Page 119 of Her Loyalty

"Aight. I'a be back." He stood up straight and I nodded, finally letting him leave.

Once he walked out of the room, I simply laid there for a while before I leaned over to grab my phone. I'd quickly remembered that I'd told my mom I would call her once I got here.

Dialing her number, I waited as the phone rang over and over.

"Hello." She finally answered.

"Hey, mom. I'm here." I told her and I could hear her sigh deeply.

"Good. Are you okay? Are you safe?" She asked cautiously and I nodded as if she could see me.

"Yeah. I'm fine."

"Good." She responded in relief.

"Listen, I know you're a grown woman but I don't want you out there hanging out, outside on any corners or anything like that, Tiana. It's too dangerous." She explained to me and I nodded slowly.

I understood my mother's concern. Outside of what happened last night, Dominic's neighborhood wasn't the best but what she didn't know was that he'd never have me on any corners or outside hanging out. Dominic always played it safe with me.

We'd just so happened to been caught at the wrong time. Being in the car that late at night and having sex was something we never did, it was an honest mistake.

"I understand, mom." I explained to he, just trying to ease her mind.

"And I think you're right about me being down here when I just got shot last night."

"I don't feel comfortable at all." I expressed.

"Really?"

"Do you want to come home? Did you tell Dominic?" She asked frantically, obviously just wanting me to be comfortable.

"Yeah, I told him how I feel and he's always understanding.." I trailed off.

"So we're going to stay in a hotel downtown tonight."

"A hotel?" She spoke in shock.

"Yeah, a hotel." I furrowed my eyebrows, wondering what the problem was.

"Why not just come home, Tiana?"

"Well I mean.." I trailed off.

"We don't want to be apart right now, especially not at a time like this. And he knows that you and him are bound to get into it coming to our house, mom." I rolled my eyes, thinking about everything that'd just went down at the hospital.

"Well it's not my fault that he's so disrespectful. He doesn't have any respect for his elders."

"Mom.." I trailed off with a sigh.

"He doesn't and I don't appreciate it, Tiana."

"Now, I wouldn't mind the two of you staying here tonight. The house is big enough, you guys can stay on one side, I'll stay on the other."

"It'll save him the money and you can feel comfortable in your own home instead of a hotel."

"But I have one condition.."

"He must apologize about what he said in the hospital room. It was completely distasteful and I don't think either of us should've let it go as easily as we did."

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