Scorned Read Free Page A

times and hadn’t moved out yet. He wanted to, but
like me he didn’t have the money for it. I keep trying to talk him
into getting a place together, but he’s afraid we won’t be able to
wait if we’re living together and sharing a bed. Maybe he’s right,
but it would solve one big problem that always seems to be in the
way; family. Still, it’s easier for him to say no when neither one
of us has the finances to actually make a move in that direction.
In any direction, really.
    I was so busy fuming about not having any
money that I didn’t realize how close I was. I turned onto his
street and pulled into the yard. Three other cars sat there. I
squeezed into the only place left, pulled my key out of the
ignition and put them and my cell into my bag which I slung over my
shoulder. The front door doesn’t like to open, so I gave it a good
shove.
    There was no one in the first bedroom, or
the living room, or the kitchen, so either they were in the
bathroom, or Pierce was the only one home.
    Crap, dang! I forgot the beer. Oh well.
    “Baby?” I rounded the corner to Pierce's
bedroom to find him laying on his bed in nothing but basketball
shorts. His beautiful, muscular chest was on full display. His dark
skin was smooth and perfect. I don’t know what he sees in me. My
face is a little too round to keep my hair in a ponytail like I do.
I’m not huge, but I’m anything but thin. I’m heavy. Thick. Whatever
you want to call it, though proportioned well. It doesn’t sit in
any one particular place, except maybe my boobs and no one but me
seems to have a problem with that. I don’t lose weight, no matter
how hard I try and I’m about ready to go to a doctor about it.
    “What?” Pierce asked, turning amber eyes
from the TV long enough to see me.
    “I forgot the beer,” I told him. “Could you
go get it?”
    “You go get it. You forgot it.”
    “It’s out in the car. It fell out of the
box.”
    “Oh, geez.” He grabbed a shirt and slipped
into a pair of shoes.
    “You’ll need these,” I said and handed him
the keys.
    I dropped my bag on the floor, kicked off my
shoes and took off my jacket. I thought about stripping out of my
pants too, but I left them on. I never know when someone will walk
in. If I had a place of my own I could run around naked if I
wanted.
    Pierce came back in with the beer and
groceries, and I heard him put the two bags in the fridge before he
got a beer for himself. “Thanks, babe,” he told me and gave me a
quick kiss.
    “No problem,” I replied. “You get the next
one though.”
    He rolled his eyes. “I’m getting this one.
How much was it?”
    I shrugged. “It’s fine. I have a little cash
left.”
    Pierce didn’t argue, but I knew the subject
would come up again later. He went back to the kitchen and set to
work getting dinner started.
    “Throw me the chips,” I called to him and he
did, deliberately bouncing them off my head before they landed on
the floor. “I said throw them, not break them all up into tiny
pieces so no one will want to eat them.”
    “Oh, well that’s what I heard.”
    I rolled my eyes and opened the bag. The
smell of jalapeno’s was enough to knock me back a few inches and I
had to hold the bag away to keep from suffocating.
    “I thought you didn’t like those,” Pierce
said.
    I laughed. “I don’t.”
    “Then why are you eating them?”
    “I’m hungry.”
    The front door opened and its squeaky hinges
screamed in protest. Gable offered his customary “Hey” as he passed
through to the bathroom.
    The front door opened again a few moments
later, and I knew it could only be one person. A young girl rounded
the corner a few seconds later, protruding belly first.
    “Someone in there?” Petrice asked,
indicating the bathroom. Petrice was their pregnant sixteen
year-old niece. She loved to wear collared blouses and scarves,
especially during the South Carolina winter.
    “Yeah. Gable,” I answered her.
    “Damn. He’s going to be in