by A'zayler
“You want me to take some to give to Moto?” Jeremiah said, taking the rubber band off the stack of flyers he was holding.
“Nah I just got off the phone with him, he on his way over here now.”
“Oh okay cool, but bruh let me tell you! I think ya boy in love,” Jeremiah smiled as the two walked back to the front and out of the building.
“In love? Nigga with who?” After listening to Jeremiah talk about this girl, Jacko had to see her. Jeremiah was a lady’s man; if a woman had his nose open like that, she had to be special.
“Aw man, my nigga turning into a groupie,” Jacko said, dramatically wiping his hands across his face. “If she got you like this after a ride home, Ima have to meet her. I might need to steal her for my starting five,” Jacko joked just as Demoto pulled up.
*****
“Where are we?” Taryn asked as they came to a stop. When she looked out of the window, she saw Jeremiah and another dude. He was a short brown-skinned boy with tattoos everywhere. He had shoulder length dreads that were pushed back with a band, and he looked to be about 19 at the oldest.
“This my boy Jacko spot, we promote parties. I had to come get the flyers for the Rich Homie joint this weekend,” Demoto said as he killed the engine and opened the door. He told Taryn to come with him as he got out. After blowing out a nervous breath, she checked her face and got out. The moment she got out the car, she pulled her shorts down around her thighs and fixed her shirt. She met eyes with Jeremiah the moment she looked up. His face was filled with a mix of lust and adoration. He leaned against the window with one foot kicked up against the wall. With her hand in his, he leaned down to kiss it.
“Hey beautiful.” Instead of speaking, she just smiled back; it had been forever since a guy made her blush. Demoto spoke, giving both of his friends a pound.
“What’s up baby girl, I’m Jacko, the money man.” This statement drew a laugh from her.
“How are you, Jacko? I’m Taryn-Lee”
“That’s a pretty name for a pretty girl, I’ma call you Pretty Lee.”
“Fall back little Jack, this all me right here,” Jeremiah said, making her blush again. Demoto tried to mask his envy as best as he could. He was happy with Alicia and not necessarily interested in Taryn, but he still didn’t want to watch her with another man.
“Y’all boys trying to handle business or what?” Demoto said in a clipped tone. Taryn had caught the shortness, but obviously Jeremiah and Jacko hadn’t; they were still laughing and joking. She didn’t know what Demoto’s problem was. He was fine in the car, so she hung back and asked him after Jeremiah and Jacko had entered the building.
“You alright Moto?” She grabbed his arm to keep him from going inside. He stood speechless for a moment, because even though pretty much everybody he knew called him Moto, when she said it, it sounded different. A good different! He turned around and gave her a slight smile before reassuring her he was fine. She reminded him that they were having a good time, so he lost the attitude. Once they got inside, Jeremiah was coming back to the front with a small brown box that housed flyers for the party. He gave it to Demoto and returned to the back to get his own. Coming back to the front, Jeremiah stopped in front of Taryn and grabbed her hand
“What you doing with this nigga? Didn’t I already take you home one time today?”
“I found her ole lonely ass walking down the street looking crazy, so I scooped her and made her come ride with me,” Demoto said as he and Jeremiah started laughing at her.
“I don’t know why y’all laughing because ain’t nothing funny. I was bored at home so I decided to take a walk, dang,” she said, pulling her hand away.
“Oh so you mad T?” Demoto asked Taryn once she rolled her eyes. Jeremiah apologized, trying to ease her attitude. She gave them her back as she walked outside with Jacko. Back in the front of the building, she stood against the wall next to Jacko
“What’s up Pretty Lee, you from around here?” he said as he offered her the blunt he was smoking. Declining, she shook her head and pushed his hand back towards him.
“Nah, I’m not really from anywhere specific.” When he looked at her, he saw her staring off in a daze.
“So you want to tell me what that mean or not?” She declined and complimented his tattoos instead. She used her finger to trace the face of the little girl on his arm, which she later found out was his niece. She was his deceased twin brother’s daughter. Jacko took over responsibilities for her after his brother died. With the exception of Jeremiah and Demoto, he rode solo.
“I feel you on that one, Jacky boy. I like to keep my circle pretty small too.” Just as Jacko was about to ask, Demoto cut him off.
“Jacky boy? What the fuck kind of name is that for a grown man, T?”
“Well he gave me a nickname so I gave him one,” she laughed as she dapped Jacko up.
“It’s cool Pretty Lee, I think I kind of like it,” he smiled, showcasing a mouth full of gold. Demoto gave both men another pound before he and Taryn got ready to leave.
“Yo Taryn, hold up real quick shawty.” Jeremiah followed her down the sidewalk to the car, checking to see did she have any plans for later. Taryn was so lost in his smooth chocolate skin, big eyes, and perfect teeth that she couldn’t help but smile.
“Yeah, I have some stuff to take care of at the house”
“Well how about you call me when you finish, maybe we can link up or something,” he said, stepping closer to her. They set a time for him to call before she retreated to the car.
Once inside and buckled up, they were back on their way. It took a good ten minutes before she got up the nerve to say anything. Demoto was back in the same little mood he had been in at Jacko’s spot. For a second, she allowed herself to think that maybe he was jealous of the attention Jeremiah was giving her, but she quickly dismissed that idea. Why would he be jealous, they barely knew one another? She was almost sure he wasn’t checking for her like that. Yeah they had joked and kissed last night, and again today in the cafeteria, but who wouldn’t? He and her both were very attractive people; the lust between them was a given. She was most definitely not confusing it with him liking her enough to be jealous. Watching him rapping along with Yo Gotti made her stomach do flips; he was so handsome, and watching him drive was making matters much worse. The way his dreads were hanging down all over his back and around his chest had her so far in a daze that she didn’t even see him looking at her. Her eyes were trained on the way his muscles bulged as he shifted gears.
“T, you good baby girl?” Shaking her head, she stuttered a little.
“Ye...yeah I’m straight, why you ask that?”
“Because you staring a hole in the side of my head.” She hurried to apologize before turning to look out of the window. Although he wasn’t saying anything, he was always aware of his surroundings. He had felt her looking at him for the last couple of minutes, just like he had caught her biting her nails, obviously in deep thought about something. He had always been good at reading people, and Taryn didn’t prove to be much different. Her presence was overwhelming, he could almost feel whatever it was she was thinking–that’s how open she was.
“You want to talk about it?” he asked, looking over at her again.
“What? NO!” she exclaimed until she noticed the confused expression he wore. It was then she realized he must have been talking about her problems at home.
“Oh I’m sorry Demoto, you’re talking about me being homeless?” she said in a joking matter. She wanted to throw his mind away from her initial reaction when she thought he was asking her about the dirty things she was thinking about him in her head.
“Wait what? Since when did you become homeless? They put you out?” Noticing she had just let the cat out of the bag, she paused for a second before answering. Now how did I do that, she wondered to herself.
“Umm…yeah, but it’s cool”
“Taryn, what the fuck you mean it’s cool? No it ain’t! Where the fuck you
supposed to stay?” he asked, practically yelling. Taryn tried to hurry and convince him that she’d been staying with her friend. A friend she’d just made up. Demoto probably didn’t believe her, but he didn’t say anything about it. He looked at her sideways because he could tell she was lying, but chose to ignore it for now. It was obvious she didn’t want to talk about it. The muscle in his jaw was moving like crazy, a clear sign of anger. She placed her hand on top of his to calm him. The feeling of her hand on him quickly mellowed his mood; he was far from content with her situation, but he was relaxing a little. He decided to let the conversation go for now. He knew she would tell the truth when she was ready to.
Chapter 4
Back at the women’s shelter, Taryn had just gotten out of the shower and was ironing her clothes for school the next day. Everyone there was so nice and made her feel welcomed. There were women from all over the place for various reasons, majority of them being either battered women with their children, or teenage girls that were pregnant and had gotten kicked out of their homes. It was semi-crowded, but that didn’t bother her one bit; she had been living in these types of arrangements her entire life. This wasn’t her permanent home anyway; she needed one week, two at the most to get things lined up for her own apartment. Once she’d finished ironing and braiding her hair down into two long French braids, she slid on her pink Adidas flip flops and walked down the hall to the lounge. They were holding a mandatory meeting for the newcomers to explain the rules. She hadn’t wanted to come, but she needed somewhere to sleep so she had no other choice. She made herself comfortable in a seat in the back corner of the room. As she glanced around at the other people, she observed their individual situations. After a few minutes, a small-framed lady came in with a heavier set one and stood at the front. The smaller framed woman was light-skinned with shoulder length hair, small round eyes, and a soft voice. She wasn’t the prettiest, but she was far from ugly and looked to be around 27 or 28; the bigger lady looked to be the same age.
“Hello everyone, I’m Janay Richards and I’m the center’s social worker. I’d like to welcome you on behalf of the entire staff here and let you know that anything you may need, don’t hesitate to ask,” she finished as she smiled at everyone in the room. The discussion went on for another twenty minutes before everyone was released. The meeting had gone surprisingly well. The women had gone around the room explaining their situations, and playing icebreaker games. This eventually helped everyone warm up to each other. Just as she was about to walk back to her room, she felt someone grab her arm from behind. Turning around, she saw Janay.
“Hey Taryn, I was just trying to catch you before you walked back to your room. You didn’t seem very interested in anything we had going on tonight; are you okay?” she asked with genuine concern.
“Yeah I’m fine, I’m just not much of a people person, that’s all.”
“Well I can understand that, but when you’re here we’re all family, and if you look at it that way you may actually enjoy your stay.”
“I’ll try,” Taryn smiled before walking away. Truth be told, she didn’t want to make friends because she didn’t like people in her business; the more you kept private, the less you had to explain.
*****
“Babe you good?” Alicia asked, turning Demoto’s head so he was facing her.
“Yeah boo I’m straight,” he lied. All that night, he had been worried about Taryn. He had dropped her off at work earlier that day, and he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her since. He knew she was lying about where she was staying; he could tell by the way she told the story. She sounded as if she was making things up as she went, but he had no way to prove it so he left it alone. She was obviously a private person because she hadn’t even bothered to tell him last night that she had actually gotten kicked out of her house. She’d accidentally let it slip today and tried her best to cover it up. There wasn’t much he could do, but he at least wanted to make sure she was somewhere safe and wasn’t back outside at the park again. In order to give himself a peace of mind, he’d walked back down there before coming home to make sure she wasn’t there; luckily for him, and her she wasn’t.
“Demoto, you’re not paying me any attention,” Alicia said as she climbed on his lap.
“Yes I am baby, I’m just really tired, that’s all,” he lied.
“Well let’s go lay down then,” she smiled as she leaned in and started biting on his neck. Looking at Alicia, he could tell she wanted the D, so he was about to give it to her. He picked her up and headed for his room, pushing all thoughts of Taryn out of his mind and focusing on Alicia.
*****
The next day at school, Taryn tried her hardest to concentrate on her work, but she was too busy daydreaming. Once she got back to her room after the welcome meeting, she’d called Jeremiah and they talked for hours. He was so sweet, and for some reason knew all the right things to say. They’d talked about everything, from their favorite colors and movies to his family and background. She had chosen not to disclose any of her personal information. She didn’t know him well enough yet. Yes, he was nice and she enjoyed talking to him, but she wasn’t the type to trust easily.
Keeping her personal life private not only kept people out of her business, but it also kept them at a distance, and that’s how she liked it. He had asked a few times about her parents and where she’d just come from, but she’d given very vague answers if any at all. Anytime the conversation got to her, she would flip it back on him, which was very easy to do. Jeremiah wasn’t conceited but he was confident, so he didn’t really mind talking about himself. He was the second oldest of four boys, worked as a part time party promoter, and had plans of joining the marines after high school. Thinking about how he was going to look in a marine uniform had her mind everywhere except the math lesson her teacher was giving.
Just as her thoughts were about to go off the deep end, she was startled by the desk behind her pushing slightly into her back. Someone had sat down. Shaking her head lightly, she tried to focus on the board but she couldn’t; the cologne that the boy who had just sat behind her was wearing was captivating–it was mesmerizing even, and it was definitely one she was familiar with. As she turned in her seat, she saw a smile so bright and infectious she couldn’t help but smile one of her own.
“What’s up gorgeous?” It seemed as if her smile made his grow wider. The light brown freckles adorning his nose caught her attention first, then she made eye contact and almost got lost in his emerald green eyes.
“Nothing handsome, what you doing in here?”
“My coach pulled some strings and got me in here, because I need it for graduation.”
“Umm huh, let me find out you stalking me,” she whispered before turning around in her seat. She couldn’t bear to look at his beautiful face or the way his long blonde dreads fell over his shoulders another second. That sexy southern African accent was turning her on. He was so beautiful to her. His brown skin and blonde hair with those green eyes were a hell of a combination, but she’d be lying if she said it wasn’t a fascinating one.
“Aye T, why you turn around?” she heard him whisper.
“Because we’re in class, crazy boy.”
“Oh so you one of those smart girls that be acting stuck up huh?” he said, making both of them snicker a little. Instead of answering, she shot him a bird over her shoulder and tried to zone back in on their teacher. Leaning to one side, she felt a hand slither up the side of her body and stop right beneath her left breast. She tried her best to ignore him, but when he started massaging her ribs through her shirt, it was almost impossible.
“Boy get your hand off me.”
“Here,” he said, causing her to look down and notice the folded piece of paper he was holding in his hand. She took the note, opened it, and laughed. He had asked her was she serious about fucking him, check yes or no. Leave it to that fool to take her shooting a bird at him as something sexual; he was such a clown. With her pen in hand
, she checked no and threw it over her shoulder. The moment she heard him suck his teeth, she knew he’d read it. She laughed quietly to herself while she resumed taking her notes. Sitting behind Taryn was already proving to be fun. Upon hearing his classes had been changed to a more advance course, he was a little angered at first until he had walked in and saw her sitting damn near at the front of the class. Happy that there were two empty desks behind her, he sat in the one closest to her. He loved picking with her; she was so fun and easy to enjoy. Just like with the note, she could have easily gotten offended by it or the fact that he had been purposely feeling on her when he slid it to her, but she wasn’t. She laughed and played along, like she had been doing since he’d met her. Her personality was consuming and he didn’t understand their situation one bit. Here he was playing and flirting with her, and on other occasions he felt protective over her, almost like a big brother. Being that he had Alicia and she was obviously feeling Jeremiah, it was safe to say sticking with the brother sister feeling was more appropriate. Once the bell rang, they grabbed their things and were headed out the door when the teacher called him back. Since it was her last class of the day before gym, Taryn decided to wait on him. She fixed her books in her arm and leaned against the wall until she saw him coming out of the door.
“Took you long enough,” she said, walking up next to him.
“I know right, that was her nosey ass all in my business.”
“Teachers are always like that when you first come; I’ve been new enough times to know,” she said, stopping at her locker.
“I was hoping you were gon’ wait on me. I thought maybe you left as long as her ass took to put me in the computer.”