Page 22 of Trading Places

“I know. Thanks for going and not thinking it was silly.”

“Shit, I rarely get to do shit, so I didn’t care if we went to a fucking park. Just needed to be with you,” I say, holding her hand.

She rolls her eyes and smiles, showing off those beautiful teeth. “You better stop before I leave my man.”

My jaw clenches at the thought. It’s something we’ve been dancing around for a while. Honestly, if I kill him, maybe it’ll make things easier for us to really be together.

“Don’t say shit you don’t mean, Zariyanna.” I take another sip of my hot coffee.

Zari gives me a side-eye and snatches her hand away from me. “Don’t get all serious. You don’t even seem like the relationship type.”

“Neither do you,” I shoot back.

Zari scrunches up her face. “You must be tripping. Let me carry my ass back to Alexandria.” She stands up and pulls out her phone.

“Sit yo ass down. You ain’t going nowhere. You just don’t like the fucking truth.”

“What’s the truth?” she says, putting her hands on her hips. “That I’m catching feelings for someone else when I have to walk down the aisle in less than six months,” she snaps, shifting her hips all the way to one side.

I stand up and get in her face. “You ain’t gotta do shit you don’t wanna do.”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about. I ain’t got no choice.”

“Everybody got a choice.”

“You know Montrell Davis just like I do. The motherfucker is controlling and manipulative. He pulled your ass off the block for a week because of an event that pulled in more money than the poetry nights. Imagine what he’ll do to me if I end my engagement,” she says, yanking the balcony door open. She stomps into the hotel room, and the door slowly closes behind her.

I put my coffee down and chase after her. “Nah, Pinkie. You don’t get to run,” I say, behind her, stepping into the space we’ve been messing around in for five days straight.

She can’t just change up on me because a nigga speaking facts. She don’t give a fuck about that square-ass nigga and it seems like she’s doing this more for her dad than herself.

I find her in the room, mumbling and grumbling to herself. She goes into the closet and grabs her pink suitcase. She takes all her clothes off the hangers.

“You really doing all this shit when I want you to meet my daughter?”

Zari freezes and presses her hands into the mattress. She looks up at me. “You want me to meet Shaneice?”

“Yes.”

Tears fill her eyes. “We’re getting lost in the sauce. Going to museums and taking strolls around the harbor. Giving each other head until we pass out. You even took the strap a few more times. It’s been a dream, but we both know once we go back to NOVA it’s back to reality.”

My jaw tightens, staring at her. “Why you cheating on that nigga if you care so much?”

“I’m not cheating on him.”

I scrunch up my face. “The fuck you call all this, then?”

She opens her mouth and then closes. “It’s complicated.”

“Tell me, then.”

“You wouldn’t understand,” she says, shaking her head, not even looking at me. “I gotta go.”

This is the woman who’s been on my mind for damn near months. Since the first time we linked and smoked. She’s always been that cool ass bougie girl. But the more I got to know her, shit just fell into place.

I’ve even taken a break from my mama. My aunt Marie stepped in with the check-ins, but it’s been hard.

A nigga’s been tired. We checked into the Four Seasons, showered, and I fell asleep immediately after.