“Yes.”
He closes the newspaper, reaches for his keys, and nods toward the door. I follow and climb into his truck.
“I’d like to see you again.”
“Not this week,” I say, remembering it’s my sister’s birthday, and I really let the ball drop on that last weekend.
“Why?”
“I have plans.”
He nods.
After a drive, we pull up out the front of my house. Marcus doesn’t make a move to get out.
“Well, thanks for the sex,” I say with a smile.
His lips twitch as he watches me, those sunglasses are back on his face again.
“Pleasure was all mine,” he says, as I shut the door and walk straight to my car.
Pleasure was all mine?
What the ever-loving fuck.
Tanika stands at my door the following afternoon, her hands covering her chest as she looks at me in my car. I look around and don’t see her car anywhere. Grabbing my bag, I walk up to her. She doesn’t look me in the eyes before she speaks. “I can’t stop,” she says, shaking. “I sold my car… for drugs.”
I groan. “What the fuck, Tan? Come inside.” I touch her, and she flinches. “Tan?”
“I don’t want to go inside with you,” she screams at me, drops her hands to her sides, then throws them up in the air. “I want to die. I want to escape. What I do not want to do is go inside with you.”
“Okay.” I hold my hands up. “Okay, we can do whatever it is you want.”
Sad eyes look up at me. “I want money.”
“You just sold your car,” I point out.
She scratches at her arm, and that’s when I see track marks from needles. I reach for it, pulling it up for closer inspection. “What the fuck is this, Tan?”
She pulls it back from me and shakes her head. “Just give me some money.”
“No,” I say, crossing my arms over my chest. “You need help. And if you need money for that, I will come with you to pay.”
She bites her lip at my words. “Fuck you. You’re always so up yourself. Do you know that? What, you think because you work for some hotshot lawyer and have your own house, you’re better than me?” she screams.
“I don’t think I’m better than you, Tan, and you know this.”
Angry eyes search my face before she steps closer to scream at me, “I’m going to fuck your man. I bet he won’t want you after I fuck him.”
“I don’t have a man,” I tell her.
“Reap. You like him. And I’m going to fuck him.” Black hair swings when she turns to walk away. I reach for her, and she swings back and hits me across the face, knocking me over so my ass lands on the grass. When she looks down at me, I wonder who she is. “If you ever touch me again, I’ll kill you. Or better yet, I’ll make sure Blaze kills you.”
Too shocked to stand, I watch as she picks up my keys that fell to the ground and she walks to my car.
“Get out of my car, Tan,” I say while standing. She smiles, closing the door, then locking it. I stand behind the car, so the only way for her to get out is to run me over, but she starts it and revs it, then she puts it in reverse and pushes me slightly.
I don’t move, my body now touching the car. “Get out of my car.” I reach for my cell and dial the police. “Last chance before I call the police on you, Tan. Don’t make me do this.”
She revs it again and pushes me harder this time, so I have to take a step back with the car, otherwise I will fall and she will more than likely run me over. Just as she does it again, hands touch and lift me.
I grip the hands, trying to get free.
“Stop it, you crazy woman.”
Then I’m placed back down on the ground. Marcus walks over to the driver’s side door and in one hit smashes my side window. I groan at how much that’s going to cost me to fix. Marcus reaches in, turns the ignition off, and takes the keys, throwing them my way before he opens the door and takes a crazy Tanika from the car while she screams at him. It’s then I notice his truck is parked behind my car, stopping her escape anyway.
Walking over to her while he holds her still, I look up at her. “That was a shitty thing to do, Tan,” I say.
She spits in my face.
Wiping it away, I step closer to her. “I’m not going to hit you because I love you, and I can clearly see you need help.”
“I don’t need help.”
“It’s sad that you think that way.”
“Pretty girl, reach into my pocket.”
I do as Marcus says and come out with his cell.