Page 59 of His Favorite Felon

Her tongue traced her bottom lip before she sank her top teeth into it.

I cocked my head to the side, trying not to smile too much. I didn’t know if that would piss her off, but I was cheesing like a kid at Chuck E. Cheese for the first time. I was overjoyed to be in her presence.

“You gon’ let me in, baby?” She rolled her eyes slightly, then stepped back to let me in.

Once inside, she closed the door and headed to the little kitchenette. Our rooms were set up the same way. The only difference was the decor. She grabbed a can of ginger ale and then took a seat on the sofa. I took the seat across from her so I could see her beautiful eyes as we talked.

“Damn, Trouble. You look good, baby. I missed you so much,” I admitted. Her skin looked smooth and glowed. I couldn’t tell whether she was using new products or if I had just missed her so much that she actually looked different.

“I know. How’d you get here so quickly?”

“Before I answer that, I don’t want you to be mad or creeped out. I plan to be completely honest about everything and will answer any and all your questions. Okay?” She nodded, so I continued. “I booked a room here. I wanted to give you space, but I also wanted to be nearby in case you needed me.”

“I’m not sure if this makes you weird or me, but I’m a little flattered,” she said.

“Well, hopefully flattery will get me far, because everything I’ve done since I first met you has been genuine. I didn’t quite lie. I may not have been completely honest, but I never lied about who I was. Chase did. He used my name and address to run a game on you, and I already beat his ass for it, but I’m not done with his ass yet. For now, I want to check on you. How’s your mental? Your text said you wanted to talk. What’s on your mind, baby?”

“Righttttt. I did text you that. We’ll get there, but I want you to tell me everything from the first day you met me, why you pretended to be Chance. Well, Chase. And what’s the deal between you and my father?”

“I first met you when you were trying to jump over my gate, and something about you caught my attention, so I decided to let you in. I felt a spark and was curious to get to know you better, but when you started talking, I realized you were looking for my brother. We don’t really have a close relationship.” I paused, searching for the right way to describe our connection. “I suppose you could say we’ve been estranged most of our lives. My parents focused on him, while my grandparents raised me.”

“What about Chy?”

“At first, she would be with our parents, like Chase, but when she was in her teens, she started to see them for the shitty parents they were, so she started coming with me to our grandparents. My parents didn’t even care.”

I kept giving her the rundown on my family dynamics. I told her about the conversation I had with my g-pop about our situation. She called him a smart man and said his smarts didn’t get passed down to me. I knew she was trying to find any dig at me, so I let her be great. I shared that I never meant to lead her astray, but that I wanted her to fall for the version of Chance she met this time around, not the bozo-the-clown correctional officer. I told her about my real occupation in the streets, and that’s when she got a little more serious.

“So you didn’t think you should mention that. Knowing that I went to jail for drugs. If something happened and I was caught near or around drugs, they would sit my black ass down for more than five years. You know that, right? Since you have the answers to everything?”

I understood her concerns, but she had nothing to worry about as long as she was with me. However, if she told me to leave and said, 'fuck me,' I would still keep an eye on her.

“I understand that, but with me, you’d never have anything to worry about. I put that on my life. You’d always be safe with me. Jail shouldn’t even be a thought in that pretty little head of yours. I got so many connections, it’s not even funny. I have officers on my payroll. I’d never put you in a situation where you had to worry about that.”

I continued, “Speaking of drugs and jail, I wanted to let you know about your father. Slick, he’s one of my street runners… well, he used to be. The last time I saw him was when I instructed him to complete a drop-off of the drugs you somehow ended up with. He had gone missing a month before your arrest, so I didn’t put the two together until two weeks ago. I think he had planned to steal from me, but then y’all had that lil switcharoo.”

She was in shock and in disbelief at this new information.

“I can’t believe he was truly okay with me wasting away in jail for his own selfish reasons.”

Tears welled up at the edge of her eyes. She blinked once, and the tears spilled over. I moved closer to sit beside her. I took her face in my hand and gently wiped her tears away with the pad of my thumb.

“Don’t you dare shed a tear for either of those fuck niggas. Their day will come, and I’ll make sure you get front-row seats.”

More tears fell, and this time I kissed them away. I lifted her slightly and settled her in my lap. I wrapped my arms around her to comfort her. I wanted to shield her from any hurt, and that was the best I could do right then.

“I love you so much, Justice. I apologize for my part in all this. I promised my intentions were pure, and they still are.”

She was quiet, too quiet for my liking, but I reminded myself that she has the right to go silent if she wanted. I couldn’t just smooth her over and assume shit would be sweet, even though I was dying to hear her repeat those words back at me.

Just as I was about to say something else, she whispered, “I love you too, Chance, but I’m scared.”

“Scared of what? Me?” I asked, going stiff under her. I would understand, even if I didn’t want to.

“Yes. No.” She sighed. I could tell she was getting frustrated.

“Talk to me, Baby.”

“I’m not scared of you.” She set up to look me in the eyes. “I’m scared of how bad you could hurt me and how easy it is for me to crash out. I set your house on fire.”