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“Fellas.” Dex walked toward the porch in another fancy ass suit. “I’m looking for your daddy.”
“He ain’t here.” Zayden swatted a gnat off his shoulder. “What do you want him for?”
“That’s our business.”
“Fine.” Zayden snickered at his friends. “We were just discussing business of our own.”
“That’s right,” Jimmy Lou said.
“I’m sorry again for your loss, Jimmy Lou,” Dex said. “It’ll take time but you’ll get over it.”
Zayden said, “You should’ve protected him.”
Dex raised his eyebrows. “I was his lawyer not his babysitter.”
“It’s all right.” Zayden winked. “We got this. I promise you that.”
“I hope you don’t plan on doing anything foolish.”
“We ain’t letting those niggers get away with what happened to Nate.”
Dex stared down Zayden. “That better not be a threat to the Mills family.”
Tilly clicked his jaw. “We don’t make threats.”
“I’m dead serious.” Dex stood on the last step of the porch. “Any dumb ass plan you all got going, leave it right here on this porch.”
Morris scoffed. “If you cared as much about your client as you do the Mills family, Nate would still be here.”
“I’m warning all of you.” Dex’s voice deepened. “You go anywhere near Channing—”
“Ain’t got to be Channing,” Zayden said.
“Meaning?”
“Could be the momma or the daddy.” Zayden rocked. “Could even be that fine, sexy school teacher Sonjay.”
Dex cocked his head, nose wrinkling.
Zayden chuckled. “Figured that would get your attention.”
“You touch one hair on Sonjay’s head and being dead will be something you wish for.”
“Ooh.” Morris laughed, pretending to shiver. “Should attorneys be threatening people?”
“Just like you guys, I don’t make threats.”
“Sonjay and I had an interesting conversation yesterday.”
Dex’s mouth hung open. “You spoke to her?”
“Hmm-mm. Wanted to do much more than talk but hey we were in the schoolhouse and it didn’t seem appropriate.”
The guys laughed.
“She pretended not to want me.” Zayden propped his leg on top of the other. “Maybe if I’d taken her to the woods, she’d have changed her mind.”
Morris snickered in his hand.
Dex squinted. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“You know what it means.” Zayden loved seeing his pretentious ass squirm. “She loves the woods, doesn’t she? At least she does when you take her there.”
“What?”
“It’s no secret, Dex.” Morris held out his arms. “You been in that chocolate more than once. Is it good?”
“We saw y’all in the woods one night,” Tilly said. “Watched you fucking.”
“Yeah, fucking hard.” Zayden clenched his tingling cock. “Shit, I almost came.”
“It was something else.” Morris moaned. “You guys should make porn.”
Dex’s exhaled through his nostrils, balling fists. “Shut up.”
“How’s that black pussy, huh?” Zayden leaned forward. “Never mind. I’ll find out soon.”
“Come here!” Dex flew up the steps but Jimmy Lou and Morris held him back.
“She screams for you all night doesn’t she, Dex?” Zayden taunted. “She’s gonna scream for me all week!”
“Get off me!” Dex fought Jimmy Lou and Morris. “I’ll kill you, Zayden!”
They dragged Dex off the porch.
“I swear I’ll kill you if you ever go near her again.” He pushed the men away, pointing at Zayden. “I’m warning you. Sonjay’s off limits. You got that?”
“Wow.” Zayden wobbled his head. “Man, you’re into her, huh?”
“Sounds like he’s in love.” Tilly made a kissy face.
“Is that true?” Jimmy Lou asked. “You in love with your friend’s fiancée? That’s fucked up.”
“I’m not playing with any of you.” Dex looked at them one by one. “I’ll kill every one of you if you look at Sonjay Mills.”
“I’d expect nothing less from you, Dex.” Zayden grinned. “Now get the fuck off my daddy’s property.”
****
“Dex, I’m fine,” Sonjay said into the loud speaker of her phone while frying catfish that night. “I’m not afraid of Zayden Voight.”
“You should be because he’s sadistic son-of-a-bitch.”
“I can take care of myself.” She put fish into the bubbling canola oil. “How did you know he came to the school, anyway?”
“I went to talk to Avon and Zayden was bragging about getting revenge on Channing. I won’t let anyone hurt you as long as I’m breathing.”
She battered more fish in corn meal.
“What are you doing?” He chuckled. “Sounds like something’s frying.”
“I’m making catfish for Channing.” Sonjay got the done pieces out the fryer and laid them on a paper towel. “I wanted to do something special because of all she’s been through.”
“I love your catfish.”
Her forehead broke out in a hot sweat and not from the frying. “I gotta go, Dex. She should be here in a minute.”
“Where’s Klein?”
“On the porch with Anderson.”
“Hm.”
She caught the heartache in his voice.
“Just hanging like two old friends, huh? I used to love coming to your place and hanging with you guys.”
“You still could’ve been doing that if you hadn’t taken Nate’s case.” She placed more fish in the oil. “It was your decision.”
“Not the only one I regret.”
“You talking about proposing to me?” She stiffened, trying to convince herself she no longer cared for him. “You said you were tired of me.”
“I’m tired of the situation, but I love you, Sonjay. I miss you.”
“It’s fine, Dex.” Her voice broke with pain. “That’s what you wanted.”
“I hear in your voice how much you miss me. You can’t turn your back on what we had.”
“I wasn’t the one doing that.”
“Sonny?” Klein yelled from the porch. “Channing’s here!”
“I gotta go, Dex.”
“Wait. Can I see you?”
“Why? We have nothing to say to each other.”
“Sonjay—”
“You said you couldn’t play the game anymore. Well, you don’t have to. It’s over.”
“Do you want to marry me?”
“I—”
“Answer me, Sonny,” he said. “Do you want to be my wife even if you can’t be?”
“Sonjay?” Channing sang her name, heading toward the kitchen. “That catfish smells great.”
“Goodbye, Dex.”
“Do you want to marry me?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It matters to me.”
“Bye, Dex.” She hung up the phone as Channing came into the kitchen.
“Hey, girl.” Channing put her purse on the table. “Ooh, it smells good in here. Aw. It’s so sweet you’re making me dinner.”
“Making a mess is more like it.” Sonjay washed her hands. “Got a few more pieces to go.”
Channing hugged her. “Thanks.”
“I love cooking for my baby sister.” Sonjay kissed Channing’s cheek. “I got potato salad in the refrigerator. I didn’t have time to make it myself. Garlic green beans are roasting in the oven.”
“I can’t wait to dig in.” Channing sat at the table and thumbed through Sonjay’s appointment book. “Just came from the hospital, and the media was everywhere. I could barely get in.”
Sonjay got more fish out the oil. “For real?”
“The press has gotten worse since Nate died. They call me constantly, email, send me texts begging for statements. If that wasn’t bad enough, Khadija was doing another march for Presley in the next block so it was a mess all around. I don’t mean to sound ungrateful all the effort she’s putting into things but I just don’t trust her.”
“You ain’t the only one.” Sonjay faced her, leaning on the cabinet. “Did you tell Klein? He can get the media off your back.”
“Please, he can’t even keep the press off the mayor’s ass.” Channing chuckled. “Anyway, the media has a right to go after the news.”
“But they don’t have a right to hassle people.”
“Zayden’s getting on my last nerves.” Channing moved the centerpiece aside and got a butterscotch sucker out the candy jar. “Been calling my phone and not saying anything but I know it’s him.”
Sonjay shivered, remembering how frightened she was when he approached her at school. “Did you go to the police?”
“Nah, I can handle it. He’s just a punk with nothing better to do.” Channing smacked, sucking the candy. “Can someone enlighten me because I still don’t know what I did to Zayden or Nate.”