Chapter 9
NINE
Liora
Two Years. I was being sarcastic when I said it during a conversation with Iso, then again, maybe I wasn’t.
Maybe it was time and I didn’t realize it until I called myself going back and the suit no longer fit.
Then again, was it because I no longer wanted to fit it?
No lie, I loved what I did, and never saw myself giving it up until I looked up and it was all I had.
The turmoil of being laid up empty and injured, not knowing anything else about myself because I’d spent ten years in constant motion.
“I stopped by the store today.” His voice filled my car as I drove toward the shooting range.
“For what? That’s kind of risky, don’t you think?”
“Nah, not really. I was in and out. You know how to fry chicken?” His question was random but not really considering our conversation this morning.
“Yes, I know how to fry chicken, Iso.”
“Good ’cause we’re eating fried chicken sandwiches for dinner. I got the pickle juice and everything.”
“And who’s cooking that?”
“Shit, me, but you’re gonna walk me through it.”
I glared at the center console momentarily before I nodded as if he could see me. “Fine.”
“Stop looking like that and go see your girl. I’m about to work on my raggedy ass car.”
“How do you know how I’m looking?”
“Because when you’re quiet, you’re nine times outta ten making one of those ugly ass faces like something stinks or mugged up,” he explained, bringing a smile to my face.
For him to know these things meant he paid a great deal of attention to me.
That wasn’t the only indication, but it was a big one.
“Did you get cheese? And mayo?” I asked, knowing damn well I was sorta looking forward to this cooking experiment tonight.
“Damn, you gonna eat mayo on your chicken sandwich? Who are you, shorty?”
“Um, what? Yes. What do you eat on yours?” I pulled into traffic.
“Ketchup and cheese.”
I turned my face up. “That is absolutely disgusting. I don’t know what I expected from the same man who has a standing delivery of coconut water to his house.”
He laughed. “Yo, I’m hydrated.”
“I’m sure. I need to get back in the gym or start running around the block or something. I’ve gained some weight since I started spending more time at your house than the place I pay rent with a gym downstairs,” I said randomly.
He laughed.
“What, you want me to put a treadmill in the crib, Killa?”
“You’d do that?”
“Do you want me to?” he asked firmly.
“Maybe. We’ll talk about it later.” I wanted to say yes, but I still had my moments where I feared being too comfortable.
“Bet. I’ma put that motherfucker right next to my raggedy ass car.”
I cackled. “Um, no. So both of us can inhale those fumes? I think not.”
It was now his turn to laugh and I lived in the joy of it. Yes, we were having one of those silly ass relationship-y conversations, but with everything going on in his mind, hearing him laugh made me smile.
“Ain’t no damn fumes out there, man.”
“Mhmm.” I turned on the street where the range was and immediately saw the little parking lot was empty. I pulled in and slowed near the doors, seeing a white, handwritten sign taped inside the door that said closed in bold letters.
“It’s closed,” I said aloud, then pulled over and decided to shoot Adela a message. It read delivered immediately after I sent it, so I knew her phone was on.
“What’s closed?” he asked, reminding me I was on the line with him.
“The range. I’m gonna go by her house, then the store to get my mayo. I’ll be home after that, okay?”
“Aight. Be safe and stop all that fucking speeding, Killa.”
We hung up. My mind immediately picked up on the fact that I’d called his house home. It wasn’t my home, but I spent so much time there with him it was almost like it was. I truly paid rent somewhere I didn’t sleep even two nights out of the week.
I was about to pull off when Adela responded to my message.
Dela: I’m good, lady, just taking some time. I’ll be back open by the end of the week. Are you alright? Be on the lookout for contact from my lawyer about what we talked about. I meant what I said, Li. You’re all I have.
I closed my eyes and shook my head. Now I was beyond worried about her, but I couldn’t make her appear.
If I knew Adela like I thought I did, she wasn’t home where I could easily pull up on her.
Adela was excellent at hiding or being so low that nobody could locate her with the best of glasses if she didn’t want to be seen.
Me: Checking on you. Call me when you can.
After sending that message, I continued to the grocery store.
I was serious. I hated any type of sandwich without mayonnaise.
Instead of going to the store in Lower Briar, I decided to go to the one closer to Iso’s.
That way I didn’t have an expressway drive when I left.
Plus the stores out there were always mostly near empty, with less of a probability of someone I knew tapping me on the shoulder.
Though my sister lived this way as well, I never really saw her as she was always at the damn flower shop or in uptown.
I expected this to be a short stop, grabbing mayo and being right at the register, but I quickly realized that wasn’t the case when I heard a familiar throat clearing behind me.
Immediately irritation filled my being and I rolled my eyes to the ceiling when I turned.
I was faced with none other than Sergeant.
I called him that so much that I’d forgotten the nigga’s name or didn’t bother to keep it in my memory bank.
I just wasn’t interested and he refused to get that through his thick ass skull.
I looked at him. This time not even forcing a smile. He was dressed in blue jeans and a burgundy tee, a massive contrast from his uniform.
“I knew that was you. Something about those braids always makes you stick out.” He grinned.
A tight cheek, closed-mouth grin indented itself into my face. “Yep, good seeing you.” I tightened my grip on the mayo and went to move around him and his cart.
“I asked your sister if you were seeing anyone. She said not that she was aware of. Why do you keep playing this cat and mouse game with me, Liora? I’m trying to make an honest woman of you.”
I stopped in my tracks, then turned to look at him like I was seeing him for the first time. I tilted my head to the side, glaring at him. “It’s not a cat and mouse game if I’m not fucking interested. Especially if I haven’t shown interest at any point. I am not your speed and you are not mine.”
“The problem is you like those hood types. Those aggressive men who are just as fucking aggressive as you.”
I laughed. “You’re right, I do, and I love it when he calls me Killa instead of my government like my father. Nice seeing you, Sergeant.”
He glared at me but didn’t say another word as I moved around him and his cart to pass.
“Listen here, you little arrogant bitch.” He grabbed my wrist with a quickness, forcefully pulling me into him.
My reaction was immediate. I dropped the mayo and throat checked him to create some space.
He let my wrist go and fell into the dressing aisle, coughing and gasping for air.
I glared at him before leaning down to grab the mayonnaise. “You don’t know me. You know what you’ve assumed and probably a few things you’ve heard, but I’m much fucking worse. Keep your hands to yourself before you have to spend life without them.”
I hoped to God he understood now, but something told me he still didn’t get it. Men like him didn’t do well with rejection, especially from women. They still had that fifties’ mindset and in their eyes we were property. That was why he thought he could grab me.
“You good with kids?” Iso asked randomly as I sat on the island watching him season the chicken breasts.
I nearly choked on my Coke. “Um yeah, are you trying to tell me you want kids or something?” Confusion lived in my features because the randomness of his question had totally caught me off guard.
“No, I have a son, as you know, and you’ll be in his life.”
I nodded. “Okay.”
“What, you don’t want kids?” He turned and looked at me, attempting to study my expression but it was hidden by the Coke can at my lips. Thank God.
“It’s not that. I just never saw myself in that space… this space?” I answered honestly, setting the can beside me.
“What space?” His back was to me again.
“The space where I don’t know whether to tell you I’m falling in love with you or sit here and swallow it.”
He turned around and faced me, eyes serious, studying my features for sincerity before he set the seasoning next to the chicken on the cutting board and stepped between my legs. His hands cradled my face in seconds.
“Ain’t never told a woman other than my mama that I love her, Killa. But on my whole fucking soul, I love you.”
I could have cried right there, not a cute little girly cry but the mucus-filled, ugly ass cry people did when they were alone or couldn’t catch themselves.
“Really?” I found myself asking.
“Yeah, really. It’s just us, baby. I love you even though you hit me off with that friend shit when we first met.”
I laughed hard as hell. “Given I had absolutely no intention of getting involved with or loving you.”
He laughed. “Yeen have no fucking choice.”
I was about to speak, but the ringing of one of our phones interrupted that. I glanced at the table near the door and neither of mine were lighting up, so it had to be his. It was confirmed when he picked it up and answered, putting it on speaker.
“Yo,” he answered, moving back to the space between my legs.
“I got a location on something we’ve both been looking for. Tunnels ain’t that deep.”
“Oh, for real?” he asked. Something other than the joy he was just carrying filled his eyes.
“Yeah, you ready to finally come back from the dead?”
Iso laughed. “Where at?”
“Clubhouse. Last on the other side of the piers.”
He nodded before verbally responding. “Bet.”
I studied him and whatever the man on the other end of the phone was talking in code about gave him life. It was like he had been jolted awake by freaking electricity.
“Bet. I’ll be that way in a minute.”
The phone hung up seconds later and I just stared at him. There was a lot swimming around those dark irises, a lot he had yet to say to me. So I sat back and watched him.
“I gotta make a run.”
“Where are we going?” I blinked twice, watching the we from my lips affect him.
“We ain’t going nowhere. I’m boutta finish this and you abou—”
“To go with you, ’cause I hope to God you weren’t about to say something like stay here and finish cooking.”
An irritated chuckle escaped his lips.
“Nigga, you told me you love me, so that means you know I’m not a meek one. So let’s handle your business, come back home, cook, and do some other things as well.” I winked.
He shook his head. “Second time you said home. You mean that?”
I didn’t even realize I’d said it the second time, but I did. I shrugged. “Don’t try to change the subject.”
“Fine, man, but you’re staying your ass in the car.”
I pursed my lips. “Now you may have a deal there, but it depends.”
“Depends, my ass. You’re riding, staying your ass in the car, and when we get back, we’re gonna eat, then we’re gonna fuck. Simple directions, Killa.”
I laughed, feeling his words between my legs. “You got it, handsome.”