Book 12 of the Berotte Family Series, Say You Love Me, is coming Friday, 3/17!! Have you preordered your copy yet? amzn.to/3Yti5b5 Enjoy the first unedited sneak peek!
As I stepped away from him to get the skillet to fry the plantains in, I heard the back door being fucked with. I knew it was Vashawn. Jericho’s eyes never left mine. He seemed extremely calm when Vashawn walked inside.
I stared at him as he said, “Hey, Whitney. Who are all these people? I mean, you never had guests.”
“Why are you here, Vashawn?”
“I told you I was coming to get the rest of my things,” he said as he glanced at Jericho. “You’re not going to introduce us, Whitney?”
He walked over to Jericho and said, “I’m Vashawn, her umm… ex. Although I’m not giving up.”
Jericho shook his hand and said, “I’m Jericho, the one that got away. But I’m back now, claiming who has always been mine.”
I could have swallowed my tongue as Vashawn frowned at me. “Your first love? I thought you didn’t know where he was.”
“I didn’t until this past weekend.”
“So you broke up with me because you wanna try to be with a man you haven’t seen in sixteen years? You can’t be fucking serious right now!”
Before Jericho could respond, Ali walked in the kitchen. “We have a problem?”
“Naw, bruh. Vashawn just came to get his shit. If he get loud with Whit one more time, we will have a problem,” Jericho said as he stood up straight, stepping away from the cabinet.
“Vashawn, just go get your things and leave. I tried breaking up with you Friday, before I knew Jericho’s whereabouts. You weren’t hearing it. Knowing that he’s here… that he’s back, there’s no way I’ll ever go back to you, although I was pretty sure before now.”
Jericho stepped in front of me and said, “You don’t have to explain a damn thing. That shit is none of his business.” He turned to Vashawn and said, “I don’t see you moving, nigga.”
“You don’t intimidate me, man.”
Jericho glanced at Ali, and I didn’t miss the smirk on Ali’s lips. Jericho took a step toward him and said, “That’s a good thing. That means when I break yo’ fucking neck with my bare hands, you won’t even see that shit coming.”
“Nigga, if I were you, I would get the fuck on before shit get out of hand in here,” Ali added.
After glancing at Ali, Vashawn attempted to look at me, and Jericho grabbed him by his neck. He did that shit so fast I didn’t see him about to do it. He literally lifted Vashawn and threw him across the damn kitchen. Vashawn was coughing up a damn lung as Ali slowly shook his head. “Niggas don’t listen.”
Jericho turned to me as I stared wide-eyed at him. He gently rubbed his hand over my cheek, calming me down that quickly simply from his touch and his gaze. “You don’t ever have to explain yourself to a nigga that don’t matter. You hear me?”
He lifted his other hand and stroked both of my cheeks with his thumbs. “Yes.”
He kissed my forehead as Vashawn finally got his lame ass up from the floor. Without another word, he headed to the bedroom, and Ali followed behind him. “I’m sorry he thought I wouldn’t fuck him up. I don’t know why he thought he was just going to holler at you in my presence and nothing happen to him.”
“Thank you.”
“You don’t have to thank me for protecting and defending you. You belong to me, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay then. Enough said. Let’s fry these plantains. I’m hungry as hell now.”
