Chapter 3
Teonny couldn’t even lie . . . she felt more at peace when Prosper was around.
The entire time he was gone earlier, she kind of went a bit stir crazy.
She wasn’t used to being alone. After Angel and Kevin died, she bought a large home, thanks to Kevin’s life insurance policy, and allowed her mom and Jerome to move in.
Teonny couldn’t stand the silence. She couldn’t stand the memories of that night . . .
And today brought all that right to her. Time with herself and silence, along with guns and death. It felt impossible to wrap her mind around.
As Prosper pulled into the driveway of her home, she watched as he looked around protectively.
His caution only fed into her paranoia. She hadn’t felt this way in years.
For a long time after her daughter and husband died, she thought the two men would come back for her and finish her off, especially now that she had more money than she knew what to do with.
Kevin may have been a complete ass, but his death set her up for life.
It took years for her to get over her paranoia and a ton of encouragement from her mother. Now, she felt like she had been sucked back in time, and all those old feelings had come back.
“You good?”
Prosper’s voice brought her out of her deep thoughts. Teonny nodded slowly.
“Just trying to decide what to say to my mama.” It wasn’t a complete lie. Her mom was pretty easygoing, but she couldn’t just tell her to come with them for a few days, or possibly longer, without her man and with no explanation.
“I would appreciate it if you keep how I make my money to yourself,” Prosper said.
Teonny nodded. She wouldn’t tell her mother that anyway. They may have been best friends, but there were limits to what she would tell her. Prosper’s occupation was neither of their business.
She thought about it for a moment before saying, “I could . . . I could just tell her that we’ve been dating for a little while and we wanted to take her on a staycation. I mean, that safe house is huge and has a relaxing vibe. She would definitely go for that.”
Despite his eyes roaming the area carefully, the corner of his mouth tugged up into a smirk. “You tellin’ me we go together now.”
Teonny scoffed, though heat spread through her body at the thought. “No, Patrick. That’s just what we gonna tell my mama, unless you want me to tell her you’re some kind of kingpin. That’s what you are, ain’t it?”
The way he spoke earlier made her think he was a big dog in the streets and that she hadn’t realized who she had been talking to over the past few years. She saw him in a new light and wondered if she was spot on in her assessment.
The way he looked at her and then ignored what she said told her she was.
“Come on. Let’s get ya mama so we can get back. I don’t like bein’ out here like this, especially not wit’ you.”
“Why not have one of your men get my mom then?” Teonny asked as she reached for the car door.
“Bet not touch that mothafuckin’ door.” Teonny snatched her hand back like the handle was made of lava.
She waited patiently for Prosper to get out of the car and open hers.
She noticed the gun he tucked into his waistband when he got out of the car, and her pussy throbbed at the sight.
She patted her purse and silently thanked God that she had made it out of the gun range with her girl.
She would have felt completely naked without her.
Of course, she had more in her home, but this one was her favorite.
Prosper helped her out of the car as he spoke again.
“Nobody can know where the safe house is, remember? I’m takin’ a risk with you and ya mama, but I want you to be good, so it is what it is. ”
Teonny nodded in understanding. Prosper clearly had trust issues if he couldn’t even let one of his homies know where he was.
Realization hit her. Prosper really was putting a lot of trust in her.
He was the one in danger, yet he went out of his way to make sure she was safe as well.
Her frosty heart thawed a little more toward him.
“Thank you,” she murmured.
Teonny led him up the stairs to her home. While she unlocked the door, he asked, “Yo’ people rich?”
She snickered. “Not even.”
She left it at that. She didn’t want to go into detail about how her mom hadn’t worked a job since Teonny was little and Jerome wasn’t about shit. Teonny took care of them, and she had no problem doing so. She had more than enough money and nothing else to spend it on.
As soon as she opened the door, her mother stood there looking like she was about to leave.
“Teo, there you are,” she exclaimed before she flung her arms around her daughter.
“Mommy.” Teonny whimpered. She suddenly wanted to break down and cry, but she clamped her eyes shut and gathered herself. She couldn’t let her mom know anything was wrong.
Tameka pulled away from her daughter and grabbed Teonny by her arms so she could check her out. “What’s wrong? What happened?”
Teonny managed to giggle. She had to put on a show because her mama knew her better than anyone. Really, if she wasn’t so upset by everything that happened, she would have laughed for real.
Looking at Tameka felt like looking in a mirror. She had the same peanut butter colored skin, the same freckles, the same heart-shaped lips, and the same long curly hair. The major difference between them was Tameka was a solid four inches taller than Teonny.
“I’m fine, Mommy. I came to surprise you.”
Tameka took another step back, her heels clicking against the tiled floor. “Surprise me?” Her eyes traveled behind Teonny and landed on Prosper. A crooked smile graced her face. “My apologies. I’ve been rude. You are?” She held her hand out, and Prosper took it.
“Prosper. Nice to meet you, ma’am.”
Tameka looked between her daughter and Prosper with a wide smile. “Prosper, I’m Tameka.” Her gaze landed back on her daughter. “Is he the surprise?”
Teonny shook her head. “What? No, Mommy. We’re taking you on a staycation. Prosper has this beautiful house, and we’re going to spend some time there, relaxing, watching movies . . . that kind of thing.”
Teonny did her best to make it sound convincing.
It wasn’t odd for her to whisk her mother away on vacations.
Since Angel died, she hadn’t worked. Her photography business was long forgotten about, and she filled her days with anything she wanted.
Oftentimes, that meant traveling or spending nights in luxurious hotels with her mother in tow.
She’d never had a strange man joining them, though, so that part was where she had to tread lightly.
Tameka’s eyes found Prosper again. “You’re inviting us to stay at your house?”
Prosper took a step forward and placed a hand around Teonny’s waist. Her legs instantly felt like jelly.
“If I know anything about Peanut, it’s that you mean a lot to her. I wanted the chance to get to know you and for you and her to have some time to bond. I have everything set up for you ladies. All you have to do is pack a bag.”
Oh, he’s good, Teonny thought. Way better at this than me.
Tameka glanced at them one last time before putting her purse down on the table next to the closet where they kept their coats. “Peanut, huh?” She eyed her daughter with her brows raised. “I guess the mall can wait.” She grinned. “Teo, you need to pack anything?”
Teonny thought about it. “Actually, yeah.” She looked up at Prosper. “You want to come?”
“With you to your bedroom? Is that a question?”
His smirk made her entire body heat up. She tried to ignore it as she followed her mother up the stairs. When they got to the top, Jerome came out of their room in a robe and boxers. Teonny’s face instantly turned up as she looked away.
“Aye, Teo,” Jerome said. “My bad. I ain’t know you was home.”
“Ain’t that always the case?” Teonny muttered as she grabbed Prosper’s hand and brushed by them. Jerome knew she hated when he walked around half naked. He never seemed to care what she thought though. “Mommy, if you can hurry, that would be great.”
“Hurry what? Where y’all goin’, and who is that nigga—”
When they got to her room, she closed the door. She felt Prosper pull against her when Jerome asked about him. She had no doubt he was going to address her mother’s boyfriend, but she wanted to avoid that. The quicker they could get out of there, the better she would feel.
She walked toward her large walk-in closet while Prosper looked around.
“You got the master bedroom?” he asked.
“Yeah,” she called out. “This is my house.”
Prosper appeared inside the closet with a puzzled look on his face just as she opened her suitcase and started throwing things in.
“See, this what I mean. I don’t know shit about you. You been all up in my business. What do you do for work to afford this big ass house?”
She focused on the task at hand. The last thing she would do right now was get caught up in the past. Packing helped to center her as she spoke.
“My husband died five years ago and left me a lot of money. I don’t work anymore.
I don’t really like being alone, so I asked my mom to move in with me when I bought this house.
Jerome came with.” She rolled her eyes at the last part.
Prosper crouched. She could tell he was trying to catch her eye, so she glanced at him. “What?”
“It’s so much to you.”
“I could say the same about you.”
“Yeah, but I’m an open book when it comes to you, which is the highest compliment. I promise.”
She smiled a little at that. “I believe that.”
“I wish you would open your book to me.”
His words made her heart stammer. She continued to pack for a little bit before she looked up at him again. “Believe it or not, it slowly is.”
The smile that graced his face made her want to melt right there into the floor, but she knew they didn’t have time for that. She smiled at him. “Go. I need to focus so we can get out of here.”
Prosper stood. “You right. Let me not get in ya way. Do ya thang. Once we leave here, you gon’ be all mine.”
The way he said it made her insides tingle, and though that had been exactly what she fought against for the past three years, she recognized that there was absolutely no more fight left inside her.