Page 113 of Certified To Handle You 2

“You ain’t know shit,” I told him.

Pressure leaned back in his chair and asked, “How it been since then?”

“It’s been cool for the most part,” I answered. “I can tell Reni tryna keep herself together and not move like she used to, but her mouth still be gettin’ ahead of her. She can only hold that shit in for so long before she gotta question somethin’.”

“What she questionin’?” Kay’Lo asked.

“The condoms,” I said. “She feel some type of way ‘cause I use ‘em with her now.”

Pressure stared at me for a second before askin’, “Y’all ain’t use ‘em before?”

“Never,” I replied. “That’s part of how we ended up in that other situation, and I ain’t tryna go through that shit again. I’m not gettin’ her pregnant, and I ain’t lettin’ her argue me out of what make me comfortable.”

Kay’Lo nodded. “That make sense.”

“It makes sense to everybody except her,” I said. “She take it like I don’t trust her or like I’m too caught up in somebody elseto touch her how I used to. I told her shit different now, and she gotta respect that.”

Pressure picked up his glass and looked at me over the rim. “You gotta be careful with that in-between shit.”

I laughed and leaned back. “Here this nigga go.”

“I’m tellin’ you from experience,” he replied. “When two women got real feelin’s involved, somebody always think they got more than what they actually got. Then somebody get embarrassed, somebody get mad and next thing you know, you outside a hospital gettin’ shot.”

Kay’Lo looked toward Pressure and started laughin’. “You always take that shit straight to gettin’ shot.”

“That’s what happened,” Pressure told him. “I left Kashmere at the altar, and she put five bullets in me. I ain’t makin’ the story dramatic. The bitch did.”

I took a drink and shook my head. “If Reni shoot me, she better kill me. I ain’t goin’ through all that rehab shit you went through.”

Pressure looked at me without smilin’. “That’s what you got from the story?”

“That and don’t stand too close to no hospital parkin’ lot after leavin’ a woman at the altar.”

Kay’Lo laughed harder and sat his fork down. “Both of y’all fucked up.”

“We still alive,” I reminded him.

Pressure ignored me and asked, “What you really doin’ with Reni?”

“I’on know yet,” I answered honestly. “I care about her, and I ain’t got no issue bein’ around her. I’m just not jumpin’ back into no relationship ‘cause we fucked a few times.”

“And Sha’Nelle?” Pressure asked.

The mention of her name changed somethin’ inside me, but I kept my face the same. “What about her?”

Kay’Lo looked at me like I was full of shit. “You know what the nigga askin’.”

I rubbed my thumb along the side of my glass. “I went to Greystone. Spent a whole week with her and thought everything was finally movin’ right. Then she woke up one mornin’ and told me she wasn’t comin’ back to Trill-Land.”

Pressure nodded once. “What reason she give?”

“Family, her grandma, where she was gon’ live and all this other shit she could’ve let me handle,” I replied. “Then she tried to make it about me controllin’ her ‘cause I came there knowin’ I wanted her back.”

“You did tell her she was comin’ instead of askin’,” Kay’Lo said.

I looked at him. “Whose side you on?”

“I ain’t on no side,” he answered. “I’m tellin’ you how that shit sound.”