Chapter 16
“You happy with your decision?” Devonte, my realtor, asked before handing me the bottle of D’USSé.
He had gotten it for me as a gift. I met Devonte about a month or so ago when I first decided I wanted to move forward with this venture.
We also went to the same high school, but he was a couple of grades under me. When it was my senior year at Biloxi High, he was just coming in as a freshman. At least that was what he said; I’d never seen him back then.
“Yeah, I do. Thanks for helping me with this, man.”
I extended my hand to dap Devonte up again. I was thankful for his help. Choosing the building that would house my boxing gym felt good. It was a hard choice between the first and the third, but I ultimately went with my gut. This one just felt like home.
“I’m happy I could help because I’m going to need something from you.”
That caused me to look up from the bottle and back at Devonte because I didn’t know what he meant by that. I knew he was getting a percentage from the sale once I closed, but if he thought he was getting shit else from me, he was tripping. Business was business, and ours was coming to an end.
“What you mean?”
“I mean, you can stop fucking my girl.”
My face scrunched up in confusion. The look I gave Devonte was his first opportunity to explain what the fuck he meant before I lost the little bit of religion I was still holding on to. When he didn’t explain, I got more pissed by the second.
“What girl? And before you open your mouth to tell me what I think you want to, you better decide if you value your life. Because if you do, now would be the time to back the fuck up. Ambushing me during a business meeting about somebody that belongs to me would be the wrong motherfucking thing to do. I’m giving you a chance to correct yourself. ”
I could see his bitch ass tense up. This nigga was scary, trying his hand at some gangster shit, but I wasn’t the person to try that with. If Shanet belonged to him, which I knew she didn’t, a real nigga would have told me when he first saw her face.
“Look, you’re about to have your gym soon. Just focus on that from now on. I’ve crossed state lines looking for Shanet, and I ain’t leaving without her.”
As soon as he let her name slip from his mouth, I completely blacked out. I gripped the neck of the bottle he’d just given me as a gift in my right hand and brought it down on the side of his head. The crack was so loud I thought Shanet would have heard it from the inside of the car.
The groan Devonte made as his body hit the ground could barely be heard before I was throwing the bottle next to where he’d fallen. I stepped over his body and headed straight to my car. Shanet had me fucked up.
If she had told me she knew Devonte, that would have been one thing, but her shaking his hand like this was their first time meeting had me tight. She played in my face with no remorse. If Devonte hadn’t told me the way he did, I bet she wouldn’t have mentioned it either.
I didn’t mean to slam the door, but it shook the whole car when I got in. I could see how afraid Shanet was when she scooted away from me and closer to the door. She was probably contemplating whether she could make it out of the car before I made it to her or not.
“Stone, I’m sorry, but I can explain.”
“Not right now.”
“Please, let me explain.”
“Shanet.” I gripped the steering wheel tight to keep from taking my anger out on her. “Not right now.”
The ride back to Shanet’s car was long. I’d picked her up from Renewed, and it was a thirty-minute drive from the last venue we looked at. If I could have flown her there, I would, but we both had to sit in what we were feeling.
I could hear her crying softly in the passenger seat.
I’d never seen her upset, let alone crying, and it hurt my heart more than the words I’d just heard from Devonte.
I never wanted to see Shanet cry, and I definitely didn’t want to be the cause of her tears.
Still, I couldn’t give her what she wanted in the moment.
If I relented and had a conversation with Shanet right now, I knew for a fact my emotions would take over. My pride would get in the way, and we would probably get nowhere. Right now, damage control could probably be done, but I needed time to be with my thoughts.
The main thing that was troubling my mind more than anything was the fact that Shanet wasn’t the one to tell me what was going on. If she had been, then a conversation wouldn’t even need to be had. That nigga would’ve got his ass beat, and we would’ve ended the day before it even started.
The fact that she let me go through the whole day with a man who was probably watching her every move pissed me off more than anything. I wasn’t convinced this wasn’t a setup from the first time I reached out to him.
He said he had followed Shanet across state lines, which meant everything he told me about his background was a lie. The only thing I wasn’t sure about was whether what Shanet and I had was a lie. How could it not be?
If what we had was the real thing, she would have given me the courtesy of coming clean. It wouldn’t have taken a stranger to put me up on game, and we wouldn’t be taking a thirty-minute drive with only her sniffles as background noise. I needed time to put all the pieces together.
“Let me know when you make it home.”
That was all I could think of to say as Shanet exited my car. She paused for a minute before she answered.
“I will. Be safe getting home.”
As soon as she closed the door, I pulled off. I knew she was safe because that whole neighborhood would kill for anybody who worked at that group home, especially Shanet. I needed to get home to a real drink.