“Mr. DeLuca?” Rachel’s voice flowed through.
“Yeah.”
“You have a visitor. Says it’s personal.”
I paused.
“Personal? It’s a man or a woman?” I asked.
“Woman.”
I squinted because that didn’t matter. I wasn’t expecting anyone and clearly it wasn’t Mel or any other woman in our family. My right hand dropped under the desk and pulled out the Glock I kept stashed in the locked drawer. I clicked off the safety and placed it flat in front of me. Whoever this surprise visitor was, would know I’ain got time for the bullshit.
“Send ’em up,” I ordered.
When the door finally opened, I didn’t expect to see the person who walked through it. My ex-girlfriend, Shayna. I hadn’t seen her in a damn decade and her she was strolling in my office like she was welcomed. I mean, I didn’t have shit against her, but I closed that chapter of my life at eighteen and didn’t look back. She was too meek for me and couldn’t stand up to her parents, so I let her go so her people wouldn’t be on her back. Now here she was, standing in my office like she was ready to pick up where I left her ass. Same soft brown skin, and deep-set eyes. Her frame was a little thicker, but it was her, no doubt.
I sat up straighter, but didn’t touch the gun.
“Franklin,” she said, her voice softer than I remembered.
I blinked once. Still couldn’t fully process why she was here..
“Shayna?”
She smiled, awkwardly. “Yeah. It’s me.”
I stared at her, chest tight with confusion but face blank. “What the fuck are you doing here?”
“I’m not here to start anything,” she blurted. “I just… I needed to see you.”
“After all these years? Why now?”
“I moved back a few months ago. I figured you’d be out by now and probably be here. I didn’t want to go to your parent’s house. I just needed to see you.”
She took a few steps in, then noticed the gun on the desk. She paused before looking around the office like she was trying to figure out who I’d become.
“You look good.” She complimented. “Grown.”
“Fuck you want, Shay?” She was getting on my nerves just standing there.
“I guess I needed to know if I ever crossed your mind.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You serious?”
She shrugged. “Maybe not the way I crossed yours. But yeah.”
“You don’t. Not since the day I ended that shit.”
Her mouth opened like she wanted to say something slick, but the door swung open before she could. Buck walked in without knocking, as usual.
“Why the fuck this door closed? The fuck you in here doing, Franklin?” he asked, walking in like he was in his office and not mine. He stopped short when he saw her. His face turned into a mask of amused disgust.
“The fuck the ghost of bullshit’s past doing here?” He pointed his thumb at Shayna.
“Hey, Buck.” She smirked.
He blinked slow. “Don’t ‘hi’ me. The fuck you doin’ here? In case you can’t read the room, you ain’t welcomed.”
