Concrete Rose (The Hate U Give, #0)(33)

“Oops, sorry,” Lisa claims. “I’ll warn you next time.”

A lie. “You worse than my momma. She not tripping ’bout my hair.”

“Mrs. Carter is grieving. She’s probably not paying attention to your hair.” Lisa massage the shampoo into my scalp. I can’t front, that feel good. “I’m surprised Mr. Wyatt lets you come to work looking like this.”

“You know I work for him?”

“My momma told me,” Lisa says. “Said you bagged her groceries one day.”

Oh yeah, I did. She gave me the dirtiest look. That’s saying something, ’cause Ms. Montgomery done gave me plenty of dirty looks. “What she telling you for? You tryna keep up with your boy?”

“Nope!” Lisa spray my face again.

“Ay!” I scream as she laugh. “Stop playing, girl!”

“Sorry,” she lie again. She massage more shampoo in. “Since you’re working for Mr. Wyatt, does this mean you gave up drug dealing?”

“Yeah. I got a son to think ’bout now. Wanna be around for him. Can’t lie though, between that job and taking care of him, I’m tired as hell.”

“Doesn’t Iesha help take care of him?”

“Nah, she needed a break. I’ve had him since the day I found out he mine.”

Lisa quietly rinse the shampoo outta my hair. “What’s his name?”

“Who, my son? I named him Seven.”

“Seven? You did not name that baby after a number, Maverick. Oh my God.”

“It’s the number of perfection!” I always gotta explain that. “He perfect. It make sense.”

Smells like she pour something else into my hair. Conditioning or whatever that stuff is. “Okay, when you put it like that it’s kinda sweet.”

“Thank you. Plus, it’s unique. Now, if I gave him a plain-ass name like Connor— Agh!”

Lisa sprayed my face again.

“That was on purpose,” she says. “Not sorry.”

“It is a plain-ass name! Can’t believe you went from me to him.”

“Um, you are not all that, sir. Calm down,” she says. “Not that it’s any of your business, but I’m not with Connor.”

“Oh.” My lips turn up a little. Yeah, she dissed me, but she not with Richie Rich. “He ain’t got no game, huh?”

“That’s none of your business as well.”

I snort. “Your answer say it all. I knew he was whack— Ow!”

She popped me with the showerhead. “That was on purpose too.”

I rub the back of my head. “You mad ’cause I’m right.”

Lisa dry my hair off and take me to her room. I sit on her bed, and she kneel behind me to see over my head. She run the comb through hard.

I wince. “Damn, girl! Why you so rough?”

“Had you done this yourself, it wouldn’t be this bad. Be still.”

“I am still. You rough as hell,” I say. She hold the comb at the edge of my scalp, near the middle of my forehead, then comb through my hair from there. She call that making a part. “You gon’ cornrow it?”

“No, that’ll take too long. I’m gonna put it in a ponytail.”

“A’ight . . . Thank you for doing this.”

She put my hair in a ponytail. “You’re welcome. That’ll be two hundred dollars.”

“Two hundred dollars?” I say. “You strangled me and abused me!”

“Nobody abused you!”

“You hit me with the showerhead, and you snatched my hair!”

“I did not snatch your hair!” Lisa says. “You’re tender-headed.”

“I ain’t tender-headed.”

“Right, like you swear you’re not ticklish,” Lisa says.

“I ain’t!”

She try to tickle my underarm. I hop off the bed.

“Ay, girl! Stop!”

Lisa smirk. “I thought you weren’t ticklish.”

“I ain’t. But you are.”

I pounce her on the bed and tickle the hell outta her. She laugh her ass off, and she got me laughing. Them pretty brown eyes meet mine, and we stop.

Nobody else exist.

I look at her lips, and I ain’t never wanted to do anything more than I wanna kiss them right now. So shit, I go for it.

Lisa kiss me right back.

It’s been a long time since we did this. We can’t kiss fast enough, can’t keep our hands off each other. It’s like she hit me with jumper cables. My whole body on fire.

“Damn,” I mumble, and look down. It’s real obvious I’m into this.

Lisa look at it, too. Then she look me in the eye and unzip my pants.

It’s on.

I help her get out that dress, and she help me get my pants off. We both down to nothing when we slide under her covers. I’m ready to put it down.

“Shit!” I hiss, and raise up. “I don’t got a rubber.”

Lisa sit up a little. “Seriously?”

“Yeah. I ain’t have no reason to keep them on me. You on the pill, right?”

“No. Had no reason to be.”

For a few seconds, our heavy breathing the only sound in the room.