Sweet Temptation

@Yvonne: Team Matt? :D Gah! I knew Keisha Hate would happen after the last two chapters! Which was why I was ITCHING to get these new chapters up, hahahaha! Anyways, it goes to show how manipulation runs in Billy's veins, it's part of his personality. He also has some inner demons he's been locking up that he'll face later on. Also, more of Keisha's and Billy's family history will show up more in the future, just not yet. & thank you for your comment about my writing! So kind of you! Hearing things like that makes me so happy, it's so good to hear (or read in this case) how much someone enjoys what I write! 

@Anon: AGH! More Keisha Hate, noooo!! Hahaha! I'm glad I have achieved that & thanks so much for your comment!! ^_______^

----------------------------------------------------------

“What was that about?” Keisha asked as her and Billy walked out of the alleyway.



“Just work.”



“At one in the morning?!



“Babe,” he turned around, “please don’t ask me any more questions about this.”



Keisha could tell he was trying his best to control his temper but she didn’t care. “Billy, what happened about being honest? If you want to be with me you can’t keep turning your back to me.”



“I’m taking you home, let’s go,” he walked to the car.



Keisha got in the car and shifted uncomfortably at the feeling of wearing no panties. She looked over and saw Billy was standing outside of the car calling someone on his phone. She huffed and looked around the car, not sure why but her feminine instincts had started to kick in even stronger. She looked at Billy whose back was turned to the car, she opened the armrest and saw nothing but empty boxes of cigarettes, an Altoids tin which she was afraid to open up and some paper. She closed it and then opened the dashboard. She gasped and covered her mouth.



Staring back at her was a gun. Keisha felt a lump in her throat, she looked over to Billy to make sure he hadn’t caught her.



Your fucking boyfriend is after me because of you and him!



I just need to scare him for a favor.



Keisha closed the dashboard and felt her heart beating faster when it wouldn’t close, it was broken.



“Shit, shit, shit!” She spat under her breath when she kept slamming it closed.



It finally closed when Billy opened the car door. He didn’t say anything to her nor did he look at her. The two staying in silence during the drive home while Keisha couldn’t stop thinking about the gun she had found. She tried keeping her eyes off the dashboard and felt like the object was reaching out towards her. The thoughts that raced in her head made her nauseous. She didn’t think it would come down to this, Billy wasn’t out to just “scare” anyone.



When they reached at a stoplight the dashboard flew open causing Keisha to gasp. She stared at the gun, her shock covered the fact that she saw it five minutes earlier.



“Shit,” Billy muttered under his breath.



Keisha watched him as he casually reached over and grabbed the gun, shoving it in the back of his pants and slamming the dashboard shut.



“Billy-”



“I don’t wanna hear it,” he quickly demanded.



She opened her mouth the speak again but couldn’t find any words. What felt like the longest car ride ever they finally arrived at her apartment.



“Billy,” she finally found the courage to speak, “You can’t come to my apartment ever again.”



“What?” he looked at her with anger, Keisha could see she lit a fuse.



“You just can’t come here again, I’m sorry-”



“It’s because of what you saw? Babe, it’s nothing-”



“What do you mean it’s nothing?! Are you crazy!” She yelled. “You’re-!”



“Don’t fucking yell at me, Keisha!” he yelled back at her.



She felt herself sink down in the seat. She couldn’t verbally fight back, instead she got out of the car.



“Keisha!” he grabbed her wrist.



“Let go of me!” she managed to snap her wrist out of his grip and walked as fast as she could to her building while taking out her keys. Billy grabbed her arm and spun her around.



“Billy, stop!”



“Keisha, just let me explain!”



“Explain what?! What’s there to explain? I thought you were doing things out of jealousy and spite and now you’re carrying around a weapon?! I can’t deal with that!”



“Just listen-!”



“You’re freaking sick!” she flung her arms. “How could you carry that around me like that?!”



“Keisha, just calm down-”



She slapped his hands away when he tried touching her.



“Don’t call me and I don’t want to see you around here ever again! And leave my brother alone!” she said before quickly walking away.



Her heart raced when Billy grabbed her from behind and cover her mouth.



“I am not letting you walk away until you listen to me!” he growled dangerously in her ear.



Keisha’s eyes widened at his tight grip as she tried fighting back while squealing in her throat, her heels pushing against the concrete floor to stop him from taking her. She looked at her building while Billy dragged her back to his car. Her watery eyes looked up at her window then at Matt’s, his lights were on. She screamed his name in her head hoping he would come running outside to her rescue.



“Hey! Hey!” she heard a girl’s voice from far away yelling. “Dude, what the fuck are you doing?!”



Charlie? No, it wasn’t her.



“Let go of her!”



“Don’t fucking touch me!” Billy yelled. “Stay the fuck outta this!”



Keisha heard them continue to argue loudly back and forth but she couldn’t see the girl. She forced herself to open her mouth in his palm, the flesh of her lips pressed painfully against her teeth. She bit down hard on his flesh until she tasted what she could assume was blood. Billy yelled, she scratched his arm letting herself free when she felt another body in between them. She grabbed the girl and hugged her arm as they backed away from him.



Billy was holding his hand that dripped with blood, he looked up at Keisha with deadly eyes that made her heart still. She wiped her mouth, she was numb to notice the taste.



“C’mon,” the girl whispered while dragging Keisha back into the apartment. “If you don’t leave right now I’ll call the police!” she screamed.



The mystery girl quickly opened the door and shoved Keisha inside before closing the door shut behind them. She looked at the window and saw Billy still standing in his spot staring at the door. She watched him until he got into his car and drove away.



“He’s gone, he’s gone,” she said, “Come, sit down.”



Keisha kept her eyes on the floor still in shock of what just happened. She felt her body plopping itself onto one of the couches in the lobby. Her hands were still shaking, she wasn’t focused enough to look at her savior’s face. The girl pushed back Keisha’s black hair and kept asking her if she was okay, if she knew that man and how long he’s been following her. Keisha started sobbing loudly, she couldn’t control herself.



The girl fished through her bag and found a few tissues, she tried offering them to Keisha but she didn’t take them. The girl jumped when she heard the door of the stairs fly open. She turned around and saw one of the building’s residents running to them.



“Hey, Evans, right-?”



“Matt,” he said quickly, “what the hell happened? I saw them outside-”



Keisha’s face was buried in her hands and she was so lost in her tears she didn’t notice another person besides the girl was in the lobby.



“I dunno, I was walking home and I saw that guy grabbing her and almost forcing her in his car. My name’s Hannah, by the way, I live on the first floor,” she jabbed her thumb behind her towards the hallway.



Matt nodded, accepting her introduction and sitting next to Keisha.



“Hey,” he said softly while rubbing her back.



Keisha looked up, her eyes red and her face wet, she looked like an emotional mess.



“Oh god, Matt,” her hands started shaking, “Matt, I am so sorry, I’m . . . ,” her shaking hands went to her chest.



Hannah looked at the both of them as Matt tried calming her down and hugged her.



“You two . . . know each other?”



“She lives next door to me. I’ll take her upstairs.”



Matt thanked Hannah and took Keisha upstairs. She watched them disappear inside the elevator then walked to the window and looked outside to see if Billy came back. She saw nothing and headed to her apartment.



----------------------------------------------------------



Keisha wiped her face with a skin care cleansing cloth to get rid of the makeup that caked her cheeks from crying. She then rinsed her face and patted it dry feeling a little refreshed. She went into her living room where Matt sat with some hot tea. Her head was pounding while wondering if there will ever be a time where she wouldn’t be crying as much.



“Thank you . . . for coming down,” she said softly.



“I think you should thank that Hannah girl. If it weren’t for her I wouldn’t have come running down, she’s pretty damn loud for a little girl.”



Keisha let out a little laugh when she didn’t realize how loud she must’ve sounded. She sat on the other end of the couch, she felt like crawling into Matt’s arms for comfort.



“So, what happened? Is it just one of those fights you normally have with him? Tomorrow he’ll say he’s sorry and you guys are together again?” he asked bluntly.



“No, it’s not like that,” she took a deep breath and decided to spill it all now that she had the chance. “I went to meet with him to find out what was going on with you two. That . . . that really didn’t work out as I planned,” she said thinking about having sex with him in the alleyway. “I found a gun in his car.”



“You found it?”



She nodded. “Yeah, it was really weird tonight. We were at a bar, just talking,” she shrugged. “He said something about how he really wasn’t going to do anything bad to you, he was just beating you up to scare you for a favor, whatever that meant. And then when we left some guy came up to us, someone that he knew came up and started talking about getting some job done. I don’t know what he meant. And then after that I found the gun in his car . . . I never seen one up close like that,” she said while staring at her mug.



Matt thought about Billy approaching him in the parking lot, he saw it sticking out of his jeans.



“Who was the guy?”



“I don’t know, he said his name was Carl.”



Matt’s blood turned into ice at that name, he kept his mouth shut. He looked at Keisha’s legs and saw that they were shaking. He wanted to stay to make sure she was alright but he couldn’t.



“Listen, I have work in the morning. You wanna talk about this tomorrow?”



She nodded and walked him out.



“Wait, you brother. Have you heard from him?” she asked before closing her door.



“He’s still missing.”



“Oh.”



“Goodnight, Keisha.” He wanted to kiss her on the head but refrained from doing so.



----------------------------------------------------------



Billy tightened the cloth around his hand before entering The Wagon. The bleeding had stopped but his anger didn’t. He went inside meeting his friends who were playing pool and drinking. He ordered two shots of whiskey and drank them down one after the other.



“Hey man,” J approached him. “What the fuck happened to yo’ hand?”



“Accident,” Billy simply said. The whiskey burned in his throat, he felt the fire caressing his insides.



“Yo, guess who’s back?”



Billy looked at him oddly. “Is Carl here? Thought he hated showing his ugly face here?”



“Nah, man, not him. Layla. Anthony said that bitch was here looking for you.”



“Don’t fucking care.”



“Aight, any word on Evans?”



Billy shook his head. He watched the boys play pool while showing off to three girls who were dressed like Layla. They weren’t very pretty but judging by their clothes and makeup his friends wanted easy, not beauty.



“I know Carl wants you to do his dirty work but me and the boys don’t wanna sit back and let you have all the fun.”



Billy looked at J as if to say something until they were interrupted by Sean and Anthony.



“Billy, my man! Yo,” Sean talked as if he lowered his voice although he was still loud. “Wanna take a bullet?”



“Whiskey’s fucking weak,” Billy said turning the second shot glass upside down. “Let’s go.”



A few of Billy’s friends stopped playing pool and followed him and Sean out of The Wagon. Sean led him to the back of the building in an empty lot that was barely lit by a street lamp where they found two familiar faces standing in the shadows. It was Damon and James. Damon conversed with his friends and for a moment looked at Billy. He made brief eye contact with him and looked away. Billy didn’t care at all, he paid James for the bullet and immediately sniffed the powder inside while ignoring his friends. The feeling was better than the whiskey.



----------------------------------------------------------



The next day.



Keisha wrapped herself in her thick blanket like a burrito. She groaned at the thoughts that were swimming in her head. She stuck her hand out of the blanket and grabbed her iPhone, surprisingly Billy hadn’t called her or texted her. She should’ve been glad that he was off her back so quickly but his silence frightened her. She tried calling Damon a few times but he never answered. She unrolled herself and took a deep breath at what she was about to do.



She looked through her drawers and pulled out a little old phonebook, something almost no one had anymore, and flipped through the empty pages. She finally found the number she was looking for and felt her heart race when she ran a mock dialogue in her head.



She dialed the number on her phone and called. After a few rings someone answered.



“Hello?”



“Hey, mom?”



“Who is this?”



“It’s Keisha.”



Silence.



“Oh . . . Keisha.” she heard the shakiness from her mother’s voice.



It was as if Keisha had asked her to display her big acting debut on the spot. There was silence on the phone again, Keisha took the hint that her mother was waiting for her to speak.



“Have you heard from Damon?” she skipped the small talk and went straight to the point.



“No. I haven’t. Why? What’s wrong? Is he okay?” she started to panic.



Keisha rolled her eyes and felt them starting to tear. Thanks for worrying about me, she thought.



“Yeah, he’s fine. He visited me a few days ago, I was wondering if he left or not.”



“Oh, okay. Well, he’ll be back soon, you know how he is, always back and forth . . .” her mom let out a fake laugh while trying to build a conversation.



“What are you talking about?”



“He’s barely here, always visiting you. Last month he forgot to give you-”



“He was here? Last month?”



“Yes. Didn’t he visit you? And in May?” her mother’s voice became suspicious.



“Oh, right,” Keisha lied when she heard her mother’s tone. “Yeah, he was here, thanks.”



She stayed on the line as awkward silence formed between mother and daughter.



“I have to go, it was nice to hear from you,” her mom said.



“Okay, bye.”



Keisha hung up, her jaw dropped with her watery eyes.



-------------------------------------------------------------------



“I messed up.”



“No shit,” Charlie said when pouring the wine for Keisha.



Keisha sat at Charlie’s kitchen table and confessed to her what happened the night she was supposed to talk Billy out of hurting Matt, leaving out the sex in the alleyway part. After placing the wine bottle down Charlie tied her bright red hair in a ponytail feeling flushed after hearing that Billy was armed around Keisha.



“When I saw Matt I was so mad at what he did to him and when I met with Billy to confront him I just felt myself shut down. I just can’t help it, when I’m around him I forget everything. Everything that has happened and everything I want to say gets thrown out the window and I have to try my best to remember why I’m there in the first place. I’m such an idiot,” she took three gulps of the red wine.



“Well, I have to admit, Billy is pretty hot. I would let him take advantage of me for one night. God damn,” her eyes stared into empty space, “I would love to pour honey all over his body and lick it off.”



Keisha choked on her wine. “Charlie!”



Charlie snapped out of it. “I’m sorry . . . my mind . . .  went . . . okay, no, sorry, have you talked to Damon?”



“No, he’s ignoring my messages. I called my mom . . .”



“What?! You called your mother?! Jesus fucking Christ, that must’ve been the most awkward conversation ever. What did she say?”



“It was awkward, the conversation didn’t even last five minutes. She did tell me that Damon’s been visiting here every month. I’m not sure if Billy even knew that or not.”



“Every month? Shady.”



“I know, I just wanna give him the warning about Billy and I wanna tell him that I’ve stopped seeing him.”



“No offense, but I think your brother knows a lot more about him than you do. Well, besides knowing that his own sister was seeing him,” she paused to sip her wine. “Can I ask you something? Is it really over? Between you and Billy?”



“Matt kinda asked me the same thing, and yes, it is. I told him that I didn’t want to see him again, I told him it was over. You don’t believe me, do you?”



“Okay,” Charlie began, “so I did say that I don’t support you being with him and you saying this right now is making me really proud of you, but I’m just afraid that you’re gonna go running back to him.”



“I’m not, Charlie, after what I saw, I knew he was dangerous but I was denying it-”



“I know, I know, but he didn’t really agree to never see you again. He hasn’t tried contacting you which is good in a way but doesn’t it scare you? I just don’t want you making a mistake, I love you, you’re like a sister to me and I don’t want to see your life going downhill with this guy. I’d rather see you with Matt, with someone like him you can focus on yourself, you can be yourself and you’re such a good person . . . ,” Charlie’s eyes started to water making Keisha feel the emotion wave come over both of them.



Keisha got off the kitchen stool and hugged Charlie who hugged her back.



“I love you, Charlie,” she said.



“I love you, too,” Charlie replied. “Alright, Alright,” she said after a few moments. “Let’s drink the rest of this wine.”



---------------------------------------------------------------------



Knock. Knock. Knock.



Matt opened the door already knowing it was Keisha knocking on his door. He saw Keisha holding a cup of coffee in her delicate hands and an apologetic smile on her face. She was wearing a navy maxi with tiny polka dots and a brown belt. Her hair was tied up revealing her beautiful features. He hated that look that she had on her face, it made him fall for her all over again.



“I wanted to thank you again for last night, it really meant a lot that you helped me.”



Matt said nothing and leaned against his door frame with his arms crossed as if waiting for her to continue. He didn’t smile at her nor did he scowl at her.



Keisha took a deep breath when she looked up at him. She looked at his face that still looked handsome beneath Billy’s damage. His dark circles indicated that he was stressed from his missing brother.



“Matt, I wanted to say I’m sorry for everything I’ve been putting you through. Since the night at 138 I was upset at you because of what you did but I realized I can’t blame you for that. I can’t blame you for what Billy did to you. And I just . . . ,” she felt she was about to choke from her shaking nerves, “I’m sorry for what Billy’s doing to you, I tried to make it stop but I just wasn’t . . . strong enough around him.”



She looked at Matt who was still looking down at her as if to hear more. She wanted to hear him respond but he didn’t budge.



“And I’m really sorry to hear about your brother. I really didn’t know.”



“It’s not your fault,” he finally said. Keisha felt relieved to hear his voice. “I should’ve told you.”



She waited to hear more but all he said was “Anything else?”



She started to feel defeated, like a child convincing a parent they really didn’t eat that cookie before dinner. She also hated that Matt was keeping her in the hallway.



“I also wanted to say that I’m not stringing you along, I just really thought me being with Billy was the right thing.”



“Do you love him?”



“What?” the question caught her off guard.



“Do you love him?” he repeated.



She opened her mouth to speak but found that she couldn’t answer.



“Say it,” he said.



“Say what?”



“Say that you love him,” Matt said.



Keisha pressed her lips together. She couldn’t believe it, she couldn’t say it.



“He had you wrapped around his finger, you know that, right? And he still does.”



“Matt, I tried to figure it out, at first I tried to cut it off with him but he wouldn’t let it happen, then I thought it was wrong for me to do that so I tried to reconnect with him and let him back into my life but then I saw it wasn’t the right thing to do, I was confused, I thought you turning away from me was an obvious sign that I should be with him-”



“Keisha, I am here for you. I can treat you a thousand times better than he can, he’s a god damn loser. While he’s making you believe that you need him I’m standing in the background waiting for you choose me to treat you better. You’re the one turning away from me.”



While Matt spoke Keisha couldn’t help but let the tears fall from her eyes. She didn’t realize what she was doing to him the entire time, he was right. She wiped her tears away.



“You have me . . . you have me freaking friendzoned.”



Keisha couldn’t help but laugh, Matt laughed with her realizing how silly that had sounded.



“You’re not friendzoned,” she said.



“Hah, thanks. As much as I love your coffee,” he said looking down at the cup in between her hands. “You wanna go to Angelique to grab a bite instead of being cooped up in here?”



“What about Sam?”



“I’ve been attached to my phone since it happened, staying here won’t make a difference,” he grabbed his keys before closing his door. They walked over to her apartment to drop off her cup. “We reported him missing but he really left without a trace. By the way, just to be clear, this is not a date,” he said as if to convince himself more than convincing Keisha. “It’s just . . . neighbors talking over coffee.”



Her smile disappeared then reappeared to show him that she understood.



---------------------------------------------------------------------



Jen was walking home in the warm summer night with a coffee in her hand and her Andriod in the other.



“Stupid . . . fucking . . . phone,” she spat at it when it froze.



She put it away to take out her keys to her apartment. When she looked up she saw Layla waiting on her stoop.



“Layla?”



Layla was smoking a cigarette, her face scarred and ugly.



“What’re doing here?” Jen approached her.



“You know about Billy and that girl?”



Jen rolled her eyes. “Hello to you, too. And I don’t know anything about that girl,” she tried walking past Layla.



“You do know!” she stopped her. “You fucking do, tell me where I can find her,” she said desperately.



Jen looked at her as if she were crazy, which she was.



“What is this? Why is everyone asking me to find people for them? First Billy was asking me questions about that stupid Evans kid and now you’re asking me to find that girl? I don’t know where she is,” Jen lied. She had seen Keisha a few times around the area although she still hadn’t found out where she lived. “Why do you care anyways?”



“Look at my face, Jen! Look at what he did to me! He’s been with that girl for months, I’ve known him longer and he treated me like shit!” she yelled.



“Oh shut it, Layla! He’s treats everyone like shit! It’s in his nature. Now move, I have dinner to make-”



Layla blocked her. “Tell me where I can find her.”



“I don’t fucking know and I don’t fucking know what you’re planning to do with her. But I’m sure if you lay a hand on her Billy won’t like it.”



“It’s not gonna be me that gonna lay a hand on her,” Layla said darkly and walked away.



Jen contemplated for a moment what she meant by that. She watched Layla in her tight shorts walk down the sidewalk and shook her head at the pathetic girl.



--------------------------------------------------------



“I knew I’d find you here,” Marley said when she walked into Billy’s room. “How come you’re not with your friends?”



Billy laid shirtless on his bed, ignoring Marley and looking up at the ceiling. His body was damp with sweat from the lack of insulation in the building.



“They seem to be having a good time with those girls, especially those two new guys. Billy?”



She approached him to see why he wasn’t answering. Curious, she touched the tattoos on his chest to see if he would push her away. He didn’t move. Marley bit her lip and bravely touched his crotch. She jumped when he grabbed her wrist and sat up, it was like she woke a sleeping dragon. Shit! she panicked. He grabbed her body and pushed her down on the bed, his eyes piercing into hers, she could tell he was mad and a coked up Billy who was mad wasn’t a good sign.



“Is this what you want?!” he yelled in her face as he fought with her to take her clothes off.



Marley panicked and tried pushing him away but his body was too heavy for her.



“Billy! Get off! Get the fuck off me!” she screamed.



“You fucking bitch, you want this, admit it!” his voice rang in her ears.



Marley screamed when Billy bit down the top of her breast and broke her skin. She screamed as she punched his body and cried. She yelled at him to stop, the pain on her chest distracted her from him pulling on her shorts. When he stopped biting her she fell off the bed and onto the floor. Billy almost grabbed her but missed, she ran out of the room and down the hall towards the voices.



Billy chased after, as soon as she ran into the room with the men and their cheap company Billy pulled on her hair and yanked her backwards. His friends all shouted and laughed at the entertainment. Marley heard their degrading comments knowing that no one would reach out to help her. She cried, her black makeup running down her face as Billy dragged her by the hair.



“Let go of me!” She cried. “Let me go!”



Marley kicked the trash that was on the floor and begged him to stop. He picked her up, pushed her in the room and slammed the door shut. He charged towards her, she closed her eyes and screamed.



“Think about Keisha!” was the only thing she could think of.



Billy stopped in his place, his skin red and hot. “The fuck did you say?”



“Keisha,” she said with a shaky voice. “She’s your girlfriend, right?”



Billy walked towards her, his body inches away from Marley.



“How the fuck do you know her name?” he spat, she could feel his breath on her face.



She tilted her head down wanting to avoid his eyes until he grabbed her hair and pulled it back.



“Carl, Carl told me,” she confessed. “Billy, please stop hurting me, I didn’t-”



“SHUT UP!” He yelled.



He threw her aside by the hair not caring that she landed on the floor. Marley looked up and watched him, his veins growing beneath his red skin as he punched the wall a few times. She knew it was the drugs that was making him act like that but something was different this time. She didn’t want to stick around to know, she ran out of the room as fast as she could and heard him yelling from his room behind her.  



-----------------------------------------------------------------------------



Matt and Keisha sat at Cafe Angelique, Keisha ordered a green tea and Matt ordered a coffee with a shot of espresso. Matt drank his coffee black, Keisha noticed this, he usually drank his coffee with cream and sugar. He also kept his phone on the table in case anyone called him.



“He hasn’t called you at all? Not even a text?” Matt asked about Billy.



“Nope, nothing. I mean, it’s only been a day. Knowing him he probably will end up at our stoop one day. I kinda do want to talk to him just to have some closure,” she sighed. “Anyways, how’s your sister doing with the wedding?”



Matt shrugged. “Stressed, worried, but mostly stressed. She’s not sure if she wants to postpone the wedding or not. We’ve had a lot of issues with our little brother in the past but we don’t want to cut him out completely.”



Keisha smiled at that comment thinking about her own family, it was the complete opposite for her.



“I actually did hear from him,” Matt confessed. Before Keisha could comment in shock he continued. “He called me from a blocked number, almost telling me what was going on but then he got freaked out when I mentioned that guy, Carl.”



“Have you told your parents?”



Matt shook his head. “They don’t really know what he’s been doing behind their back. It’ll break their heart.”



Matt rubbed his head and finally added cream and sugar to his coffee. He looked at Keisha’s hands that were cupping her tea. He wanted to touch them with his own but kept his on his coffee.



“I’m sorry . . . for yelling at you,” he finally said.



“It’s okay,” she sighed. “I was being stupid, bline, both really. I was letting Billy take over my life, it was happening so fast I didn’t even know what was going on. You know, sometimes I felt a little sorry for him.”



“Pity sex, huh?”



They both laughed, Keisha felt a warmth within her at Matt’s smile.



“My scars will heal, don’t worry,” Matt said when he caught her staring at him for a while.



“I kinda like them, it makes you look badass,” she laughed.



After the two shared a pasty they walked back to the apartment. Matt kept his hands in his pockets, he wanted to hold Keisha’s but he didn’t want to lead her on. Keisha noticed how reserved his body language was so she kept her arms close to her body. Her eyes followed to his parked car and she saw a sign on his windshield.



“You got a ticket?” she asked in confusion.



Matt looked at his car in confusion as well, he didn’t remember getting a ticket. He walked over and when he got closer he saw that it was a folded piece of paper. As he opened it up and read the paper his face flushed to white.



“What’s wrong?” asked Keisha.



Matt looked around, across the street, down the block to his left and to his right. He read the paper again and scratched his forehead. Keisha felt uneasy at his discomfort.



“Matt?” her eyes were stuck on the paper in his hand.



“I guess this goes for you, too,” he said as he handed her the paper.



She read it and felt the pastry move from her stomach to her throat.

They’re watching you.

Be careful.