“I’ma let you go. You got a wedding to plan and all,” Messiah said with a scoff as he caressed his lips, his lips that still tasted like her. “But yo, while you at it, plan a funeral too, shorty. You gon’ need a black dress that day, because the day I watch you walk down the aisle to that lame-ass nigga is the day he takes his last breath.” Messiah kissed the side of her head and then walked back to his room, leaving her standing in the hallway, heart racing, feeling more alive than she had in two years.

11

Morgan glanced down at her phone. She was so late. Taking the Uber to retrieve her car had taken some time. Everyone was waiting for her at the restaurant, and she was over an hour late. Bash had been calling repeatedly. She reluctantly answered.

“I’m pulling up to the restaurant now.” Seconds later, she saw him emerge from the building as she parked. The look on his face told her he was pissed. She couldn’t say she blamed him.

“Where have you been, Mo?” Bash asked. “What the hell was that? You just run out in the middle of your graduation?”

“I felt like I would be sick,” Morgan said. It was only half a lie. Messiah had thrown her world off-kilter and left her stomach in knots. That much was true. “I couldn’t breathe up there. I just needed to get out of there. I just needed some time to myself.”

“Where did you go?” he asked.

“To the cemetery,” she answered. It was a low thing to use her dead family as a cover, but it was one of the few excuses that people would understand. No one would ask anything further after she said that, and she needed Bash to back off. She was drowning in lies.

“Get your shit together, Mo. You’re embarrassing yourself and my family,” Bash said. He turned to the restaurant, and Morgan trailed him. She felt see-through, like everything she had just done, or rather that had been done to her, was written all over her body. She still had Messiah’s scent all over her, and she was filled with shame as she followed Bash into the restaurant.

Alani had reserved the private room in the five-star establishment, and Morgan followed Bash to the section as she pulled on her clothes insecurely. As soon as she walked into the room, everyone in attendance cheered for her. Morgan turned red, and she gave up a fake smile. Her eyes immediately found Ethic’s. He sat at the head of the table, and the stare he pierced her with made her heart tremble. He spoke without even moving his lips. He nodded.

You good?

Morgan sighed because she realized that with him in the room, she was always safe, always secure. She nodded back and smiled. A real smile.