Page 65 of About the Green

Vert: I’m not givin up on you. Come see me when you need this.

Liezel is nosy, reading the notification as I do. I’m grateful that I don’t have his name actually saved in my phone. It’s just a green leaf in the breeze emoji so for now, I don’t have to explain Vert to her.

“Sound like you’re being summoned lil’ sub. Better go get what you need,” she giggles.

Maybe I’m a glutton for punishment, or I just want resolution but I gather myself from the couch leaving the comfort of my friend to find out if I really have it in me to take out the only man who’s shown me concern.

Chapter 25

“So your phone works again?” Vert asks as I stand in his doorway. The sparkle from my neck chains bouncing across his face as I turn behind me.

“Are you talking to me?” I ask, facing him again. “My phone service is excellent in ATL. I’m never without service.”

“Just when I call then,” he says, stepping toward me instead of letting me into his spot. The spicy scent of him is headier now with the weed strong on his clothes. It’s not just on his clothes, the puff of smoke curls around him as he leans his head back to exhale before looking down at me. Instead of craning my head back to see him, I lean in to smell more of him. He doesn’t miss the action and grabs my chin. His grip isn’t firm but he does tilt my head back. “You answer when I call you. Could have been an emergency.”

“You would’ve have just come to get me if that were the case,” I sass, slipping out of his hold and walking into the room. The package gets tossed onto the bed when I go to sit on the very desk that he had taken me apart on before. “You’re a fan of kidnapping women into your trunk, right?” I straighten my skirt out on my lap and adjust my crop top gratuitously.

Of course, I went home and made myself presentable. I wasn’t showing up to this place again, looking emotionally wrung out.

Even if it was true.

Liezel said I should let him in. Tell him what has lead to the murder he feels is so wrong. That he can’t admit he has had a part in helping me conceal.

It’s only his life on the line—I want to see how he fairs with the truth.

I’m not going to be the one to make this confession on my own. I don't know if I have the strength to do it, but I know that I want to, and that's the crutch here.

“Drastic measures when you’re dealin’ with brats who run from their feelins’,” he scoffs before meeting me where I sit.

I continue messing with my outfit instead of giving him my eyes. His words are too accurate for my liking right now. “Have a lot of experience with brats, huh?”

“Enough,” he brokers no further explanation and I suppose that’s fair since I haven’t given him much either. “If you’re here to play games, I ain’t playin’. Why are you here?”

Shrugging, I rub the desk top, “Maybe I just wanted to see you.” He gives me an unimpressed look as I wander further into his room. Most men would be happy to see a beautiful woman show up at their door,” I tilt my head toward the package I tossed on the bed, “and I brought gifts.”

“Most men don’t know you for real,” he says, following me in the suite.

I gasp, “That was rude,” I say on a pout, still wandering around and taking stock of what he still has out. It doesn’t look like he’s packed much.

“It’s accurate and you prepared it to be that way. Don’t act offended.”

“It’s still rude,” I assert.

“You’re not leavin’ so you must want somethin’”

Turning toward him, “What makes you think that?”

“Because you only bait me when you want somethin’.”

He has been paying attention. He’s not wrong. I do think that there could be more fun to be had until he figure out why I’m here. My tongue ring tinks against the blade in my cheek but I put on a smile. “So wanting company couldn’t be what I wanted?”

“Nah.”

“It could be that I missed you.”

“Not that either,” he says, taking a long drag from his blunt.

When I laugh, he doesn’t. Something crawled up his ass so there is nothing I can do to get him off mine. I walk to the bed and sit on the edge of it.