by Sequaia
“When?”
“Uh, looks like in two days. I mean, she said in two days.”
“Let me see yo’ phone.” It wasn’t a question, which was why I extended my hand for her to give it to me.
As I read the message, I checked to make sure this was real. It was. Aúrea was writing from the page she had in high school, the same page I messaged multiple times, getting no reply. I kept looking and reading. She still had the profile photo of her at 16 from the school dance.
Why she ain’t hit me up? I wondered as jealousy took over. I passed Janae back her phone and went right to my social media account. I ain’t logged into that shit in forever, but I needed to see if she tried to contact me.
She didn’t.
“Aye, tell her you’ll pick her up. Get the bus station name and time.”
“Prentice, I . . . It’s been so long since I’ve seen her, I—”
“You won’t be picking her up. I will. Get the information and don’t say shit.” I dug into my pocket and peeled off ten $100 bills. I wasn’t trying to buy the agreement. It was just a small compensation for her agreeing. She’d have to ’cause if not, I’d take her phone and do it myself.
“Okay, Prentice,” she agreed like I knew she would and took the money.
Damn, in a couple of days, I’d have Aúrea back.
16
Aúrea
“Be still, my beating heart,” I mumbled as I exited the bus. How ironic was it that the same form of transportation that took me away was the same form that brought me back? I couldn’t even afford a plane ticket to come home after all this time.
With my suitcase on wheels, backpack, and duffle bag, I stood in front of the bus stop looking as homeless as I was. Before leaving L.A., Nijah and I snuck into the apartment I shared with Adrian and snatched up as many of my things I could get my hands on. Then we stopped by the café so I could say goodbye to Ms. Jackie. I wasn’t sure whether I would be back to California, but I knew for sure that I was not resuming my job at the café if I returned. That would be a suicide mission. Adrian’s ego wouldn’t allow him to ignore all that transpired between us, as well as me successfully leaving his ass.
I still had dreams and a goal to become an actress. Maybe New York would be my next destination to try to make my dream come true. For now, I had to focus on confronting my past so that I could truly move on. After another long talk with Rebecca, I felt better about coming back, as well as motivated to get my life back on track. The setbacks I faced were only there because my comeback was meant to be so much greater.
“Where is this girl?” I looked across the street, behind me, and back in front of me. She told me she would be here to get me, and I was surprised she agreed. I don’t even know what made me reach out to her. And now that I’d been waiting a good three minutes already, I felt like I should have just taken an Uber to my hotel and never reached out at all. No one had to know, nor needed to know I was here anyway.
But, of course, a conversation with Rebecca prompted me to reach out to a safety net from my past. Prentice had been that. After leaving him the way I did, though, there was no way I could reach out to him and ask him for anything. Plus, he hadn’t been on social media any time I checked, and Janae stayed on her page like she got paid to post.
So, by default, she won. I removed my phone from my pocket. I was still using it on Wi-Fi because Adrian controlled the account, and I couldn’t turn it on. Nijah offered to get me a phone by adding me to her plan, but I refused. She did enough for me—more than enough—so I wasn’t taking anything else from her. Once I got settled and decided on what to do next, I would get a phone, a prepaid one at least.
“Aúrea?” the sound of my name caught me off guard. Not because I wasn’t expecting it, but because of the voice behind it.
Why was a man checking for me? I wondered, and I was sure my face showed it. Slowly, I turned around to see who it was.
Deaf.
I swear I had temporarily gone deaf.
The loud honks. The sounds of tires moving along the pavement. The loud chatter from the patrons outside. The sounds of suitcase wheels being pulled. The every-few-seconds announcements made over the intercom of the bus station . . . all ceased. I, literally, could no longer hear anything. That valuable sense had gone MIA on me. My eyes were working, though, possibly playing tricks on me, but they worked. I mean, they were temporarily paralyzed, stuck on the figure directly in front of me. But I could see.
I breathed in and held my breath for three seconds, exhaled, and did it again. This was the breathing method I learned to help with anxiety.
“You all right?” he asked me.
No response to give, I just continued to breathe. Then my eyes started working. I felt them fluttering damn near about one hundred flutters every five seconds. My mouth wouldn’t work, though. In my head, I said I wasn’t okay, but verbalizing it didn’t seem possible. He kept coming near me, closing the small space there had been between us.
It had been five years. Last time I saw him, we were standing in this same spot. Well, maybe not this exact spot, but we were at a bus stop. He was taller than me then. He towered over me now. He was cut up then, skinny and defined. Today, he was chiseled. Wide. Well defined. Cut up. From what I could see, his once-smooth baby face now had a light mustache sitting perfectly above his full lips. His lips—whew. Sexy, plump, kissable, and suckable. His sexy, light brown eyes peered into mine. And unconsciously, I licked my lips. Damn, I crushed on him then, but I was in heat behind his ass now.
“Aúrea,” he spoke my name a little more aggressively this time.
“Prentice. Wh-what are you doing here?” My words had finally made their way to my throat and exited.
“That’s how you greet me?” He smiled, broadcasting all thirty-two pearly whites, straighter than I’d ever seen on a human.
“I mean, no. I didn’t expect to see you, that’s all.” Janae, where the hell are you? I thought as I began looking in every direction, avoiding him. She needed to hurry the hell up. His presence was too much. I didn’t want to see or face him right now. I planned to make this trip, not seeing his face at all.
“Well, here I am, and ain’t no getting away from me now.”
“I was actually about to leave. My ride should be pulling up any moment.”
“Your ride is here, Aúrea.”
I scrunched my face, not in disgust, in confusion. I didn’t see Janae anywhere. I knew what she looked like, and none of the people around looked like her. Hearing Prentice chuckle brought my attention back to him.
“Give me your bags.”
Damn, I don’t remember him being this authoritative. It was kind of a turn-on . . . well, would have been if I hadn’t just left a relationship with a damn dictator.
“Why would I do that? I just told you, I’m waiting on my ride.” Now, I had an attitude. How dare he think it was okay to tell me what to do? The purpose of this trip was for me to take my power back. I had no problem doing that, starting with him.
“Because I’m your ride, Aúrea. I know it’s been a minute—”
“Exactly. I don’t know you like that anymore, and you don’t know me. So to think you can just tell me what to do, well, you must be tripping.”
His brown skin was starting to become flushed with red undertones as his brows furrowed as low as they could. He was frustrated. Angry possibly, and the weird part of it was I wasn’t afraid.
“Maybe we have changed, but what’s for certain is I would never hurt you. Janae isn’t coming. I know that’s who you’re waiting for, and I came in her place. So can you please let me take your bags and follow me to my car?” The frustration I saw on his face only moments ago was gone. He looked sincere with his handsome face and pleading eyes.
Rolling my eyes toward the heavens, I tried to suppress my smile as I handed over my bags.
“Still the most beautiful girl,” he complimented me, and I felt my cheeks heat up. I extended my bags to him except for
my purse and backpack, not bothering to reply to his compliment as I followed behind him to his car. Watching him walk was like watching a piece of art leave an art gallery. Swag dripped from him, and it didn’t look like he was even trying.
We hadn’t even taken many steps before I watched him open a trunk to a navy-blue Tesla with white trim. His car was wet as hell. The paint job was immaculate.
I stood to the side as he placed my bags into the trunk, then came around, opening the passenger-side door for me.
My ass sank into the seat, and I felt like it was made to fit the mold of my body. He walked around the front of the car, and my eyes followed him until he got inside and sat sexily in the driver’s seat.
“I reserved a room downtown at the Hyatt.” Well, I didn’t reserve it. It was a gift to me from the women’s shelter. They paid it up for three days, and I was okay with that. After the three days were up, a Motel 6 would be enough for me.
“All right.” He spoke without looking at me and pulled off. As he drove, nodding his head to what I assumed to be the new Khalid album, I stared out of the window. Not much had changed. Besides a few building remodels, my hometown looked as it had before I left. We jumped on the expressway, and I was relieved to see he was following my directions heading downtown. It wasn’t that being around him right now was horrible. I just still wasn’t ready.
I could tell that Prentice had done . . . well, had been doing pretty well for himself, from this expensive car to the clothes on his back. He was rocking a pair of Jordan’s while everything I had on came from Plato’s Closet, including my Converse shoes. A women’s shelter had to pay for my hotel. I barely had money when I decided to leave Adrian and was thankful that Ms. Jackie gave me what she called a bonus on my last check. I left him and had nothing to show for it. Seeing Prentice now proved that I at least made the right decision by leaving him here. Had he come to L.A. with me, there’s no telling who he would have become. And instead of being open to giving me a ride like now, he’d probably resent me or want to kill me.
“How have you been?” he turned the radio down and asked.
Rolling my eyes again out of his line of vision, of course, I provided him a short answer.
“Okay,” I lied, easy to do since I wasn’t looking him in the face.
“What brings you home?”
If he was trying to make small talk, that was the wrong question to ask. Although Prentice knew about what I experienced at the hands of Von, for me to say I was here because of him felt weird. How would he look at me for saying that when he knew I left because of that man?
“Not something I want to talk about right now.”
“That’s fine. What would you like to talk about then?”
“Nothing. I don’t want to talk about me right now,” I snapped. It wasn’t my intention, yet my emotions weren’t too stable at the moment.
“It’s cool. We can talk later.” He sounded hurt, and guilt washed over me. This trip was about me, and I felt terrible for hurting him.
Why did he have to pick me up? I wondered with my eyes shut tight.
This was not what I imagined for this trip. The crazy thing is, I don’t know why I hadn’t expected something to happen. Monkey wrenches had been thrown my way since I was born. Why would now be so different?
Even though I knew he wasn’t too happy with me shutting down us having a conversation, he turned the music back up and said nothing. I was good with that. Grateful for it, even. So we rode in silence. And I just got lost in my thoughts. It wasn’t until he turned off the highway that I noticed he missed the exit for my hotel. Miles ago, he had passed it.
“Uh, where are we?” I questioned as I saw an area I wasn’t familiar with. It had to be fairly new ’cause I would have known if I’d been here before. Beautiful houses lined up for blocks—all the same beige or brown.
He kept driving, and soon, he was putting a code into a gate system that opened and led to another row of big homes. These homes were spread farther apart and were much larger.
“I asked where we are,” I repeated, taking it upon myself to turn his stereo down since he wanted to act like he didn’t hear me.
He pulled the car up a wraparound driveway of a huge house, pulling right in front of the door.
“We’re at my house,” he spoke like it was no big deal.
“I told you I was staying at a hotel.” Sucking my teeth, I folded my arms across my chest and looked at him.
“I know what you told me . . . I want you here.”
“You don’t get to make that choice, Prentice.”
“Since I’m the driver . . . I do.” He chuckled, and my anger rose.
How dare he?
“This is kidnapping.”
“It’s not. It’s me making sure you have someplace comfortable to be instead of a damn hotel. There’s no reason for you to be in one when you have me here.”
Shaking my head, I took my attention from him. My eyes were beginning to feel heavy. Water was slowly pooling at the bottom, and he didn’t need to see me cry.
“Aúrea, please, look at me.” He placed his hand on my knee, and I jumped. Not a small jump either. I jumped so hard I damn near leaped from my seat through the front windshield. His hand retreated from my knee.
“I didn’t mean to scare you.” His voice shook, and for the first time since I’d reunited with him, he sounded like Prentice, my Prentice.
“It-It’s okay. You didn’t scare me,” I lied.
I turned to him. Tears still holding court in my eyes had yet to fall because I was holding on like hell for them not to.
“Look, it’s been five years since I’ve seen my girl—my best friend. I will take you to your hotel if you really want to be there. Just know, I want you here. You’re safe here with me. I won’t even speak to you if you don’t want me to. You being here is enough. For the first time in five years, I feel whole again.”
Dammit. That did it. My tears spilled out of my eyes.
Nodding my head, I gave him what he wanted—agreeing to stay here with him, not the whole time, though. Tonight, at least. I’d contact the hotel and say I needed a late check-in.
Pleased, Prentice exited the car before popping the trunk, retrieving my bags, and assisting me out of the passenger door. Slowly, I followed him up the three broad steps to his front door, and as he stuck his key in the lock, it dawned on me that this was a huge house for just one person.
“You live alone? Does your mother stay here with you?” Two questions I should’ve asked before getting my ass out of the car. If I didn’t like his answers, getting back inside of his vehicle, demanding to be taken to my hotel wouldn’t be an issue either.
“I live alone. My mother and little sister stay way across town,” he assured me.
“Little sister?” That caught me off guard. Tasha’s mean ass getting someone to knock her up a second time had to have been a magic trick.
“Yeah, depending on . . . Well, you’ll get to meet her. She’s my heart.”
Hearing him refer to his little sister as his heart warmed and iced my heart. There was no reason for me to be envious of someone else occupying space there, but I was. He continued, opening the door, and I followed him inside.
“Wow,” I whispered as my eyes darted around the massive foyer with an elegant chandelier hanging above my head.
He shut the door, and the sounds of heavy feet heading our way had my ass backing right into the door, ready to run for it. My heart pounded as a big-ass pit bull and Rottweiler happily jumped at him with wagging tails.
“They do bite. They won’t bite you, though. Sit,” he informed me before sending over a command to the dogs, which they promptly followed.
“Two big-ass dogs. I’m sure they do bite,” I laughed. “At least you’re honest,” I told him as I bent down to pet them. Seeing their tails wagging and their overly friendly nature, I wasn’t afraid.
“Shit, you know people love to ask if dogs bite when they first see them. Of cou
rse, they bite. They got teeth, and they dogs. The question people should start asking is if the dog will bite them.”
“And if asked that, what would you say?” I quizzed.
“Shit, I’d tell ’em that I don’t know. It’s a chance they gotta be willing to take,” he shrugged.
“So, how did you know they wouldn’t bite me?” I paused from patting the dogs’ heads and turned to face him.
“Because they wouldn’t harm who or what I love. They’re too loyal for that.” He winked at me, and I promise, my clit jumped, and my heart skipped a beat at the same time.
Did he just declare his love for me?
How could he still love me?
I mean, do I even still love him?
“Um, what are their names?” Quickly, I changed the subject.
“The pit bull is Rocko, and the Rottweiler is Chuck.”
“Rocko and Chuck. Those are cool, I guess.”
“What would you have named them?”
“I don’t know, but now that you said their names, they look like a Rocko and a Chuck.”
“Man,” he dragged before laughing. “They like you. They usually don’t take to people so fast.”
“Probably because other people show that they are afraid of them. Dogs can sense fear.”
“You weren’t scared? I remember you being scared of the little wiener dog that Mr. Hank had.”
“Because that dog was evil. I was shook when I first saw these two, though, but I wasn’t gonna show it because then, I’d been dog food.”
“Not at all. As much as I love them, they’d be dead first.”
Wow. Who is this man? How does he still wanna protect me and not wring my neck?
“This is a nice home.” Again, I changed the subject. I went from not wanting to talk to having to be a conversation shifter.
“Thanks, come on. I’ll give you a tour and show you to your room.”
“My room?” I frowned.
“Yes, your room. You’re gonna be here for a while,” he stated like he was so positive.
“Says who?” I sucked my teeth before placing my hands on my hips.
“Still beautiful,” he complimented me again, picking up my luggage.