Page 20 of Roman Blake
Because truth be told, I was still mad.
Not just at her for waking up cussing me out after I spent the whole night making sure she was safe. I was mad at the whole situation. Mad at the thought of what could have happened to her. Mad that some nigga thought he was about to drag her off like she ain’t matter. Mad because when I looked out that window and seen his hands on her, something black had came over me so quick I ain’t even think.
I moved.
That was it.
“I don’t remember anything,” she said softer this time. “I woke up confused and started going off. That was wrong.”
My jaw shifted a little, but I still did not answer right away.
Then she let out a breath and looked down for half a second before looking back up at me.
“So… thank you. For last night. For helping me. For staying.”
That last part hit me harder than it should have.
Like she knew that was the part that mattered.
I stepped back from the door and nodded my head toward the inside. “Come in.”
She hesitated for a second, then walked past me. I shut the door behind her and watched her look around my villa like she was trying not to look nervous. It was the same layout as hers, just a little darker inside because I kept the curtains halfway closed.
Melissa turned to face me, still standing by the couch.
“I meant what I said,” she told me. “I was wrong.”
“I know you was,” I said.
Her eyes narrowed a little at my tone. “You still got an attitude?”
I let out a humorless laugh and walked farther into the room. “Melissa, you woke up talking reckless as fuck to me after I carried your ass in there, took your shoes off, made sure you wasbreathing right through the night, and sat in that damn chair till the sun came up.”
Her lips pressed together.
I kept going because now that she was standing in front of me, looking all soft and stubborn at the same time, all that shit I had been holding in was right there at the front.
“So yeah, I still got an attitude. Not because you was confused. I get that. I got an attitude because you scared the fuck outta me last night.”
That made her whole expression shift.
She blinked at me. “I scared you?”
I looked at her like she should have knew better than to ask me something that stupid.
“Yes, you scared me.” I dragged a hand over my face and looked away for a second before bringing my eyes back to hers. “Do you know what it did to me seeing some nigga with his hands on you and you not even fighting back? Do you know how that looked from my window?”
Melissa swallowed hard, and some of the fight started leaving her shoulders.
“I did not know what was happening,” she said quietly.
“I know that.”
“And I would never…” She stopped, then shook her head. “I would never put myself in that situation on purpose.”
“I know that too,” I said, my voice calmer now. “But that shit still happened. And if I had not seen it…”
I did not finish the sentence because I did not want to.
