Gettin' Hooked by Nyomi Scott Read Free Book Online Page B

before I pressed her about it. Gram wouldn’t do that to me. She wouldn’t. I had to keep on believing that, and even with the little nagging doubt, I sure wasn’t ready to look for an answer right now. Maybe not ever. My momma left me, I told myself. I didn’t need to be fussing ’bout it at all. It was her loss.
    Straightening away from Gram, I smoothed my damp palms across my thighs just as my cell vibrated in my pocket. “I’m going out tonight, Gram. You all right if I stay at Kayla’s?”
    â€œI’m grown, Imani. I know how to take care of myself.” The resentment I always heard from her when I spent time with my momma’s family was back, replacing the other weirdness.
    â€œI know.” I kissed her cheek, then looked at the door so I wouldn’t stare at the corner of my picture poking out of its hiding place on her lap.
    â€œYou be careful, girl.”
    â€œI will.”
    â€œDon’t be getting in no trouble, you hear?”
    â€œFo’ sho’, Gram, I’m not about trouble,” I teased by adding a wink, then scooted right quick out of the way as she swatted playfully at my butt. Nope, I wasn’t looking for trouble tonight, unless you called hooking up with Maurice trouble. I called it fun.
    Assuming, of course, that Kayla and I ended up marinating at the same place he was chillin’ tonight. Hopefully my girl had the inside track of where we’d find him tonight, though I’d have to be on the down low about peeping the info since she didn’t know I was feelin’ the boy.
    â€œI’ll let you know when I’m out.”
    â€œAll right, baby.”
    Forcing a smile, I left her room, closing the door all the way this time, then fiddling in my pocket for my cell.
    Dwn 4 a prty?, glared at me from the small, dark screen. Hell, yeah, I could be down for a party, and if it was Kayla’s crew, there was a good chance my boy would be there, too. Grinning, I thumbed in my yep, then headed to my room to pick out something hella bangin’ to wear.
    As I sorted through my Apple Bottoms jeans and my saucy tops, I thought about calling Kayla and trying to find out more about the party. Was it a kickback or a house party? Was Moms and Pops out of town, ’cause that fa sheezy would change up the scene, and maybe how I’d want to dress. Although, hoping Maurice was there, dress to impress would be the code for the night.
    Gt U in 45, bleeped a message onto my cell, telling me that Kayla and I wouldn’t be alone tonight and one of her girls most likely would be driving. With only forty-five minutes until they came to get me, I knew I had to pick up my getting-ready pace.
    Tossing a couple hella cute outfits on the bed, I headed for the bathroom and plugged in my flatiron, knowing I was going to have to redo most of my hair since it’d gotten wet and the kink was coming out in a fierce way. It was while I was waiting for the flatiron to heat up that my mind kept wondering, drifting back and forth between Maurice and my picture hidden on my Gram’s lap.
    Part of me wanted to blow off Kayla, party, Maurice, going out. That part wanted to march back into my gram’s room and demand to know what the hell that picture was all about. I knew, I really knew, there was something to it. And as much as I wanted to dismiss it no matter what Gram was hiding, relying on the excuse that I didn’t give a shit, that same part kept nagging me ’bout it.
    And then, how could I blow off the chance to spend the night at a party with Maurice? Even if that picture had something to do with my momma, as I suspected, hell no, my momma wasn’t worth skipping out on the guy I wanted. Wasn’t worth the time my head was fussing over it.
    On the here and now relationship I was hinting at getting is where my mind belonged. On Maurice, with his caramel skin and warm, friendly eyes. With his cheeks cut with dimples, and his