Page 12 of Bodyguard My Heart

“Somebody tried to kill Meechie!” Monroe shouted. I watched as Rebecca picked up the phone and continued speaking with the nurse. I couldn’t make out what she was saying because the sound had drained from the room. Everything was moving in slow motion. The girls were all running in and out of the room.

“Put these on!” Aliza tossed me some tennis shoes. When I didn’t move, she put them on me herself.

“We have to get to the hospital. They need you to sign-off on care.”

My eyes shot to Rebecca as my mind traveled to the worst-case scenario.

“Is he breathing?” I questioned, just above a whisper. He had to be breathing.

“Yes, but we got to go now!” Aliza demanded. I nodded my head and climbed out of the bed. Tears still rolled down my face. This was the nightmare I’d dreamed of often. The man I loved was being ripped away from me without warning. It was the main reason I didn’t want to commit to Demetrius. My heart couldn’t take it.

“God, please watch over Demetrius.” I cried as I moved down the hallway and out the door of my apartment. I hoped God was listening because I didn’t know if I could recover from this.

4

Demetrius

I’d been staring at the security cameras outside of Samara’s condo for twenty minutes like a simp ass nigga. I was in a room full of naked women, but in my mind, I was contemplating going over there and snatching the divorce papers from her door. I only signed them because I ain’t know what else to do. She’d been ignoring me for two months. I was ignoring her, too, but my shit was valid. Samara was playing childish games, and I wasn’t the type of nigga to indulge in that shit. I was straightforward. I said what I meant, and I got what I wanted.

“If you have second thoughts, nigga, then why did you do it in the first place?” Fabian asked, breaking me from my thoughts. My eyes traveled to him and then back to the big booty female shaking ass in front of me. I didn’t respond as I swiped from my phone’s security camera app.

“I’ll go over there and get them motherfuckers out the door for you.” Fabian passed me the blunt we’d been smoking. I stared at him and shook my head.

“Nah, she got it.” I inhaled the smoke, allowing the marijuana to fill my lungs. My hand cupped the booty of thelight-skinned chick in front of me. Shorty was doing her thing, making her ass clap.

“Fancy seeing you here.” The familiar voice had me yanking my head up. I’d gone six years without seeing Naveah, and here she was in the flesh. I let my eyes roam her body. She looked older, but she was still fine as fuck. Her hips had filled out, probably from having kids.

“Naveah Cannon!” I called her name playfully.

“Actually, it’s Cannon-Moore.” She flashed her left hand to reveal a decent-looking ring. From what I heard, she married some dude who played basketball overseas. He had a normal upbringing. His mother and father were lawyers. The complete opposite of me.

“My fault. Mrs. Cannon-Moore. What you doing in Miami?”

“You remember my cousin Joslyn?”

I nodded. Joslyn was a part of our little circle back in the day. Royale used to link with her sometimes.

“She’s getting married. I came in town for her bachelorette party.”

“That’s what’s up. Tell Jos, I send my congratulations. I’ll send y’all a bottle. Where y’all sitting?”

She pointed to the other side of the club, and immediately, my eyes spotted Joslyn. I shot her a small wave, and she returned the greeting.

“So, what’s new with you?” Naveah questioned.

“I’m still the same nigga you left,” I said, my voice laced with sarcasm. I didn’t have any hard feelings for her. I just wasn’t interested in playing the catch-up game with her. I already had enough on my mind dealing with Samara.

“I didn’t leave you, Demetrius. I went away to school, and you didn’t want to come with me.” She recanted her version of the events.

“You got your version, and I got mine.”

She walked over to me and sat down, inviting herself into my space.

“I hear you’re the big boss around here now.”

I nodded. I wasn’t about to confirm or deny shit. Plus, I knew if she was still talking to Joslyn’s big mouth ass, she knew what the streets were whispering about me.

“You’ve always been capable of so much. I can tell you still have some animosity towards me. That’s cool.”