“As of lately a lot. My internet as well as a few of my neighbors have been shitty.”
I nodded. I believed her, but something about ol’ boy was off, and him just showing up to her spot didn’t sit well with me.
“I bet you don’t have to deal with that out where you live.”
“Shit I don’t. Don’t even have the internet. I barely have any type of cell towers.”
The expression on her face was fucking hilarious. It was like a deer caught in headlights. “On second thought, maybe it’s a good thing you haven’t invited me to visit you.”
“What? You gonna turn me down or something?” I turned around and placed her on the counter.
“Should I?”
“Nah, you ain’t. There’s many more things to do out there than you think. Be openminded and know I have every intention of keeping you busy when the time comes.”
“I am very openminded. Which is why I asked a question instead of giving a definite answer.”
I laughed. “We’ll see.”
She laughed as well, but before she could get any sort of statement out, I was leaning in and kissing her.
“All done. I should have you back up and running in no time, Jade.” He announced his presence. When I turned around, he was desperately trying to hide whatever was in those crazy ass eyes of his.
“Cool. Hopefully this stops happening, so you don’t have to keep running over here,” she responded politely. That was just her, extremely nice to people, regardless of anything. Earlier, when we left the store, there was a homeless guy begging for money. He’d told her he was extremely homeless, which had me looking at his ass sideways, but her nah. She handed the man the money and didn’t think twice. She had one of those giving spirits, the type of heart that would give the clothes off her back if necessary.
I walked over and held the door open for ol’ boy, cause yeah, I didn’t play that standing around shit. Job was done,what the fuck else did he need?
Once ol’ boy left, I was back in her space. Seconds from voicing the possessiveness I felt in my chest, then I shook my head. It was too early for me to be this possessive over her, but I couldn’t fucking help it. “Keep that nigga out of your space, Jade.”
She grinned. “Okay, baby.” Though her lips held a grin, her eyes didn't, which had me nodding.
I commenced cooking a little later, while she kept me company, talking and tasting whatever I held to her lips. Halfway through the evening, she started receiving those damn calls again.
“You sure you don’t want to change your number?”
She sighed. “I fear I may have to. I just hate it because I have a lot connected to this number. I have had it for over five years.”
I nodded. “Understood. And you have no idea who it could be?”
“Nope. I’m not the type to have a stalker. I’m too…” She must’ve felt me looking at her because her sentence trailed off.
“You’re too what, love?”
“I don’t know. Too boring. I’m not the IG model type. I’m just me. Not stalker worthy at all. I’m a regular girl.”
I shook my head and continued to chop up the cabbage for coleslaw a little finer. “Trust me, that’s a damn lie.”
A knock at the door tabled whatever her response would be. “I got it.” She rushed out of the room. Within seconds I heard her scream. I dropped the knife and moved in her direction as fast as I could. When I reached her, the door was open and her back was to me. In front of the door was a silver trash can with a fire set in it. I rushed back to the kitchen and grabbed a glass of water before going back to her. I threw water into the bin, putting the fire out. By then the fire alarm was going off.
I grabbed her, pulling her back into the house before I looked into the can. Inside was what was left of a bouquet of roses and chocolate. Both of those things dispelled her notion that she didn’t have a stalker. Somebody was following her and had apparently gotten pissed with me being here with her.
“You've beenin the city a lot lately. Are you moving back or something?” Kinga asked, leaned over, head inside of his old-school.
“Nah. I’m feeling something out. What’s up?” I had just come from taking Aja to practice. I was about to get on the road to go home when my brother called my name. I’d been out here for almost a week, fucking around with Jade. After that shit the other day, I made her go to my spot for a minute until her building could figure out how they didn’t have footage of a whole can burning outside her door. Had I not seen that shit myself,I’d be looking crazy too, but it happened. No matter how much she fought me on it, I wasn’t leaving her in that condo, especially because she kept downplaying it and refused to tell her brothers.
“Feeling something out? That sounds like you tryna keep secrets from me.” He grunted, standing up straight and moving to the tool chest a few feet from him.
“Nah, I’m grown. I don't keep secrets. I’m just seeing where something is going. I can’t do that?”
