Page 28 of Buy Back My Love

“I know. It’s depressing.”

“It ain’t depressing. It’s just empty as hell.”

“Same difference.”

She laughed. “We can go look at some furniture after you get your nails done. At least start figuring out what you want.”

That sounded good to me. I had been decorating the place in my head all morning anyway, and now I finally had somebody who could help me figure out where the hell to start.

Once we finished eating, we cleaned everything up and headed out. We took the Mercedes, but I let Anika drive. I wasn’t ready to get behind the wheel yet, especially not in a car that cost more than some people’s houses.

Before I could even get my seat belt buckled, she was already touching buttons and messing with the screen.

“Don’t fuck nothing up.”

“This your car. You need to learn how to use it.”

“I will. Just not while we sitting in the driveway.”

A few seconds later, music came blasting through the speakers. Some girl was rapping about money, men, and being that bitch like she meant every word of it.

I looked over at Anika. “Who this is?”

“Girl, where you been?”

I cut my eyes at her.

Her mouth dropped open. “Oh shit. My bad.”

I started laughing. “Bitch.”

“I’m sorry! It came out wrong.”

“Clearly.”

She was laughing too hard to defend herself. “It’s Monaleo.”

I listened for another minute and nodded along with the beat. “I like her.”

“I knew you would.”

Once we pulled out of the complex, I was already feeling myself a little.

“I can’t wait to feel like a bad bitch again.”

Anika looked over at me. “Again? You still one.”

“Girl, please.”

“I’m serious.”

“I got a chipped tooth, lost damn near all my weight, and don’t know what’s in style anymore. Let me work my way back into it.”

She laughed. “That’s why we outside today. Nails, shopping, whatever else we gotta do.”

“Our first stop need to be a phone.”

That was one thing I still couldn’t believe JB hadn’t thought about. The man had a whole apartment waiting on me, bought me a Mercedes, put ten thousand dollars in a Chanel bag, and somehow it never crossed his mind that I might need a damn phone.