Page 84 of Obsessive Love

“I’m happy you like them,” I lied. My eyes went to the spice bottle holding the citrus crumb. I grabbed it and poured it onto the chicken.

“What’s that?” Xoey asked.

“Something special for Pyrite,” I answered, and she nodded. “Now, tell me about this girlfriend.”

“Nope,” she said, shaking her head. “I’m going to tell you just like I told Pyrite. If you want answers, ask the person who can tell you, but it is not me.”

“I will,” I said as I turned on the stove. The fact that Pyrite had declared his obsession with me earlier and that I was now finding out he had a girlfriend was comical.

“And beat his ass for cuffing you to the bed,” she suggested.

“Bitch nigga!” Starburst screeched as he flew into the kitchen and went to his cage.

“I swear I love that bird,” Xoey laughed. “He’s the funniest thing I’ve ever seen.”

Starburst bobbed his head and flapped his wings. “Hi, beautiful,” he screeched. “Hi, beautiful.”

I watched as Pyrite entered the kitchen. His hair was braided in Pop Smoke braids, and he looked good as fuck. He looked up from his phone and gave me a smile that would’ve flooded my panties if I weren’t so mad.

“What’s good, baby?” he greeted me as he licked his sexy ass lips. “You miss me?”

“Something like that,” I replied. My eyes went to the citrus crumbs, and instead of beating his ass like I wanted to, I decided to make his life a living fucking hell. “You hungry?”

“Yeah,” he nodded. “What are you cooking?”

PYRITE

I figuredXoey would let Fable out of her cuffs when I got the notification that she’d entered my house. Lowkey, I was panicked as fuck because this would’ve been Fable’s chance to disappear. As much as Xoey was my friend, I knew she would help Fable if asked. That ankle monitor would’ve been sitting on the bed waiting for me, dealing with her ass.

“Some chicken kababs or something like that,” Xoey answered. “I’m helping.”

My eyebrows damn touched my hairline, and I shook my head. Xoey plus twelve in the kitchen, cooking, was crazy. We all knew one of her voices was a chef, but we’d never seen her do anything in the kitchen besides rattle some pots. No one knew if she could cook or not.

“You know what you are doing?” I chuckled, and she shook her head. “Then why don’t you let the professional handle that?”

“You don’t have to tell me twice,” Xoey said. She tried to move past Fable, but she grabbed her arm. “Bestie, you heard the man; this is not meant for me.”

“You’re helping,” Fable said. Xoey opened her mouth to argue, but Fable gave her a look that shut her down.

“Damn,” I said, shaking my head. “Let me shower, then make sure my life insurance policy is paid if Xoey is cooking.”

“Keep talking shit, and I’ll chop that braid off,” Xoey threatened.

I ignored that shit, though, because Xoey was crazy to niggas who didn’t know her. I did, she wasn’t going to do shit to me. I approached Fable, pulled her by the band of her shorts to me, and kissed the top of her head. “I’ll be back.”

I left the kitchen and went straight to my bedroom. After a quick shower, I came downstairs to find Xoey gone and Fable at the table.

“Where’s the twelve?” I asked as I sat down.

“One of her jobs called,” Fable answered without looking at me. Her attention was on her notebook. “She said she would see you later.”

“Bet,” I nodded. I dropped my head, said a quick prayer, and then picked up a kabab. “You're not eating?”

“Not yet,” she said, shaking her head. “I had this idea that I wanted to write down.”

“I’ll wait,” I said, pushing my plate away. I hadn’t eaten alone since we shared our first meal, and I didn’t want to start now.

“You can eat, Pyrite,” she sighed as she wrote. “I’ll eat in a minute.”

---