Page 57 of Welcome to the Table
“Like you want to devour her. Like she a piece of fucking meat on a slab, nigga. Like you in love with her or some shit. What’s up with that?” I asked.
He smirked while rubbing his beard before he spoke. “Nah, it ain’t like that. I look at her like a lil sister. Nigga, why you watching me so hard?” he said as Jaci walked out of the store, bopping toward the car with a bag in her hand.
Grove didn’t say shit as she watched her with a goofy ass look on his face. I knew he liked Jaci, but probably didn’t know how I would feel. I would honestly feel better if Jaci was with Grove because I knew the nigga like I knew myself. She was safe with him. I didn’t agree that he looked at her in that way, but that’s my nigga. If he didn’t want his shit pushed back, he better not break her fucking heart. I got out of the car and opened the door for Jaci to get back in.
“What if I did want her, nigga? Then what?” he said before we drove off.
I thought about what he was asking and his tone. He wasn’t on no flaky shit. It was a genuine question.
“Who y’all talking about?” Jaci asked from the back seat and threw the bag in my face.
“We gon’ revisit this conversation at another time, and none of your fucking business,” I told them both as I changed my shirt.
We hit the highway.
After an hour of driving, we ended up at the Mall of Louisiana. We headed inside, and I already knew where she was headed: the fucking Apple Store.
“Come on. Y’all taking too long, and I need some stuff,” she said and skipped to the store.
Jaci walked into the store like she owned it. The rep walked up to her like he knew she was about to spend hella fucking money. She was on my fucking dime. Jaci pointed at a watch she wanted, a MacBook, a pink iMac, and the new iPhone 16 Pro Max. She even picked up the AirPods and the big headphones. She was doing too fucking much, but I ain’t say shit.
“She is raping your pockets, nigga,” Grove said as we followed her around the store.
“Fuck it. She’s the princess who gives all the fucking orders, anyway, so let her have it.” I laughed as we walked up to the counter. I paid for the shit, and we left.
We went to every fucking store in the mall, and she grabbed clothes, purses, shoes, anything she thought she would need to keep her occupied. The last store we went to before the food court was Pandora. She loved that shit. She walked around that small ass store, looking and picking out every charm she wanted to go on her bracelet. She picked out a necklace and a ring as well. By the time we got to the counter, she had every fucking charm in the showcase. I went to pull out my card, but Jaci stopped me.
“No, not you, Hellcat. I want Hollygrove to buy this for me.” She looked at Grove and blushed. That’s when I knew she felt the same fucking way.
I kept my mouth closed, put my card away, and watched as he pulled his shit out without hesitation and gave it to Jaci. I stood back and watched the interaction. The shit seemed natural, a little too natural to me, but I fell back in the gap and let them have that.
If they liked each other, I would let them be, but Hollygrove would have to see me if he hurt her in any way. Jaci had better talk to Calliope before even touching this nigga. Calliope wouldn’t hesitate to fuck shit up when it came to Jaci. This shit was about to be more than we all could have bargained for.
Chapter 15
Jaci
Ismiled wickedly because I thought Hellcat was gon’ bust a blood vessel in his head when I asked Hollygrove to buy my Pandora stuff. Surprisingly, he didn’t move. He fell back and let the shit happen. Hollygrove stood beside me at the counter, not saying shit. His nostrils flared, so I knew he was pissed at me for putting him on the spot like that, but I didn’t give a fuck. He was mine and didn’t even know it.
He leaned slightly closer to me. “I don’t know what type of fucking games you’re playing, but the shit needs to stop. Hellcat is my best friend, more like a fucking brother,” he harshly whispered in my ear, but I didn’t budge and wouldn’t.
“He may be your brother, but you are not mine. The shit I think about you doing to me is inhumane. That ain’t brother and sister talk,” I told his ass, and he stood up straight.
He paid for my stuff. I hadn’t realized that all the shit I picked up totaled almost five racks. I must’ve picked out every charm in the fucking store, but I didn’t care. I made sure to pick up a charm that represented me and Hollygrove, which was a heart with the missing piece in the middle, meaning he was my missing piece. I couldn’t wait to set all my shit up and wear it.
I was hungry, so we all decided to walk to the food court. There was this Hibachi bar that I wanted to go to. I could smell the seasoning as we got closer. I was fiddling with my phone, trying to activate it and make sure all my shit switched over, when I heard a female’s voice loud as fuck. I kept walking between Hellcat and Hollygrove because I didn’t know who the bitch was talking to. She was slowly making her way toward us, but I ignored the shit just as they did. When we got to the line for the hibachi, she had finally caught up with us, but her fucking mouth didn’t stop moving.
“You come to my fucking house, trying to tell me who I’m fucking with, yet you got a bitch with you. You had me thinking that you were real and knew how to handle shit, but you was lying the entire time.” Her voice started to cause people to look at us.
I knew my brother was about to do some shit because the nigga hated confrontation, especially from a bitch. I knew she wasn’t calling me a bitch, so I ignored it. She clearly didn’t know us that well because she wouldn’t have made those accusations. I noticed a few people pulling out their phones and starting to record. I walked over to them, snatching their phones and smashing them to the ground. I gave them a look, and they knew not to say anything. The small crowd backed away after I broke the first phone.
I didn’t respond to the shit. That wasn’t my name, and she didn’t know me. I sized her up. She was beautiful, no lies told. Sunkissed skin with curly hair. She was mixed with some other shit besides black because her hair was curly. She had that good, thick, long hair. Her body was curvy as hell, but it was all natural. She was dressed in skintight jeans with a tank top and heels, giving casual but sexy at the same time. She was too pretty to be yelling over a nigga, but I didn’t know the story, and I wanted to see how my brother was about to handle this.
I looked at Grove, and he seemed confused as fuck. Mystery girl walked into Hellcat’s personal space. I knew he had a thin knife in his side, but he wouldn’t hurt her. At least I didn’t think he would.
“So, you not gon’ say nothing?”
He looked like a giant towering over her, but she wasn’t backing down. Hellcat wiped his hand across his face and chuckled, but it wasn’t a funny chuckle. This nigga was about to lose his shit.
