Chapter 18
I missed the fuck out of Shanet, but it was never clearer than it was right now. I watched every step she made as I trailed her on the way to the kitchen. Shanet was wearing a loose jogger set that hugged her ass just right. I watched every bounce it made on her way over to the counter.
“You made these tacos yourself?”
Shanet turned around to face me as she sampled the meat and looked for a pan to warm her bread. Her face was on full display with her hair pulled back, and it was clearer than I’d ever seen it, but her eyes looked sad. Her lips were bright pink and glossy as shit. I missed kissing those lips.
“I did. Why you say it like that?”
“Like what?” She smirked because she knew exactly what I meant.
“Like I’m not used to cooking or something.”
“I just never heard you say you were cooking before. The way Mama Bea talks sounds like you only go over there to eat.”
“That was when it was just me. Now that Sakani is here, I want to start cooking more.”
“Yeah, that makes sense. Thank you for letting me come over here.”
“Honestly, Sakani didn’t even tell me until you knocked on the door.”
“What?”
“Yeah. You ain’t see how I was looking when you walked in here?”
“No. I thought you were just still mad.”
“I wasn’t mad at you. I was mad at the situation. I felt like we was better than that.”
“We are. I should have told you, but it’s just a lot of reasons why I didn’t.”
“Yeah. I know I still owe you a conversation, but I don’t really want to do it with Sakani in the next room.”
“You’re right. I get it.”
“But we can still have a good time tonight, and we can figure us out tomorrow.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
Shanet smiled, but we were both silent as she moved around the kitchen to make her plate. She started by warming up her bread before moving to the meat. When she made it to the veggies, she grabbed lettuce but skipped tomatoes.
“You don’t like tomatoes?”
“No. I used to think I was allergic, but now that I’m older, I think that’s something I said as a kid so I didn’t have to eat ‘em.”
“We all did that shit, didn’t we?”
“Oh, for sure. I was automatically allergic to anything I didn’t want to eat as a kid.”
“Same.” We both laughed. “Ready to go back? I need to make sure I’m not being cheated.”
“I don’t think he needs help winning.”
“Oh, so you on his side too?”
“I mean, he’s the one who invited me here.”
Instead of answering, I just smirked before turning around and going back into the living room. Shanet followed me but sat on the couch next to Sakani, further letting me know they were plotting against me.
“Gone head and eat up. You can get some of this action next.”
“Oh, you do not want to see me in Monopoly.”
“You think you can beat me?”
“I don’t think; I know. From the looks of it, you’re not doing too well.”
“Well, looks can be deceiving.”
Just as I made my next move, I heard a knock on the door. I wasn’t expecting any company, so I had no idea who it could be. I also wasn’t expecting Shanet, so maybe this knock was for Sakani too.
“Who is that? You got more company coming over here?”
“Oh yeah. That’s probably Jay from school. Lemme see what he want.”
Sakani and I had only been part of each other’s lives for a short time, but I could already tell when he was lying. He knew damn well that boy was coming over here. That was probably his plan from the start. Get Shanet to come, then leave us alone.
He got up from where he was sitting and walked over to the door to see who it was. When he opened the door, he spoke to his homeboy in a low tone before he walked back over to me. Here came the excuse that I was already prepared for.
“Hey, Stone, you mind if I go out with Jay for a little while? I’ll be back before ten. I know you don’t want me out too late on a school night.”
“I mean, I was in the middle of whupping you, but if you scared, I understand. I can take it out on Shanet if I have to. Just be back by ten.”
“I’ll be back. I promise.”
“All right. I’ll see you later.”
“I thought you said you needed to talk to me about something?” Shanet asked Sakani before he could get out the door.
“Oh, we can talk about it later. It’s no rush. I’ll come find you at school.”
“All right then.” Sakani didn’t even hear her, because he was already out the door.
“So, I guess it’s just us,” I said, putting my stuff down and looking up at Shanet.
“Yeah, it’s just us.”
“I wasn’t mad because Devonte called you his girl.
I knew that was a fucking lie. I was mad because it felt like y’all did have some kind of relationship, and when you first saw him, you didn’t mention it.
That felt like a betrayal to me, and the last thing I ever was with you was shady.
I felt like I’ve been as truthful as I can with you, and with you keeping stuff from me, I didn’t feel like we were on the same page. I mean, I still don’t know if we are.”
“We are. I didn’t tell you about Devonte, because it was a part of my life that I wanted to forget. Me and Devonte were together for six years, on and off. He was extremely abusive, and the last night he beat me, I ended up in the hospital.
“My mom was also abusive and a drunk, so when I was at the hospital for a full week, not one person came to visit me. I was only twenty then. When the doctor released me, I left town for good and never looked back. I wanted to leave him, her, and everything about that city behind me. It wasn’t that I was trying to keep it from you.
I tried to block it out of my mind, and I’m sorry for that. ”
“Damn. I’m sorry you had to go through something like that. Now, I’m mad that I ain’t really fuck his ass up. I only hit him one time. I can go back and do some more damage.”
“Stone.”
“All right. I’ll let him make it, but he better not pop up in my face no time soon.”
“Hopefully, he won’t.”
Hearing Shanet’s side of the story cleared everything up, and I wished I had heard it then, but I knew I wasn’t in the right headspace.
Everything she told me made so much sense, but if I’d heard it the same day, it wouldn’t have made any sense at all.
Now that I knew what she went through, all I wanted to do was protect her.
Shanet was thirty years old, which meant Devonte had been searching for her longer than the amount of time they had been together.
A man like that wouldn’t let our run-in be the end of it.
He was going to try something again, and I wanted to be there when he did.
I wanted to be the person in Shanet’s life who made her feel safe enough to stay instead of running away.