“Did something happen in your past that is making Lamar act this way? He’s so possessive with you as if he’s trying to shield you from something.”
I glanced at Hayley, who gave Tamara a slight shrug.
“No. Lamar has always been this way; it’s just how he is.”
She shook her head. “Well, maybe I could do some more convincing, because he needs to let you two live your life and I’m pretty sure sneaking around will get old eventually.”
She went over to the entertainment center and picked up Lamar’s book. She looked at Hayley and gave her a hug.
She looked at me and smiled. “Treat her right, okay.”
“You know I will.”
She glanced at us again before going to the door.
We both looked at each other as Hayley went to the couch to sit down.
“Wow. What if that was Lamar that came in here? He probably would have killed us both.”
“Hales, maybe it’s time that we told him. Yeah, he’ll be pissed and probably will want to kill me, but at least everything would be out in the open.”
“I know, but I just have this feeling that things will get out of control. Although my brother can be a pain in the ass majority of the time, I don’t want your friendship to be ruined. You’re like a brother to him and this will devastate him.”
“I know; trust me, I have a lot to think about if we are exposed, but Tamara’s right. We’re going to get tired of sneaking around. Hell, I’m feeling like that right now. I’m ready to face whatever happens between Lamar and me.”
Hayley glanced at me. “Really?”
“Yeah. I said I’ll fight for you to the end; I’m not going back on my word.”
Hayley came over to me and wrapped her arms around me.
I sighed as I touched her hair. I knew what I just told her was somewhat true, but I had a lot at stake if Lamar found out about us. Now, I was willing to take that risk just to be with her.
Lamar
I parked my car in the parking spot in front of Tamara’s apartment and sighed. Since she wanted me to spend a couple of days with her, I was fine by it, but I really needed to be alone and think. When I was talking to Morgan earlier, I sensed something was up with him. He hadn’t been himself, so it kind of had me curious. I knew it had something to do with this new girl he’s seeing, which I still didn’t know who she was, but whomever it was, it was always making him jumpy.
I looked over and Tamara’s car pulling up. She glanced over at me and smiled as she turned off the ignition. I grabbed my bag and got out of the car.
“Hey.” I said as I kissed her.
“Hope you weren’t waiting long.”
“No, not really. It didn’t matter anyway since I needed some time to think.”
“About what?”
“Some things I’ve noticed lately with Mo.”
Tamara gave a hesitant look as she pulled out my economics book.
“Thanks for getting that for me. Was Morgan there when you went by?”
“He actually was. With his girl. I kind of interrupted them while they were…”
“Whoa. I’m sure that was awkward.”
“Very.” Tamara whispered as she walked in front of me to the apartment.
I gave Tamara a weird look as she opened the door. “Is there something I should know?”
She turned around and smiled. “Why would you think that?”
“Because that look you have right now. You only do that when you’re hiding something.”
“Mar, you know if something was up, I would tell you, right?”
“You would, but if it’s something that you’re trying to hide, you wouldn’t tell me.”
“I’m not hiding anything. Remember, we tell each other everything.”
I nodded and sighed. “Sorry, Tam, I guess I’m just being paranoid.”
“Why?”
I went over to the couch and sat down. “I think something is up with Morgan. He hasn’t been himself lately and for some reason, I think it has to do with Hales.”
“You don’t say.” She said.
“Is there something you know about the two?”
“Like I said before, I’m not hiding anything. Speaking of Hayley, don’t you think you need to leave her alone? I mean, she’s a grown woman.”
“So what if she is; she’s still my sister.”
“She’s two years younger than you, Mar, so I categorize that as being grown. You need to let her live her life.”
“Did she tell you something?”
“She didn’t tell me anything. It’s just what I see when I’m around you two. How can she be able to live when you’re constantly underneath her telling her what to do?”
“Because she needs to be protected.”
“From what? Have you ever wondered if she was in any sort of danger or needed to confide in you that she probably won’t because of the way you’re treating her now?”
I sighed. “I never thought about it like that.”
“Well, maybe you should.”
“If you understood where I’m coming from, then you would feel the same way.”
Tamara stared at me. “Did something happen that made you be this way towards Hales?”
I sighed. A lot of things had happened that made me do the things I did regarding Hayley. I didn’t know if I should even tell Tamara about it, since she probably wouldn’t understand.
“Is everything okay?” Tamara asked as she gave me a concerned look.
“Yeah, everything’s cool. One more thing about Hales?”
“What?”
“Has she been spending time with Morgan? I know he helped her out at Onyx.”
“I guess they have been. Why would you ask that?”
“Just wondering. Actually, I need to head back to the apartment for a bit. There’s something else I forgot.”
Tamara’s eyes grew wide as she stared at me. “What did you forget? I could go get it.”
“Why? I can get it. It’s no big deal. Besides, I was going to head to the store and get some things for later.”
“What’s for later?”
I smiled and gave her a kiss. “You’ll see.”
She gave a hesitant look and I went to the door. I’m not sure why she didn’t want me to leave, but I couldn’t worry about that. For some reasons, my imagination was running wild. I didn’t know why, but I have a feeling that maybe things were not what they seemed with Hayley and Morgan. And now, I think I needed to confirm onto whether what I’m thinking was actually true.
***
Fifteen minutes later and I was back at my place. I opened the door, wondering if Morgan was here, but he probably was out since I didn’t see his bike out front. I slowly walked inside. I didn’t know why I was paranoid. I knew I shouldn’t have thought that way about him and Hayley. I mean, he made a promise to me that he wouldn’t even look at her, let alone talk to her, so what I was thinking could be way off base. He knew better, especially after what I’d done for him.
I went over to the entertainment center when I suddenly stopped. I looked over at the couch and saw something shiny on the cushion. I went closer, noticing it was Hayley’s bracelet that she had since she was 15. I picked it up, wondering why it was here. I hadn’t seen Hayley since the confrontation in her room, so she never came to the apartment, unless…
“Nah, he promised.” I said.
I went into his room, seeing if there was anything else that I could find that was Hayley’s. I went through his things, but I couldn’t find anything. Anger was rising in me at the idea of Hayley and Morgan being together. I did something for him that I used to help me with my crusade for Morgan to think twice about touching her, so if he ever went back on his word, I would definitely exposed his ass.
If those two were together, not only were they doing it behind my back, but the idea that they were doing it here was really pissing me off. I couldn’t stand liars, which is why I was going to have to address it to the bot
h of them.
Honestly, I don’t like how I was treating Hales. I mean, she probably thought that I was crazy, but it was for her own good. She has such a bright future and I didn’t want anything to interfere with that. Too many issues had occurred to the people that were important to me and I didn’t want her to be another victim. If I have to be a crazed ass brother to her, then so be it. At least I knew she would be safe and alive.
An idea popped into my head as I went into my room. I searched through my things until I found my camcorder. I haven’t used that thing in years, only because it made me think about an incident that happened years ago. Honestly, I hadn’t touched once since that incident occurred, but I thought for a small second, I could slowly let it go.
I went back into Morgan’s room and looked for a convenient, but hard to see area that would show Morgan and possibly Hayley admitting they were together. The one thing I didn’t want to see were the two of them fucking. I think I would lose my mind if they were.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Morgan like a brother. The two of us have been great friends and have confided in each other over everything. He had helped me with my parents’ divorce, while I helped him through the issues with his stepfather. That’s why it would hurt me if those two were hooking up behind my back, because that showed he wasn’t being honest with me.
I went over to his night stand drawer, quickly put in the camcorder and left the drawer open a bit. He didn’t usually go into them for anything, so that should have been an okay spot to put it. The only thing was having the recorder on at all times, but how else would I be able to expose the two without constantly having it on?
I sighed, looking around his room one last time before I left. I needed to get out before he suddenly returned.
I closed the door and looked ahead, knowing what I was doing was wrong, but those two didn’t leave me any choice. I had to know the truth and if I had to invade my boy’s privacy, then whatever.
Hayley
A week after Tamara discovered Morgan and me together; I was now getting ready for Thanksgiving week. I received my last mid-term grade, which was for physics, with an 80. Not bad. Hopefully I could keep this up because finals were just around the corner and I did not need to be delayed from graduating.
I was waiting on Paula to arrive so we could head on the road when my phone beeped. I picked it up from the bed and saw that it was a text from Morgan. The words “I love you” were etched across the screen, which made me smile. Who knew he could be sentimental? I’m not sure if he ever said those words to another female, besides his mom of course, but it did make me feel pretty special. Honestly, I think I was in love with him even before we became a couple. Now, I didn’t have to wonder anymore about us being together; I knew it would be exactly how I imagined it.
I stared at my reflection in the mirror and noticed the glow I had on my skin. Damn, I didn’t know being in love would do that to you. Although this new experience was a little scary, it was also exciting to see what else was in store for us.
There was a knock at the door. I figured since it was Paula, I told her to come in. Sure enough, it was her, coming in with two big suitcases.
“What’s with the suitcases? We’re only going back for a week.”
“I know, but I need different outfits if I get bored and need something different.”
“Don’t you have clothes at home?”
“I brought everything here.”
I shook my head and went back to looking in the mirror.
She came over to me and smiled. “Look at you. Morgan must be putting it on you good for you to be glowing like that.”
I turned around and blushed. “Am I that obvious?”
“Very. At least he finally wised up and saw you for the wonderful woman that you are. So I guess Lamar really doesn’t have his balls, huh?”
I laughed. “Not at all,”
“I’m really happy for you, Hales. You have been in love with him since you first laid eyes on him, so it’s great that your dream came true.”
“It is, isn’t it?”
Paula gave a slight nod and sat down on the bed.
“Hey, is everything okay?”
She gave me a bright smile. “Everything’s cool, sort of. Scott broke up with me.”
“What?! Why?”
“I guess he felt I was too much for him. I don’t know why he thought that. So what if I wanted to spend all of my time with him, that’s what people in relationships do, right?”
“That’s true.”
“I guess he thought I was being clingy. Can you picture me being clingy?”
“Not really.” I replied.
“Exactly my point. Anyway, at least you have Morgan now, who I have to admit looks mighty fine since you two been together.”
“Morgan was always fine.”
“If you say so.” She laughed.
I glanced at her, realizing what she had just said. I quickly blocked that out of my mind as I grabbed my jacket from the desk chair.
“We better head out if we don’t want to be in traffic.”
Paula agreed and grabbed her suitcases. I picked up my bag and sighed. I knew once we were off campus, Morgan and I would have an even harder time seeing each other. But we would find some way to make it work.
***
Once we got through the campus traffic, we were out on the road heading to Houston. I sighed, not sure if I wanted to go home. I didn’t know if I wanted to be under the same roof with Lamar. Sure, we went to the same college, but we didn’t see each other often, unless he wanted to bother me. Now, I had to look at him for the entire week, which was making me kind of pissed.
After the two hour drive, we were in the city. Once I approached Paula’s house, I told her we could hang out later, which was fine by her. 20 minutes later and I was at mine, standing in the driveway, trying to collect my thoughts before going inside.
I had to prepare myself for what was ahead. I’m sure soon as I walked in, I would see my mom and possibly my dad, sitting on the couch probably making out or doing a lot more. Even though they were divorced, there were time when they slipped back into relationship mode, or what I thought was the banging mode. One minute they couldn’t stand each other and the next they were all over each other. They were a complicated bunch, but they were my parents.
I went to the door and opened it with my key. To my surprise, my mom was in the kitchen, alone, making dinner.
“Hey, sweetie.” She said as she came over to me for a hug.
“Hey, Mom. So I see you’re cooking?”
“Yes; actually, I’m making chicken enchiladas for both you and Lamar. I also told him to invite Morgan to dinner.”
My heart skipped a beat when she mentioned Morgan. I didn’t know how I was going to act with him being in the same room with Lamar and my parents. Hopefully he didn’t accept the invite, but knowing him, he would.
“Great. Did you need any help?”
“No. All I want you to do is put your feet up and relax.”
“Thanks, but I rather be doing something constructive.”
She sighed and came over to me. “Spill.”
I glanced at her. “What are you talking about?”
“Please, I gave birth to you, so I know when you’re hiding something.”
“It’s nothing, Mom.”
“Is it a certain person by the name of Morgan the reason you’re all jumpy? I saw that look on your face when I mentioned his name.”
I sighed. Nothing got passed her.
“Yeah. We’re seeing each other.”
My mom gave me a surprised look as she sat down. “Seriously?”
“Yeah. It’s been a couple of weeks now, but we’re a couple.”
“Wow. I really didn’t think that would happen, especially since Lamar is so hell bent on you not being with anyone.”
“Which I still need to know why. Even you and Dad can’t get him to stop.”
“He doesn’t know, does he?
”
I shook my head and sighed.
“Hales…”
“Before you said anything, Mom, you know our positions. You know he would go through the roof if he knew.”
“He will, but it’s best if he knows now about it before someone tells him.”
“And who would tell him?”
“It could be someone you least expect, sweetie. I just don’t want you getting into a situation that you can’t get out of. Lamar and Morgan have been friends since they were five and you getting into a relationship with him will break that friendship up.”
“But why should it be like that? Lamar should be happy that I’m dating his friend.”
“Lamar doesn’t look at it that way. Instead, he’s seeing all the things Morgan has done in his past, including dating multiple girls. He doesn’t want you to get hurt.”
“I understand that, but he’s taking the big brother routine too far. Besides, Morgan wouldn’t hurt me. In fact, he told me he loves me.”
My mom gave a sweet smile as she put an arm around me. “Now that, I can see. He always has had a soft spot for you, and now, he’s finally letting everything go to be with you.”
“I know. I just wish Lamar could be more open to us being together.”
My mom gave me a pat on the back and went to the counter.
“Does this mean Dad is coming, too?”
“Maybe.”
“What is really going on with you two? Your relationship is so weird.”
My mom smiled. “I guess only time will tell, sweetie.”
I sighed as my phone beeped. I pulled it out of my pocket and saw it was a text from Morgan. It read for me to wear a dress tonight. I don’t know why that was so important, but I guess for him I would.
“It may not seem like it will, but everything will work out Hales.”
I nodded and my mom continued cooking. I knew she meant well, but nothing good would come out of Morgan and me telling Lamar about us. Although, I told Morgan to admit his feelings to me, I think he needed to keep quiet about everything, because I knew when that day did come; someone was going to end up hurt or possibly dead.
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