Page 8 of Attracted to A Savage

"That's a nigga calling you?" I grilled her.

"Yeah… I'm going to get an açaí bowl," she answered as I heard the cashier from the smoothie shop greeting her.

"Excuse me. I'm sorry to bother you, but you're beautiful. Can I pay for your order or take you out to eat?" I heard the voice say again. She wasn't responding quickly enough for my liking.

"Fuck no! Cash, get that nigga out your face." I gritted.

"Thank you, but I'll have to decline. I'm dating someone at the moment."

"I understand. Tell him he's a lucky man." The nigga said back to her.

"Nah, he's a lucky man. Bitch ass nigga I don't need luck," I said as she started to laugh.

"Ro hush," she said once she stopped laughing.

"Every time I talk to you, it's niggas hounding you. Stay in the house." I barked.

"I can't help that. Men are men, baby." She said casually.

The line was quiet for a beat. A nigga was heated because what Cashmere didn't understand was that once I got a sample of her pussy she belonged to me. Cash was pretty as hell, smart, and freaky. It was no way that I was letting another nigga experience that shit. I didn't give a fuck that she was going through a divorce, the age difference, none of that. I wanted her and everything that came along with her. She could fuck around and find out that there was no cap on that rap sheet if she wanted to. Then I heard her giggle.

"What the fuck is so funny?" I asked, agitated as hell.

"The guy left his number on my truck and said to call him when I get single."She laughed again.

"And that's funny?" I asked. I didn't find a fuck thing funny.

"Yeah, it was, lighten up."

"I'm dark as 12 o'clock. What's his number?" I gritted.

"I don't know. I left it in the parking lot. And even if I had it, why would I give it to you, Ro? That's messy."

"Yeah, whatever. You probably kept it to let that nigga take you out when you get bored." I snapped.

"And if I do? Last I checked, I was free to do whatever I wanted. Calm down."

"Oh, that's right?" I asked, making sure I had heard the sentence I had heard.

"Yeah, that's right, Kairo." She fired back.

I scoffed, my jaws clenched as I tried to will myself from snapping her up and saying something I would regret. But then she doubled down on it, and all I could hear was her calling me a bitch ass nigga. She didn't say the words, but her repeating that shit might as well have been the same thing.

"Aight, then fuck you. Go be free to do whatever it is you want to do." I hung up on her.

I walked into the courtroom nervous as hell today. After me and Cash had that argument last week, we didn't speak. She texted me two days after I hung up on her, telling me that Corey was going to defend me at trial and that she was resigning as my attorney. Corey's ass had been nonexistent during the whole process, so to have him be the one arguing the case had a nigga on edge. But it is what it is. I steered clear of the whole unit these last seven days because with me and Cash not talking, I was bound to hurt one of those niggas and get another charge. She calmed me in a crazy ass way, and I missed her. The officer brought me to the table and sat me next to Corey, who looked like he was sweating bullets.

"Have you heard from Cash? I can't get in touch with her." He asked. The shit made my stomach bubble. I knew that she was mad, but I didn't expect her ass to be angry this long and not show up for real. The judge came in and sat at the bench. As soon as he opened his mouth to address the court, Cash came in wearing the Balmain dress I brought her. I smiled. Aight, it was showtime.

7

CASHMERE

With less than a week before the trial, the last thing I wanted was to be at odds with Kairo. His street name, "Hothead," definitely fit him because he really was the definition of zero to one hundred. Kairo was possessive, and it was cute sometimes, but I was way too old not to know that it was a red flag. With how our last conversation ended, I wanted so badly to abandon him and tell Corey to figure that shit out, but I decided to see it through.Between paying my fee and still spoiling me, I had been overcompensated. So, to get this far and not bring it home would have been wrong. I was going to put my issues aside for now and still put on the Savage ass argument that I was known for. But I was going to have a bit of fun while doing it.

On the day of the trial, counsel are supposed to meet with their clients at 10 a.m. to review questioning and cross-examination strategies. I was a no-show at the morning meeting, and Corey was blowing me up. I didn't even inform Corey of my intention to come. I knew he would be sick to his stomach, and I wanted Ro to see the stress he was under in real-time. I planned to show up minutes before the trial started and defend that idiot. By 11, I had a million unanswered messages from Corey,who, at this point, had just been riding the gravy train. It was fine, though, because I had been riding a train of my own. And without him, I never would have met the train conductor.

Once the clock read 11:25, I exited my truck, walked to the courthouse, and pranced to my assigned table at the front of courtroom 12A. Kairo looked at me, and I swear he had stopped breathing. The inside of the courtroom was packed, and there was so much support for both sides scattered about. It was sad to see because I knew one family's hearts were about to be broken.The trial lasted longer than I expected, but thankfully, I was still prepared. Kairo would scribble notes and discrepancies he heard, and I would use them to my advantage to poke holes in the witnesses' testimonies. Likewise, I had memorized their initial statements verbatim, like my favorite Monica song, so I could also pinpoint changes in their current testimony.

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