Page 24 of Can I?

“Damn, girl. I missed you too.”

She smiled, and I watched her eyes shift to something going on outside. I turned to look, too, and saw about ten people huddled up. I wasn’t sure what was happening, but I saw a bunch of people in the diner stand to go out there.

“Ferris, box your food up,” she said, handing me a box.

I frowned, but I did as she suggested, especially when I saw her uncle pull a gun from his waist. A couple of other men that I took to be related to her pulled their guns as well. I started packing a little quicker. I didn’t carry a gun, but these niggas around here were making me regret that shit. Looking back at her, I asked, “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know, but we need to be able to get out of here. I parked in the back.”

Turning my attention back to what was going on outside, I saw them talking and those people backing off. When I turned back to Milana, I could literally see her body trembling. “Yo, tellme what’s going on. I feel like you know. I have a right to know if I’m in danger, girl.”

“Can we go to your house?”

I frowned even harder as she stood from her seat and grabbed my hand, leading me to the back of the restaurant. She quickly got in her truck, and I hopped in the passenger side before she left my ass. She didn’t go toward the highway. She circled through a neighborhood, getting us back to the highway, but further down toward the intersection.

She looked over at me and said, “I’m sorry. My family is beefing with another family. I think three people from their family has already been killed by my family. You would think they would have caught the hint by now. Well, when my grandfather got attacked at the grocery store by one of theirs, it got everything cranked up all over again. Being that my grandfather died, that didn’t make things any better.”

“Damn.”

“I’m sorry you had to witness that. We have a family meeting tonight that I have to be back for, so you’ll be able to get your vehicle then. I’m sorry if I’m throwing you off. I promise, I’ll explain more when we get to your place. I’ll just need you to tell me where I’m going.”

I nodded. There had to be something more to it. She was so quick to leave. Nobody else left or even looked like they wanted to leave. It was like she wasn’t telling me everything. I was too fucking smart for my own good at times. However, she said she would explain more when we got to my house. I just hoped whatever she had to say wouldn’t cause me to take a step back.

The minutewe walked inside and I’d closed the door, Milana was on me like white on rice. Her tongue slid up my neck before she kissed my lips. That shit felt good as fuck, but I knew she was deflecting. We hadn’t gotten nowhere near this point, and it seemed to just come out of the blue. I grabbed her arms and pushed her against the wall, holding her there as I stared into her eyes.

“What’s up wit’chu? What’s going on?” Her gaze went to the floor as I released her. “We need to talk first. If you wanna go there once we’re done talking, I’ll gladly slide in them walls. I’ve been fantasizing about it for the past couple of weeks anyway. But I’m not about to allow you to use that shit to take my mind off what happened at the diner.”

I backed away from her and watched her fidget. When I sat at the table, she joined me. She slid her hands down her face, and I could see them tremble. Just as she was about to talk, her phone rang. She answered on speaker, surprisingly.

“Where the fuck you went?” a man asked.

“I left with Ferris. I would have stayed, but I didn’t want him involved in all this.”

“Yeah, because you need to have your ass in the trenches with us.”

The call disconnected, and a few tears left her eyes. She looked up at me and said, “Those people are after me. My family does have an ongoing beef with the Andersons. That wasn’t a lie. An Anderson was involved in killing my grandfather. Nothing I said was a lie. I just didn’t tell you everything. Two guys I was connected to also played a part in killing my grandfather. My family was so angry with me. My mama had put me out of her house and everything. I was angry at myself.”

I frowned. “What do you mean?”

She swallowed hard and took a deep breath. Without looking at me, she continued. “A guy I was dating was exhibiting shadybehavior. I couldn’t catch him in nothing though. He was always sweet to me, but I just felt like it was game. One day, his mama called me and said some shit was going on that I needed to see. So, I went to her house, and the minute I walked in, I could hear the sex noises coming from his room. After glancing at her, I went to his room and saw him blowing this bitch’s back out.”

My eyebrows lifted. His mama was messy as shit.How she do that to her son?I got her telling Milana what was up, but calling her to their house to catch him in the act was messy work.

“I was so angry. I wanted to kill him. My gun was in my truck, and everything in me wanted me to go grab it and blow his brains out. Instead, when I got to my truck, I took off. He had a half-brother that constantly flirted with me. So, I figured I would get revenge that way. What he could do, I could do better. I went to his brother’s house and fucked him. When I was leaving, he was driving up.”

I was sitting there in shock. She fucked her nigga’s brother? What the fuck was wrong with her? That was that ratchet shit. “Milana?—”

“I know it was fucked up. I just didn’t know how to handle what I saw. I figured that was better than killing him. About a week later, he somewhat assaulted me at the gas station. The only reason he left was because Ashanni called my cousin Jacob. He pushed me against my truck, and I sprayed his ass with gasoline. Then he pushed me to the ground. After that, he was constantly trying to get at me, but I was able to avoid him. He and his brother were two of the three men that attacked my grandfather.”

I slid my hand over my face. Closing my eyes, I slowly shook my head. I didn’t think I could deal with no bullshit like this. “So, let me guess. Their family is after your ass, because they feel you started all this shit, when, technically, it was your ex’s mother.”

“Well, I felt like he started it, but I see why you would say his mother. She shouldn’t have called me that day. But yeah. I shouldn’t have responded the way I did either. My grandfather would still be here.”

“Maybe, maybe not.” I huffed. I needed time away from her ass. This shit was too much. Being with her ass was dangerous. “Can you take me back to the diner?”

Tears fell down her cheeks as she stared at me. She quickly nodded and stood from her seat as I did the same. I didn’t know what to say to all the shit she had said. My thoughts were running wild with the pros and cons of being with her. It wasn’t like I’d been knowing her for years. The shit she was speaking about happened less than a year ago. Her grandfather had only died two months ago.

As we got inside her truck, I asked, “How long ago did that happen?”

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