Page 6 of Sparks Will Fly

Damon said sometimes they offered a cooking class in the little kitchen that adjoined two of the meeting rooms. He said the appliances had been out for a while, so there weren’t any recently. As we continued deeper into the center, we came across a room blasting upbeat music.

He turned to us and said, “That’s the Zumba class to get the elderly active.”

I thought it was a sweet sentiment. We rounded a corner leading to the gym. The moment we stepped inside, the sounds of voices caught my attention. A woman was ranting to someone who was lying on their back staring up at the ceiling. From a distance, I couldn’t tell much about the woman except she had big hair, and you wouldn’t expect someone so petite to have such a strong voice. It carried over to where we were standing in the doorway, even though she was all the way on the opposite side of the room.

“Oh, there’s my daughter. She manages the place,” Damon informed us.

“Lovie!” he yelled out to get her attention. She glanced up as he began waving her over and folded her arms over her chest, pacing back and forth in place.

My eyes drifted off to the peeling paint on the walls, but I found interest in the championship signs hanging over the walls. It seemed for a few years in a row this neighborhood had the best football and baseball team. I chewed on my bottom lip wondering what could’ve happened to cause a decline until an angry little woman pulled me from my thoughts.

“Are you the guy that’s trying to ruin everything good about this neighborhood?” she asked with a roll of her neck.

A tiny vein ran up the middle of her forehead creating the cutest river in her deep brown skin.

“What the fuck is so funny?” She snapped when I could only smile in response.

Something about the fire burning beneath her skin made her glow. I’d never seen anything like it.

“Lovie, watch your mouth. These are our guests,” her father chastised her in a low, stern voice.

She palmed her forehead. “Daddy, I love you, but I can’t be a sweetheart right now. No one is taking away this community center. I refuse to let it happen, and if this is the person responsible, I’m going to give him a piece of my mind.”

She turned her wrath to me as she looked me up and down like the scum of the earth. I was thoroughly impressed with her boldness. It made everything happening much more interesting to me.

“I know your type!”

I chuckled loudly. “What’s my type?”

Straightening my posture, I widened my stance and folded my hands in front of my body. I just had to know what she thought of me in the span of thirty seconds when I hadn’t done anything but looked around the room.

Her face lost all expression for a split second before all her facial features scrunched together in the most adorable mug I’d ever seen. I found my posture relaxing the more worked up she became. The passion burning through her was a beacon of her beauty. I’d never been in the room with a woman who made my heart race while cursing me the fuck out.

Lovie, as her father called her, was curvy in all the right places with childbearing hips, succulent breasts that were perky as fuck, and a little gap between her thighs that I wanted to widen with my body. Her full lips were outlined with brown liner and covered in clear gloss. She wore an oversized, black jersey looking shirt that had the words ‘bitches wish they could’ painted across the front. Her jeans were fitted with a million pockets. My eyes dropped to her sneakers seeing she wore a pair of panda dunks. The best part of her outfit was her gold jewelry. It brought everything together.

“You think you can just throw your money wherever you want and have your way. Every time we build something worthy; they come and take it. And here I thought my enemy was going to look like a blue-eyed devil, but instead, it’s one of mine. A man birthed from the womb of a Black woman, coming in and tearing apart something beautiful all for a quick buck. It’s disgusting and I won’t allow it to happen. Not here. Not ever.”

While I was initially astonished by her beauty and spunk, the more she talked her words ripped me apart. How could she think I would ever stand for that? I took pride in the work I did for my people. I could never be against them no matter what I had in my bank account.

“You’re wrong,” I told her in a gentle and calm voice.

Despite the storm her words unleashed within me, I knew her rage was misdirected. Sure, there were plenty of people who fit her description, but I wasn’t one of them. My values were the core of my being.

“And if you’d do some research before creating assumptions, you’d know this.”

She scoffed and tossed her head back as if my words were a lash across the cheek.

“You think I didn’t research the person responsible for crushing the hearts of over a hundred children?” She began to laugh, but it was very sinister and maniacal for a little person. She really couldn’t be taller than five foot three. “Like I said, I know your type.”

Before I could respond, Shelby stepped in between us. “Um, maybe we should continue this conversation another time.”

Her suggestion was lighthearted and probably best for the time being.

“Yeah, someone needs time to get their facts straight.” I smiled to myself thinking of how good it was going to feel the next time I saw her little ass and she was flushed with embarrassment for showing her ass. “That apology is going to be sweeter than you smell.”

Now that the world around me was moving again, I was noticing other things like her vanilla scent and fiery red hair. It matched her perfectly. She was fire. No—She was trouble.

“Oh, please. The only thing I’ll have for you is a middle finger with a sign that says kiss my fat ass.”

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