Free Love on the Run by Zuri Day Page A

saying it’s your fault that your ribs are cracked. And I know you’re not going to let him get away with this!” So much for Talisha maintaining a calm demeanor. Hard to do when one’s blood boiled. She looked at Shayna through narrowed eyes. “Did you file a report with the police?”
    Shayna shook her head. “Michael, umm, he said he’d take care of it.”
    Brittney crossed her arms. “What does that mean, that he’ll take care of it? Michael isn’t law enforcement. You need to file a police report, Shayna! You need to have a record of what Jay did in case he tries again! Did you have time to get the names of any of the people around you, anyone who could corroborate your story?”
    Shayna shook her head. “I didn’t wait around to take names, wasn’t even thinking about that. All I could think of was getting away. I tried to get to my car, but he was right behind me so I just started running. I had just come from Michael’s and I instinctively started running back in that direction. I was so scared, y’all. When I got to his house, I just collapsed. He was leaving and almost didn’t see me. I don’t know what would have happened if . . .” She put her head in her hands, and the tears that she’d kept at bay most of the day came pouring out.
    â€œShh, it’s okay, Shay,” Talisha cooed, going from kick-ass anger to calmed-down compassion in the blink of an eye. “We can talk about it later.”
    â€œBut wait, Tee. What about—”
    â€œLet’s let her get some rest,” Talisha insisted, reaching for Brittney’s arm to lead her out of the room. She stopped at the door. “Are you hungry, Shayna?” Shayna shook her head, and lay down on the bed. “Well, there’s water on the table beside you. If you need anything, just let me know.”
    Shayna listened as her roommates’ voices receded down the hallway. She smiled into the darkness, imagining their conversation and their suggestions on what should be done to her ex. Then she thought of Michael and his vow to “take care of it.” What did that mean? Yes, Jarrell had hurt her, but did she want him hurt in return? And what about her mother, who’d given him her new number in the first place? Talisha had suggested that Shayna get some rest, and put the incident behind her. But Shayna worried whether the worst was truly over. Or had it only begun?

10
    Michael pulled up to his mother’s condominium complex and waved at the guard. She’d been here for three years, but every time he visited there was still a sense of pride. Michael and his two brothers had purchased the three-bedroom condo in a luxury high-rise near the ocean, and then talked their mother into leaving the home she’d shared with their dad and moving there. At one time, they thought she’d never consider leaving the Long Beach community she’d called home for three decades, that had seen various levels of gentrification over the years. “So many memories of Sam,” she’d always say. But the changing face and cultural climate of the neighborhood where the boys had grown up, combined with the panoramic ocean view that could be seen from their mother’s floor-to-ceiling windows on the twentieth floor, had sealed the deal.
    â€œHello there, Mr. Morgan,” the guard said, handing him the required guest pass sticker to be displayed on his dashboard. “Beautiful day today, huh?”
    â€œIt sure is,” Michael replied. He gave a final wave as he went past the raised arm, then looked in his rearview mirror just as his younger brother, Troy, steered his prized possession—a Maserati GranCabrio—into the complex. Michael shook his head even as he waved at his brother. Everyone had told Troy he was crazy for parking a luxury car in a crime-ridden neighborhood, but the youngest Morgan loved the Leimert Park community as