Page 14 of Intercept My Heart

“I don’t know,” I answered honestly. Dinero’s hands gripped the steering wheel tightly.

“He won’t mess with you again. I can promise you that.” His words sounded so final that I chose not to question it.

“I don’t need to get food. I work tonight, and we get a meal for free.”

“All of that sounds good, but I prefer to see you with food in your hands. Don’t fight me on this. Otherwise, I won’t be able to focus on practice.” He gave a small smile that triggered one from me.

“Fine. We can go to Penn Station since it’s close by.”

“Bet. I can work with that.”

We grabbed our food pretty quickly and then it was time for him to take me home. Dinero watched me walk up to the porch before driving off. This time, Vera’s car sat crookedly parked in the driveway, so I made a point to stuff my food at the bottom of my backpack before heading inside.

“Didyou get the money I sent you? Don’t spend all that shit at once but enjoy it. I got a nice bonus from Ricardo, so the money is about to start rolling in,” my uncle Ro informed me. He made a monthly deposit of ten bands into a bank account that only the two of us could access. This week, he sent twenty-five bands, which struck me as odd.

“Should I be concerned? You’re not about to disappear, are you?” Ro hardly ever came home, but he at least made sure to check in a few days out of the week, if he could.

“Well, I wouldn’t necessarily consider it disappearing. The job I’m taking requires me to be disconnected from my real world, which means I won’t be able to call or check in like normal. When I finish, we’ll have more money than we knowwhat to do with.” Of course, that was the only thing he cared about. Money had never been an issue. However, he never seemed to be satisfied. Most of the money he made sat in the many offshore accounts he’d opened.

“We already have money, but I hear you. All I ask is that you be safe and call when you can.” For him to be a guardian, I found myself watching over him way more than he watched over me. It’d been this way since I was a child. Uncle Ro would have Tootie fill the house with all kinds of toys, food, and snacks because he knew he wouldn’t be around.

She often cooked for me throughout the week, and then I would order out on the weekends. There were times when I wished he was here with me, but it was wishful thinking. Uncle Ro wanted to take over the world, and he didn’t have time to be raising someone else’s child.

“I’m always careful, young bull. I’ve already been in touch with Tootie’s worrisome ass, so if you don’t hear from me for a while, she’ll know what to do.” His words caused a sinking feeling in my stomach, but I shook it off. One thing Unc taught me was not to fear anything in this world, not even death.

“Alright, Unc. I love you. Call me when you can.”

“Always. Love you too. Keep your head up and stay out of the way.” We disconnected the call, and I got another one right after.

“What’s up?” I should have ignored her ass like I’d been doing.

“What’s going on with you? I haven’t been able to get in touch with you. You’ve been moving real funny lately.” Brielle huffed into the phone.

She wasn’t lying, because things hadn’t been the same with us. It started with the fight between her and Charae then went downhill. The more time I spent around her, I noticed how nasty her personality was. Brielle was a beautiful girl, and her headgame was more than decent. However, I hated the way she acted when we were around other people.

Whenever we went out with other couples, she acted territorial. Plus, she and her little crew were bullies. That shit turned me off in a major way. Then, there were the growing feelings I was developing for Charae.

Since she started working at Steak Shack, I’d made it a point to pick her up from work at night. She gave me a hard time about it, but I didn’t care. It wasn’t safe for her to be out that late and taking the bus. I found it odd that her parents weren’t there to get her, but I guessed I shouldn’t be too surprised. As much as I loved Drake like a brother, his parents were odd to me.

His father kept a permanent frown on his face for everyone except young girls. I wasn’t accusing him of anything. However, I told my cousins to keep their distance from him. The few times he attended our games, his attention stayed on the cheerleaders more than the players. I wasn’t even the one to point it out. A girl I used to talk to mentioned that he made her feel uncomfortable when she did her cheers.

The only reason I never spoke on it was because I knew I needed proof. People had a hard time seeing the negative in the people they loved. Drake was like a brother to me, so I knew I had to handle the situation with care.

“Hello! Are you seriously sitting here breathing on the phone like I’m not even talking to you?”

“My bad. I’ve got a lot on my mind. What’s going on?” I needed to stop playing and let her go. We were on two distant pages and there was no future for us. Plus, I didn’t care for her pops either. He snuffed his nose at me like I was some thug off the street, and I wanted to put him in his place. He’d made several comments about how black boys wouldn’t stand a chance in college if we weren’t athletic. Meanwhile, I was number six inmy graduating class, and his daughter was failing in English and gym.

“What’s going on? You’ve been ducking and dodging me for weeks. If you want to break up, all you have to do is say so.”

“Technically, we aren’t in a relationship, so I don’t have to do that either. We do need to talk, though. I do think we should chill for a minute. I’m trying to focus on my senior year, and to be honest, I don’t think we’re a good fit.” The shit sounded corny as hell, but it was better than, ‘I think you’re a mean, miserable bitch with a pretty face and a dark soul.’

“Nero, there’s no way you’re being serious right now. We were having sex in your car last week, and now you want to be done. I think you’re overreacting, and I feel like that musty bitch, Charae, has something to do with this. My friend Tanesha told me she saw you hanging out with her at the mall. I don’t know why you would even want to be seen with that dirty, dust mite.” This was the shit I was talking about.

“Oh yeah? Was that before or after she offered to suck me off in Saks? Listen, this has nothing to do with another girl, and even if it did, it’s none of your business. Our situation has run its course, and it’s time for you to move on. I’m sure it won’t be hard because you’re a pretty girl.” I shrugged as if she could see me.

“Wait a minute? Are you saying Tanesha’s lying?”

“I never said that. What I am saying is you need to pick better friends.”

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