Guarded Love

Chapter 5

Demetrius

"The hell you smiling for?" Bryson said when I got in the car.

"Mind your business fam," I chuckled.

"It's impressive," AJ chuckled. "Even after all these years you still like that damn girl."

"Ole crushing ass nigga," Bryson laughed.

"So what if I am?" I shrugged.

"Man that girl cannot stand you. You might as well move on bruh. Shit she could be seeing someone right now."

"What's that supposed to mean to me?" I raised my brow.

"That's supposed to mean she's got a nigga and don't want your dog ass," Bryson snickered.

"Sorry bro but you hold that title," AJ chuckled.

"Exactly," I said. "You fuck anything with a pulse and pussy. I'm surprised you haven't caught anything." He flicked us off. "But nah seriously, is she dating someone?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Bryson said.

"Fuck you," I narrowed my eyes at him. They laughed while I just mugged them.

It's true that I've had this small crush on Essence since we were in school together. A few years back my father let us spend a year away from New York since we kept getting into trouble. We were all bad ass kids getting into some shit so he sent us to stay with granny for a while. And let me tell you, that woman did NOT play. To this day I still fear her. But it was cool I guess. Meeting new people and shit. In a new environment. We still got into some trouble but not as bad as we did in New York.

I honestly didn't even know Essence until AJ and Bryson started kicking it with her brothers. Andre, I think his name was, was like a damn demon in that school. Everybody was scared of him. But he seemed like cool people's and invited us over his place sometimes. I just remember sitting in their game room and Essence happened to have walked by. I was high so I thought I was just imagining shit until she walked in fussing at us for smoking in the house. The one thing that stuck to me was the fact she completely ignored a nigga like I wasn't there. Shit blew me and I used to always mess with her since she was easy to rile up.

When I noticed she was in the same grade as me it made it even easier to bother her. She was always so uptight and shit. I gave her the nickname 'princess' because she used to act like a fucking brat. You could tell she was spoiled as fuck. And it was always amusing to see her go from cheery to ice cold in literally a second. Plus she was ignorant to who my family was so it was refreshing to see someone go toe to toe with me with no fear. I never did tell her how I felt about her for a couple of reasons. The main one being it wouldn't matter since I knew I was only in town for a year. So I thought it was pointless and that I'd eventually forget about her.

But I didn't. Never did. I always felt like I lost something when I left that day. I was constantly in a personal battle over whether or not I should go back to see her. But I felt it wouldn't be my place. Plus she used to always say she'd never date someone her own age so I was kind of cool on that. I have heard a few things over the years. Her going to school to be a lawyer and eventually moving out of state. When I heard about her relocating to my town I figured it would be less creepy if we just ran into each other here. That was before I got my ass held in holding for five months. It was AJ who came up with the idea that I hire her for this case.

"Damn nigga what the hell are you thinking about so damn hard?" Bryson said.

"Fuck you want nigga?"

"We here. Pops gonna beat your ass."

"Damn," I mumbled. I forgot about the old man for a minute. We got out the car and headed up his driveway.