Chapter 2
(Two months later)
“Will you be still? I swear, you worse than a toddler!” Kera exclaimed, tapping me on the head with the comb.
I winced and slapped at her hands. “Ouch, girl! Let me remind you that I’m a volunteer! I don’t have to be sitting here taking this torture!”
Ignoring me, she made another part in my hair and started combing.
Kera was cornrowing my hair so she could practice her sew-in skills.
I usually didn’t mind her experimenting on me, but I was feeling tender-headed for some reason.
Sighing, I sat back in the chair and focused on her soothing pink and gray décor.
Maybe I could dream I was somewhere else.
“Anyway, I’m going as fast as I can so we can get downstairs.”
Frowning, I tried to look over my shoulder at her. “What’s downstairs?”
“Some of Seth’s fine ass friends stopping by.”
I shook my head immediately. “No, Kera! I don’t wanna be here when them niggas get here!”
“Girl, you just worried about Mekhi—”
“Don’t nobody give a fuck about Mekhi!” I snapped back. “Hurry up!”
“Wait a minute!” She walked around to stand in front of me. I rolled my eyes as she put her hands on her hips. “Ooh! You got an attitude for real?”
“Can you just finish the first part so I can go?”
I did have an attitude, and part of it was because she’d figured me out exactly.
I didn’t want to run into Mekhi Venzant.
The couple of times I’d seen him since the mall had been awkward.
I just seemed to lose all ability to function around him which led to him making little, sly comments about me.
If he called me bougie or stuck-up one more time…
“The attitude is not necessary. Let me just finish cornrowing it,” Kera said, salty.
I knew I should apologize, but she had no business springing this on me. We sat there in a strained silence as she combed my hair. Finally, fifteen minutes later, she mumbled, “There!”
“Thank you,” I responded, already grabbing my backpack and stuffing my things in it.
I finished and made my way out of her room and to the stairs, Kera right behind me.
We bounded down the stairs and into the living room where I immediately froze.
For all my efforts, I was too late. Sitting there, his long body draped over their love seat, was Mekhi Venzant.
He looked up at us and a lazy smile appeared on his perfect face.
I swallowed, unable to look away from him.
Unexpectedly, I felt warm and off-center, like suddenly there wasn’t enough oxygen or something.
“That was you running down the stairs? What, you been in the hood too long and tryna get away?” he taunted me.
Kera poked me in my back, like that would knock some words out of me, but I stayed silent. I couldn’t help it; words, which always came easily to me, literally would not come. Seth looked up from where he was fooling with his phone and a speaker.
“Khi, leave that girl alone,” he said, grinning at us.
I felt a blush sweep over me as my ability to move returned. I hurried toward the door, anxious to make my exit and get away from Mekhi’s slick mouth.
“You not even gon’ say bye? Just no manners, huh?” his deep voice sounded from behind me.
“Mekhi—” Kera started.
I whirled around before she could finish. I was sick of him and his smug attitude.
“Shut up, Mekhi!” I snapped.
He gave a fake gasp. “What? You mean, I’m not invisible to you, shorty? You just been ignoring me?”
Ugh! I hated his sarcastic ass. Shaking my head, I reached for the doorknob.
“I’ma walk you to your car,” Kera said.
I nodded, refusing to turn around.
“Kera! Can you come here for a minute?” their Aunt Janine called from the kitchen.
She sighed. “Hold on, Farrah.”
“No, it’s cool. I can walk by myself.”
I didn’t look forward to it—Aunt Janine had a neighbor who liked me and didn’t want to take no for an answer. Kera sucked her teeth.
“What if Carl is on the porch? You know you can’t stand—”
“I’ll walk her.”
What the hell? Mekhi’s offer shocked me enough to have me pivot to look at him. Kera shot him an unsure glance before she looked at me.
“I’ll be fine—” I began.
“You could just wait!” Kera said at the same time.
“Se’Kera! Bring your butt on!”
Kera sighed heavily. “Coming, TeTe!”
She stomped toward the kitchen, muttering under her breath.
I bet she’d get all that shit out her system before she walked in that kitchen, though.
Aunt Janine didn’t play them games. I hurried out the front door, while Mekhi was distracted by Aunt Janine’s yelling.
I looked up as I hit the bottom step and fought the urge to groan.
There, coming up the stone walkway, was Carl.
A familiar lecherous grin curved his thin lips.
When I said he made me sick, it wasn’t just a saying.
I literally felt my stomach turn, nausea sickening me.
Carl wasn’t just some annoyance. There were rumors about him, reasons we saw the police come to question him first when there was any kind of assault in town.
I swore evil seeped from his pores, elevating him from aggravating to dangerous.
Like some cartoon stereotype, he licked his lips as he rubbed his hands together.
I shivered, a frisson of fear tripping down my spine.
Even with people in screaming distance, Carl was a menace.
“Hey, baby girl, I was coming to borrow a lil sugar, but shit… I done found something sweeter,” he said, striking a pose like he believed there was some way in hell I’d find him or his words appealing. “How you doing, pretty?”
“Fine,” I responded tightly. “Can you let me by, please? Kinda in a hurry.”
His smile widened, disregarding my request. “Aww, baby. You ain’t got a minute for me? I swear it’s worth yo’ time,” he coaxed.
He reached out, maybe to touch my hand. I didn’t know, but I instinctively flinched. He never got the opportunity as he was suddenly lifted and slung down the walkway. My mouth rounded into an “O,” shocked by the brutality of the act… and the fact that it thrilled me.
“Ain’t a damn thing she said hard to understand, nigga,” Mekhi said quietly, walking toward where he had thrown the large man. “So, why the fuck you pretending not to hear?”
Carl’s response was unintelligible, no doubt garbled by the sudden pressure of Mekhi’s foot on his throat.
“Let me give you a bit of advice, pussy.” Mekhi’s voice was conversational, belying the threat in his words.
“If you ever in your life attempt to reach out and touch this one, it will be your last ‘reach out and touch.’ You gon’ meet the untimely demise you should’ve already been intimately acquainted with. Can you understand that?”
Tears were running down Carl’s face as he squirmed, his hands on each end of Mekhi’s shoe. He was trying so hard to escape death by Jordan, trying but failing.
“Mekhi, please! Please, you gon’ kill him. Please let him up,” I begged suddenly, scared by the darkness in his eyes.
I wasn’t pleading for Carl.
With one last look, Mekhi lifted his foot only to bring it down hard on Carl’s head.
“Remember what I said about this one, bitch.”
Carl nodded hastily, as he struggled to sit up. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.” His voice was muffled by the hand cupping his bleeding nose and mouth.
I watched as he hurriedly limped toward his house before turning back to Mekhi.
“What is he talking about? What didn’t he know?” I demanded
“Yeah, Mekhi! What didn’t we know?” Seth crowed.
I didn’t realize we had an audience. Seth laughed his ass off on the porch, while Kera looked at us thoughtfully. Mekhi gazed at me for a long moment, then started walking toward my car. “Bring your ass on, Farrah. I ain’t got all day.”
“Mekhi—”
“You ain’t never wanted to say a word to me; don’t start now,” he snapped.
Embarrassment and anger battled inside me, no doubt reddening my face.
“Fine,” I said coolly. “I ain’t gotta never say nothing to you. Trust.”
And I had every intention of keeping that vow.