Chapter 12
TWELVE
Learah
“My dad looks good.”
“Yeah, he does. Seems like he’s doing a lot better.”
I nodded before liking a picture Ky posted of her on the beach booed up in a lounge chair with Asim.
They had been gone for two days and she had posted at least a million pictures since they’d arrived in Fiji.
I was somewhat in my feelings. I wished it had been another group trip but I understood Asim wanted time alone with Ky for her birthday.
Meanwhile I was stuck here in Atlanta with mundane tasks such as checking on my father who had just been released from the hospital after his surgery, but I was happy to know he was doing well.
He still had a long way to go but he was here.
“My mom’s going to drive him crazy though.” I lifted my head and rolled my eyes at the thought which made Amir chuckle.
“You’re right and she still isn’t fucking with me too tough. At least your pops is cool though.”
“Which is hella weird. I just knew he was gonna hate you too.”
“Hate? Damn, that’s a strong word. You think your moms really that tight over me?”
“Oh she’s definitely that tight over you but she’s not pushing it because my dad kept checking her about being rude to you. I guess that’s a good thing.”
“It doesn’t matter to me one way or another. You’re still mine, regardless.”
“You sure?” I turned to face him, admiring the man I was undoubtedly falling in love with.
“You tell me how sure I am. I think I proved that this morning.” That arrogant smile on his face made me want to openly deny the truth but my body wouldn’t allow it.
He had indeed proved that not a soul on this earth could have ownership over any parts of me after being with him.
I was unequivocally his. Instead of stroking his ego, I held my phone up.
“You’re taking me here.”
Amir glanced at the picture of the private bungalow Ky had just posted.
“You asking or telling me?” I kept my eyes on him as he pulled into a parking spot. My stomach growled from just the proximity of the restaurant where I’d begged him to bring me to eat.
“Both.”
Laughing at my response, Amir glanced in the rearview again.
I noticed him doing that on the drive over but this time I knew something was up when he reached for the glove box and removed a gun.
I knew it was there, it was always there, but seeing him wrap his hand around it and the words that followed had me anxious as hell.
“Stay here. Don’t get out the car until I say it’s okay.”
“What’s going on, Amir?”
“Nothing yet, but in case it does, stay your ass right here.”
“Wait, tell me…”
“Lear, stay here,” were his last words before he stepped out of his truck, slamming the door with his eyes on a car that pulled in behind us.
My pulse raced as I watched him move toward it like he didn’t have an ounce of fear.
When the window came down and I noticed it was a female, my entire face got hot.
“If that’s this Nika bitch, I’m fucking both of them up.” Without giving it a second thought I hopped my ass out of the truck and walked up on the two of them just in time to hear her trying to shoot her shot.
“So you just disappeared. I see now the only way to get your attention is to pull up.” She was smiling a little too hard,, which had my attention on Amir quick as hell. His face was tight and I saw how hard he was gripping the handle of the gun in his hand.
“I didn’t disappear. You just served your purpose so there was no need for you to see me and pulling up almost got your ass capped. I suggest you take this as a valuable lesson and move the fuck on.”
“Served a purpose? Wow! If all you wanted was pussy, you should have been clear.”
Amir cocked his head to the side and laughed. “I fucked you and your sister to celebrate my birthday. I’m pretty sure I was clear about what I wanted. Yo’ ass just caught feelings.”
“Fuck you?—”
“Amir.”
When his eyes shot over to me, I saw his anger. “Yo, I told you not to get out of the car.”
“If I thought it was an issue, I wouldn’t have. But you’re over here explaining shit to a woman who doesn’t deserve an explanation. Let’s go.”
“Bitch, you don’t know me to tell me what I deserve. Amir, you better get this hoe.” When I looked her way again, she had opened her door and stepped out. My eyes swept her frail ass and laughed. I knew good and damn well she wasn’t trying it with me.
“Bitch and hoe? You trying to test the theory of gravity? Because if I hit your ass you will indeed hit the ground, trust.”
“Nah, we’re not doing that.” Amir cut his eyes at me and I rolled mine.
“You aren’t gonna do a damn thing but get fucked and left by him like he does everyone else. So you can stop your pointless ass flex, boo. He isn’t…”
I moved quickly, gauging the fact that I knew Amir was gonna try to stop me.
I didn’t have a damn thing to prove to her besides the fact that my mama named me Learah Renee and not bitch or hoe.
So when I clocked her ass with everything I had in me, one hit was all it took to get my point across.
Her head snapped and she held her eye, yelling at the same time, but she damn sure didn’t try to hit me back.
“Bitch, you just hit me!”
“Say bitch one more time and I’m gonna hit your ass again too.”
I knew it wouldn’t happen because Amir groaned and stepped between us, pulling me close behind his back so his body shielded mine.
“Yo, Lisa, take your ass on.”
“She fucking hit me.”
“And you called her a bitch. The fuck you think was gonna happen pulling up on me and my girl like that? Wrong move, shorty.”
“Your girl? Was she your girl when you were licking my ass?”
He laughed, shaking his head. “Nah, that was before we met, but you need to take your ass on because you sound dumb as hell for saying that shit. Be easy, shorty.”
Right after, he had a tight grip on my arm and looked around. “Bring your hardheaded ass on.” A small group watched us but he ignored them, pulling me toward his truck.
As soon as we were on the passenger side, he yanked the door open and placed his gun in the glove compartment before leaning across the seat and removing the key fob from the console. Once the door was shut and locked, Amir walked up on me, peering down like I cared that he was upset.
“Did I not ask you to stay in the truck?”
“Did I not see you arguing with some skinny bitch?”
“And what if she had a man in there who was using her to get my attention?”
“And what if that really was the case and he shot you when you walked up on him?”
“Then I would be shot and you would be safe. That’s how this works. That’s how I need this to work in order for me to have peace of mind.”
I opened my mouth to speak but didn’t have a comeback so I just swallowed and nodded.
Amir closed what little space was between us, placing a finger under my chin. “Ay, you gotta listen to me, aight? No matter what. Stop letting that little hot head of yours make you act before you think.”
“Okay.”
“Okay?”
“Yes, okay.”
“We good?”
I rolled my eyes, looking past him as the little skinny bitch exited the parking lot, and he gripped my chin, forcing me to pay attention to him. “She was before you and never after. Are we good?”
“Yes.”
I was blessed with a kiss, and when he pulled back, that goofy ass smile was on his face.
“Your hands are up to date though. I might just need you on the team.”
I laughed and shoved him in the chest. “Get the fuck outta here.”
“Nah, I’m deadass. Your man is fine as shit, Lear. I might need your help checking a few of these women who keep coming for me.”
“Fuck them, don’t make me check you. You better not put ideas in my head.”
He laughed, forcing me back against his body. “The only idea I need in your head is that it’s you and me. Can’t nobody fuck with that unless you allow them to.”
“Or you allow them to.”
“Nah, I’m straight with just us. You don’t have to worry about that, slugger. Now can we go eat?”
“Twins though?” I asked as we started toward the restaurant. And his stupid ass grinned, shrugging.
“It was my birthday.”
I sucked my teeth at his response which made him laugh. “That doesn’t make it right.”
“That doesn’t make it wrong either.”
I wanted to be upset but I knew who he was before me. He’d just better keep that behavior past tense or he would personally know how nice my hands were.
When I walked into Breeze, Faye was the first face I recognized. She sat at the bar drinking like usual before a shift. I shoved her shoulder, sliding onto the stool next to her, and she cut her eyes my way before offering a wide smile.
“Well damn. Glad to know strippers’ lives still matter?”
I sucked my teeth and returned a smile. “You’re dumb with that.”
“Nah, you’re dumb with not coming around for the past few months. Your new man not letting you slum it with your family anymore?”
“Stop, it hasn’t been that long. I…”
“Haven’t seen you since that night at Dee’s house.” Her tone was dry while her eyes narrowed on me. I did a mental inventory, dropping my eyes. “That’s what I thought, ol’ shady ass.”
“Don’t be mad. There’s just been so much going on that I’ve been trying to keep up.”
“I’m not mad, Lear. I worry about you. I’m the one who’s supposed to step up and be there but I can’t do that if you don’t return calls or texts.”
“I do.” She made me feel like shit for my absence.
“Barely, but like I said, I’m not upset. At least I know he’s good for you because he’s keeping you busy and you seem happy.”
My face split into another smile and she shook her head, laughing. “Yeah, he’s good for you. That’s that I’m on that good dick type of glow.”
“Shut up.” My hand shoved into her shoulder again and she shrugged.
“I’m just saying. You’re good though, right? He’s treating you well?”
I thought about everything that had happened since we last met and there was no need to make her worry, so I kept it simple. “Yeah, he is. I’m happy.”
“Then I’m happy for you. It’s about time you let a man get close enough to deal with your emotional ass.”
“You know what, this doesn’t feel like an I missed you type of conversation. It feels more like you needed to throw shade.”
Faye grinned, lifting the glass and tossing back the contents. “A little of both.” She placed the glass down and signaled for the bartender.
“Yeah, whatever, just do me dirty.”
“Like how you been doing me since you got your little boyfriend?”
I smirked and shrugged. “There isn’t a damn thing little about him. Trust.”
“Hoe ass.”
“Happy ass,” I corrected and she laughed, shaking her head.
“How’s your dad though? He’s home now, right?”
I inhaled a long breath, releasing it in a short huff of air. “Yeah, he’s home and better.”
She raised her brows, staring at me for a minute. “How are things? Like have you talked?”
“No, not about that, and we’re not going to.
I talked to my mother and she half admitted that how they handled it was the issue.
I love them both, I won’t say I don’t, but some things are what they are.
I also made peace with it and am learning to just accept it for what it is.
I’ll build a relationship with them based on that.
I just don’t think we’ll ever be right again,” I paused and shrugged, “My dad likes Amir though. Well I won’t say likes, but he knows who he is, I think, but still treats him with respect. ”
“Wow, that’s big.”
“Real big,” I grinned, “But he irks my mother’s whole soul and it’s worse because my dad seems to like him. That part makes me smile.”
“You’re petty as hell.”
“Yep, I sure am. What’s up with you though? Things with you and Dee good?”
The bartender placed Faye’s drink down and she wrapped her hand around the glass, sipping from the straw and smiling.
“We’re great. I think I’m about to call this quits around here too.”
“Seriously?” My eyes grew wide and she nodded.
“Yeah, it’s time. Dee promised to fund my studio and I think that’s where my heart is.”
“Your heart has always been connected to having a dance studio. You’re just finally acknowledging it.”
“True, plus I don’t think it will be a good look for me to be swinging from a pole with a big ass stomach.”
She grinned, attempting to take another sip from her drink but I knocked it out of her hands.
“Big stomach! I know good and damn well you’re not pregnant and up in here drinking.”
Faye mushed me in the head and looked down at her spilled drink on the floor. “No, dummy. That was a virgin. I’m not trying to come up missing and you know Dee would murder me. Hell, I would murder me. I’m not trying to harm my baby.”
I looked at Faye and down at the drink before bursting out laughing. “My bad, congratulations.”
Throwing my arms around Faye, she smiled big. “Thank you, crazy.”
“So why are you still here?”
“You know Gary is a big ass crybaby. He begged me to give him one last month, so he can try to replace me. Like that’s possible.” She rolled her eyes and I laughed again.
“Well either way, I’m happy for you. Looks like we’re both stepping into our big girl panties.”
“Hoe, I’ve been grown. That’s your bipolar ass finally seeing the light.” She hugged me this time. “But I’m proud of you and really am happy for you.”
“Thank you. For the first time in what seems like forever, I feel like things are good and I don’t feel guilty.”
“Oh baby, you shouldn’t. Ever. I loved Nee more than anything, and you know that, but she made her choices. That has nothing to do with either of us, so you should never feel bad about being happy. She would be pissed to know you did.”
“I know, it’s still weird though.”
“And it will be, just keep living, Lear. That’s all you can do.”
“I know and I plan on it.”
“Good, speaking of living, where is bae anyway? I’m surprised he let you up to breathe.”
“I was with him earlier but he had a few things to do so I decided to come check you out.”
“Ohhhhh, now I see what it really is. You’re only here because your man is busy.”
I grinned, shaking my head. “No, that’s not true. I was going to come see you regardless.”
“The lies you tell. And they’re not even believable.” Faye rolled her eyes. “But at least I get to see your ugly face, so I’ll take it.”
“So I’m ugly now?” I raised my brow and she grinned harder.
“Dog ass ugly when you ignore me for weeks and weeks at a time because my feelings are hurt.” Faye pouted and I shook my head.
“Whatever, man. Just remember that next time you don’t see me.”
She leaned my way and threw her arms around me, almost yanking me off my stool. “You love me, so you know better.”
“I half like your ass but think what you want.” I attempted to pull her arms away but she hugged me tighter.
“Again, all lies.”
She was right. I did love her and always would. She was an amazing soul and kept me a little closer to Nee and that made things a little easier sometimes.