Page 37 of Kobalt

“He is. I still want you with me,” I replied firmly before I stepped onto the balcony to take a break to smoke a blunt.

There was something that I still wasn’t telling her, but I knew that she wouldn’t be able to handle that stress, at least not yet. I calmed my nerves with a smoke as I thought out a plan. After a while, my phone started buzzing on the table beside me. I glanced at it and saw my sister calling. She called repeatedly until I powered my phone off. I was serious when I said that I didn’t have time to deal with Niagara. Kaimera understood it because one thing I knew about my sister, if she couldn’t get through to me, she would have sent Kaimera to make me get on the phone. Since Kaimera hadn’t come onto the balcony to let me know Niagara wanted to speak with me, then she understood how serious I was, and she respected that.

When I returned to the room, she was finally asleep. I guess talking to my sister and knowing that Norrell was dead had done her some good after all.

ONE WEEK LATER (2ND WEEK OF OCTOBER)

“Sing it, sis. You better sang that song!” Tamia, Passion’s best friend, shouted.

She grabbed the hem of her muumuu and held her wine cooler up in one hand as she swayed to the music. I closed my eyes and thought about my baby as I sang the lyrics to Faith Evans’ “Soon As I Get Home.”

There had been some tension between us when we returned to Cherokee Springs. Kobalt was withholding some information about the Norrell Kidd and Jax Montgomery situation, and it pissed me off. Kobalt wanted to protect me, but there were times that I didn’t want that. I wanted to be treated like the grown woman I was, and since the information pertained to me, I had a right to know what it was.

When I finished my song, Niagara sang Tamia’s “So Into You.” We cheered her on, but I was quietly wondering who my friend was singing about. Niagara wasn’t an emotional girlie, but I could’ve sworn I detected a thug tear in the corner of her eyes.

She hadn’t told me that she was seeing anyone, but I also hadn’t had a chance to tell her about her brother and me either. This weekend was supposed to be that, but she had quickly invited everyone else out to spend the weekend with us.

When she learned that we were returning to town, she told her brother that she wanted to turn up. She had come up with the plan for the girls to have a R&B muumuu party, which we called margaritas and muumuus. He had funded the entire thing, only requiring that she notify the girls.

“So, tell us the tea, bestie. I already know,” Niagara declared, posting up on the chaise lounge with her margarita.

“Tell y’all what tea, babe?” I asked, acting like I didn’t know what she was talking about.

“What’s up with you and my brother?”

I sucked my teeth and rolled my eyes. “Why are you always on that?”

“Because you know y’all two make a cute couple, and he’s been crushing on you forever, whether he acknowledges it or not,” she replied.

“We’re just friends,” I lied.

“Girl, tell that lie to somebody else. If your ass was sitting on the stand, they’d have you for perjury,” Passion declared as she got off the couch and headed into the large kitchen to grab more snacks. Tamia followed her to help.

“Excuse me? Why I gotta be lying?” I asked.

“Because you’re tugging your earlobe,” Skylar, my cousin and Passion’s little sister, answered.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked as I pulled my margarita to my lips.

“Yeah, what’s that mean?” Tamia asked, stuffing a chip in her mouth as she walked back into the living room with two bags of cookies and some chip dip.

“She pulls her earlobe when she lies,” Skylar and Niagara proclaimed simultaneously.

“Whatever.” I sucked my teeth and dropped my hand.

“Actually, you do,” Passion stated, returning with another large bowl of trail mix and a large bag of chips.

I sighed and sat back on the couch I’d been occupying. “I mean, we’ve been talking or whatever, but nothing’s truly going on.”

“Heffa, lie to me again, and I swear I’ma throw these hands,” Niagara declared, jumping off the chaise and racing over to me.

“Girl, sit your dramatic ass down.” I waved her away and rolled my eyes.

“You lucky I love your lying ass,” she replied.

“The fact that the nigga rented out this big-ass house just for you and your girls to get fucked up this weekend tells you he’s in love with you.” Skylar squealed as she shook her ass to Blaque’s “Bring It All to Me” playing in the background.

I reached for another taco. “I mean, he’s looking out for his sister too. Don’t get it twisted,” I explained.