Page 135 of He Don't Play About Me
I shook my head. “What we had was built on lies, Gio. I don’t know what the fuck you are on, but I’ma need you to find yourself.” I walked closer to him. I wanted him to know I wasn’t scared of him and that I was serious. “We are done, you are not my nigga no more!” I showed him my hand with the ring on it. “I’m with somebody, and I’m happy…I love him. It’s time for you to go back to Cali and leave me alone.”
Getting that off my chest felt so freeing. Gio gave me a dirty look, not saying anything to me, just staring like he wanted me dead.
I could hear sirens in the distance. Deja grabbed my arm and pulled me to the elevator that Renee had waiting.
Before the door closed, Gio stood up. “I’ma be seeing you again, this ain’t over.”
“Girl, what the fuck!” Kenya blurted out. “I see why you moved; that nigga looks crazy.”
I nodded. “That is not the nigga I was with, I don’t know whoever that was.”
We reached the ground floor and rushed out to the car. I told the driver to do the dash to Love’s store. He nodded and took off.
The girls talked to themselves about what happened. I stared out the window, not believing that my leaving him was the reason why he snapped. His eyes weren’t his; the grip on my wrist wasn’t the same; he looked at me like his property and not a person.
Kenya tapped my leg and made me jump.
“Awe, baby, it’s okay, we are here,” she said softly.
I looked out the window and saw Love’s car in front of us. We hopped out and rushed inside.
There were a few customers in there. Keith saw me and called for Love to come out of his office. Love came out of his office, looking confused.
“He found me.” That was all I said.
“Come here,” Love said.
We all walked into Love’s office. He hugged me and made sure I was okay before he did anything else. After Keith got the customers out of the store, he came back to the office to join us.
“What happened?” Love asked.
I swallowed hard. “We went to the spa, then out to eat. He must have followed us and had to be watching because we didn’t see him until we came back from the bathroom.”
“He grabbed her!” Kenya added. “He tried to get her to leave with him.”
Love raised a brow. “He grabbed you?”
I nodded. “Baby, that is not the nigga I spent seven years with.”
“Find out where them niggas are staying,” Love said to Keith.
“I told him that we were done, that I was in a relationship, and to go home.”
Love nodded slowly and pulled me into him. “Do you think he’s going to listen?”
I paused. “I don’t know; I hope he does.”
Chapter 32
Protection
The nigga went silent after she had that run-in with him. We ain’t here shit ‘bout that nigga Gio, but that still didn’t mean my girl wasn’t affected. I watched her shut down, not wanting to go out with her girls to eat or shop; all she did was go to work and come home.
Her days off were normally spent with her girls taking over the city, or with me at the store, wanting to learn how to design and make rings.
I didn’t like that she felt like she couldn’t live.
It wasn’t loud, she wasn’t crying, wasn’t complaining, wasn’t asking me to fix shit. But I could see it in the way she moved, the way she wanted to stay closer to me. The energy that she gave off wasn’t like it used to be.
