I knew my expression had to have changed because Darius’s face lost all hints of amusement as he looked between me and the man approaching.
I turned slowly. “Cameron. Why are you here?”
“I just wanted to talk,” he explained, stopping a few feet in front of me. “I just don’t underst—”
“Why would you show up here unannounced?”
“Can we go inside and talk? Please?” He gave me his cutest expression, but the cuteness was lost on me.
“No.” I gripped my mail tighter as I tried to calm myself down. “I told you before you cannot just stop by my place unannounced and now you can’t stop by my place at all.”
“You stopped answering my calls so what was I supposed to do?”
“If you felt like you wanted to say something beyond what has already been said, you could’ve sent an email or a text message and if there was anything I felt like I needed or wanted to say, I could’ve responded. But this”—I gestured to him— “isn’t okay.”
“Let’s go inside and talk. Let me put you in a better mood and then we can talk about this.”
“I said no,” I hissed, my eyes narrowing at him. “I wanted to try to be friends, but now you are disrespecting me and disregarding what I’m saying. I’m done.”
I started to turn around and he grabbed my arm. Snatching from his grasp, I curled my lip up in disgust. “Do not touch me!”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” He lifted his hands up in surrender. “I just—God, Zola! Please just talk to me.”
“What? What? What?” I snapped, saying the word with more bite each time.
“I thought after I passed the bar, you and I were going to take things to the next level. Pass the bar. Get a wife. Start a family. That was the plan.”
I made a face. “That was your plan. Not my plan.”
“You never really considered it.”
“You never mentioned any of this to me.”
“Would it have made a difference?”
“No, I just would’ve ended things sooner,” I answered honestly. “You can’t decide the rest of my life for me and then pin your hopes and dreams on that. That’s not how this works. That’s not how any of this works.”
His jaw tightened as he shook his head. “Why? Because you have a man now?”
“Because I said so,” I retorted.
“See, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about.” He took a step closer and I took a step back. “You told me you weren’t looking to give up your lifestyle. You wanted to keep The Single Life with Zola Patterson alive by remaining single. But you were grocery shopping and looking like you weren’t living The Single Life. A week after you told me that, you have a man?”
“It was more than a week.”
“That’s not the fucking point,” he growled, throwing his hands up. “You said you didn’t want to change your life, but that’s not what it looked like on Saturday. So, I’m asking you what’s up with that.”
“I don’t owe you an explanation, Cameron. I don’t owe you anything.” I took a few steps back. “And the fact that you have showed up here unannounced, questioning me, talking to me crazy, just lets me know that there will never be anything else for us to talk about.” I turned on my heel. “Goodbye.”
I felt his hand wrap around my arm and jerk me around to face him. “Just answer the question.”
I tried to pull away, but his grip tightened. He’d never even choked me during sex so the fact that he’d grab me in anger was jarring. It took me a full three seconds to even register what was happening.
“Let me go,” I spat.
“Just answer the question,” he repeated. “Are you in a relationship with someone?”
“Yes,” I told him, partially because it was true but mostly because I wanted to hurt him.
Tossing my arm, he barked, “Are you fucking kidding me?”
“What the fuck is going on over here?” Darius asked, stepping between me and Cameron.
“Who are you?” Cameron replied, taking a step back.
“I’m an off-duty police officer. Now I’ll ask you again: what the fuck is going on over here?”
He moved backward with his hands lifted in the air. “Nothing, we’re fine.”
Darius had his eyes trained on Cameron. “Zola, are you fine?”
“No, I would like him to leave,” I answered, glaring at the man I’d known for a year.
“Well that makes two of us. So, you need to leave. I’m Zola’s neighbor. A couple of my fellow officers live in that building over there.” He pointed toward the other end of the parking lot. Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he took a picture of Cam’s license plate. “And now that I have your information, I’m sure we won’t have any problems with you returning.”
Cameron looked at me. “Zola?”
“Don’t Zola me,” I rebuked with my lip curled in disgust. “You are not welcome here Cameron Crawford. Do not come back.”
He shook his head. “It didn’t have to be like this, Zola.”
“Goodbye.”
“All right, move it along,” Darius commanded, shooing him away.
With one last look, Cameron shook his head and then left the premises.
I stood stoically as I watched Cameron’s car leave, still a little in disbelief.
“You okay?” Darius asked.
“Yeah.” I shook it off and made eye contact with him. “Yeah, I am now. Thank you.”
“What was that all about?”
I shook my head. “I broke things off and he lost his mind.”
“Had I known I would’ve come over earlier, but I thought he was one of your customers trying to get his forty dollars back.”
The unexpected dig caught me off guard and I snorted, “What?”
He chuckled lightly. “I thought he was asking for a refund. For five minutes I thought you were negotiating a refund for ass.”
“You know what…” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “For five minutes I thought you were a decent human being.”
He smirked.
I studied him for a moment. “Are you a cop for real?” I wondered.
“Hell nah.”
I laughed loudly.
“I’m an over-the-road truck driver, but due to an accident that wasn’t my fault, I’m on paid leave,” he continued. “But telling him I’m a truck driver wouldn’t have stopped him from coming back. Now that he thinks I’m police, you should be good.”
“I hope so. I have enough on my plate and don’t need to deal with his bullshit.”
“The only person’s bullshit you ever have to deal with is your own.”
“This is true.” I put my hands together as if I were praying. “So again, thank you.”
“I got your back. You get on my nerves, but you’re funny. Not many people can go back and forth with the jokes. And besides, what kind of man would I be if I sat back and watched some polo wearing muthafucka come over here and manhandle you?”
I nodded. “You’d be surprised. A lot of men wouldn’t have gotten involved.”