Page 86 of Juliet's Echo

“And hurry up, hoe,” Yahya added. “All thisfriendlyconversation ain’t needed. Pretty sure you worked off that stipend money by now.”

A slight chuckle escaped Juliet, which somehow pissed me off even more.

I grabbed one of the books from her pile and dropped it back down hard.

“You can’t donate Braille books here.”

Juliet blinked.

“You been sniffing those seasonings in your cooking classes?” she asked. “Braille is for blind people. I’m hearing impaired, and these—”

She shoved the stack of books toward me with so much force that they slid across the counter and spilled onto the floor behind the register. Not wanting to chip my pedicure, I jumped back out of the way.

“—are standard prints,” she finished with a smile.

Then she crossed her arms, looking entirely too pleased with herself.

Barbaric.

Rolling my eyes, I picked up the books little miss rude-ass had knocked onto the floor and started scanning them. Juliet's stack cleared without issue, so I moved on to Mega's.

Mega's skin was smooth milk chocolate with a fire-red undertone. He always smelled good whenever I got close enough to catch a whiff, and he carried himself like somebody who'd step in front of a bullet for the people he loved. If he ever got rid of his two shadows, I'd gladly give him a taste.

When Mega's pile cleared, I moved on to Yahya's.

"What you got for us today? Remedial reading? A little Red Fish, Blue Fish? Some Goodnight Moon?"

Yahya lunged at me almost immediately.

Once again, Mega caught her before she could reach me.

This time, though, she wasn’t trying to be held back. She twisted, kicked, and reached for me while launching a fresh round of insults in my direction. Her mouth was almost as lethal as her hands.

I was enjoying the show, watching her buck around like a spooked horse trapped in a stable, when I heard the sound of paper tearing.

I turned toward Juliet and saw her ripping up the donation receipt.

My eyebrows shot up.

"I'm not printing another one," I said, annoyed. And I meant it.

"No problem." She smiled. "As a matter of fact, none of these books need to be registered."

"Ju, hold up. I need my service credits," Mega interrupted, still trying to calm Yahya's wild ass down.

Juliet pushed the entire collection of books toward me.

"Consider them a gift."

"A gift?" I frowned.

"Mm-hmm." She folded her arms. "Think of it as a head start for the fall semester. One less expense you and your mama gotta lay on your backs for."

"Ha! Yeah, tell that bitch, Ju-Ju!" Yahya applauded.

Mega looked at me, his fist pressed against his lips. The wince on his face said he felt that hit just as hard as I did.

Heat flooded my face, and a storm of emotions tore through me. Embarrassment. Humiliation. Rage.