Page 3 of Dear Mr. Vampire

“Is he White?” Her face morphed into a huge frown.

“No, of course not.”

“He’s Black.”

“Oh, for real? That’s a good job for a brotha.” She slapped her hand down on the countertop. “What’s wrong with him?”

I shrugged, thinking about the question. “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with him. I don’t know him well. He juststops in to peddle his drugs. We talk. He seems like good people. That’s it.”

“Is he tall?”

“Now you know, you the only one that date short dudes.”

“The short ones have all the money.”

“That’s not true. Plus, you have more money than every man you ever dated. I swear you don’t make no sense.”

“Okay yeah, first off I gets my coins, but they never know how much money I make.”

“Now that’s true. You are the queen of secrets.”

“I will take that as a compliment. You need to stop opening up and telling these men all your business.” She was right.

“Anyway, he’s tall. He’s fine, and I think he’s normal.”

“Ba-bee, your judgment is not good.”

“No, no, no, don’t do that. I picked one thug. It is not a pattern.”

“I guess, child.” She smacked her lips.

“Don’t even try me like that.”

“I’m not, but Lonzo Lopez is not one bad apple. He’s the whole damn apple tree.”

“That may be true, but I didn’t know about his past. He hid it well. He acted like a gentleman in the beginning.”

“He did. I will give you that. But I really don’t want you to jump into anything serious until this mess with Lonzo is over. He needs to be locked away in some prison downstate, upstate or in another state.”

“I agree.” She was right again.

“Get him gone before you even think about dating someone new.”

Morgan was trying to run my life. What else was new?

“His case is going to take forever to go to trial.” Probably an entire year, and since he was out on bail, I had to stay away. I wasn’t the only witness to his crimes, but I didn’t want to testify against him. The state was making me. I really hoped theychanged their minds and didn’t call me to testify. They didn’t need me to put him away.

“Hey, Coco, straight up. I just would feel better if he was gone for good.”

“You? I will feel better if they locked him up and threw away the key.”

“I would be okay if he ate a bullet.”

Geez, that was harsh. I felt bad because I actually agreed with her. I just didn’t have the balls to say it out loud. Lonzo, six feet under, would solve all my problems. I shook my head yes.

“You should stay away from anyone with a penis.”

She had a good point. I shouldn’t even think about men. The last one was an epic fail. Lonzo was a crafty chameleon. He was so nice the day we met. I just didn’t even see whom he really was inside.

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