wilde was irritating enough, and the anxiety and longing that came fromcraving lean was a bad combination. I wished he would hurry up and come, so I wouldn’t be tempted to fix myself a drink. Knowing my vice was in the closet, I rushed to select a fragrance, so I could spray it and leave my bedroom. My prayers were answered because as soon as I set the perfume bottle back on my dresser, Wilde texted me that he was outside. Grabbing my house keys off the dresser, I inhaled a deep breath and walked out of my bedroom.
In Wilde’s car, the radio volume was low, and the sounds of Lauryn Hill wafted from the speakers. The car smelled like weed, but it also smelled likehim. Expensive cologne, lotion, toxic nigga fumes. I could feel his eyes on me, so I lifted my head, and that was the wrong thing to do. His curls were pulled back into a ponytail, and he had a fresh line up. Wilde’s eyes were chinky from the marijuana he’d smoked, and his stark white teeth were beautiful. The gold grills were absent from his mouth, but he still looked ridiculously rugged and handsome.
“You get in a nigga’s car and don’t speak?”
The plan to be nice to him went out the window because the way he loved getting underneath my skin pissed me off. I could tell that Wilde got a kick out of having something hanging over my head, and I didn’t like it.
“We keep talking about that manners thing. You don’t exhibit any but I’m supposed to? I don’t think so.”
I pulled the seatbelt across my body and stared out of the window because if I kept looking at Wilde, my panties would be wet. “I would love to fuck the shit out yo’ ass and see if you could talk all that shit while taking dick.”
My stomach caved in, and my yoni screamed. Slowly turning my head toward him, I kept my cool because on the inside I was screaming, do it, do it! But on the outside, my lip was curled, and I looked him up and down with disdain. “You are a terrible person with a filthy mouth. I guess that’s all you have to offer,huh? Dick? Typical.” I kissed my teeth and went back to staring out of the window.
“I be letting you get ya lil’ shit off ‘cus I be poking the bear. I do like making you mad, but you know for yourself that’s a damn lie. If I only offer dick that’s because that’s all a bitch deserves, but I for damn sure have more than that, and I think you know that, G. You can be mad but don’t be a hater. That’s not a good look.”
“Boy, fuck you and stop talking to me,” I snapped while still staring out of the window. Wilde laughed, and I clenched my teeth together.
I was grateful when Wilde’s phone started its usual incessant ringing. That gave him something to do besides purposely ruffling my feathers. I made it too easy for him, and I didn’t like it. When we arrived at the racetrack, it was packed, but I didn’t expect anything less. Motorcycles were on the track, and that was my favorite part. I loved to see the men racing on their bikes. It gave me an adrenaline rush and turned me on at the same time. Wilde found his usual crew, and I focused my attention on the race.
“You should’ve pulled your bike out,” Pierre told Wilde after we exchanged greetings.
I pretended not to be listening, but my ears perked up. Of course, sexy ass Wilde had a motorcycle. It fit him. I was sure as a child he was a juvenile delinquent as well. There was probably even a bit of psychosis sprinkled in.
