Black by T.l Smith Read Free Book Online Page B

isn’t going anywhere.” She looks back to me. “Sit back down. Please,” she adds, then pulls Sax away.
    They disappear, words are spoken, raised and rushed. I sit there, unsure of what to do. Maybe I should go, it might be easier than dealing with this. Then he walks back in, without Casey, making me nervous. He tucks his hands into his pocket, raises his head until we’re eye to eye.
    “I don’t know you, but Casey seems to think you’re a good person. Though the scars on your arms are evidence that might not be correct.” My hand snakes up and tries to cover them. He notices and follows my movements.
    “She told me vaguely…” he pauses, searching my face for something, “…about Roger.” My body shudders. I can still feel his eyes on me. Watching, trying to form an opinion of me.
    “You’re staying, Rose, no matter what he says,” Casey says, walking past her man and pointing her thumb at him.
    “I don’t want to cause trouble,” I mumble. I don’t, no matter our differences.
    “No trouble,” she says, brushing it off with her hand and going back to cooking. Sax takes a seat next to me. Not close, but just so I know he’s there.
    “Where have you been?” he asks me, watching Casey. I think he’s talking to her until he turns to me. “She said she hasn’t seen you for quite some time.”
    “In Lowood.” Casey gasps. Sax looks to her and then back to me.
    “Why?” she asks, leaving the stove and walking to me. She leans over then bench and looks at me, waiting for me to answer.
    “I don’t remember much, it was a pretty low time. But there was a man, he helped me.”
    Casey smiles. “What man?”
    “I don’t know him, but he seems familiar,” I mumble, thinking about his eyes. The way he watched me seemed so…
    “What’s his name, woman?” she says excitedly.
    “Black,” I answer.
    Sax swears next to me, making us turn to face him.
    “He’s not the helping kind, sweetheart,” he says, shaking his head.
    “No, but he did.” I look to him. “You know who he is?”
    He nods. “Yes, and if you are trying to improve, he’s not someone you want in your life. Blackness surrounds Black.”

 
     

    Stella is here, she’s always here. I can’t seem to rid her. No matter how harsh my words, no matter the number of times I reject her, she doesn’t leave. She’s on my couch, naked, with only heels on her feet. She’s laying down, her heels up on the edge. Wanting something from me, something I can’t give her. I didn’t come last time, I couldn’t.
    I turn my back to her. I hear her disdain. Just choosing to not acknowledge it.
    “Put your clothes on.” I pick up my phone, not even bothering to turn around to face her. I have several messages, most from numbers I don’t know, probably requesting work.
    “Black,” she moans, and I turn around to look at her. She didn’t even bother heeding my request. She’s now touching herself, and my dick bounces. But nothing more comes from it. I turn to leave, stopping in front of her and grabbing the blanket to throw over her. She stops, and as I begin to leave a shoe is thrown at my head, barely missing me.
    “I will leave and never come back!” she yells after me. I stop on my stairs. She’s now standing at my door, watching me. I turn slowly.
    “Please do,” I say then continue walking. The shoe hits me on the head this time. But I don’t stop, I keep walking until I’m in my truck and pull away.

    I’m meeting Jake in the city tonight. And as I pull up, I see his Harley parked in the street. It gleams, brightly polished. I step out and see him automatically through the doors. He’s sitting with two other men, his posture straight, not relaxed in the slightest. He isn’t comfortable, that much I can tell before I even step in.
    The hostess asks for my jacket. I dismiss her and continue walking to Jake. His body seems to relax at the slightest sight of me. I sit next to him, across from two men in suits. One