Ahmeek nodded and merged back into traffic. The ride was silent. Tense. Awkward. Something they had never been. He hated that women did this. Compared. Measured. He couldn’t give Livi what he gave Morgan. He hadn’t even known he could give it to Mo until he’d experienced her for himself. He wanted to settle down, he did. He wanted to exit the game, but damn if he hadn’t built the frame in his mind and inserted Morgan’s picture inside. She was already a part of the picture in his mind of how good life should be. Every time he made a run, touched a brick, hit a semi, or spoke to Hak, he had her in the back of his mind. She had become his motivation. Morgan had become the goal. To do it a while longer so he could eventually come out on the other side with her on his arm. Could he replace her? If Morgan never came back around, could he open up to the possibility of Livi or perhaps a woman he had yet to meet being “the one”? He wasn’t in the business of making women feel like they were being shortchanged. He enjoyed spending time with Livi, but her ticket had just gone up. She had upped the price on him when she discovered he was valuing another more than her, and because of that, the casualness of a fling was no longer enough. He pulled up to her home, the downtown one-bedroom condo she had purchased for herself.

Ahmeek scratched his head as his brow hiked in confusion. Shit had just been good, and now it wasn’t. They had been smooth, and now because of a run-in at the local mall, their night was full of emotional turbulence.

“Yo, Liv. I didn’t know it was like that for you. Serious. I didn’t know you were getting serious,” he stammered.

“Sticking around watching you give love and commitment to someone else, meanwhile all I get is a handbag or two and a trip to Benihana. I’m not a back-burner type of girl. I’ll pass, but thanks, babe; it’s been fun.”

A bad bitch, indeed. Livi slid out of his passenger seat and closed the door before strutting into the lobby of her building.